Hi, I'm Patrick Weiman.

You may know me from my history podcast, Tides of History, or maybe you remember when

I used to write and talk about mixed martial arts, or from my sub-stack newsletter perspectives,

or maybe you've seen me picking up weights in my garage or a large rock on the beach.

But in addition to all those things, I'm also a dad, not just in the sense that I have

children who are a blessing and a joy, sources of wonder and meaning in a harsh world, but

also a cultural dad with all the habits and hobbies that implies.

Now there are a lot of things that aren't that great about being a parent, small children

tend to be pretty demanding, at their worst, their petty tyrants without much in the way

of higher cognitive function or control over their bowels.

You and some you lose some.

Parenting changes you, you start to occupy a new social and cultural space, which has

its downsides, but also some pretty great upsides.

More than anything, you are not required to be cool anymore.

That moment has passed.

If you don't have to care what anybody else thinks, you're free to be a little eccentric

to have hobbies that bring you joy to explore interests that are truly yours.

That's a really specific kind of freedom.

Freedom to do what you want, at least in small doses, and freedom from a certain kind of

pressure to conform.

Not all the pressure, but some of it.

The cultural role of a dad gives us the potential to lean into that freedom if we play our

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