I like that we can post to Scout using our phones; write articles for papers and magazines anywhere using Google Docs; and generally live a nomadic work life. But the bulk of the efforts that go into this website is sprung from pieces of furniture that are infused with deeper, more personal meaning than any other objects that we own. Our desks. Why? Because the traditional desk is still where most of us sit and think, create and communicate. A computer may sit upon it now, but it’s just another tool joining the stapler and pen jar. The desk remains our base of operations, and we dress their flat tops – with books, art and the things we hold most privately dear – to satisfy our need to reflect as human beings without losing our ability to concentrate on daily demands (both digital and analog). The “desktop” – as imagined by IBM and Apple – might often appear poised to make moot the seemingly archaic idea of “the old desk in Father’s study”, yet it’s still here; solid and purposefully weighted with personal history; the cockpit from which we navigate daily life. Thank goodness for that.