Dear subscriber: welcome to our first family meeting!
Consider this a quarterly-ish housekeeping update intended to double as a light, entertaining inbox diversion for your Friday morning.
Family Meeting Agenda
First of all, thank you for subscribing. Even if reading these entries only takes 10 minutes out of your week, I do not take this investment in your time lightly. It is immeasurably appreciated.
The early returns on this project are highly encouraging. The amount of kind, thoughtful messages I’ve received about both the initial launch and subsequent articles has been pleasantly surprising.
As of this writing (mid-March), Millennial Dad Journal has steady subscriber growth and nearly an 82% open rate, which is unheard of in newsletters.
Regarding the high open rate, the trustily sycophantic ChatGPT said the following:
*
Lance: My newsletter has nearly an 80% open rate, with many posts exceeding 80%. What are your thoughts on that?
Chat GPT: Lance — that is exceptional. Truly.
Sustaining ~80% open rates — especially across multiple posts — puts you in rare territory.
(It then spit out a bunch of numbers with graph emojis, seemingly confirming that white collar workers are no longer needed forever)
*
Sure, Millennial Dad Journal may have less than 100 subscribers right now. But I’d much rather write to 85 people who care than 85,000 who don’t (which I used to do in my early 20s…it seemed cool, but really just ended up eating my soul). Also, don’t worry, I’ll do some things to grow this that will probably annoy you.
So again, thank you.
Two Ways You Can Help
1. Smash that Like (or even comment)
Listen, I get it. When it comes to existing in online spaces, I myself am also a lurker. In many cases, there is no upside of revealing yourself even in smallest capacity. However, I come to you with the following request.
If you read a post and enjoy it, give it a like!
(There is a heart at the top of every email).
Smash that like!
If you’re feeling particularly brave, you could even comment(!) But I understand that doing this would be absolutely insane and likely ruin any future career prospects, so no pressure there.
2. If you found an article particularly good, share it with a friend
I will delve into this more deeply as time goes on. But…
This newsletter has been intentionally designed to function through word of mouth as opposed to attempting to please the algorithm.
I’ve concluded that this is the way to go due to both my personal experiences and my long-term interest in understanding media; that to build something that lasts, platforms their reach are temporary, but maintaining a sense of quality-focused direction has a lot more staying power.
As I’ve discussed with a few subscribers, this was why I made the calculated decision to house Millennial Dad Journal on beehiiv as opposed to enshittification-prone substack, despite the fact that I have an existing subscriber base on substack and would have very likely been able to grow faster.
With that said, this still needs to be distributed around the internet in order to succeed. I humbly ask you:
If you are someone who frequently shares articles on your personal social media via instagram stories, Facebook, a TikTok dance, whatever, I’d extremely appreciate if you share in that capacity.
If you are someone who emails and texts articles to friends, I’d extremely appreciate if you share in that capacity.
Or, you could follow the lead of subscriber Jordan. Jordan noted that while he is enjoying this newsletter, he is also against me succeeding personally so is very conflicted. He assured me that he’d never, ever share an article. This is also a valid stance.
Life Upgrade Highlight
Earlier this year, I slayed a medium-sized household organizational dragon.
When my wife and I first moved into our house 2.5 years ago we shoved all of our mismatched Tupperwares into one shelf, with the intention of reorganizing them every now and again. This, after all, is how we operated for the many years prior.
But partly due to our continual accumulation of Tupperwares, partly due to the hard-to-reach nature of the shelf, and partly due to the fact that thinking about Tupperware organization is a luxury not afforded to parents of young children, our Tupperware shelf morphed into a category 5 disaster.
For the better part of two years, Tupperware containers and lids have been strewn about the shelf as if the Allstate “mayhem” guy just dropped by.
We finally said enough was enough, and bought a uniform Tupperware set from Costco. I promptly threw all of our existing Tupperwares—including the 2-3 really good ones that we always use—in the trash.
Our household now has a zero tolerance policy for Tupperwares that aren’t these
When it comes to Tupperware organization, mismatches will no longer be tolerated in our household. If you ever give me a Tupperware I will thank you for it, eat the food in it, and then promptly throw it in the garbage.
To be lifted of the loose-Tupperware-induced emotional trauma that has plagued our family for years has been more freeing than I could ever imagine. This was quite possibly the best $8 we’ve ever spent.
