Block Parties! Phone Calls! Neighbor Hotline! Oh MY!
So much great content coming your way
Thanks so much to the readers who filled out my reader survey! Hearing what you all love and want more of definitely helped me plan for the next year. And the winner of a $50 for bookshop.org gift card is Melissa Anran Fan!
While most people don’t think of late March as the start of an annual season, it’s the approximate one-year mark til my book, Neighboring, comes out, and I wanted to build off all of the fun we’ve had in the How to Find Your People Club with new and engaging topics for all readers. I’ve also got some great new benefits for paying members.
Here are some of the topics you can expect to see here in the coming months:
👉 A whole month of Block Party Content/encouragement/inspo
👉 New connection-building activities, like The Phone Call Challenge (stay tuned for more!)
👉 The Neighbor Hotline, my new advice column!
👉 A whole month of deep diving on Deep Casual Hangouts, including new ideas and guest essays
.... and much more!
Paying members of The Double Shift will get:
Quarterly Live Zooms, diving into cool topics or conversations with smart people. Mark Your Calendars for April 22nd at 1PM! Our next members-only zoom we’re getting the skinny on neighbor and block party gatherings with Block Party USA founder Vanessa Elias!!!! I can’t wait.
Members-only chat threads for encouragement and connection tips
Like this newsletter on the go? Get a feed of it read by yours truly, NOT an AI voice in your favorite podcast player, and audio/video replays of our live Zooms!
Premium content behind the paywall, including archives of the How to Find your People Club!
To celebrate this lil revamp, I’m offering 25% off a yearly membership until April 10! If you’ve been thinking about joining, I don’t run sales very often, so snag it now. Your support (especially yearly) is integral to my income as an independent journalist and allows me to devote time writing about all things in-person community and building a world that cares.
Thank you so much for supporting my work! It means so much.
I’ll end with a wide-ranging list of recommendations.
YUM: This Lemon Miso Tofu Broccoli recipe from Hetty Lui McKinnon in the NYTimes is a 10/10 delicious. I made it on a sheet pan for less work and less mess. Put it in your rotation for a vegetarian Deep Casual Dinner!
Zany Family Movie Rec: Ok, you could very much argue that Best in Show, the 2000 Christopher Guest parody movie about dog shows starring Catherine O’Hara (RIP) is NOT a family-friendly movie, and you’d be totally right. BUT I’m just gonna say, if you fast forward or do something distracting through the first and last scenes that have more explicit sex talk, I would say the rest of the movie is quite engaging and enjoyable for the whole family (ages 6 to 81 enjoyed it in our home) and the world needs more laughter, so I dunno, consider it???
Niche Rec for Durham, NC Public School Families: I send my kids to a public school district facing complex challenges, and the people in charge keep making poor decisions. (What a combo! I could rant, but this is not the subject of this newsletter.) That’s why I’m very excited for this new newsletter, Board Biddies, written by former school board candidate Lauren Sartain and her volunteer campaign manager, Kristina Baldridge. They watch school board meetings, so I don’t have to break down complicated subjects and offer solutions for ways out of our various messes. Consider subscribing!
Ok Double Shifters, I’d love to hear in the comments: what topics would you like me to cover in the coming year? And if you have a question/situation/conundrum in your community life, email me at askthedoubleshift at gmail dot com, and I’ll consider it for my new advice column, The Neighbor Hotline!
