Pet Peeves

Nothing gets under my skin like a bad glitch. When I run into a device that isn’t working the way it’s supposed to, I can’t rest until I figure it out. In my mind, it’s like the technology and I are locked in a heated battle that won’t end until one of us gives up. Either I fix it, or I lose. And I refuse to admit defeat.

Example: When the smart devices at our house start acting up, I drop everything until they’re working properly again. It doesn’t matter what I’m supposed to be doing, what time it is, or how long it takes. I will unplug every outlet, reset every breaker, and update every firmware in that house until my home automations start working perfectly again.

I just can’t stand it when tech doesn’t work properly. It’s one of my quirks, I guess, and not one of my favorite ones. But if you’ve ever seen me offering someone tech support, you know that it’s serious business for me. I take it personally.

Another thing that bothers me—and I promise there’s a point to this—is bad theology. When I hear someone misquote scripture or rattle off some uncritical nonsense with dire theological consequences, I can hardly contain myself. I have to step in and say something. It gets my heart pumping, especially when I hear it coming from someone I care about it. It just irks me.

These are a couple of my pet peeves, and everyone has them. Little things that set us off to the point that we just can’t let go of them. To other people, they may seem trivial, like they don’t matter at all. But to us, they’re of the upmost importance. And they have a profound effect on us.

Usually when we talk about these quirks, it’s in the context of how to minimize them. We see them as a nuisance, as things that keep us from fully enjoying our lives. Even in the midst of bearing down on a technical issue or composing a response to a problematic statement about God, I’m usually thinking in the back of my head, “Why am I doing this again?”

We tend to see pet peeves as a bad thing. But as I’ve been reflecting on them and my experiences with them, I’m starting to think that there might be more to these tendencies than we give them credit for.

Have you ever wondered why we have pet peeves? Where they come from? Or what they might mean? As inconvenient as they are, and as much as we might like to rid ourselves of them, I think that these little quirks of ours might actually have some value.

Here’s what I mean: If something really bothers us that much—to the point that it even has the power to ruin our day—then it must matter to us quite a lot. When you look below the surface, what might seem trivial and petty at first could actually reveal what we value the most. Our pet peeves actually have something to teach us about who we are!

Is it possible that the things that annoy us the most might actually be hints at our passions? Maybe even our callings? I don’t know about you, but when I pay close attention to them, my pet peeves actually stem from some of the things I love the most.

I have a passion for technology. I love to see it used to create beautiful things, bring people together, and make the world a better place. And when things go awry with tech, I get frustrated. But that frustration isn’t actually a bad thing; it’s just the flip side of my passion.

Same with my home. I love our house. It’s my family’s own space, and I’m committed to doing everything I can to make it safe and comfortable. When something’s wrong with it, that really bothers me, not because I’m being too picky, but because I really care. That caring is a good thing.

I think you get the picture here. In a sense, pet peeves are just the flip side of passion. When we love something, we sometimes express that love in different ways. And one of those ways can be frustration when something is wrong with the thing we care about.

Maybe we would do well to see our pet peeves not as things to be avoided, but rather to be examined. When you find yourself getting frustrated by something, ask, “What does it say about me that I care so much about this thing? What can I learn from this?”

That isn’t to say that we shouldn’t keep our frustrations in check. We’re not meant to be disgruntled all the time, after all. But life isn’t always perfect, and when we’re feeling irked, we may as well use it for something positive rather than simply trying to avoid it entirely.

Our pet peeves can teach us important lessons about who we are and what we care about. And if we do the hard work, we can use that information to better pursue our passions and become more better people. That’s what I’m trying to do with my pet peeves, anyway. And I’d invite you to do the same.

What are your pet peeves? And what do you think they tell you about yourself? Whether it’s cars, grammar, design, or something else entirely, I think there’s something we can learn from each of our pet peeves if we only dive into them. I’d love to start that process together if you’d like to reach out.

That’s all I’ve got for this week, friends. Thanks for listening to me vent. I hope you found it helpful, too. And I hope to see you back here at the same time next week. Until then!

What I Love About Home

Hey, friends! Between family vacation and a work retreat, I’ve been traveling a lot the past few weeks, and that’s left me with a bad case of homesickness. Even now that I’m starting to settle back in, I still find myself yearning for that at-home feeling. Have you ever been there?

