Introducing Pilcrow House: A place in Philadelphia for interesting ideas

Hello friends! It's been a while! You likely signed up for this after reading one of my essays on Medium or seeing something on Twitter. I send this thing every few months, mostly a wrap-up of stuff I'm working on, thinking about, and the best reading from around the web — all ending with a sweet flag. See past issues here. Now, to the newsletter:

I spent a lot of time leading up my 32nd birthday reflecting on what I'd like the next phase of my life and career to look like. And eventually I realized I needed a set of values to make my choices.

So I came up with three guidelines that I'm proud of:

1 - I want to make my city a better place.
2 - I want to help make the internet a better place.
3 - I want to optimize for the long term and build things that grow slowly and last a lifetime.

As a result I've spent the past few months rearranging some things in my life to better line up with these three values. It's been fun and scary but freeing. Here they are:

Value #1: Try to make my city a better place — I’m launching a new event series.

It’s called Pilcrow House. You can read the full announcement post here.

The big picture: I’d love to eventually open an event space in Philadelphia that attracts leading thinkers in business, politics, culture, and sports. And I'd like to build a community of folks online and off that are interested in depth, nuance, and talking through the issues that are shaping the world around us.

But first up is a series of test events. I’m announcing the first one: a sit down with best-selling author and entrepreneurs (and my former boss!) Scott Belsky. You can get tickets here and the first 50 attendees get a free copy of Scott’s book. We read so much about starting companies or "exiting" them. But the devil is in the middle part of the journey. The hard part. I think we'll be talking more about that as a society, and I'm pleased to welcome Scott to Philadelphia to discuss.

➡️ Buy tickets here ⬅️

- Oh, and I’m currently working on a handful of follow-up events and am thiiiiissss close to confirming two others, featuring writers for prominent national magazines. To be the first to know when new events (and maybe podcasts?) are released, subscribe to Pilcrow House for updates.

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Value #2: Trying to make the internet a better place — I have a new job!

I'm pleased to say that I am now the Editorial Director at InVision, the growing design platform. I’ve long admired the community focus of InVision and I’m excited to return to serving the design world. If the past few years have taught us anything, it's that the way we design digital products has a large impact on our country and our discourse. So I hope to help play a small part in improving the lives of the people that do that. Plus helping to build editorial brands is really fun, especially for a brand I respect. (I hope to have more updates as I settle in there. But it’s only day five!)

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Value #3: I want to optimize for the long term — I've purchased a home in South Philadelphia.

In my life I've lived in 4 states and have moved 16 times (I counted!). I thought I would rent forever. But I'm excited to lay down roots in a city and a region I care deeply about. So if you're in the Point Breeze area of the city, let me know. And you're all invited to the housewarming party. But first I need to buy a couch.

Other updates:

🗣The Discourse, my newsletter about the way we talk to one another has crossed 1,400 subscribers. You can learn more and subscribe here.
 

🇬🇷Official newsletter flag (for now): 

... and this canton is a blue and white cross symbolizing the Greek Orthodox Church. But those 9 stripes? There’s some debate. But most sources claim it’s for the nine syllables of the Greek phrase for “eleftheria h thanatos" (“Freedom or Death”). Which was the battle cry as the country freed itself from Ottoman rule in the 19th century. Though some claim it represents the nine muses of Greek mythology.

Dear reader, you'll always be my muse. Thanks for making space in your inbox for this newsletter.

Love,
Sean