Welcome to the party.
There is one thing I have in spades: fascinating, inspiring friends building meaningful lives. Through their work. In their communities. With their families. I don't know how I got them and I rarely am convinced I deserve them. But I have these friends nonetheless - I want to share them with you.
This newsletter is a small personal project with an admittedly selfish goal. I want to create a sustained conversation with the people that matter most in my life and who help me make sense of the world.
And I want you to be a part of it.
Every week, I get to share articles, memes, videos, ideas, IG posts, quick thoughts via text, emails, etc. with my wonderful community. Sometimes I see their work - podcasts, work projects, art - and am blown away. They range from ridiculous to serious. Each one contributes to the way I see myself and the world. They inspire me, make me laugh, push me to love, and invite me to think.
You know those dinner parties that turn into something richer than you'd hoped or planned for? A good meal gives way to a conversation that goes late into the night. You open a few more bottles of wine than you had planned. You blow past a sensible bedtime for the sake of more time together. (There is a great passage in Wallace Stegner's Crossing to Safety about such a dinner party; if you haven't read it you should. This was a recommendation from a friend. It's a good example of what I hope to pass along.)
My hope is that this space becomes like those dinner parties. I want you to come and get to know wonderful people working on amazing things. I want you to hear their stories and encounter their thinking.
More importantly, I want you to share. What you thinking about? What are you working on? What caused you to see the world a bit differently this week?
The content of this newsletter may very well depend on you're engagement with it. Sure, I'll find things to share on my own. But that's never as good as you and I uncovering something together and sharing it with a broader audience.
This week we start with one of my favorite human beings. I met Ngofeen Mputubwele more than a decade ago in Washington, D.C.
Alternative framing/introduction to the newsletter:
I'm a teacher. I've taught x, y & z. One of the things I love about the work I do is that I get to teach and coach leaders on a wide range of topics. Are projects are always about learning - uncovering something new that helps us make sense of what we're doing. I think about the world this way because of how learning has shaped my own life. In my short time on this earth, I've changed my thinking a lot. From politics and theology to community and my personal passions, I'm hardly the same person I was 5 or 10 years ago.
What I'm Thinking 🧠
What I'm Reading 📖
What I'm Listening To 🎧
What I'm Writing ✏️
What I'm Watching 📺
What I'm Doing 🏃♂️