Wandering leads you to places you would never expect. The other day it took me to the Chelsea Hotel.
by Dan Flag, Dec 13, 2025
New York's gangs differ in size and prestige, but they all have the same goal: To divert resources into the coffers of their members.
by Dan Flag, Dec 05, 2025
New York celebrates power, polish, and prestige, but that's not what actually makes the city work. This ever-expanding timeline explores the lost, forgotten, and deliberately obscured stories of the greatest city on earth. Because the parts that gets left out of the official narrative are almost always the
by Dan Flag, Dec 05, 2025
My brother-in-law's Boston Terrier died last month. I met him in 2016. And to be honest, he wasn't initially my favorite. He was loud, hyperactive, and insistent with his demands for endless rounds of fetch. Back then, my BIL also had another dog, a large older
by Dan Flag, Nov 02, 2025
Had the first meeting of the Sunday Wander Society. 4 of us - all experienced wanderers - met at the corner of Stockholm and Onderdonk in Ridgewood, near the border between Queens and Brooklyn. One of us dug some dice out of her bag and said "In case we
by Dan Flag, Oct 30, 2025
Before the lawyers and treaties and the Court of International Trade, Manhattan and the surrounding area had a very different set of diplomatic rituals. For centuries before the arrival of Europeans, the Lenape and surrounding indigenous groups used wampum to strengthen ties between groups. Wampum is mostly made from the
by Dan Flag, Oct 26, 2025
Here's the meeting point for the next Sunday Wander Society.
by Dan Flag, Oct 25, 2025
We use a variety of methods to pick a rally point for the Sunday Wander Society. Feel free to use these methods in your own wandering, or join us on Sundays at 3pm. Some are purely by chance. Others have a thumb on the scale. We try not to be
by Dan Flag, Oct 24, 2025
Rhonda was in town over the weekend and we hung out around billionaire's row, eating at diners and smoking joints in Central Park, talking about the responsibilities that humans have to each other (and ourselves). Would just like to say that Rhonda is a great friend and collaborator
by Dan Flag, Oct 21, 2025
A compelling story about the limits of thought, the constraints of our communication systems, and the lengths to which some people will go to get their message across.
by Dan Flag, Oct 19, 2025
Starting Sunday, October 26th at 3pm, I'm starting a Manhattan chapter of The Wander Society. We'll meet at a random location, do a quick orientation, and see where we end up. The wander ends when everybody goes home. The Sunday Wander Society is a fun, free,
by Dan Flag, Oct 12, 2025
In the last scene of Killing Them Softly, Brad Pitt's character makes a speech that I think about at least once a week. Watch it, it's quick. 👇 I've spent 30 years pinging around the northern part of the new world, from Utqiagvik to San
by Dan Flag, Oct 03, 2025
Industrial Society gives us so much... why does it have to be built on misery?
by Dan Flag, Oct 01, 2025
Why do we follow straight lines when the universe is curved?
by Dan Flag, Oct 01, 2025
When I was 6, my mother and I moved into her new partner's modest but comfortable home on the edge of downtown Anchorage, across the street from an elementary school that I did not attend. The school's playground was scary to me. Usually empty when I
by Dan Flag, Sep 30, 2025
When I was 20, I hitchhiked from Vancouver, BC back home to Anchorage. It took about 3 days, but only 8 rides, because the last guy took me more than 1,500 miles. He was another good dude from Ohio headed to Ak for the summer to work as a
by Dan Flag, Sep 28, 2025
I like to talk to strangers, because it teaches me more about the world, and gives me a little opportunity to try and gently lift people up. The production of positive emotions in humans and animals reduces Total Gross Suffering, and the production of negative emotions increases it. In 30
by Dan Flag, Sep 23, 2025
I've had a string of negative interactions with European families on the west side, many of whom walk around like they're the only people in the world. When you point out to them that other people exist, they come up with the dumbest. I've
by Dan Flag, Sep 21, 2025
Should we care more about who says it than what they say?
