The Leather Apron Club
“Together we are better, always.”
in the spirit of Dr. Franklin’s Junto, Philadelphia, MDCCXXVII — rebooted for the grove
The Establishment convenes
Friday next, the Eighteenth of September, 2026
the board and seats are established · presentation packages assembled · delivery mechanisms set · invitations out that same night
The First Council convenes
Friday next, the Five-and-Twentieth of September, 2026
the first meeting proper · ten to fifteen at the table · six of the clock in the evening · Bentonville Barber Company
the first council convenes soonThe Credo of the Club
as it is engraved in the grove, and spoken at every sitting
- Ask better questions than the ones you are given.
- Improve each other honestly; accountability, never blame.
- Build for the town first. The barbershop, the artisan, the drone pilot.
- Leave it better than we found it.
The Pledge
where every dollar goes — said once, kept forever
The club sells nothing. Where profit exists at all — a video, a sponsorship, whatever comes — it is ledgered in public and donated to the 43 Institute, Ken Block's foundation: a 501(c)(3) creating pathways for underserved, highly driven "motivated misfits" in action sports, motorsports, and the creative arts — racing and rally, skateboards and BMX, art and music and print. We recognize the species: this grove's own proof is a woman with no college degree who became a director of the work at thirty-five — a motivated misfit handed a pathway. Talent is evenly distributed; means are not. The machine stays free; the value flows to the misfits; the ledger stays public.
The Standing Questions
after Dr. Franklin’s own, put to every member at every meeting
- I. What new thing have you made, mended, or learned in your trade since we last sat — and what did it teach?
- II. Hath any citizen, or any shop among us, lately met with difficulty in their undertakings — and how might the council assist?
- III. What defect have you observed in the tools of our town — and who among us is best placed to mend it?
- IV. Where did you last leave something better than you found it?
Seats at the Table
the founding trades, and the seats kept warm for their neighbours
No trade is too small; no apron too worn. The council sits to serve the town, not itself.
Works of the Council
what the grove hath already built for the town — each link live this day
The Myth of the Cog
the parable the club carries — from Transformers One (2024)
In that origin, the miners of Cybertron were born without their transformation cogs — taken before they ever came online. They mined Energon in the dark for a leader who told everyone the story they wanted to hear, because he had the power to tell it. Sentinel Prime's narrative held for cycles, because no one below could see past it.
Then the truth: the cogs were stolen. The power was taken back. And Orion Pax — a miner, a nobody by every ledger the towers kept — was handed the legacy of the fallen Primes and rose as Optimus Prime.
But the film's real secret is the one the title hides: it was never the cog. The cog only revealed what was already there — the spark within them, the same spark in every miner still standing in the dark.
That is this club, exactly. The machine is our cog — given freely, so no one is born without one again. Sentinel's story is still being told today, by whatever power prefers the dark. And the spark — the thing that does the right thing for everyone — was yours before you ever read this page. As the machine-men with machine minds would have it otherwise, and as a certain barber's-chair philosopher keeps proving: the spark leads.
Petition for Admission
tell the council why you would sit with it — your words go by post, unaltered
To the Council of the Leather Apron Club
the humble petition of —
The petition opens as a letter to the club’s steward — nothing is sent until you press send in your own mail. The council reads every word; answers come before the next sitting.