I'm Asa (/ˈeɪ.sə/). I have a website now!
CSS is left as an exercise for the browser.
I host the Isometry Group, a Mastodon server mostly for my friends. If you want an invite link to join it, ask me or anyone else who has an account.
Theoretically, I'm a full-time math student researching something called "number theory", which sounds like a fake subject invented by someone who doesn't know anything about math. I'm told it is in fact real.
Some of my favourite math books are Topology, by James Munkres; A Book of Abstract Algebra, by Charles C. Pinter; and Algebra: Chapter 0, by Paolo Aluffi.
I'm interested in technical theatre, especially lighting technology and design. I've done lighting design at Tuesday Night Café, the McGill Savoy Society, and Home Theatre Productions, among others. I also helped found Accordion Theatre, where I recently produced its (and my) first show, in addition to doing the lighting design.
High-quality theatre lighting consoles are extremely expensive, even though the technology doesn't seem fundamentally too complicated. I once had some fun building a basic DMX controller using a few cheap electronic components and writing some very basic software for it. Someday I'd like to try expanding it to be useful for theatre design.
I'm currently doing the lighting design for the McGill Savoy Society's February 2025 production of Iolanthe.
I'm also interested in organizational governance and democratic meeting procedure. I'm quite familiar with Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised—I've read the 11th and 12th editions cover-to-cover—and I've read much of the American Institute of Parliamentarians Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure. I think both are flawed but also widely misunderstood and underrated. I've also read Boards that Make a Difference, by John Carver. I have mixed opinions on it. Next on my list to read is Beyond Adversary Democracy, by Jane Mansbridge.
I'm especially interested in organizations that don't have legal structures to rely on to enforce their rules for them. This usually means organizations with small or no paid staff, where the membership does most or all of the work, like many activist and student-run organizations. I think labour union locals are also sometimes a little like this, but I have little experience with them outside my own (AGSEM, where I often serve as a parliamentarian and a chair).
I've had a recurring problem in organizations that ask me for advice that I don't want to suggest redoing the work of a parliamentary authority themselves, but I also don't have a good parliamentary authority to recommend. I would like to try writing one myself someday.
If you want to talk about how organizations work, or if you're starting or involved in an organization and want help figuring out how to get it to do what you want, send me a message!
I have a camera! Sometimes I bring it to protests to photograph them. I also sometimes take pictures of my friends' cats. Here are some of my favourite cat pictures I've taken. My protest photos have been published in The McGill Daily and The Link.