"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

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

Societies struggle to confront major challenges when so much wealth, decision-making power, and political influence are concentrated in a small group of technology companies.

Why I still hold onto some of my flower-child hope

We don’t have to wait for the whole system to change to begin living differently.

The news feels hopeless; my neighborhood doesn't.