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What is Experience?

The world is changing — because of technology, because of the climate, because of innovations and new ideas about work, play, and human relationships. Experience is here to document those changes and explore how experience is the key to navigating this new world.
Our stories explore how experience drives people to discovery and insight; how industries and cultures are adapting and evolving; how we can assess our own experiences and use them to power learning and growth. Experience is published by Northeastern University.

Have an idea for an Experience story? Check out our submission guidelines.

About Northeastern

For more than a century, Northeastern University has placed experience at the heart of its mission, in teaching, research, and global engagement. That’s because experience is the push that gives learning and discovery connection, insight, and impact. Experience is how people learn over their lifetimes, staying nimble and relevant. Experience is education. Learn more about Northeastern.

Staff

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Joanna Weiss @JoannaWeiss

DESIGN DIRECTOR
Michael Workman @MichaelWorkman

SENIOR EDITOR
Schuyler Velasco @Schuyler_V

EDITOR, PARTNERSHIPS AND ENGAGEMENT
Ceci Menchetti @CeciMenchetti

© 2019 Northeastern University
First Person

Vicarious experiences

Stories in First Person

The Experience Questionnaire: Garrett M. Graff

The Experience Questionnaire: Jake Burns

The Experience Questionnaire: Lisa Taddeo

The Experience Questionnaire: Alice Cooper

The Experience Questionnaire: Tess Gerritsen

I got hypnotized to quit vaping

By Megan Johnson

Stories in First Person

The Experience Questionnaire: Barak Goodman

In Paris, an amateur baker meets her match — macarons

By Lian Parsons-Thomason

My (many) conversations with a talk therapy app

By Ceci Menchetti

The Experience Questionnaire: Chuck Klosterman

The Experience Questionnaire: Ken Burns

The Experience Questionnaire: Jeff Kinney

Stories in First Person

The Experience Questionnaire: M. Sanjayan

The Experience Questionnaire: Karyn Parsons

The Experience Questionnaire: James McMurtry

The Experience Questionnaire: Marc Cohn

The Experience Questionnaire: Aimee Mann

The Experience Questionnaire: Joey Santiago

Stories in First Person

The Experience Questionnaire: Joel Murray

The Experience Questionnaire: John Cameron Mitchell

The Experience Questionnaire: The Allman Betts Band

The Experience Questionnaire: Keb’ Mo’

The Experience Questionnaire: Pati Jinich

The Experience Questionnaire: Irvine Welsh

Stories in First Person

At this fast food restaurant, machines do the cooking

By Heather Kapplow

To get across Hanoi, you have to go with the flow

By John Fox

The Experience Questionnaire: Solomon Georgio

The Experience Questionnaire: James Holzhauer

The Experience Questionnaire: Mike O’Malley

Visiting the ghosts of Hollywood’s past — and maybe hearing them talk

By Alison Stevenson

Stories in First Person

The Experience Questionnaire: Desi Lydic

The Experience Questionnaire: Remi Adeleke

An adult learning piano? Put on your headphones.

By Evan Judd

Alone on the mountain — where I belonged

By Andy Pepper

The Experience Questionnaire: Tara Westover

No light, no sound, no worries: An hour in a ‘float suite’

By Allen Strickland Williams

Stories in First Person

The Experience Questionnaire: Cecile Richards

That’s not my name

By Schuyler Velasco

‘I’ll die before all these kids die.’

The Experience Questionnaire: Frankie Quinones

I Tried It: Self-defense class

By Erin Kennedy

I Tried It: Swimming with whale sharks

By Amy Sutherland

Stories in First Person

Sterilization was my choice. It felt like everyone else’s.

By Megan Koester

The Experience Questionnaire: Arlo Guthrie

The most dangerous part of scuba diving

By Christina Wood

I Tried It: ‘Tinder for friendship’

By Margaret Eby

This is why I carry a gun

The Experience Questionnaire: Karen Kilgariff

Stories in First Person

The ghost in my Netflix account

By Jen Deaderick

The Experience Questionnaire: Min Jin Lee

My life as a polyamorist

What you do after your house burns down

By Jessica Palombo Gustafson

The Experience Questionnaire: Dana Gordon

I Tried It: Ax throwing

By Megan Johnson

Stories in First Person

I passed out in a Cold War fallout shelter

By Glenn McDonald

When your real-life friend is your Facebook troll

By Jim Sullivan

The Experience Questionnaire: Andre Dubus III

The Experience Questionnaire: Deepak Chopra

I Tried It: Silent retreat

By Glenn McDonald

The Experience Questionnaire: Lisa Genova

Stories in First Person

I don’t want to stop singing ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside.’

By Debbie Gravitte

The Experience Questionnaire: Amanda Palmer

The Experience Questionnaire: DeAnne Smith

At hospice, we wrote the final chapter of our friendship

By Jim Sullivan

I Tried It: Climbing Kilimanjaro

By Duduetsang Chappelle-Molloy

The Experience Questionnaire: Richard Thompson

Stories in First Person

I Tried It: Aura photo

By Schuyler Velasco

How I realized I was ‘they’

By Jama Shelton

The Experience Questionnaire: Justine Bateman

Pulling the trigger

By Tracy Hahn-Burkett

How to make a difference after a school shooting

By Julia Beck

The Experience Questionnaire: Heidi Zak