I’ve always seen this blog as a place to share what’s on my mind, and lately, what’s been on my mind is home. Specifically, I’ve been reflecting on all of the things I love about it. So that’s what I’ve got for you this week: a list of my favorite things about this place I call home. Here we go.

1. Home is where my dog is: cuddles, walks, shedding, slobber, play time, and all.

2. Home is where Katherine and I can fully relax, fully be ourselves, and fully spend time just the two of us.

3. Home is where my bed is. My comfortable, wonderful bed.

4. Home is where my friends can visit anytime and just catch up.

5. Home is where I have a stable internet connection at all times.

6. Home is where I can work in my office with my awesome coworkers and all of the gadgets and toys I’ve collected.

7. Home is where I don’t have to worry about my phone battery because I’ve always got a charger within arm’s reach.

8. Home is where my closet is. So many clothes and shoes to choose from!

9. Home is where I don’t need a GPS to get around.

10. Home is where my family and I can sit down for a lively meal whenever we want.

11. Home is where I don’t need shoes to run out into the backyard and enjoy the weather for a minute.

12. Home is where I can get into my regular routine and stay there. It’s where I can know, to a reasonable degree, what to expect out of every day.

I could go on, but I’ll spare you

They say you don’t truly appreciate something until it’s gone. I’ve found that to be true myself. I think that the things I’ve missed the most about home while I’ve been away are the things that truly make it “home” for me. And I’ve noticed a few recurring themes.

Of course, the people are what I miss the most. (I’m obviously including Winter in the people category.) The most important thing about home will always be my family and friends. Without them, it wouldn’t mean a thing.

But I think the second most important aspect of home is familiarity. I like home because it’s what I’m used to. Home is my regular routine, my regular eating places, my regular pillow. New experiences are great for a short time, but I’ll always trade novelty for the safety and security of home.

And then there’s an element that I hadn’t really thought about before: control. Being away from home means entering spaces that aren’t mine and relying on other people in ways I usually don’t have to. Something as simple as being able to drive from one place to another is a luxury I enjoy at home but not everywhere else. Home is a place I can make my own, and that’s something I’m learning to cherish more and more.

The question of what “home” means is one that’s fascinated me for a long time. I’ve always known it’s more than a place, but I’ve never been able to pinpoint what exactly it is. Being away for a little while has helped me get some glimpses of what home means, but as with anything, I’m sure there’s more to it than I can see.

So I’ll ask you: What does home mean to you? What do you love most about home that you can’t get anywhere else? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Whatever home means, I’m happy to be here. It’s my favorite place, and as Dorothy said, there’s no place like it. In addition to some wonderful experiences, my travels have given me a deeper appreciation for home that I won’t soon forget. Here’s to lots more time enjoying it.

Thanks for reading, friends! I’ll see you next week.

Why You Should Update Your Phone This Week

If you’re an iPhone user, you probably already know that Apple releases a major new version of the device’s software every September. This year is no different, with iOS 13 coming out very soon. If you’ve got an iPhone 6s or newer, you can download the update this Thursday.

I’m a nerd, so I’ve been playing with the beta versions of iOS 13 all summer. But I know that a lot of people are wary of updating their phones and having to learn new features, so I thought I’d share with you a few of my favorite things about the software and why I think it’s worth the update.

Here are my iOS 13 highlights.

Photos

Let’s be real: Besides texting and browsing Instagram, the thing people most use their phones for is taking and viewing photos. No vacation or visit to the coffee shop is complete without a few snapshots, right? We love taking pictures with our phones, and Apple knows that. Which is why they’ve completely remade the Photos app this year with a focus on discovering old pictures you may have forgotten.

Now, the Photos tab is broken up into sections. You’ve still got the All Photos view that you’re used to, but if you swipe to the right, you’ll see new views called Days, Months, and Years. As you’d imagine, these views group your photos based on time and show you highlights from each period.

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One month in the iOS 13 Photos app’s months feed.

My favorite is Months. When I go to this view, I can scroll through a timeline of highlighted photos and videos from each month all the way back to when I first got an iPhone. I see vacations, birthdays, big events, and some small moments I’d forgotten about, all in one beautiful feed. It’s a great way to re-discover old photos that I normally wouldn’t come across, and I absolutely love it.

