If you've been wondering what's up...

New signs. Fresh coffee.

If you’ve been reading WAGO for a while, you may have noticed a few shifts lately. Nothing drastic. Just some new… features, shall we say, and a slightly different rhythm.

WAGO has always been about figuring things out. Initially, this project was about figuring things out about midlife — a sort of “how to do midlife in midlife” kinda thing. But lately, the questions inspiring me have changed. It’s less about optimizing life and more about “what matters now” and “what feels good to be human these days”. And so, of course, the writing has changed alongside that.

Plus, I’ve discovered this ever-increasing desire to really build connections here. Can I possibly turn WAGO into a “neighborhood”? I figure I’d at least give it the old college try. 😊

So I thought it’d be a good time to offer a lay of the land. A catch-you-up note for anyone who’s recently joined, or anyone squinting at the new neighborhood signs.

Photo by Tony Lee on Unsplash

• The main WAGO essays still land every Sunday. Lately, you might’ve noticed some new landmarks inside each one:

  • Not Socrates, But Close Enough: Because sometimes fictional characters say the most surprisingly profound things.

  • Echo Chamber: Some of the best parts of WAGO happen after the essay lands. Your comments and reflections always take the conversation deeper.

  • Reader Shout-out: This is like the bulletin board in your local coffee shop, where I wave at people doing creative rabbit holes. It’s one way we celebrate YOU!

  • The Last Word: My parting thoughts, which is usually a song from the 80s-90s, because music says what I can’t. And really, every essay needs a closing note.

• In between essays, you’ll see profiles or podcast interviews. These show up roughly once a month. (I’m trying to keep things loose on purpose. Keeping things loose is new for me, let’s see how it goes. 😉)

• We also launched The Lounge in late January. It’s a private space for paying subscribers, anchored by monthly chat threads. It’s still very new. But we’re building something that’s sort of part clubhouse, part campfire. It’s somewhere for us to have candid conversations and work things out together.

• The Joy Logs are occasional field dispatches about my ongoing joy experiment, like scribbled pages from my private field notebook. It’s my most open and vulnerable writing, so I share it inside The Lounge.

So that’s our current rhythm, but I’ve also been shaping — ridiculously excited, if I may add — the broader WAGO neighborhood. The following are new additions. Small ways for us to connect and get a little more out of this place if you feel like it.

• The Town Center: A new, always-open thread for introductions, hellos, and finding each other. It’s our neighborhood welcome mat where you can wave hi, see who’s around, and maybe find a new conversation waiting for you. I’d love it if you popped in and said hello.

• Collections: I had a lot of fun grouping all the previous essays into thematic collections. If you’re new here or want to go deeper into a particular thread, you can now explore by topic, not just scroll by date!

• Monthly Themes in The Lounge: Starting in June, we’re adding a loose monthly theme to our private threads. Nothing serious — just a lightly guiding question we can circle around. You can show up with one take or five. Linger for days or drop in once. No wrong way to join in.

Like everything else, these are experiments. But they’re grounded in the same questions tugging at me lately: what matters now, what makes life feel a little more alive now? I’m so excited to build this next version of WAGO and equally ecstatic that you’re here while it unfolds.

I really do want to make this a neighborhood. 😉 Shall we make that happen?

Any suggestions, any questions, drop ‘em in the comments!

Everything is fine,
Lou Blaser
Vice Deputy of Whatever This Is
(because every neighborhood needs a vice deputy)