moving into merlin's place
where magic flows...
there is a crawl space in brooklyn where a single star glows.
warm yellow light shines upon the long limbs of a 6’6 american man from a town of 800 people in the woods of Western MA, where the laurel grows. He wears a yellow hat knit by an angel of love & bears a dragon tattoo on his left shoulder.
a hand lies on the dragon’s throat - a dreadgods hand - the hand of Wei Shi Lindon, the Void sage. it is from the Void that creation occurs — where all new stories wait to happen.
this week, I moved into Merlin’s Place!
located in the Bushwick neighbor of Brooklyn NY, Merlin’s Place is an experiment in co-living & culture building - one of a number of third spaces that make up a decentralized community called Fractal.
I came to Merlin’s Place at the invitation of my dear friend Ulysses who has helped steward the space into an emerging hub for the performing arts and deep, embodied connection. an amazingly diverse body of perspectives and life paths walk through these doors, creating a rich and revolving culture of cooperation and exploration.
I’m here to explore this diversity of perspective and lean into new opportunities for learning, getting a taste for what’s possible beyond the relatively small scale of my home.
what makes this place special? what attractor brings these people together? what can we learn from each other - and how do I most want to grow?
these are a few of the questions riding with me as I’m settling into my first week at Fractal.
Trust Your Friends to Catch You
a surprise came on my first day in the city.
30 minutes after unloading my friend Dana’s car and settling down around the table to eat, the door to 1G opened and a familiar face popped in: Timothy Fay, one of my closest friends from Sirius.
I jumped up for a big hug, smile splitting my face, and savored the warmth of surprise and connection. Later that evening, I sat in my new room — a crawl space, perhaps 10 by 8 ft and shorter than my full height — and felt panic pulsing through my body as my head raced through my situation.
i’m making this move with no job, no city experience, and a lot of questions — who am I, what do I most desire, and what can I give this world? — and in that moment, I felt inadequate in the face of everything.
this community brings together people who share a pursuit of excellence, many high agency creators, innovators and entrepreneurs, people with great talents and big visions — and I felt scared that I wouldn’t fit in. That I’d take away from the space by not being capable enough to match them.
In that moment, Fay held space for me — and in the depth of that empathy and care I saw in his eyes, I tapped back into the reservoir of strength that is inside me. there was nothing major done — just a sense of sharing, being seen, validated — and then a series of little wins.
cook one dinner. clean up. wake up at 7:30, stretch, go for a run. start a sourdough experiment. learn how to tie an 8 knot and how to belay. go rock climbing for the first time with Fay and Ulysses — trust my friends to catch me when I reach for new heights and fall.
as i climbed, they gave encouragement and suggestions on how to approach the challenge again and again, till the problem was conquered and we hug and grin.
in this way we leaned into 5 beautiful days of connection and exploration in the city.
and day by day, I began to feel more comfortable in my place, in the uncertainty, in the possibilities that abound in such a place of openness and agency — especially when a culture of kindness and cooperation binds the people together.
You CAN Just Do Things
Across the street from where we live is a recycling center. Its beautiful murals caught my eye and Fay’s, and he immediately spoke up, asking a man outside if they we’re hiring. He received a curt and honest “I don’t know, go ask the office” and we went on our way, chuckling.
Later, Fay researched the place. Learned how it serves people in various ways, including a community garden, and he decided to follow through. I watched him go alone to see if he could talk his way into a job that wasn’t posted, trusting in his curiosity, his capability, and his positivity to open a door.
When he returned, there was no job — but I was struck by what he gained. He learned about what the community needed, giving him clear paths of development to pursue, and he had started building a relationship. He had flexed a muscle, and even second-hand I felt myself grow.
It reminded me that there’s another way of viewing this world, and at all times, I can inspect how I’m holding reality to be true. I’m curious about what I’m most hungry for — what work / opportunities would feel like a full-body fuck yes here?
For now, I’ll walk these streets with an active curiosity, roving eyes, and a bias to action. Fear might be a good signal to follow. I’ve got good friends to catch me, and countless conversations for inspiration.
Across the room, I smell the first sourdough lough in the oven. The night beckons with promise — the chance to practice Spanish with Ulysses by speaking with LLMs in real time, reading UNSONG (a new favorite book), cooking a fine meal with friends, and recording a podcast exploring the ideas and practice that sustain our well-being in life…all this just now, at the beginning, an impression of more to come.
I’m grateful to be here. Life keeps refilling the cup.
We’ll see what turns up next :)
May your feet feel steady upon the ground, your heart warm, and your head clear as you step into a creative week.
Sending love to you all,
Sam / River
Finally took a moment to read your missive, Sam. Thank you for sharing your creativity, vulnerability and caring for life and friends. Keep stretching and dancing as 2025 rolls along. Sending beams of love, light and peace.
excited for you, dude!