What I’m Consuming
Best TV Shows to Watch While Holding Your Daughter Throughout the Night
As I mentioned in this article, gastrointestinal issues with Younger Daughter required my wife and I to hold our daughter throughout the night for about 8 months. This was far from ideal, but one positive is that I watched more TV than I have in years. I’d have the iPad propped up on the dresser while rocking her in my arms, or, if she was so generous, would have it next to me while lying propped up in our bed.
Here is a power ranking of my favorite shows that I watched during this time:
Ozark: Felt more like a really great novel. Loved the setting and the actors were incredible, particularly the character of Ruth Langmore. I later looked up awards and was heartened to see that Julia Garner received 3 Best Actress Emmys for the role. Maybe award shows actually do sometimes recognize the best thing.
Better Call Saul: The extended plot line between the two brothers was one of my favorite arcs in all of television. Only reason it’s not above Ozark is I thought some of the actions of Kim Wexler required suspension of disbelief to keep the story moving. Chicanery, really.
The American Revolution: I strongly considered putting this 12 hour Ken Burns documentary as number 1 on this list. But that seemed a bit pretentious, and because it was so dense it took more mental concentration to get through. An unbelievable feat, incredible interviews, learned a ton, and already want to watch it again.
Death by Lightning: Ever since I listened to a podcast featuring the author of Destiny of the Republic, I’ve been low-key (correct use, GenZ?) obsessed with President James Garfield. Was thrilled when my brother in law offhandedly mentioned that this was a TV series, and wasn’t disappointed.
Tires: Despite doing standup for many years, I’ve never been an ardent lover of TV comedies the way some comics are. Shane Gillis’ Tires, as excellently and more eloquently written about by writer/comic friend Peter, was downright hilarious. Seeing comics I’d routinely do shows with appear in this series gave me a slight pang of jealously. But then I remembered they deserve this way more than I did.
Black Rabbit: As someone who spent much of the 2010s in the nexus between the Lower East Side, Chinatown, and the Financial District, I thought this was a very unique capture of the energy of the area. The show felt very GenX.
Beef: Beef and Black Rabbit are basically 6 and 6a. I identified a lot with the main character Danny, who has big dreams but can’t seem to get out of his own way. I’ve also started to develop road rage, so we’ll see what’s coming for me. Incredible Soundtrack.
Court of Gold: Documentary about the 2024 Olympic Basketball squads, focusing how basketball is now an international sport and America’s hegemony may soon be over. Really enjoyed the storyline about how this was really “The Last Dance” for LeBron, Kevin Durant, and Steph Curry. Came away really liking Kevin Durant.
Succession: This was the last show I watched before Younger Daughter started sleeping in her crib, and only made it 5 episodes. Clearly very good, but parts felt slow. Have not felt the itch to keep watching.
Narcos: Wagner Moura as Pablo Escobar was great in particular. Liked the first season a lot, but felt repetitive by the second season. I guess murder and death from drug cartel wars are unfortunately repetitive.
Ted Lasso: Funny and unique show. I think I would have enjoyed this a lot more if everyone hadn’t told me it was the greatest show ever. Did not match my sky-high expectations and didn’t make it past the first season.
Yellowstone: Found the first episode to be fantastic and could have been a movie. Beautifully shot and occasionally think about moving to Montana. By the second season, it felt like they were making up circular plot lines to keep the story going and Kevin Costner’s character started to feel like a parody. Stopped watching.
What I’m Reading
I read a lot. In our AI, non-thinking world, I think reading is the biggest obvious advantage anyone can naturally give themselves.
For obvious reasons, I read much less over this past year. Here’s the books I read since Younger Daughter was born last April.
Unplug (Richard Simon): If you’re serious about using your phone less, this is a very good read.
Stay True (Hua Hsu): Excellent memoir about a friendship that was tragically cut short
The Art of Spending Money (Morgan Housel): The best personal finance writer out there, I read anything he puts out.
Ingram (Louis CK): This was like if Catcher in the Rye was a Cormac McCarthy novel. Highly recommend.
The Anxious Generation (Jonathan Haidt): A must read if you have kids. Working on an article about this, hopefully coming soon
The God Upgrade (Rabbi Jamie Korngold): About interpretations of God in Judaism, how it’s changed over time, and Reconstructionist ways God could be relevantly interpreted today. The world at large should probably attempt to grapple with these concepts much more than it does.
That’s all for this month. Hope you had a great March, and that you are preparing for ongoing spring small talk about the ever-changing weather.