Our latest JOIN 101 video, featuring the great Hahrie Han speaking to the way our routine civic activities in local community organizations are the building blocks of a strong democracy -->

JOIN OR DIE shoutout on Las Culturistas today — 10 days left to watch the film on Netflix, but no expiration date to join a club in real life! 🙏🏼🎳🙏🏼

WAYDATYCBDT? #6 | LEADING with Kellen Klein Sisters, Oregon's Kellen Klein on getting local leaders to get together

Our latest JOIN 101 story is up — What Are You Doing Alone That You Could Be Doing Together? #6, about how Kellen Klein organizes the local leaders of Sisters, Oregon through a monthly exchange of updates, needs, offers, dreams, and gratitude: open.substack.com/pub/join101/...

High schoolers need to learn interpersonal finance too: how to collectively bargain with employers and landlords, how to sue in court when corporations rip you off, how cooperative purchasing saves you money, how local civic culture serves local economic development, etc.

I don't think so!

WAYDATYCBDT? #5 | WALKING AROUND with John Crowley Petaluma, California's John Crowley on asking his town to take a walk

This week we meet Petaluma, California's John Crowley, who asked his town to take a walk together with Wednesday Walks: join101.substack.com/p/waydatycbd...

WAYDATYCBDT? #5 | WALKING AROUND with John Crowley Petaluma, California's John Crowley on asking his town to take a walk

We just posted the latest "What Are You Doing Alone That You Could Be Doing Together?" — our JOIN 101 series on people who asked themselves this question and answered it with a new community-building innovation: join101.substack.com/p/waydatycbd...

"Seeing each other's dreams as part of our own": A conversation with author and filmmaker Pete Davis For most of my life, the word “community” evoked images of boring town hall meetings and community centers with faded carpets and janky foosball tables.

@petedavis.bsky.social calls this "co-creation of our shared world," and argues that it only works when enough people see each other's dreams as their own.

Watch our full conversation: thebeaconproject.substack.com/p/seeing-eac...

Reflections on Sentimental Value

WAYDATYCBDT? #4 | OFFERING with Anna Greenstein Minneapolis, Minnesota's Anna Greenstein on Barter Hour and the community-building magic of trading together

This week, Anna Greenstein on Barter Hour, a Minneapolis-based event where neighbors get to know each other by swapping goods and services: join101.substack.com/p/waydatycbd...

WAYDATYCBDT? #4 | OFFERING with Anna Greenstein Minneapolis, Minnesota's Anna Greenstein on Barter Hour and the community-building magic of trading together

We just posted the latest "What Are You Doing Alone That You Could Be Doing Together?" — our JOIN 101 series on people who asked themselves this question and answered it with a new community-building innovation.

Deschooling the World: The Living Invitation of a Lost Prophet Ivan Illich's gift was his ability to hold paradoxes and to trust in God

Our first listener-submitted reflection for the Lost Prophets community just published, on Ivan Illich and the tension of institutional engagement: www.lostprophets.org/p/deschoolin...

Reflections on F1

WAYDATYCBDT? #3 | WORKING OUT with David Osorio Brooklyn, New York's David Osorio on CrossFit South Brooklyn and building a *strong* community

This episode we meet David Osorio, who built CrossFit South Brooklyn from a small group working out in a park into an 800-member community hub that hosts fun events, sprouts subgroups, and has raised over half a million dollars for neighborhood causes: join101.substack.com/p/waydatycbd...

WAYDATYCBDT? #3 | WORKING OUT with David Osorio Brooklyn, New York's David Osorio on CrossFit South Brooklyn and building a *strong* community

At JOIN 101, we just posted the third edition of WHAT ARE YOU DOING ALONE THAT YOU COULD BE DOING TOGETHER?: join101.substack.com/p/waydatycbd...

There's a different way.

News is a public good and so the market will undersupply it.

It should be subsidized and Americans can each decide which media institutions they want to support.
democracypolicy.network/agenda/stron...

Train Dreams reflections

Once heard Peter Levine say that there were four pillars of a city's civic life mid-century that most Americans had a connection with: Daily Newspaper, Labor Union, Political Party, Religious Congregation. All four are in crisis—and we need some form of each to be rejuvenated.

The congressional hearing is a dying art, and if we want to heal this country, we need to rejuvenate it. Congressional hearings are like tort law or the jury or the ballot—a foundational pillar of democracy. It's where the people's branch begins responding to public problems.

Bring in Mandelson, Hoffman, Musk, Thiel, Clinton, Dershowitz, Allen, Trump, Ruemmler, etc. and ask about what happened. This is basic responsive governance after a major national scandal—and should be a demand on Dems (and campaign promise by Dems!) if they win in 2026.

There is a very simple low-hanging fruit to start the process of accountability for the Epstein network (and rebuild national trust): Congressional hearings that subpoena all major players mentioned in the release to ask basic questions under oath.

WAYDATYCBDT? #2 | BEING A REGULAR with Jared Joiner Oakland, California's Jared Joiner on "Revival Rounds" and supporting local businesses while building civic culture

The second edition of WHAT ARE YOU DOING ALONE THAT YOU COULD BE DOING TOGETHER? just dropped: On the appropriately named Jared Joiner, who is supporting local businesses and building civic culture with REVIVAL ROUNDS —> join101.substack.com/p/waydatycbd...

Bugonia reflections

WAYDATYCBDT? #1 | WELCOMING with Tony Bacigalupo Norwalk, Connecticut's Tony Bacigalupo on "New in Town Meetups" and resurrecting the club directory

We just published the first edition of "What are you doing alone that you could be doing together?" — a series on civic creators by JOIN 101, the next phase of JOIN OR DIE's mission: join101.substack.com/p/waydatycbd...

#20. bell hooks (ft. Nadra Nittle) A lost prophet who mixed her Kentucky roots, Christian and Buddhist spirituality, and intersectional feminism to dismantle the systemic barriers we have built to hold back love

We just posted the 20th LOST PROPHETS— on bell hooks, who mixed her Kentucky roots, Christian and Buddhist spirituality, and intersectional feminism to dismantle the systemic barriers we have built to hold back love: www.lostprophets.org/p/20-bell-ho...

The Year That Was and Wasn’t We asked some of our favorite journalists, writers, and thinkers: What were the most important events of 2025, and what were the least?

“The campaign was powered by an embodied, local patriotism—of city pride and love of neighbor—rather than the imperial, saber-rattling faux ‘patriotism’ that has been misleading us for a quarter century.” ← @petedavis.bsky.social on 2025 themorningnews.org/2025-the-yea...

Nader already listed 22 offenses back in May, before more illegal military actions, abuses of the pardon power, and shady dealing in the months since: nader.org/2025/05/05/l...

Was asked by @themorningnews.org to share what I thought was the most important thing that happened in 2025, and offered the following reflections on the significance of @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social’s campaign:

#19. William H. Whyte (ft. Alexandra Whyte) A lost prophet whose thick observations of the social and physical structures we build and inhabit led to lasting insights — groupthink, Organization Men, urban sprawl, placemaking, and more

The latest LOST PROPHETS: WILLIAM H. WHYTE, a lost prophet whose thick observations of the social and physical structures we build and inhabit led to lasting insights — groupthink, Organization Men, urban sprawl, placemaking, and more: www.lostprophets.org/p/19-william...

The message: Trump (and the presidency as a whole) is the end point of elite criminal rot and must be cleaned up and out…as a means to make way for the actual work of delivering with and for the American people an actual agenda that serves their practical, popular interests.