Will Pearson
Will Pearson
William E. Pearsonis the co-founder of mental floss, a bi-monthly magazine, which he started with Mangesh Hattikudur when both were students at Duke University. Pearson graduated from Duke in 2001, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History. Describing himself, Pearson noted his penchant for eating two M&M's at the same time, on different sides of the mouth, "making both sides of the mouth equally happy". Will Pearson and Mangesh Hattikudur met as freshmen at Duke University and in their...
cells essence
When is a cell finally too small to hold our essence?
believe followers understood
He believes me. But that is nothing new. He always did because I was a rule follower. I played by the rules he understood. But there are new rules now, ones he doesn't know yet. He'll learn. Just as I'm learning.
mean pieces life-is
Pieces. Isn't that what all of life is anyway? Shards. Bits. Moments. Am I less because I have fewer, or do the few I have mean more?
memories play giving
There are a lot of memories we imagine. We play them over and over in our minds, trying to orchestrate our movements and words to perfection. Or maybe it's just that I've lived inside of my head more than any other person in the history of the world. Maybe none of us can really predict how we will act at any give moment. Maybe we're all at the mercy of circumstance in spite of our well-laid plans.
differences who-we-are details
Are the details of our lives who we are, or is it owning those details that makes the difference?
names
But I am more than a name. More than they tell me
weakness satisfied walks
Which weakness shall I tell her? “I walk funny,” I say, and she’s satisfied with that. (inside joke)
father time-heals heal
Father says it will come in time. “Time heals,” he says. I don’t tell him that I don’t know what time is.
memories snakes brain
My memory is coming back. It is curious how it comes. Each day, a rush of pieces, loosely connected, unimportant bits, snake through me. They click, click, click into my brain, like links being snapped together. And then they are done. A small chain of memories that fill in one tiny part of my life. They come out of nowhere, and most are not important.
fall thinking done-with-you
The information. Every bit that of information that was ever in your brain. But the information is not the mind Jenna. That we've never accomplished before. What we've done with you is groundbreaking. We cracked the code. The mind is an energy that the brain produces. Think of a glass ball twirling on your fingertip. If it falls, it shatters into a million pieces. All the parts of a ball are still there, but it will never twirl with that force on your fingertip again. The brain is the same way.
identity politician percentages
Percentages! Those are for economists, polls, and politicians. Percentages can't define your identity.
pieces events mark
Do certain events in our lives leave a permanent mark, freezing a piece of us in time, and that becomes a touchstone that we measure the rest of our lives against?
memories fear connections
It's the unknown that I fear, the bites of memories that still have no connections.
used used-to-be
I used to be someone.