README.blog
Hi there! Welcome to my blog and thanks for reading. I’m a robotics engineer by day and I write for free at night, so every reader means a lot to me. I like writing about African music, politics, and culture, about robotics and hardware engineering, about the mixed experience, and occasionally random things in my daily life which inspire me.
I used to write for MIT Admissions, and we had a section for the “best of the blogs”. I thought I’d do something similar: here’s a list of what I consider the best of the best so far, if you want to skip all the fluff.
Editor’s Picks
Posts I think are particularly good, irrespective of anyone else.
An explainer on systemic inequality in the tax code.
A frank discussion about federal funding and ethics in hardware engineering.
Citizen journalism.
A humor essay — also a pretty good primer on my worldview.
A raw and emotional essay on the futility of buying stuff in the face of racist, sexist violence (not actually a listicle).
A fictional short story, based in part on real stories from my home region in rural Ethiopia.
Posts That Did Well
Posts that run up the numbers.
A post about robots that was recommended by Medium curators.
A written (and illustrated) glossary of terms and a discussion about the mixed experience.
An in-depth discussion of the SFFA v. Harvard College lawsuit, and a shift in how Asian Americans identify.
The original blog post “Remove Richard Stallman”, a complaint about an MIT visiting researcher, is my most-read post ever. I actually did not include it here since it was a such a flash point for people (and really not what I want to be known for….) but the Appendix contains stories from 30 years of MIT women and a broader description about what’s wrong with STEM culture, and that’s what I wish people would read instead (or at least in addition).
One of my most popular critique pieces on African music, which is something I hope everyone who reads this blog learns more about!
Please let me know about anything at all through a feedback form of your choice — claps, responses, or even an email to askselamie@mit.edu. You can find more of me (if you so desire) on twitter or my personal website.
Last updated October 25th, 2022
