§ Dispatches · 25 Reports
Field reports from the manual.
Each dispatch is a self-contained essay drawn from the forthcoming book MegaDad. Read in any order. The book releases 15 December 2026.
- 01Attention Is Now InfrastructureYour father had presence because there was nowhere else to be.Read →
- 02Kids Watch Behavior, Not SpeechesThe lecture you gave your son in the car about effort — the one where you used the word "discipline" three times and quoted something you…Read →
- 03AI Changed ExpertiseFor thirty years, the deal between fathers and sons was this: I know something you do not, and over time, by watching me, you will learn it.Read →
- 04Your Family Notices Your Stress Before Your WordsThere is a tell.Read →
- 05Presence vs. ProximityYou were there for dinner every night this week.Read →
- 06The Garage Was Never About the GarageWhen I was eleven, my father had a garage.Read →
- 07AI at the Dinner TableIt happened to me first on a Wednesday.Read →
- 08Should Your Kid Use ChatGPT?Every father I know is asking this question wrong.Read →
- 09Gaming, Dopamine, and Social IdentityI want to be careful here, because most of what is written about boys and video games is either panicked or dismissive, and both are wrong.Read →
- 10Why Dads Need Hobbies AgainThere is a specific kind of father I have been watching for a few years, and he is multiplying.Read →
- 11The Death of BoredomThe most important room in your childhood was the one you were bored in.Read →
- 12Infinite Scroll vs. Finite ChildhoodYour child's childhood is finite.Read →
- 13Dad JokesThe dad joke is widely misunderstood, including by dads.Read →
- 14Legendary Dad FixesThere is a kind of repair that only fathers attempt.Read →
- 15Grill PhilosophyThe grill is the most overrated and most underrated object in the American backyard.Read →
- 16Airport Dad BehaviorThe airport reveals a man in a way few other environments can.Read →
- 17Costco as Tactical WarfareCostco is not a store.Read →
- 18Universal Remote DiplomacyThere is a small foreign policy crisis playing out, every night, in tens of millions of living rooms, and almost no one is writing about it.Read →
- 19Hardware Store SpiritualityThe hardware store is the closest thing my generation has to a church.Read →
- 20Your Kids Are Watching How You AgeThere is something almost no one tells fathers about being in their forties, and it is going to sound dramatic, so I will be careful.Read →
- 21Marriage Is Visible ArchitectureWhatever you and your wife are, you are visible.Read →
- 22Boys Need ExamplesYou can tell a boy almost anything.Read →
- 23Daughters Remember Emotional SafetySons remember what kind of man you were.Read →
- 24Work Can Quietly Consume Your IdentityThere is a slow process that begins for most men around the age of thirty-four, and which most of them do not notice is happening until i…Read →
- 25One Day They Stop Asking You to PlayI want to tell you, in the last dispatch, the thing nobody tells you.Read →