October 10, 2025

Civics

"Parties are a public service, you’re doing people a favor by throwing them."

Uri Bram is a writer, publisher, and entrepreneur. He is the Editor-at-Large of The Browser, the author of Thinking Statistically, and the creator of the social word game, Person Do Thing, which challenges players to use simple vocabulary to communicate complex ideas.

Uri Bram has apparently spent a lot of time thinking about how people interact at gatherings. Building on personal experience, social observation, and thoughtful experimentation, he summarizes what he's learned about hosting great parties. I like how he draws from real-life lessons about group dynamics.

"Prioritize your ease of being over any other consideration: parties are like babies, if you’re stressed while holding them they’ll get stressed too. Every other decision is downstream of your serenity: e.g. it's better to have mediocre pizza from a happy host than fabulous hors d'oeuvres from a frazzled one."

"Most people will only go to a party where they expect to know 3+ others already."

"Put the food in one part of the room and the drinks in another, or spread the food and drinks out around the space, so that people have lots of excuses to move around the room."

ARTICLE: 21 Facts About Throwing Good Parties

Civics

A general blueprint for how any cooperative human group can function well

ARTICLE: Generalizing the Commons

Civics

Given libraries’ unique combination of broad accessibility, civic neutrality, and deep public trust, policymakers should embed them intentionally within health and social planning frameworks.

ARTICLE: How Public Libraries Help Build Healthy Communities

Civics

"Socialism has been as impossible to separate from the narrative of the nation’s history as the capitalist economy itself."

ESSAY: A Brief History of American Socialism

Civics

"Just keep moving forward, even if the steps are small.”

VIDEO: Kansas town goes green while rebuilding after devastating tornado.