The Aspen Grove

Base Camp 🏕️

Note Planted:
3 min read

Hello! My name is Brenden Harrell. I am a Husband, Father, Lutheran Pastor, and Tinkerer.

What is this place??

You have stumbled upon an experiment of mine. This is a living collection of my notes, essays, ponderings, and collected resources. All of which are in various stages of development and organization. You can find writing all along the continuum from deeply edited and refined to literally dumped out of my brain in raw bullet points.

I have grown increasingly dissatisfied with the exhausting, overwhelming and overstimulating digital spaces we inhabit. Content is constantly being pushed, or marketed, to us in new shiny wrappers. Why not try something different?

I am in the process of a full overhaul of this gardens organization. Everything now lives within three distinct “places”:

  • The Wilderness is exactly what it sounds like. It contains half written notes, brain dumps, collected bits from books and the internet all in their raw form. Enter here only if you dare hear to howling wind.
  • The Library houses articles and book lists.
  • The Garden is where things live which I have put in the effort to “plant” thorough thought and organization. These have taken the form of essays, definitions, poems, etc. For a casual reader, this is where you will meet me in my most lucid state. Additionally, you can find a description of note metadata I have found helpful for myself outlined here; The Organization of My Digital Garden

Attention

I am actively moving toward this approach so the exact state of things is not 100% in line with the above descriptions but I am getting there fast.

I would like to invite you along into my active learning. All notes are under construction or “being grown” in real time. Each one is a snapshot of thoughts and research at a particular moment in time. For more see A Case for Christian Digital Gardening

My hope is that this site will be more like a quiet walk around the woods. A place to slow down, explore, start conversations, and collaborate. That is why I have named it - The Aspen Grove.

If you care about my personal story and connection to Aspen groves you can read it here: The Calm after the Storm

How to Use this Garden

Here are some basic suggestions for using this garden:

  • Navigate to the Garden section and see if anything interests you.
  • Follow a path of ideas by clicking on imbedded links as you read. See where my mind has wandered and where yours might too.
  • Use the search bar to see if I have notes on something specific. If not you could email me and see what I think!
  • Look at a particular note tag and see what other notes have the same tag.
  • Or you can look at my Wonder List a collection of things that I am thinking about.
  • If you run into a 404 page it means I haven’t made that note yet or haven’t uploaded it. If it is interesting to you reach out to me and start a conversation about it.

Notes I have Worked in Recently

Backlinks

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