If you take a lot of pictures with your phone but don’t always do the best job of keeping up with them, the new Photos app can really help with that. I was amazed at how many pictures I’d forgotten about. Finding them again was a fun, meaningful experience that I wouldn’t have been able to have without iOS 13, and I hope you can have an experience like that, too.

Reminders

To-do lists are my native language. The only way I can get anything done is by putting it into my task management app as a reminder. I get a miniature adrenaline rush every time I check something off my list, and that’s what keeps me motivated throughout the day.

That’s why I was very excited to hear that Apple was completely redesigning the Reminders app for iOS 13. I’ve always found the app to be a great way of getting things done, and with the new features it’s getting this year, it’s an even more indispensable tool for anyone who wants to use their phone to stay organized.

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I love how clean and organized my new Reminders dashboard is.

The most noticeable change in this update is the new Reminders main screen. At the top, you’ll see four new smart lists: Today, Scheduled, All, and Flagged. And underneath those are the traditional lists that you create yourself. I’ve found this new layout to be much more functional and enjoyable to use than the old, card-based look.

I love the Today view. It allows me to focus in on just the tasks that I have scheduled for the day without getting distracted by things I need to focus on down the line. I keep my lists very meticulously scheduled, and this allows me to stay on top of my tasks without ever getting behind. The Today view is definitely the one I find myself using the most. For example, I check it every morning to see what I need to be doing for the blog, and it keeps me on track.

I also really appreciate the new customization options for traditional lists. They now include an array of colors and a whole slew of icons that you can use to set each list apart. In addition, new organizational features allow you to group lists together and break tasks down into sub-tasks with different details and due dates.

Basically, the new Reminders app gives productivity-minded people like me tons of new ways to stay organized the way we want to while still maintaining the simplicity of the previous version. Whether you use Reminders to keep up with your grocery list or manage all of your tasks at work, this new update will help you stay organized in the way that best fits you.

Share Sheet

Please don’t read this header and think, “I’ve never even heard of that. I should skip this section.” Even if you don’t know what the share sheet is, I’m sure you’ve used it before. And if you update to iOS 13, you’re going to notice pretty quickly just how different it is.

Have you ever been looking at a photo or a link on your phone and wanted to send it to someone? What did you do? You probably hit that little button that looks like an arrow coming out of a rounded square, right? That’s called the Share button, and that big list of icons that comes up when you tap it is called the share sheet.

Basically, the share sheet is just a list of a ways that you can send things to your friends or from one app to another. It’s a great way to send a picture from the Photos app, for example. And in iOS 13 the share sheet has been completely reimagined in a great way. The new layout is going to mean easier access and faster sharing for everyone.

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I’ve just got to share this adorable photo of Winter with everyone I know.

The first thing you’ll notice in the new share sheet is the row of people at the top. Using artificial intelligence (basically Siri), your phone will suggest people it thinks you might want to share with. Usually it’s the people you talk to the most. And if the person you’re wanting to share with is in that list, all you have to do is tap their picture, and voila! You’ve shared it.

If what you’re looking for isn’t in the top row, though, the second row is a list of apps that you can use to share. You can use this row to send a text or an email, AirDrop to a nearby device, or access other apps or services you have installed on your phone.

Underneath that is a vertical list of actions and shortcuts specific to the type of object you’re trying to share. If it’s a photo, you can add it to an album. If it’s a link, you can bookmark it. If it’s text, you can copy it. And so on. Each action has a handy icon that you can use to quickly find what you’re looking for and get it done.

I really like the new share sheet because it allows me to do whatever it is I’m trying to do more quickly and efficiently. It also just looks great, especially if you take the time to add photos to your contacts. Plus, it’s completely customizable, so you can rearrange everything to make it work for you! While the share sheet isn’t the flashiest iPhone feature ever, I think that these changes really will make a difference in the everyday lives of iPhone users who decide to update.

Dark Mode

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Everything looks cooler in dark mode.

It’s undeniable, people love dark mode. Whether it’s to conserve battery life, to save your eyes from blinding whites when you first wake up, or just because you like the way it looks, dark mode is finally an option on the iPhone. It might take some time for app-makers to get onboard with the new look, but at launch, every Apple app supports it, which makes for a very cool experience.

I personally don’t use dark mode full-time. Instead, I have my phone set to switch to dark mode at sunset and then switch back to light made in the morning. That way, I get the best of both worlds! I think it’s really handy that Apple included this option with the dark mode feature, and I’d suggest you give it a try.

