Archive

Lost and Found

As I have mentioned in previous posts, after starting off strong with this blog, I stumbled around the holidays and then went AWOL in January of 2026 – I lost my mojo. In restarted in June of 2026, so now I have found my mojo, at least for now. I promised

Being Outside

In my previous post – Solving for Pattern Redux – I shared two lists, one of which was from the Neuroscience & Wellness Substack article (September 13, 2025), "Non-Negotiable Habits as a Neuroscientist": * Move before the world wakes up * Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate * Sunshine every single day (get outside) * Travel

Solving for Pattern Redux

Well, I am back at it, after being AWOL for several months. In subsequent posts I will address my absence – and my return – but in this post I would like to share some ideas I had while lounging in my bed this morning (remember the "three Bs of creativity&

The WilCo Story Illustrates the TBRI Practice Principles - Part 1

Let me begin by apologizing for taking so long to get this post published ... I really have no good excuse, but the last two months have been challenging, in a number of different ways. Some challenges were positive (finishing our book, preparing for the holidays), whereas others were negative (illness,

The WilCo Story: Just the Facts, Ma'am

As I said in my previous post ("Here's the Plan"), I will share the "WilCo" story in three posts: (1) Just the Facts, Ma'am, (2) TBRI Practice Principles, (3) Cycles of Expansive Learning. This first post focuses on data, and is based

Here's the Plan

Greetings! Here's what I will be posting about over the next month or so: 1. My first series of posts will focus on the "WilCo" (Williamson County Juvenile Justice) story, which I had covered in my fourth Solving for Pattern essay. In what I think will

A New Beginning

As you will know if you have read my previous posts, in early summer I wrote a series of posts describing and analyzing Wendell Berry's important essay, "Solving for Pattern." Then, at the end of July, in a post titled "Interlude," I said was

Interlude

Due to a variety of factors, including deadlines, symposiums, and (most importantly) vacations, my productivity will take a dip – and may disappear altogether – between now and the beginning of September. I have a couple of ideas I would like to post, but I am not making any promises. In the

Standards for Good Solutions, Part 2

This will be the last post that focuses specifically on Wendell Berry's essay, "Solving for Pattern," so let me summarize what has been done so far: 1. In Bad Solutions, I introduced Berry's essay, and discussed two types of bad solutions: unintended consequences and

Zones of Proximal Development

The roots of Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) go all the way back to the the work of the philosopher of language and psychologist, Lev Vygotsky. One of Vygotsky's core ideas was that of the Zone of Proximal Development, or "ZoPeD." According to Vygotsky, the ZoPeD

Cycles of Expansive Learning

In my previous post – Activity Systems – I introduced Yrjö Engeström's Theory of Expansive Learning, which is a version of Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT). In that post I focused on the notion of an activity system, using Earl Spencer's dairy farm as an example. From Engeström&

Activity Systems

Thus far in this blog there have been five posts: Introduction. I introduced who I am, what I intend to do, why I am doing it, and how I will do it. Bad Solutions. I introduced the article that inspired this blog – "Solving for Pattern" by Wendell Berry

Standards for Good Solutions

In the previous three posts I focused on the first two parts of Wendell Berry's important essay, "Solving for Pattern," for which this blog is a namesake. In this post I focus on the third part, which is where Berry identifies fourteen standards for good solutions.

Earl Spencer's Farm

Wendell Berry's essay, "Solving for Pattern," has three parts. The first part was covered in my first two posts, "Bad Solutions" and "Good Solutions." Berry begins the second part of his essay as follows: It would be next to useless, of course,

Good Solutions

In the previous post I reviewed Wendell Berry's two "bad" solutions, one pointing to unintended consequences, and the other pointing to amplifying feedback loops. Basically, both types of solutions make the problem worse because the systems nature of the problem was not taken into account. Berry

Bad Solutions

Greetings! In the next few posts I will work through Wendell Berry's essay, "Solving for Pattern," which has been published as part of an edited collection (Norman Wirzba, ed., The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry. Counterpoint, 2002). It is an extraordinary

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

Coming soon

This is Solving for Pattern, a brand new site by David Cross that's just getting started. Things will be up and running here shortly, but you can subscribe in the meantime if you'd like to stay up to date and receive emails when new content is