The centre is not a compromise.
It is where two currents, arriving turbulent from opposite banks, are made to speak in turn — and where, a little downstream, the flow runs steady enough to see the bottom.
Centrehold is a series of essays about the things that matter and are hard to talk about: truth, statistics, race, gender, political divergence, and what comes after us. The name is a coined noun — a stronghold at the centre. Not the centre as the average of two shouts, but the centre as the place where the water has stopped churning.
The house rule
Every essay states its assumptions before its conclusions, steelmans the strongest opposing view before answering it, and reads statistics honestly — which means both ways at once: distributions are how you see a society, and a statistic says nothing about the individual in front of you.
Who it is for
The reasonable middle: people who are tired of being asked to pick a bank. I start from the claim that there is a way things are, independent of what anyone prefers, but you need not grant it to be welcome here. The first three pieces — the Assumptions register and two opening essays — are the foundations. If we part, they let us part on a stated premise rather than on a conclusion you already cared about; and if you share only the practical part — checking claims, correcting mistakes — that is already a lot of common ground.
How it is written
Plain language first, the technical term named once after. Both sides in their strongest form. Each page shows a worked position; what is still open is kept apart, for readers who ask for it.
Where to read it
Here is the text of record. Every essay's source is public, so revisions are visible; there is an RSS feed, and a mailing list mirror on Substack when the foundations are out.