Bonus: Why You Should Update Your iPad, Too

I’m an iPad fanatic. I use my 11-inch iPad Pro for everything from reading to graphics work to writing this very blog post. And this year, Apple is splitting the iPad’s operating system off from the iPhone’s. Starting in a couple of weeks, iPads will no longer run iOS, but iPadOS.

Of course, the two systems still have a lot of similarities. The iPad is receiving every new feature that the iPhone is, including all of the ones listed above. But, with iPadOS, Apple is taking things even further and adding features traditionally thought to belong to computers. And thus, they are making the iPad even more powerful.

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My iPad home screen with iPadOS 13.

On the most basic level, iPadOS rethinks the home screen, allowing for more apps to be included and, for the first time, home screen widgets! There also some deeper system changes like mouse support and finally allowing USB flash drives to be accessed in the Files app. And possibly my favorite iPadOS feature is the full, desktop-class Safari. I can actually edit my website on my iPad now!

These are features that iPad users have been requesting for a long time. The truth is that the device has outgrown its roots as a “giant iPod touch.” People (including me) are using iPads as full-blown computers now, and these updates are Apple’s way of acknowledging that and helping us take the iPad to the next level.

More New Features Coming

Of course, these are just a few of my favorite iOS 13 features. There are plenty more included in the update. If you want, you can download it now and try them all for yourself.

There are also more new features coming in future updates to iOS 13. Rather than putting everything in one big release, Apple has started phasing in some new things throughout the year. The next version, iOS 13.1 is coming September 30, and I’m sure it won’t be long until we hear what’s coming in iOS 13.2 as well. Here are a few things I’m looking forward to:

• automatic ETA sharing in Maps

• sending audio to multiple sets of headphones from one iPhone

• the ability to download and add new fonts to the system

• shared folders in iCloud Drive

• the single most popular feature every year: new emoji

The iOS platform is vibrant and booming. I am always so excited to keep up with what’s happening in it. People use the iPhone because it offers an incredible mobile experience, and that experience is only further enhanced by the updates in iOS 13. It’s a fun, solid update that I’d suggest to anyone who uses an iPhone.

Now I want to hear from you: What do you think of all these new features? Which is your favorite? And are you planning to upgrade? I’d love to know your thoughts in the comments or on social media.

Thanks for reading my iOS 13 preview! I hope you enjoyed it, and I also hope you enjoy all these great new features if you do decide to update. I’ll see you all next week.

I Have No Idea How to Use Social Media Anymore

The social media landscape is more confusing now than it has ever been. Twitter. Facebook. Instagram. Snapchat. TikTok. YouTube. Tumblr. I’ve got an account on every single one of these platforms. I think I even still have a MySpace account that’s out there languishing somewhere. I’ve downloaded every app, filled out every sign-up form, meticulously completed every profile.

And the sad truth is that I’m not even sure what any of it is for anymore.

It used to be so simple. Everyone was on Facebook, the one place for self-expression, life updates, and mindless chit-chat online. It was wonderful. I had all of my friends, loved ones, and people I admired on a single platform where I could see their posts and interact with them whenever I wanted. Life was good.

Then Twitter came along with its simplified take on sharing, and I became intrigued with it. Over time, I curated a feed of friends, acquaintances, creators, and news sources that became my go-to place to quickly find out what was happening in the world. I still had Facebook for personal relationships, and that was enough for me to handle.

But then the new networks kept coming. Instagram for photos. Vine for videos. (R.I.P.) Snapchat for stories and silly, self-deleting messages. And I tried to keep up. I even had a long-running series of videos that earned me the accolade “most likely to do it for the Vine” in college. Social media was important to me because I wanted to be where my friends were.

Over time, though, it’s just become too much to keep up with. In their efforts to dominate each other, every platform has expanded to the point that their features and purposes overlap and become muddled. Some have joined forces while others are engaged in years-long feuds that make interacting across them difficult. It’s a messy, messy space right now, which has made it difficult for me to stay on top of.

All of this has mostly led to disengagement. I still tweet random thoughts from time to time, and I always make sure to share these articles everywhere I can, but that’s about it. My Instagram feed gets updated once every few months when I have a major life update or a new Apple product to show off. All of my snap streaks have gone cold. I can barely even look at Facebook with all the hate, garbage, and downright lies being spread on there.

