https://tomciszek.com/writing/ Essays on technology, faith, and American industry. en-us Sat, 04 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://tomciszek.com/ciszek-headshot.jpg https://tomciszek.com/writing/ https://tomciszek.com/writing/posts/california-confession.html https://tomciszek.com/writing/posts/california-confession.html Thu, 25 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT Twenty years. Chapel Hill to Santa Monica. Dogs bark. Beach salt. Birds argue. A cardinal, red punctuation. Reflection https://tomciszek.com/writing/posts/la-churches.html https://tomciszek.com/writing/posts/la-churches.html Sat, 20 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT Los Angeles is a city of distances. I built LA Churches to help Angelenos discover places of worship near them—a simple tool for finding sacred space in the sprawl. Building https://tomciszek.com/writing/posts/corrective-posture.html https://tomciszek.com/writing/posts/corrective-posture.html Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT Action flowing from contemplation. Obedience embraced publicly. Beauty and slowness. Silence built into systems. Failure accepted when fidelity demands it. Reflection https://tomciszek.com/writing/posts/la-mistica.html https://tomciszek.com/writing/posts/la-mistica.html Mon, 08 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT Rome reminded me that life itself is mystical. Not only in the great basilicas or marble corridors, but in the hidden corners: a side chapel before dawn, a security guard after 9am Mass, a quiet altar of St. Joseph where silence feels like strength. Reflection https://tomciszek.com/writing/posts/mapping-americas-makers.html https://tomciszek.com/writing/posts/mapping-americas-makers.html Wed, 29 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT This week we launched the Trade Schools Map, a live, searchable directory of 1,031 schools across all 50 states teaching the trades that keep America running: welding, diesel, HVAC, machining, and more. Building https://tomciszek.com/writing/posts/building-in-public.html https://tomciszek.com/writing/posts/building-in-public.html Wed, 22 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT The past few months have been a blur of building in public, meeting with manufacturers, defense innovators, investors, and policymakers, all toward one goal: rebuilding America's industrial backbone. Building