Introduction

Let me kick this thing off by answering a few questions.

First, Who am I? My name is David Cross, and I am Professor (Emeritus) in the Psychology Department at Texas Christian University (TCU), and I am the Co-Founder and former Director of the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development (KPICD) (child.tcu.edu). I studied philosophy, psychology, and mathematics as an undergraduate, and did my graduate studies at The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. My wife, Trudy, is a retired teacher; Trudy and I have two lovely children, an amazing grandson, and a splendid garden.

Second, What is this blog going to be about? My vision is to apply the ideas of Gregory Bateson, John Boyd, Wendell Berry, and Yrjö Engeström (among others) to the challenges of creating, understanding, and supporting healthy systems. The phrase "Solving for Pattern" is borrowed from one of Wendell Berry's essays, which has been extremely influential on how I approach these challenges. I am new to this, so I am not exactly sure how this will unfold over time, but what I envision is that the individual blog posts will form a network of examples and concepts, and that collectively they will constitute a sort of theory of system change. We'll see.

Third, Why am doing this? There are a number of reasons for embarking on this adventure, including the following: (1) Some of the "Solving for Pattern" essays that I wrote as Director of the KPICD have turned out to be useful to our staff, partners, and practitioners. So one goal of this blog is to refine these ideas and make them more widely available. (2) A second goal is to improve and build on these essays, and present them in a more accessible and interactive format. (3) A third goal is to expand the horizons of what was covered in the original essays, both in terms of ideas and examples. (4) Fourth, I am hoping this can be a way for me to stay in touch with the wonderful people I met while working at the KPICD, and also meet some new wonderful people! 😄 (5) Finally, I am hoping that this can be a way for this old wannabe fly fisherman to stay sharp as a thinker and writer. (I have pretty much given up on mastery of fly fishing!)

Fourth, How will this work? I intend to share one or two posts each week, which will be available on the Ghost website (here). If you have questions or concerns, you can email me (d.cross@tcu.edu); I am also on Substack and Bluesky (@solvingforpattern). Like I said, I am new to this, so there will be a learning curve. Once I am more comfortable with the mechanics, I will begin reaching out to friends and colleagues. Beyond that, who knows?