DIGITAL GARDEN 🪴

this space is where i think out loud, chase half-formed ideas, and generally try to make sense of whatever i’m learning. it isn’t a traditional blog—nothing here is polished or final. some things are 🌱 seedlings, some are growing 🌳. there are plenty of TILs sprinkled in too.

none of this is precious! if you want a sense of what a “digital garden” is supposed to be, maggie appleton has a great explanation 🌼.

⭐ Featured

Building Tools for the Safety Net: My Year in Propel's AI Residency

After discovering I'm definitely not a "growth team" person and watching Glitch wind down, I'm back in civic tech where I belong – this time in an AI Residency at Propel. We're building tools to help states and SNAP beneficiaries navigate HR1's massive changes, including new penalties that charge states more money for higher error rates. During the recent shutdown, I built crawlers to get real-time benefit updates to folks and created the most comprehensive database of active food pantries using AI tools. It's not the sexy AI that gets TED talks – it's the kind that keeps benefits from being wrongly terminated because we finally taught a system that gig work counts as employment.

🌱 Growing Ideas

Using the AIL (AI Influence Level) on the blog

Adding a level to pages and posts for how much they've been touched by AI.

scraping record.club reviews w/ playwright

automating my music ratings import into my blog using browser automation

💡 Today I Learned

Using @property for Custom CSS Properties

How to use @property to define and type your CSS custom properties

Using :has() for parent selectors

How to use the new :has() selector in CSS for parent element selection

All Posts

📺 Pluribus S1 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
🎵 Blondshell - If You Asked for a Picture ⭐⭐⭐
🎵 CMAT - EURO-COUNTRY ⭐⭐⭐⭐
🎵 Addison Rae - Addison ⭐⭐⭐
🎵 Geordie Greep - The New Sound ⭐⭐⭐⭐
🎵 Halsey - The Great Impersonator ⭐⭐⭐
🎵 Japanese Breakfast - For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad… ⭐⭐⭐⭐
🎵 Jessie Ware - What’s Your Pleasure? ⭐⭐⭐⭐
🎵 Lily - Allen West End Girl ⭐⭐⭐⭐
🎵 Nilüfer Yanya - My Method Actor ⭐⭐⭐⭐
🎵 ROSALÍA - LUX ⭐⭐⭐⭐
🎵 Sabrina Carpenter - Man’s Best Friend ⭐⭐⭐
🎵 Sleigh Bells - Bunky Becky Birthday Boy ⭐⭐⭐
🎵 Taylor Swift - The Life of a Showgirl ⭐⭐

Building Tools for the Safety Net: My Year in Propel's AI Residency

After discovering I'm definitely not a "growth team" person and watching Glitch wind down, I'm back in civic tech where I belong – this time in an AI Residency at Propel. We're building tools to help states and SNAP beneficiaries navigate HR1's massive changes, including new penalties that charge states more money for higher error rates. During the recent shutdown, I built crawlers to get real-time benefit updates to folks and created the most comprehensive database of active food pantries using AI tools. It's not the sexy AI that gets TED talks – it's the kind that keeps benefits from being wrongly terminated because we finally taught a system that gig work counts as employment.

work
🎬 Bugonia ⭐⭐⭐⭐
🎬 Thunderbolts* ⭐⭐⭐