Hi Friends,

This is the eighth week in a row that I’ve managed to publish a Seeking Tribe newsletter. The reality is that this takes a non-trivial amount of my time and energy. I would estimate that I spend close to five hours a week between reading, writing, and editing. That usually involves at least one cold brew and some kind of fried chicken sandwich from my neighborhood café, Hank’s Austin.

The most important part of today’s newsletter is that you fill out this brief survey. Your input will be invaluable as I determine how best to proceed with Seeking Tribe. It’s six, short questions, completely anonymous, and you can complete it in the next 30 seconds if you want.

Thank you for taking the time to give me your honest feedback.

Right now, I have two interrelated focuses:

Grow the community and refine our offerings at IndieThinkers.org
Conduct research and build a portfolio of interviews, blogs, and videos related to ‘community-building’ in the 21st century

The former is my full-time job and the latter is a side-project that I hope will be advantageous as we continue to grow and solve our short-term money problems.

After reading my book, Lead The Future, over a dozen people have asked me to get started on my next one. They were surprised that it was genuinely good (at least that’s what the reviews say) and were left wanting more. I don’t anticipate that I’ll publish another book within the next two years but I am ready to allocate some of my free-time to a more deliberate research process.

If you have recommendations for friendly-interviews, books, or other resources related to ‘community,’ please feel free to send them to me. I will start quite broad and narrow my focus as the process goes on. Right now, I just know that I love the day-to-day work involved in cultivating ‘a community’ and that I’m committed to finding the people that decide I’m their kind of weird. This is an area of expertise where I aspire to continue to distinguish myself.

I am unsure how committed I am to the word community which is why I added the ‘', although it works for now. My friend, Sloane, recommended the works of Robert Nisbet to me (including sending me this book—what a great friend) and I’ve read just enough to be a bit uneasy using the term.

Kanye West and Donda

Since moving to Austin, I have made a little time to date. The release of Donda today inspired an important ethical question related to my dating life:

Grant 🌄 @grantadever

on what date do I have to wear the Kanye 2020 hat before it's a lie of omission?

I purchased the hat in October of 2020. It unfortunately did not arrive until after the election. Since then, it has become one of my favorite pieces of clothing. It is also one of my best performing investments in the last year. The cheapest one on Ebay costs $110 + shipping. It has appreciated in value by at least 31%—and my sweat drenched one is likely worth more to the right buyer. Don’t worry, it’s not for sale.

From our ‘Hawaiian Pizza’ themed party this past Friday. People wore Hawaiian shirts and we provided five pizzas from a NY-style shop down the road that is surprisingly good.

If you didn’t know that I’m a Kanye fan, I’m sorry if this comes as a disappointment to you. The good news is that means you haven’t read one of my highest rated essays 999 Real Fans—a synthesis of Kevin Kelly’s 1,000 True Fans and the teachings of Ye.

Donda is a banger. Nearly 2 hours of excellent, well-produced tracks. I don’t even usually like Kanye’s albums when they first drop, they tend to grow on me over time. This is a no-skip album. The album drop derailed my morning. I woke up to a text from my roommate saying it had been released and it immediately consumed the first two hours of my day. No regrets.

On the first play through, these were a few of my favorite tracks:

I highly recommend giving it a spin in its entirety. It may have taken awhile to drop but it seems like it was worth the wait. I’ll be digging into it a bit more over the next week.

Please do not forget to complete my short, sweet survey. Your input will influence the future of Seeking Tribe. The feedback I get from each of you makes every post better. Did you notice ~60% less bolding in this one? Thank my friend Sonya for the constructive criticism.

I hope y’all have a wonderful week.

Your friend,
Grant

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