'Where does your motivation come from?'
I just finished a book. I'm quite proud of it. And I'm not ashamed to admit that I want it to be successful. I want people to recognize...
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Patrick O'Neill
- Oct 11, 2023
- 2 min
Maybe I was the asshole?
So, in hindsight, maybe I was the asshole. My job as an English teacher is such a gift. It allows me to see the same people, week after...
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Patrick O'Neill
- Jun 24, 2023
- 2 min
'Candlenight': Could it be fun saving Earth?
When I was 11, a massive pine tree fell onto our family car, folding it in half like a crumpled soda can. I remember my parents standing...
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Patrick O'Neill
- Jun 16, 2023
- 2 min
Speaking with the Dead
What was it like in your great-great-grandmother’s childhood home? What did her father do? And more importantly, was he kind? People will...
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Patrick O'Neill
- Feb 3, 2023
- 3 min
My First Date with AI
It seems like every other person I talk to is losing their mind over Open AI's new Chat GPT software. Some say it will catapult us into...
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Patrick O'Neill
- Dec 24, 2022
- 2 min
How (and why) to Focus Your Inner Critic
I was 13, hanging over the boards of an ice hockey rink, taking deep breaths of cold air. It smelt like fresh concrete and rubber. I had...
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Patrick O'Neill
- Dec 15, 2022
- 1 min
What does your Crest say?
This is the interior of the Jerusalem Church in Bruges, Belgium. A man named Anselmus Adornes embarked on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land...
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Patrick O'Neill
- Dec 8, 2022
- 2 min
Rewards: A bonus, or a bribe?
A member of our Speak Away Community shared a story about a Stanford University experiment. “They found children who drew in order to get...
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Patrick O'Neill
- Dec 5, 2022
- 2 min
Are you too comfortable?
A close friend of mine has been going to “Fight Club” in the city center. The real deal – lots of migrant workers in a dimly-lit alleyway...
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Patrick O'Neill
- Nov 25, 2022
- 1 min
Downtime is the 'Real You'
Last weekend, I laid down in the middle of a big, sunlit field. I watched the clouds pass overhead, as Bob Dylan’s defeated voice...
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Patrick O'Neill
- Nov 19, 2022
- 2 min
Talk to me, Baby
You don’t like being patronized. EFL students don’t either. I used to work in an English school with a long yellow hallway. My classroom...
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