Episode 34: Staying Hum-Babel with Henry Zhu

Sponsored By:
Panelists Pia Mancini | Justin Dorfman | Eric Berry | Richard
Littauer Guest Henry Zhu (https://twitter.com/left_pad/photo) Babel
(https://babeljs.io/) Show Notes [00:01:30] Henry explains how he
got involved in Babel and how it’s funded. [00:03:18] Eric wonders
if Henry wishes he could just step away and just cut ties with it
and go do something completely different and how tight is he with
this project. He gives a great answer to this! [00:04:39] Pia was
wondering if Henry’s relationship with the project itself or his
view with Babel changed since he started working full time there.
In the beginning, Henry started this as a side job while he worked
at Adobe. [00:08:06] Since a lot of maintainers may get to a point
in their lives where the issues stack up, but not putting into
perspective how big this project is, Justin asks Henry how he deals
with this since this is such a huge project and he explains.
[00:011:18] Justin wonders how Henry deals with Devs that are
coming in and just saying, “Fix it, now,” and hit and run issues.
[00:13:06] Henry talks about how as maintainers view each other as
extremes. He brings up the quote from “The Dark Knight” as a
reference to what he talks about. [00:15:10] Henry mentioned
earlier about how Open Source communities could look at faith
communities, religion, or church communities. Pia wonders if he has
anything in mind from his experience that he wants to share, which
he does. [00:20:14] Justin makes a right turn and wants Henry to go
into his involvement with TC39 and how it helps him, Babel, and the
sustainability with the JavaScript language as a whole. Also, he
talks about what he’s accomplished since he joined. [00:24:57]
Justin asks Henry about travel expenses and if anyone pays for
them. [00:26:42] Pia brings up some good points about how we can
learn how to heal and support ourselves during these troubling
times. She wonders if Henry knows any ways that the community is
supporting each other and where can we best spend our time and
energy helping the members of our community going through what
we’re all going through now. Spotlight [00:34:56] Richard’s
spotlight is “Hope in Source” podcast. [00:35:03] Justin’s
spotlight is openfoodnetwork.org. [00:35:38] Pia’s spotlight is
mutualaid.nyc. [00:36:07] Richard has another spotlight which is
Gary Snyder’s poetry. [00:36:50] Henry’s spotlight is his favorite
gospel, which is Mark. Quotes [00:14:04] “You either die a hero, or
you live long enough to see yourself become a villain.” Links Henry
Zhu’s Twitter
(https://twitter.com/left_pad?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor)
Henry’s Zoo (https://www.henryzoo.com/) “Hope In Source” podcast
(https://hopeinsource.com/) Babel (https://babeljs.io/) Maintainers
Anonymous (https://maintainersanonymous.com/) TC39
(https://tc39.es/) Open Food Network
(https://www.openfoodnetwork.org/) Mutual Aid NYC
(https://mutualaid.nyc/) Gary Snyder
(https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/gary-snyder) Credits
Produced by Justin Dorfman at CodeFund Edited by Paul M. Bahr at
Peachtree Sound (https://www.peachtreesound.com/) Show notes by
DeAnn Bahr at Peachtree Sound (https://www.peachtreesound.com/) Ad
Sales by Eric Berry at CodeFund Special Guest: Henry Zhu.