by Dan Flag, Sep 19, 2025
Wandering NYC is now Sidewalk Alchemy. I consulted friends, family, collaborators, and customers, and the consensus was that this name better describes my mission to teach people how and why to wander, in print and on the streets of New York. When we wander, we subtly change the world around
by Dan Flag, Sep 16, 2025
Yesterday I was in West Seattle kickin it with my other mother. We had a big car wander yesterday, visited an espresso machine museum, drank some green drinks, tried to navigate without maps, got lost, got in a fight over driving, and met a dog in a bag and her
by Dan Flag, Aug 08, 2025
I spent about 10 years thinking about the unconscious mind learning to recognize and influence emotions and complex responses happening inside me and in the people around me. After some lost years and a hard fall I stopped thinking as much about how to influence things and began looking more
by Dan Flag, Aug 01, 2025
I left the house on Friday morning and I was gone for 36 hours and it was delicious fruit.
by Dan Flag, Jul 28, 2025
Native American groups call it Wetiko, the rapacious insatiable ghoul that long ago buried itself in the human heart.
by Dan Flag, Jul 28, 2025
People wander for different reasons. 1. A NOMAD wanders to collect resources 2. A PILGRIM wanders to find meaning and connection 3. A WIZARD wanders to create autonomy and wisdom No type of wizard is better than the other. In fact, most wanderers switch between the categories frequently. But it&
by Dan Flag, Jul 10, 2025
What is a guide? A guide leads people through territory. Physical. Intellectual. Emotional. Spiritual. A guide is a 2nd grade teacher, a harbor pilot, a backcountry guide, a museum docent, a friend showing you around their city, a math tutor, a mom showing her kid how to wash the dishes,
by Dan Flag, Jul 05, 2025
Industrial Society is fundamentally unfair, so it requires constant propaganda to keep it functioning.
by Dan Flag, Jul 05, 2025
A low-impact, high-ROI strategy for leading people through territory of all kinds.
by Dan Flag, Jul 05, 2025
The great global experiment to find out if everybody in the world can live together in one place. So far, so good.
by Dan Flag, Jul 05, 2025
"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." - Marcel Proust
by Dan Flag, Jul 04, 2025
Humans used wandering to explore and settle the earth.
by Dan Flag, Jul 04, 2025
Unconscious cognition+pattern recognition+collective knowledge+kairos+luck?
by Dan Flag, Jul 04, 2025
Of course! Here's your list with each person's name bolded, while keeping everything else the same: Albert Einstein – Fled fascism and wandered through Europe and America. Rode around on his bike while his mind wandered, reinventing physics. Alexandra David-Néel – Disguised herself to sneak into forbidden Lhasa,
by Dan Flag, Jul 04, 2025
We live on the skin of a rock spinning though space at unfathomable speeds. As Evangelista Torricelli pointed out, "We live submerged at the bottom of an ocean of air." The organism that you are can withstand the temperature range 81°F to 95°F without technology -
by Dan Flag, Jun 28, 2025
This past afternoon I gave a tour to a cool family from Long Beach. I was waiting for them outside Di Palo's when two 60ish year old women in expensive clothes walked by and started talking about Di Palo's. I encouraged them to go inside, and
by Dan Flag, Jun 26, 2025
Just a reminder for those still inside. Organizations will continue to degrade as energy costs accelerate. Inequality will increase. And cruelty. Workers will be expected to do more with less. And blamed when things go wrong. Some of my friends have expressed discomfort with having well-paying jobs while other people
by Dan Flag, Jun 23, 2025
91 mins. Most of us take debt as a fact of life, despite the fact that it doesn't exist in nature. One of my goals as a writer and guide is to invite people to imagine a better world. But frequently I get immediate pushback citing 'historical
by Dan Flag, Jun 21, 2025
Everywhere I look I see the aggressor playing the victim And the ignorant claiming their innocence And the responsible throwing up their hands And fools finding elaborate ways to pretend they are special and not just meat for the alligator jaws. The coercion Everywhere I look I see the coercion
by Dan Flag, Jun 19, 2025
Whenever I go to Freeman Alley I take a bunch of lazy photos. It makes my camera roll a joy to scroll, because there are hundreds of these images, all clumped together with these enormous bursts of color. Over the last few days, I've been at Freeman 3
by Dan Flag, May 27, 2025
I went to Berlin in October, and took more than 2,000 photographs in 4 days, mostly of architecture and street art. Many weeks ago, some friends asked me for some recommendations in Berlin, but I stalled and stalled because I barely know the place. In contrast to my map
by Dan Flag, May 21, 2025
I was standing at Astor Place last week, just near the cube and this wiry old-New York type walks up to me and says my name. It's Chris Santana. We took a life-changing 6-months-every-other-weekend hypnosis training together back in 2011, when we both lived in downtown Portland. We
by Dan Flag, May 16, 2025
Had a busy month. Lots of tours. Lots of great reviews. Not enough writing. Here's some memes I collected this month I hope you like.
