I finally made that switch myself, and it's been pretty seamless.

Try Chwazi! It's a wonderful little app that helps with decision making, such as who pays for dinner or who chooses the movie or who goes first in a game. It's solved many arguments for me.

I play so many games. Right now, the regulars I play are:

- Secret Hitler - My current favorite "hidden roles" game, and a smash hit with most of my group. It does cause a lot of stress and anxiety to a few, though.

- Pandemic - Very easy to get onto the table, very easy to explain, and very easy to lose right when one thinks it's going to work out well. A perennial favorite.

- The Great Dalmuti - Fast and quick, casual enough for near anyone, thinky enough to slow down conversation. A good closer.

- King of Tokyo - Another fun closer. The strategies are getting a little old, so I think I'm gonna pick up the Power Up! expansion, to change up the game.

- Smallworld - My buddy loves this game and has all of the expansion sets, so it hits the table every couple weeks. Plays well with almost every size group, and has enough strategy to stay interesting.

Additionally, my girlfriend and I play Hive and Haggis any time we're out and about. Hive especially is super quick and simple, and a real brain burner once we get into it.

Love to see Secret Hitler mentioned here. That's my current favorite "hidden roles" game; it's so beautiful in it's execution.

Epistemological status: personal and shaky

Based solely on my experiences in the school system, my experiences in unschooling/homeschooling, and the experiences of homeschooling parents and children who I've talked with, I'd say that creating a positive environment focused on giving students tools they need is significantly more important than cutting them down when they succeed to guide them, in all circumstances. Shaming, dismissing, insulting, and denigrating effort are all recipes for students to shut down, to stop experimenting, and to withdraw. For an example, the above article: Jacobs plainly says how such comments hurt her deeply and damaged her ability to perform. Her ability to cope by adopting a strongly different personality is not healthy, nor is it conducive to learning.

I became angry because I've been in those kinds of situations (and the others described, such as when a teacher complimented her by saying, "Wasn't probation good for you?"), and they're awful. I've never felt so terrible as when I've seen my honest efforts dismissed and disregarded by someone who thought they knew what was best for me. I would never wish that on anyone, and that you say you weren't affected by it when it happened to you probably means that the effort you put in wasn't meaningful to you the way this comedy routine was meaningful to Jacobs. Because it's not actually about acting, it's about effort and reward and support.

If the teacher wanted to say, "You can clearly do that. Never bring in a scene like that again." but kindly, like the listener deserved respect and support instead of dismissal and shame, they could have said, "That's wonderful! Well done! You seem to have found your niche! In the future, let's see if we can work a scene like this into your portfolio while we work on your other styles. Obviously you have talent, but can we bring that talent to other genres?" and then when she tries (and maybe/probably fails) a different genre, the teacher can bring in references to the progress she's made relative to her comedy, instead of demanding from a non-existent place.

The one time I brought in a funny scene to my acting class, I got, for the first time, an enthusiastic, positive reaction from my classmates. They'd never reacted this favorably to any scene I'd done before. Instead of encouraging me to pursue comedy or praising my newly revealed skill, the teacher said dismissively, "You can clearly do that. Never bring in a scene like that again."

Oh wow, I'm surprised by how angry this interaction made me.

This article is great. Thanks for posting!

What happens? Put some content in your title.

Lemme plug http://bettermotherfuckingwebsite.com/ cuz I feel it's a legit point about the original and the future of the web.

I love these. I try to watch a bit every year, and they're always a blast!

Yeah, man. "Representation"? Fuck that, why can't it be normal and white? Why's it always gotta be about race?

What he wrote is already in his book, from which this article is adapted. Like all of the other spots he's done, it's both to raise awareness of the problem, and of his description of the problem.