Hi Everyone,

Happy Friday! Thanks for spending part of it reading The Lake Street Journal.

Normal Is Forgotten. Only Weird Survives

I found a couple awesome things this week. Here's the first - an article on being weird, from George Mack, the guy who wrote the excellent piece on high agency.

His basic point is that we do much of our "normal" behavior because it is what society accepts. Nobody will look at us funny for doing it. But much of society's normal behavior is outrageous: being overweight, in debt, sedentary, eating ultra processed foods. Sure, that stuff is normal, but it's not good!

What we should actually be doing are the things we like that society also finds weird. If people think it's weird, you're doing it because it genuinely brings you joy. That's a recipe for happiness and being an interesting person.

This is worth reading, thinking on, and taking to heart. If you enjoy it, you'll also enjoy this essay from Paul Graham on a similar topic.

Conversations with Peter Santanello

Peter Santanello has a YouTube channel with over 4 million subscribers. He travels across the country and makes videos documenting his interactions with Americans across the spectrum—from Bloods and Crips to the Amish to the people of Appalachia.

I've never watched any of his videos, but I listened to him on a podcast this week, and he was excellent. So I listened to him on another podcast, which was also excellent. Then I bought his new book, Your Fellow Americans.

His stories lack the slant of the mainstream media, and he paints a much brighter picture of America than you'll find on TV. It's very positive and encouraging. Listening to him reminded me of the Mark Twain quote, "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts."

If you like the book Our Towns by James and Deb Fallows, which I've been raving about for years, I think you'll also enjoy this.

• Shorter podcast (I liked this one better)

• Longer podcast

• Book

Song of the Week

I love songs that tell stories. I also love thinking about the fragility of life—how only a few bad decisions separate my life from an entirely different parallel life. This song does both of those things. Hope you enjoy.

Quote of the Week

"You can probably take it as a rule of thumb from now on that if people don't think you're weird, you're living badly." - Paul Graham

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Talk soon,

Joe