As a proud member of Flight Free USA, where I’ve pledged another joyful year of not flying, I’m extending to you the invitation they extended to me. I just watched it. It’s touching and honest as a documentary and she is honest, genuine, and authentic as a leader and person. After years of people asking me, confused, why I would act in service of the environment, asking me why I’m[…] Keep reading →

I’ve written how I pick up litter every day in the northwest corner of Washington Square Park on top of the other litter I pick up daily. For the twenty-one years I’ve lived here, walking through that corner after dusk means someone approaching saying, “smoke smoke, weed, smoke smoke.” Since the pandemic that corner has evolved to harder drugs. I saw a guy smoking something other than cannabis a couple[…] Keep reading →

I can’t believe how much today’s ride tired me out. I’ll only post the high-level details before going to sleep. I recently got a new used bike—a touring bike designed to carry enough to go bike camping. The summer between high school and college, a friend and I rode from Philadelphia to Bar Harbor, Maine and back—about 1,500 miles. For years I used bikes as my main commuting vehicles, until[…] Keep reading →

I saw her speak at West Point about a year and a half ago. In a room including colonels, generals, and cadets, she riveted the audience with humor, stories, wit, and insight. My favorite insight was her sharing her friendship with Scalia. Their nearly opposite politics didn’t stop them from things like he would secretly pass her notes while hearing cases to try to make her laugh. Her sharing contributed[…] Keep reading →

I want to write a headline one day saying, “How I Led the Washington Square Park Drug Dealers to Clean the Park,” or something like it for a story in the paper. Likely? No. Possible? Yes. For longer than the twenty years I’ve lived in Greenwich Village, drug dealers have operated wantonly in the northwest corner of Washington Square Park. “Smoke smoke . . . weed weed,” they say as[…] Keep reading →

Interviewing Joe De Sena for the podcast led to each of us inspiring each other, which led to friendship, which led to him inviting me to his Vermont farm, which is where I am. Joe founded The Spartan Race, an obstacle course that grew a movement. This picture illustrates the community. Several people I told I was coming up here knew about this farm and said, “You’re doing the Death[…] Keep reading →

People keep asking what motivates me, why I act differently than most. I recorded this video describing three threads starting from my childhood leading to my actions today. I recorded in the treehouse my stepfather built for the grandchildren. Notes Below are the notes I practiced from. I didn’t try to follow them perfectly. How people describe me now I try to explain but they never get it so had[…] Keep reading →