A few weeks ago, in church, the priest talked about the difficulty of supporting organizations whose actions we disagree with. He shared his own struggle, as a Black man and Jesuit priest, belonging to an institution that had owned and sold slaves in its history – most notoriously, the sale of hundreds of slaves in [...]

I turned 30 a few weeks ago, and had big plans to write about all the wisdom I’ve accumulated in the last three decades. I was influenced by writers like Ryan Holiday, whose latest birthday post – 35 Lessons on the Way to 35 – includes gems like “walks improve almost everything,” and “most people [...]

I was raised Catholic, and grew up really disliking church. I fought more with my parents over that one hour on Sunday mornings than I did about practically anything else. The itchy dress shirt, the smelly incense and the kneeling were torture, and I tried everything I could to escape the boredom of it all. [...]

Now that spring is here in New York City, I’ve started walking to and from work over the Brooklyn Bridge. The three mile trip takes about 25 minutes longer than my normal subway ride, but it’s worth it. Every morning, on the bridge, I pass an elderly couple walking in the opposite direction. They are [...]

“Help others without any reason and give without the expectation of receiving anything in return.” – Roy T. Bennett Recently, while volunteering at the Meatloaf Kitchen, a food service for hungry New Yorkers, a guest named Sam told me something surprising: Bombas socks are “hated” by the homeless community in New York City. Bombas is [...]

“Everybody wants to save the Earth; nobody wants to help Mom do the dishes.” – P.J. O’Rourke I first learned about mutual aid from a reader of this newsletter in December 2020. I had asked everyone to share the things that made them happiest in the previous week, and for this particular reader, making deliveries [...]

“Ask, ‘Why is this so unbearable? Why can’t I endure it?’ You’ll be embarrassed to answer.” – Marcus Aurelius During the month of January, Anne and I followed the Whole 30 program, which required us to eliminate dairy, grains, legumes, alcohol, added sugars and processed food from our diet entirely. Over the coming weeks, we’ll [...]

“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.” Harper Lee Another year down and another book list to reflect on. I ended up reading 62 books in 2022, twelve more than last year and weighted much more heavily towards fiction. As usual, the final tally is [...]

I have mixed feelings about my writing this past year. I was substantially less productive than in 2021, and ended up averaging just two posts per month, a far cry from the 52 emails I planned to send back in January. Even worse, I was wildly inconsistent – I started the year publishing weekly, went [...]