I’ve become a bit of a digital hermit over the past couple of years, and that’s not something I’m particularly happy about. The desire to connect authentically with other people online is still there; I’m just not sure what that’s supposed to look like in 2019.

The more time we spend with social media, the more we learn about its flaws and pitfalls. We see the way free speech has been abused by Nazis and foreign powers to spread hate and lies. We see the way digital addiction harms mental health and gets in the way of real-world interactions. We see the way the internet can bring out the worst in us, leading us to say things to others that we’d never say in person. Even for people who are successful on social media, it’s still a tricky thing to navigate.

But I believe that there has to be some good that can come out of it. Social media can still achieve its original goals of connecting people, nurturing relationships, and helping us become more well-rounded, informed individuals. We just have to choose to use them in ways that actually serve those purposes.

Which brings me back to my original question: What are all of these platforms for? And more questions: Do I really need all of them? Should I prioritize one or two over the others? How can I best use these tools to share my life and connect with others without suffering from any of their downsides?

These aren’t easy questions to answer. I’m still working through them. But I don’t think the answer is to disengage. This is the way the world works now, and if I want to be a part of it, I need to meet people where they are.

That being said, I don’t have to go about it the same old way, either, following the treads and mindlessly seeking likes and comments. There’s a better way, a more intentional way, to engage, and I’m committed to finding it somehow, even if it takes time.

In writing this article, I’ve been thinking about principles that might make up this better way of engaging with social media. While I don’t have a complete list or a perfect definition for each of these, I’ve come up with a few that I’m going to start with:

• compassion

• sincerity

• depth

• patience

• purpose

These aren’t attributes we usually associate with social media, but I think that we might benefit from practicing them more when we log on and start scrolling. I’m sure this list will change over time, but this is what I’m starting with as my guidelines for social media use going forward.

I wish I had a more concrete answer to give you now, but truthfully, this article is the beginning of my thinking process, not the end of it. So I’ll keep working on it and give you an update once I’ve figured something out.

Or you can follow me, add me, subscribe to me, or whatever else it is these platforms have us doing these days and join me on this journey to finding a better way to use social media. I think we could all benefit from a little more intentionality in the way we engage. My username is devondundee on pretty much everything if you want to connect.

And if you have any advice, I’d love to hear from you. How do you use social media? What tips do you have for engaging in healthy, meaningful ways online? Do you have a set of principles you adhere to online? Any feedback you have would be much appreciated, because these are questions I’m pondering a lot lately, and I sincerely want to learn.

Thank you for reading this week’s article. I hope you’ll come back next week for another one. Until then!

Hamilton: I Am Not Throwing Away My Shot

Hamilton has a special place in my heart. Katherine and I love the musical so much that when we got engaged last year, the first big purchase we made together was a set of tickets to go see it when it came to Tulsa. (We also played a song from the soundtrack as the walk-in music at our wedding!) And so we were ecstatic when, a couple of weeks ago, we finally got the chance to see Hamilton live.

The show was amazing. It’s like an opera in that there’s no dialogue, only singing (and a lot of rapping), so I already knew every word. But seeing it performed live and acted out on stage really brought the music to life and made the experience of hearing it that much more powerful. We laughed, we cried (literally), and we had just the best time seeing our favorite show.

I’m still reeling from the experience. It was something I won’t soon forget. And so I thought I’d take the time this week to share my love of Hamilton with you in the form of the biggest lesson it’s taught me. I’ve spent a lot of time with the soundtrack to this show, and it’s had a profound impact on me both emotionally and intellectually. While there’s a lot to be taken away from it, there’s one thing that I keep coming back to:

I’ve never felt more patriotic than I do when I listen to the Hamilton soundtrack. That may sound strange, especially coming from me, but let me explain.

If you’ve been around here for long, you know that I’m not shy about criticizing my country. We have a lot of issues right now, and we’ve gotten a lot of things wrong throughout our history that are still hurting countless people today. But the older I get and the more I learn about the world, the more I appreciate the unique things that the U.S. has contributed to the world and especially the ideals behind those contributions.

As you’d imagine, Hamilton tells the story of Alexander Hamilton, the immigrant founding father who served as George Washington’s secretary, argued for the Constitution, founded the first national bank, and is now commemorated on our $10 bill. But in telling his story, it also covers a good deal of the history surrounding the Revolutionary War, the founding of the United States, and the growing pains the nation faced in its infancy. I knew the gist of this story from school, but seeing and hearing it played out through the characters in the show shed a different light on the history for me.

