Author: freerdan00

Daniel Freer, March 13, 2020

Starting off, what is the purpose of this website? Initially, I want to create a platform for me to pull together all of the work I have done over the years and present it in a professional manner. Through my work, my posts, and my media, I hope that viewers will gain a sense of who I am as a person, what I believe in, and what I hope to achieve in the years to come.

So, who am I? My name is Daniel Freer, son of Ann and Dennis, brother of Matt and Tim, and husband of Blair (Yuting) Yang. I am a roboticist, a researcher, a traveler, a writer, an athlete, a musician. But above all of this I am a human. Like the rest of us, I have good and bad attributes which vary from day to day, and while I work hard to improve myself each day, the future remains unclear.

Throughout the years, I hope to post my opinions on current events, pieces of technology that interest me, topics related to my family, art, company, or work, or various other topics that come to the forefront of my mind. I prefer longer thought pieces to Tweets, and I hope to analyse topics from a relatively unbiased perspective. Of course we all know this is impossible, but I digress.

With that, I will continue on with the rest of the website. I bid you all adieu.

Daniel Freer, Spring 2010

Tough skin.
My heart’s got tough skin.
I’m not one to get too affected by anything, get too harmed by
the daily insults,
the judgements.
I don’t care what they think.
I care what you think. Or him. Or her.
When groups may laugh or break, shatter, destroy, leave in their wake,
even the leader, himself, may be sympathetic.
There is strength in numbers. There is also exploitation of that strength.
I’m not one that gets afraid of sitting on a public toilet, or afraid of
how I smell
how my hair looks,
if my clothes match.
My heart’s got tough skin.
If you don’t like it, you can get out. My heart can stand alone.
You can punch, kick, scream, shout, but
My heart’s got tough skin.
You won’t reach the core.
Of course, if you stab me through,
I’ll bleed.
But first, you’ll need the sword.
But what’s the sword?
A moment, a lifetime, a word?
No weapon thurs far hath pierced me so.
My heart’s got tough skin.
I’ve cried before, don’t get me wrong.
In times you wouldn’t expect. In times I wouldn’t expect.
And in times I thought I would, I haven’t.
I’m scared for when that moment comes
When the sword is unsheathed,
when another knows the shape of my heart better than myself.
Until then, it’s in a case high upon a hidden shelf.
It’s a mystery to me too, the shape of my heart.
I know about the tough skin.
It’s the other stuff that matters. But I know enough to let it show.
I’ll let my tough skin show, too.
And I’ll look at others, without a heart like mine, thinking selfishly
“Wimp.”
“Suck it up.”
Not understanding.
But I must.
Not everyone’s heart has tough skin.
If I can’t understand and accept the shape of others’ hearts, how will they do the same
For mine?
So. Let me see. Let me accept.
Do not let your heart become so immersed in the body that you cannot feel its beat.
Then, maybe, you will see and accept
My tough-skinned heart
And use the sword
Letting my heart bleed out, let it gush, let it shout
uncontrollably.
I long for this. Not because I want the pain. But it is in these moments,
when people look weak,
when they are broken down,
when it’s more than just a tear and a frown,
that the shape of your heart shows out most.
And that’s when I’ll see
beyond the tough skin.
To the important stuff.
The true shape of my heart.

Daniel Freer, Fall 2011

There are times
When we need a light.
Something to show us the way,
Something to tell us what is important,
Something to make known what was before unclear.
Opaque
But what will be illuminated?
The light could be simply leading us astray.
And everything the light does not touch only seems darker.
What emits the light has chosen for you.
A specific path.
A specific plan.
A specific end.
No single path is right for two people.

There are times
When we see more than one light
And these lights compete for the prize of our eyes.
Trying to be brighter than the light adjacent.
PUshing us each and every way
Whatever may benefit them.
Whatever they think is right.
But Ultimately
Allowing us to choose,
Decide,
Deliberate,
Think.
This gives responsibility.
And therefore, anxiety.
For what if we decide wrong?
We need more lights.
More lights will show us the way.
Whatever shines brightest must be correct.
It must be

Some lights are stronger than others.
This does not mean they are more important
Or more correct.

There are times
When there are too many lights,
When a light becomes so bright
That we cannot move for fear of blindness
We cannot squirm for fear of burning
We cannot hope for less than
Complete
And utter
Darkness.
For what if the answer does lie in darkness?
We can feel around
Uncertainly
But that is all that can every be done.
For if one wanders too far,
One might not find his way back.
She is worried.
Vulnerable.
But a light is bound to come.
Pointing you
Somewhere.
And you take this advice, good or bad.

But we mustn’t forget.
We are all lights
And whether we
Leave a lost one to find his own path or
Shine a light on the situation
We mustn’t be brighter than her own light.
The choice is ours to make.
But one should not be alone in such a place.
So if you stray from the lighted way,
I’ll follow you into the dark.