by Dan Flag, Apr 29, 2025
Yesterday I got the email below from my dad, with the subject line True History. It's printed verbatim. I think it's interesting to see how our writing styles are so similar. How I break lines and thoughts in the same way he does. I do wish
by Dan Flag, Apr 14, 2025
To interact with the world is to risk contagion. You can get punched in the face, or catch a cold, or get puke on your shoes, or hear or see something you wish you hadn't.
by Dan Flag, Apr 12, 2025
Having a Big Wander tomorrow at 11am at 108 W 17th Street. Some literal gnomes undertook to make and post flyers for this and some other events so I'm expecting a good time. If you're free. And below the photos are some recent posts you'
by Dan Flag, Mar 23, 2025
The other day I met my old friend Tze at Broadway Junction and we walked up Fulton through Cypress Hills and into Woodhaven. It wasn't on purpose, but we spent a lot of the day under the elevated. First the J, and later, the A. Emerging from Broadway
by Dan Flag, Mar 06, 2025
On repurposing 'freedom' for commercial means.
by Dan Flag, Feb 25, 2025
Below are links to two new posts called Bruxelles WTF (I+II). Before we get to them, some notes. I've changed the name of this publication, so now you'll be seeing INK in your inbox, which is short for the Institute of Not Knowing. On the
by Dan Flag, Feb 22, 2025
Back in October a client/friend flew me to Berlin. We did a few days of wandering and then he went back to his lab and I took a quick train loop around Central Europe. I got knocked out on the 3rd day in Berlin, and for the rest of
by Dan Flag, Feb 22, 2025
Dipping our toes into the corruption, backroom deals, and hypocrisy of the British 'royal' family.
