About Us?.
Thanks for stopping by! Here's why we decided to start More Neighborly...
1) Neighborliness is a skill.
We've come to believe through research and experience that things like love, gratitude, kindness, etc. are actually skills which can be trained with practice. Just like playing a sport, learning a language, or cooking a meal - with practice, anyone can improve.
2) Practicing with friends is more fun.
This stuff isn't easy! And we're tired of being online all the time. We want to connect in-person with people in Williamsburg.
On any given week you'll hear from 5-15 people: your conversation partners, the facilitator, and the creator of that day's conversation starter. These differing perspectives give us opportunities to encounter new ways of thinking and to add nuance to our thinking.
3) We want "kindness for kindness sake."
We want more neighborly spaces without ulterior motives. No gotchas, bait and switch, or business plans. If you attend a More Neighborly event you can safely:
- Keep your money. We have day jobs and don't need to sell you anything. Fees help cover expenses [public financial statements pending].
- Keep your politics. We'd rather talk about the specific people we interact with day-to-day and how to best care for them vs abstract politics.
- Keep your religion. We'd love to hear about your beliefs, and we don't feel any compulsion to change it or argue. We're most comfortable in settings where we feel safe to believe different things, together.
4) We have the internet.
We have access to so much human wisdom though books and the internet. We don't need to gather around a guru or expert. Instead, we curate content from the wisest and hardest-working people in the world. And use our precious shared time together to reflect and practice together in community.
We pull content from scientist, artist, monks, poets, podcasters, and lots of other folks too.
If that all sounds good to you, we hope you'll check out our upcoming gatherings.
Written by Duncan Hamra
Nice to meet you! I'm a happy husband and can't wait to be a dad.
Here are a few things I'm excited about:
→ Podcasts (The Adventure Zone, On Being, 99% Invisible, etc).
→ Running a small software company with ~20 employees.
→ Listening to other people being excited about things.
→ Wood/metal working.
→ I dug a pond in my front yard and now we have little fish!
→ Effective giving (trying to do the most good per dollar donated).
→ Taking deep breaths (Just try it! Huuuuuuuu.... aaaaaaaaaaaah).
