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 →

Erin and Michelle host the Style Your Life podcast. They wanted to learn and share with their audience about habits, which are the foundation of a lifestyle. They can be if you choose. They led a conversation around habits and how to keep from quitting them. I talk and write a lot about habits and sidchas here. This conversation is a friendly, non-intense entry point. Few things improve a life[…] Keep reading →

Context Before starting the Leadership and the Environment podcast, I gave a series of talks on environmental action at NYU—my first foray into applying leadership to the environment. By then I had experimented enough an practicing stewardship to have experienced the joy that it brought. I felt compelled to share my results and how to act on them. Every would-be leader of any renown I’d heard speak on the environment[…] Keep reading →

Following three previous posts here Why are we so blind to sexism that hurts men and boys? Philadelphia and Starbucks: How blind are we to sexism hurting men? More missing sexism when it hurts men and countless incidents in life, here is yet another story with blatant sexism largely unremarked on. To be sure, some remark on it, but far from how much they recognize the racism. The New York[…] Keep reading →