Once upon a recent time there existed the "culture class." This consisted of bohemian artists, intellectuals, and the rich kids who funded & hung out w them This culture class was responsible for sceniuses such as Warhol's Factory, Gertude Stein's salon, the Algonquin Round Table, Bloomsbury Group, etc etc. They're called the culture class because they used to *create* our culture There are lots of reasons the culture class is producing sceniuses at a rapidly declining rate. In particular, most of the culture class has gotten eaten by political ideologies that make people worse at thinking and creating But that's an old story. I want to address to remnants of the culture class that haven't been ideologically captured. Listen up To you who remain, I say this: TRAVEL LESS The members of the culture class who remain are addicted to travel. "Want to perform your dance piece at my showcase?" "Can't, sorry, I'm doing a residency in Virginia" "Come join my writing group?" "I'm away for a workshop series all summer" My feeling is that people are trying to find magic elsewhere rather than take agency for producing it at home. But that magic elsewhere is ephemeral This constant traveling makes it impossible to build the sort of community that leads to scenius. Stein Salon met every Saturday. Bloomsbury Group met twice per week (once for writers/philosophers & once for artists). Algonquin Round Table ate lunch *every weekday* (plus a Saturday poker night) If you want to change the world, you need collaborators. If you have those, you need to make regular, in-person contact with them your top priority. Start now