by Dan Flag, Feb 20, 2025
Why Western powers want to ignore the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
by Dan Flag, Feb 20, 2025
You know I'm ambivalent about industrial society, because it will inevitably destroy itself and us along with it. But that doesn't mean I don't love tall buildings. Watch this quick video shot with drones above Hong Kong - arguably the most beautiful skyline in
by Dan Flag, Feb 14, 2025
Wandering is Good For You v2 This post was originally known as Wandering is Good for You For 99% of human history, in the time before agriculture, wandering was a core behavior loop that we used to explore, understand, and influence the world around us. But in the last few
by Dan Flag, Nov 24, 2024
In Offenburg, Germany, waiting for a night train to Prague. Typing in a charmless bar, surrounded by old men silently watching soccer news out of one eye, and the bar maid out the other. Chris Isaak's Wicked Game is on the sound system. A guy with his belly
by Dan Flag, Oct 22, 2024
This is a story about an idiot, a piece of shit, and looong spoons. Yesterday after taking a nice coffee and croissant with my friend Nick, we rounded the corner back onto the high street Kurfürstendamm, which is filled with fancy clothes and self-care shops. I saw him coming. An
by Dan Flag, Oct 18, 2024
In Berlin. These motherfuckers don’t jaywalk. But they do have crows. And great, if sometimes cheesy graffiti. And beautiful buildings of disparate ages, with little paths wending between them. Magnificent. I left my apartment about 8:30 last night, took 3 trains to JFK, almost missed my 11:55
by Dan Flag, Oct 13, 2024
The other morning I went to the dentist. 4th time in 10 months. Same issue. And because healthcare in America is coercively tied to employment, I've been going to one of the dental schools. The dentist-in-training has been incredible, following up with me and finding ways to get
by Dan Flag, Oct 07, 2024
There’s an Italian guy here in the city who has me stored in his phone as Dan the Vampire. It’s two am, and I’m sitting at 42nd street waiting 13 fucking minutes for the A. There’s a Latin dude on the bench next to me watching
by Dan Flag, Sep 21, 2024
It has bothered me for a long time that big talk is not the opposite of small talk. Big talk... for whatever reason, has come to mean boastfulness, charlantry, and the invitation to folly, rather than the discussion of big and uncomfortable ideas. Big Talk is Big-Thinking. This is a
by Dan Flag, Sep 19, 2024
New York is full of faces. Some are human. Some are made by humans. Some don't have much to do with us at all. But we've evolved to send and receive subtle information with our faces, using the so-called "mimetic muscles". Spend a few
by Dan Flag, Sep 16, 2024
Last night I was out with my boy D. doing some recon in the East Village when we walked past a Thai Dumpling spot on the western end of St. Mark's. We were like 5 paces past it, when I decided I had to go back and look
by Dan Flag, Sep 09, 2024
"There is nothing so strange in a strange land, as the stranger who comes to visit it." Cannibal Tours is a 1988 documentary film about European and American tourists in Papua New Guinea, directed by filmmaker and expert wanderer Dennis O'Rourke. It's top commentary
by Dan Flag, Sep 06, 2024
Just a 2 min speech from the old wizard Gregory Bateson.
by Dan Flag, Sep 04, 2024
I’m helping to organize this music and justice festival on the 14th called Communities Together. It’s ostensibly about protecting beautiful, generationally-interwoven Manhattan from the paws of greedy philistine developers who want to rip out the culture and clutter and people who make the blocks just south of Penn
by Dan Flag, Sep 03, 2024
Sometimes I write at the library at Lincoln Center, or on the big L-shaped couch in David Geffen Hall, right outside of Tatiana, which I hear is a big deal. I like to approach Lincoln Center from the north west, climbing up the travertine steps and walking past the 65th
by Dan Flag, Sep 01, 2024
Please Watch The Society of the Spectacle The Society of the Spectacle. 87 mins. This is Guy Debord's film The Society of the Spectacle, with a dodgy English dub. It's 87 minutes long. If you watch this film, or read the book, this whole wandering thing&
by Dan Flag, Aug 30, 2024
All these shots were taken on or very near the western end of Broadway in Brooklyn, beneath the JMZ elevated track, between Marcy and Montrose Ave. As always, if I've shown your work and you want credit, send me a note. I find excuses to go here, because
by Dan Flag, Aug 28, 2024
One Day at Freeman Alley I took all these shots at Freeman Alley on June 15, 2024. If your work is shown and you'd like credit, please drop me a note and I'll add you. This was a Saturday. The previous night I'd met
by Dan Flag, Aug 26, 2024
There's only 3 types of people in New York City. 1 - Bakers The bakers... bless them... they get up early and get to work. They do it to feed their families, but they end up feeding and supporting the rest of us too. They bake the bread,
by Dan Flag, Aug 24, 2024
Back when I lived in Central America I developed this thing where I knew that if I was really into a song, the song would be interrupted. Happened all the time. Vibing hard, the power gonna cut or somebody’s gonna unplug the Zune or the CD’s gonna skip.
by Dan Flag, Aug 21, 2024
