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Neal Bascomb

Author, Creator of Work/Craft/Life

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WORK/CRAFT/LIFE

The Work/Craft/Life newsletter takes you on the fascinating—and often surprising—journey into what makes us who we are. Think Humans of New York, but about work. As American philosopher Will Durant once said, “We are what we repeatedly do.” Feature profiles, chronicling people and the work that shapes their lives, serve as the heart of this newsletter: plumbers, artists, stay-at-home dads, long-distance truckers, hedge-fund managers, morticians, carpenters, barbers, teachers, dog breeders, chocolatiers, nurses, soldiers,  stonemasons, and beyond. These are their stories.

Flowing from these, the newsletter also offers day-in-the-life interviews, Q&As with work/life experts, ‘lost arts’ posts, and how-they-did-it stories, all that aim to inspire, move, inform and surprise.

Recent Profiles

The Prince of Delancey Street
Meet Vince Nanni, My Vote for World’s Greatest UPS Driver: “I was born and raised in South Philly. I didn’t like school because I didn’t think I was smart. At 16, I quit to work. After years of warehouse jobs, UPS hired me. With overtime, I now make close to $100,000 a year. I thank God every single day. I just love what I do.”
The Steady Spark
Meet, Jezabel Careaga, Chef: “Running your own business can be a lonely effort. I push for everything single thing that happens, mostly by myself…I will work until the day I take my last breath and that’s okay. I don’t want to be carrying a bag of 50-pound flour when that happens, right? I’m hoping it will evolve and I will grow, and I’ll keep moving. That’s the exhilarating part.”
Vampire Finches & the World of Quirky Birds
Meet Dan Baldassarre, Evolutionary Biologist. “Birding ties me to a place. It’s like being able to speak a foreign language. If you go to France, and you can’t speak French, you’ll be nervous. But if you can, you’ll be comfortable and able to orient yourself more easily. Speaking bird, well, not literally, provides the same thing, whether in a forest or cityscape.

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