I'll be honest with you. I'm still figuring this out.

I have a rough direction on where to take this but I'm still working through how to make it genuinely valuable to you every week. I've received some good initial feedback on "This Month in 1776" so going to keep writing that weekly for now. I also know the main value at this point is our monthly gatherings, so at a minimum this will keep you informed of our next in-person meetings.

Bit behind where I'd like to be here. Big product launch at work today, baby keeps me busy (any parent can appreciate), so trying to carve out time for this on the margins. Not to say it as an excuse, but just to let you know where I'm at. Building something on the side while the rest of life doesn't slow down for you. That's the reality of it. I'm gonna keep showing up.

The next gathering will be the evening of Wednesday, May 20th. I'm working out the location and details and will have everything in next week's newsletter. Block off the date.

If you have a spot you think would work, reply and let me know.

In March of 1776 (sorry it's not March but still an interesting parallel), two British frigates, the Roebuck and the Liverpool, showed up at the mouth of the Delaware Bay and shut the port down. Philadelphia was the busiest commercial city in the colonies and overnight its entire shipping industry went idle. No ships in, no ships out.

Unless you completely tune out all the noise in the world (good on you if you do), there's a modern version of this playing out right now. The Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint for about a fifth of the world's oil, has been opened and closed multiple times in the past month as the U.S. and Iran go back and forth. Ships are turning around. Markets are reacting. And for most of us watching from home, there is absolutely nothing we can do about it.

The people of Philadelphia in 1776 were in a similar position. They couldn't reopen the Delaware Bay. They couldn't negotiate with the Royal Navy. But instead of sitting around waiting for the situation to resolve, they retooled. The demand for munitions, clothing, and military equipment was enormous, and the city pivoted to meet it. Craftsmen redirected their shops. Shipyards that had been building merchant vessels started building warships. Hundreds of women organized at Carpenters' Hall to spin flax into linen for garments and tents. The blockade barely dented the city's prosperity because Philadelphians replaced one economy with another in real time.

That's the part I keep coming back to. These were people who knew how to make things with their hands. They could build a ship, sew a uniform, forge a weapon. When the supply chain broke, they became the supply chain.

I'll be the first to admit I'm not that person. I'm not especially handy. But there's a version of this that applies to how I think about resilience today. I like to know where my food comes from. I like having a relationship with local farmers and ranchers. I buy beef in bulk and keep a full freezer. I'm still building out my local sourcing but these are small, concrete things that make my family a little less dependent on systems I can't control.

You don't have to homestead or go off-grid. But the next time you see a headline about a blockade or a supply chain disruption or a trade war, the question isn't what are they going to do about it. It's what have I already done to insulate myself. The Philadelphians of 1776 didn't monitor the situation. They got to work.

If you haven’t done so already, please reply to this email and let me know the following:

What part of the Philadelphia area are you in?
What are your favorite local spots — restaurants, farms, trails, taverns?
What would make this community useful to you?

I want to build the most valuable community, your input matters a lot.

Sound Life Philly is in its early stages, and your help growing it matters more now than it ever will later. If this resonated, forward it to someone in the Philadelphia area who should be part of this newsletter and community.

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