Welcome & Introduction

Welcome to The Old Fashioned Newsletter.

If you are reading this you are one of my closest followers and a friend so, thank you for subscribing. I aim for this to be a bi-weekly letter but I don’t want any fillers so that may be flexible. Each issue will be driven from polls, Q&As, and conversations that I have taken/had on other platforms and in which enough interest has been shown to merit discussing that topic further. Here are a few future topics so you have an idea of what to expect:

“Why Carry a Gun?” 

“How Much Does What Gun You Carry Really Matter?” 

“What Does it Mean to be a Dangerous Man?” 

“Is Fitness or the Lack Thereof the Biggest Hypocrisy in the Gun Industry?” 

“Why I Put So Much Effort into Aesthetics” 

“Why Star Wars Sucks and What It’s Success Says About Our Culture.” 

I may or may not actually write on that last topic, but we’ll see. 

So why call this Old Fashioned? Why choose that name? I have two reasons:

1.    I love the cocktail. It’s simple, classy, and timeless; enjoyed by men and women of all kinds and classes, blue collared to black tied. It’s easy to make but difficult to make well. All of those things I hope will characterize this newsletter as it grows and ages. Yes, I have lofty ambitions, sue me.

2.    The heart and soul of this newsletter, the missions and goals of Ildefonsa, and of me personally, are quite old fashioned. I don’t mean “old fashioned” as anti-modern - I personally love modern things. Modern tech, modern conveniences, modern weapons. What I do mean is the principles and perspectives we will be discussing are traditional and even archaic but not at all outdated. And by ‘we will be discussing’ I mean you and me. 

That is what I want this to be. A conversation.  I’m not claiming authority on all these topics and have no desire to assert my opinions. What I do want to do is propose ideas, shake them well and really savor the sip as you would a Whiskey Sour, and inspire your own thoughts and articulations that will hopefully lead to you continuing these conversations with friends and family of your own.

Articulate. That is a word grossly underused in the Second Amendment community (a topic that merits its own letter). Articulate is defined as “able to speak” “expressing oneself readily, clearly, and effectively.” This is a key skill to possess for anyone who carries a gun for personal defense and/or is minded to protect their life and way of life, and any man seeking to be dangerous and disciplined. A Civilized Savage as it were. But we spend…I spend very little time training this skill. That is another reason for this newsletter: along with starting a conversation and proposing thoughts, I want a platform to train articulation both for myself and for you. To that end my email address is at the bottom of this page and I would welcome hearing from you. 

Lastly, I will soon be including a section called “Live to Learn Another Day - Training Hacks that Improved My Performance.” Just as it sounds I will share things that I have recently learned myself related to shooting, dry fire, fitness, filmmaking, and really anything I think might be helpful on a more practical end of the spectrum. Part One of each issue is more principle driven and Part Two is more practically driven. Both originate in my life as a young man working to be, well, Old Fashioned. I will end with a quote from President Theodore Roosevelt:

“Over-sentimentality, over-softness, in fact washiness and mushiness are the great dangers of this age and of this people. Unless we keep the barbarian virtues, gaining the civilized ones will be of little avail.”

Be Civil, Stay Savage,

Peter