It forced me to imagine what it was like for the actual people living at the time—not just the big names, but for the common people whose names are lost to time. In a period of unrest and uncertainty, these people were growing up, getting married, having children, working to provide for themselves, and trying to find their place in the world. Real people with real concerns and real stakes were living out this story that we hear and celebrate all the time but have become so distanced from ourselves.

For them, this wasn’t a story. It was real, everyday life. Their very lives and livelihoods were at stake. And they chose to undergo such danger and uncertainty because they believed in ideals that to them were worth fighting for.

Ideals like democracy, giving everyone a voice in the way that they’re governed. And religious liberty, the freedom for individuals to worship however they see fit. And equality, the belief in fundamental rights guaranteed to every single human being. Hamilton and others—real people—fought for these ideals. They founded the nation on them. And that is something to be proud of.

To be clear, their implementation of these ideals was not perfect. Not by a long shot. And we still have yet to fully live up to them today. But one thing I learned from the musical is that, even at the time, there was debate. There were people who were pushing for these ideals to be taken to their fullest extent all the way back then.

Of course, Hamilton was one of them, but there were others. People like his sister-in-law Angelica Schuyler Church, who sings about gender equality in “The Schuyler Sisters”:

We hold these truths to be self-evident 
that all men are created equal, 
and when I meet Thomas Jefferson, 
I’mma compel him to include women in the sequel!

And people like John Laurens, Hamilton’s fellow patriot who spoke out against slavery and tried to helped enslaved people win their freedom by taking part in the revolution. In “My Shot,” he raps,

But we will never be truly free 
until those in bondage have the same rights as you and me. 
You and I, do or die, wait ‘til I sally in 
on a stallion with the first black battalion.

And then there’s Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, my favorite character of all. Not only does Eliza show herself to be, as Hamilton calls her, “the best of wives and best of women,” but she also represents the American ideal that I most value: compassion for those in need. In the final song (“Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story”), she sings about her greatest accomplishment:

Can I show you what I’m proudest of? 
I established the first private orphanage in New York City. 
I help to raise hundreds of children. 
I get to see them growing up. 
… 
And when my time is up, have I done enough? 
Will they tell my story?

I’m happy to say that Eliza’s story is being told through this musical. Her story and the stories of these other trailblazers who fought to form this nation into a place where everyone is free, valued, and treated equally—these stories are so inspiring to me. These people are my heroes. And when I hear about them, they instill in me a pride for my country that I haven’t ever felt before.

Hamilton teaches me that I live in a country founded not just by the typical, powdered-wig-clad founding fathers we see depicted all the time, but also by immigrants who wanted to found a place better than where they came from, poor people looking to make a life for themselves, women seeking equality, and slaves fighting not just for freedom from England but for freedom from their slavedrivers right here at home.

America is a place where the poor, the oppressed, and the forgotten can change their lives and change the world. Where we can all work together to ensure that every single person has a chance to thrive. Where ideals like equality, democracy, and compassion aren’t just ideas we believe in, but realities we’re actively working towards. That’s the America that Hamilton strove to create, and I find it beautiful.

We aren’t there yet, but I believe we can get there. If we allow ourselves to be reminded by stories like Hamilton what we’re working towards, then we can make it a reality. It won’t be easy. We’ll need great minds like Alexander’s, bold personalities like Angelica’s, and big hearts like Eliza’s, but our generation has an opportunity to be great, like theirs was, and make a positive impact on history.

This show inspires me to take pride in this unique place I’m blessed to live in. It also inspires me to love this place enough to try to make it better, to push it to live up to what it was meant to be. And I am so grateful to the musical, to its cast, and to its creator Lin-Manuel Miranda for that gift of inspiration.

Hamilton means so much to me. It’s taught me a lot, and I’m better for having heard it and seen it. My hope is that I can take what it’s taught me and use it to make my country and the world a better place. That’s a lot to ask of a musical, but this one certainly lives up to it.

As Alexander reminds us over and over throughout the show, we each only have one shot at this life. One shot to make a difference, to improve things for others, to form the world into what we want it to be. He used his chance to make the world a better place. I want to do the same.

Hamilton didn’t throw away his shot, and neither will I. Will you?