Source: Brownstone Institute
by Josh Stylman
“The other day, I found my high school yearbook. My kids were flipping through it, laughing at old photos and hairstyles, and one of them paused, surprised. ‘You and your friends were in all these clubs?’ Debate, theater, student council, wrestling—page after page of awkward group photos and teenage optimism. … These days, I’ve taken on more of the Groucho Marx philosophy — I’d never join a club that would have me as a member — but back then, those communities mattered. They were real. Messy. Human. They involved showing up, in person, with all your imperfections. There were no filters. No followers. No likes. …. That’s what’s been on my mind lately: what it means to grow up in a world where being known has been untethered from being known by the people around you, where every human experience gets filtered through the question of whether it’s worth posting.” (07/23/25)