Welcome Aboard

An Introduction

We’re told from a young age that learning happens in institutions. Go to school, be smart. I, at least, have listened—stacking degrees and fellowships as if racing an invisible shredder that will consume me the moment a gap appears. But I’ve come to believe that the deepest learning doesn’t come from classrooms or great books. It happens in life’s smallest margins—through interactions, wins, observations, and setbacks that shape us before we realize it.

We absorb these lessons instinctively, often moving past them without a second thought. Sometimes, we dismiss them entirely. But I like to pause, dissect, and write about those moments when the mundane reveals something deeper—when the overlooked details tell a story of their own. Hence, Mundane Intrigue.

I want to outline what Mundane Intrigue is by first telling you what it isn’t: sentimentalism, minimalism, or virtue advocacy. I got over my own sentimentalism when I realized the future does not wait for those lingering in nostalgia. I’m not promoting a lifestyle of curated small moments—I’m simply taking notice of the ones already happening. And I’m not here to moralize. Occasionally, you’ll read an anecdote that unsettles you, that makes you wonder why society permits it. That’s fine. But the impulse to judge before understanding is a trap—one that too often isolates people from the world they should be observing.

So now, let me tell you what I am doing here. I’ve spent time in a lot of places—from the highest levels of campaigns and academia, to commercial wharves where nobody has set foot in a lecture hall, to insular religious communities. I’ve knocked thousands of doors for issues and candidates, from Boston’s wealthiest enclaves to public housing complexes, and I’ve spent as many hours as humanly possible on boats with the kind of people you only meet in maritime movies.

All that’s to say—I have stories, and I want to tell them. But I’m a commentator at heart, and I can’t just tell stories. So I’ll take you along—via text—on long days at sea, grueling summer canvasses, bureaucratic entanglements, and more. I’ll weave in my takeaways, and maybe you’ll add your own. No sourcing, no theory—raw anecdotes, raw thoughts.

Welcome to Mundane Intrigue. I hope you’ll stick around.