Dr. Breck loves brisket.

Hang around him long enough, and you’ll learn that he needs, in his words, “a pound of brisket a day”. 

But there’s been trouble…

All across the Midwest, he reports, there has been “a great brisket shortage”.

Because of this, he’s scoped out all the great brisket places across the East Coast. 

And so as our paths to Halifax PA for Man Weekend 2026 converged, he proposed we hit one up to strategize the weekend ahead.

WHAT ARISTOTLE KNEW 

Now I like brisket quite a bit myself, and so this assignment was gonna go pretty well. 

As I pulled my 2002 Toyota Tacoma into the “Fire & Ice Smokehouse & Creamery” parking lot, my gaze beheld a bold sign of blue and orange flame.

 I could not help but think of Aristotle’s words: 

“Why are…those who dwell in cold regions courageous? 

“Those who live in a cold climate become heated in their nature, because their flesh is condensed by the external cold, and when it is in this condition the heat collects internally.”[1]

Well, this brisket place must be Hyperborea!

THE CHI-RO SYMBOL ABOVE MILVIAN BRIDGE

I sauntered into the Brisket joint, happy as a lark to be out of protective wind tunnel death box of a truck, Dr, Breck texted me: 

“Ten minutes out, hit traffic.”

So I set about finding myself a table. In line were Evangelical families of the Homeschool type, old folks, teenagers…the works of a functioning community defying the Leviathan ruling the land. 

The decor was clean and cozy, a combination of Ikea and Hobby Lobby in the clean, industrial, slightly rustic style…an HGTV barn loft dream, rusty heartland chic. 

As I took a seat at the back of the building across from an elderly couple I turned to my left, and there upon a black board was an intricate, hand-drawn art piece in many-colored chalk.

The image was of a one-room country Church nestled in the hills and forest on a spring day…

The Church in the Valley by the Wild Wood, the first song I ever played on the guitar with my best friend of 19 years, Zacho the Whacko, at a Church Offertory Special at Naches Nazarene Church in 2007, with my Dad on the guitar on back-up. 

Beneath the image was borne the legend: 

“Can you not discern this NEW day of destiny breaking forth around you?

“The early signs of my purpose and plans are bursting forth.

“The budding vines of NEW life are NOW blooming EVERYWHERE!

“The fragrance of their flowers whisper:

“THERE IS CHANGE IN THE AIR!” 

–Song of Songs 2:13, Passion Translation

My gaze narrowed and I grinned.

I snapped a photo of this commemorative omen and posted it upon my Instagram for all the world to see the thoughts in my heart:

“A Chi-Ro Symbol above Milvian Bridge…the Adventure begins!”

Evola always said you gotta do the Rites before you do the Deed!

DR. BRECK HIMSELF

Me and the Old Folks were shooed out of the back and into the main foyer. The back was for overflow, and the full deluge of humanity had not yet arrived to claim its Brisket Ration. 

I took my seat cornered on the wall, strategically positioned to see the door. 

As I took my seat and posted my words upon the digital aether, I cast my gaze up toward the light of the window and away from that rectangular scrying mirror. 

And there he was.

Dr. Breck himself. 

He came in through the door, fast, and smooth, and silent, hunched over, like an Injun of old crouching through the forests hunting for scalps. 

He was swarth and dusky, with a head tall and sloped forward at a sharp angle…a feature he had told me earlier on the road was good for head-butting. 

His build was slim and lithe…the RopeFlow he had been doing daily since February had paid off. 

His shoulders were wide and broad but not thick, and his chin was tucked in an every ready guard…prepared for action at the slightest sign of trouble. 

His eyes were dark deep wells of abyss flickering with wisdom and sadness and knowing at all once…with a flash of deadly peril that could strike at any moment like lightning. 

I grinned wide and and sauntered to meet him, my blue eyes flashing mirth. 

“Dr. Breck!” I bellowed exuberantly. “It’s good to see you, brother!” 

I crushed his hand merrily and pulled him in for a back-slapping bear hug. 

“It’s good to see you,” he said quietly, almost shyly. 

“Let’s have a seat!” I said as we returned to the table that I had scoped out. 

THE ART OF ALCHEMY 

“Well Dr. Breck,” I mused merrily, “I’m excited to meet you, and James and Jeth Randolph and the rest of the crew, because now I can tell all my friends and family that I’ve actually met these people I’ve been talking about for years in person!” 

I laughed heartily, and Dr. Breck’s searching expression broke into quiet laughter and a grin. 

“I’m excited to meet  you too, Richard,” he said. “You know, what we are doing here is something that very few people ever go about doing.”

“How’d you mean?” I said. 

“Well, very few Combat Sports places are going full-contact,” he explained. “A lot of these places, they just don’t want to do it. And that’s what keeps it from being realistic. They don’t want to get hit in the head, they don’t want to get hit anywhere. And that’s what turns these things into jokes.” 

My gaze narrowed as I nodded and considered his words.

“You know,” I mused, staring off into the distance through the window at the Fire & Ice sign. “This thing is Alchemical.” 

I turned back to meet Dr. Breck’s gaze.

“You see,” I intoned, addressing him directly. “The full-contact is where the magic happens. That’s the Alchemical Fire.”

Dr. Breck nodded knowing and curious all at once. A silent invitation to go on. 

“Anything can be Alchemical, really if you make it that way. 

“For example, back when I was working at Lowe’s, the home improvement store, I saw the whole thing as an Alchemical experience.

“For about six months, I was put in charge of the Mulch Line in the Summertime. 

“They had a lot of seasonal guys that would be coming in to work for the Summer, graduating from High School and coming from College. 

“And so they put me in charge of the Mulch Line, because I’d been there for about a year, and they knew I’d be able to whip the guys into shape.

“And you know, when you’re out there in the heat, and you’re sweating like a pig, and the sun’s beating down on you…that’s an Alchemical experience…if you seek to make it that way.

“And so for myself and these guys, I sought to make it an Alchemical experience.”

A LESSON FROM THE FORKLIFT

“And you know,” I continued, “if you ever read Evola’s Fall of Spirituality, he says that you gotta have a framework for making the Alchemical experience work, to turn you to gold, you know, instead of lead. 

“If you don’t have the framework, it’s not gonna work, and the person is gonna disintegrate, they’re gonna melt, as James Bond Stockdale said. 

“So we were out there, and I’m on the forklift, and I got this guy spotting me.

“He and his two friends, they were all going to College together, and they all wanted a Summer job together.

“Now these guys, they hadn’t been out of the house in a year. This was Summertime 2021, at the height of Corona. They had done their first year of College completely online. 

“And now they’re out there with me, on the Mulch Line. 

“So I’m out there, I’m on the forklift, and this guy was spotting me, carrying the flags, you know.

“And this guy, he says to me, ‘Richard, I didn’t get the day off that I put in for this month.’

“I said, ‘Well, that’s ok, that happens.’

“And he said to me: 

“‘Well, I’m just not gonna come in that day! It’s not gonna hurt anybody…’

“I said, ‘You know what? You’re right. Our CEO, Marv Ellison, is not gonna be living in a cardboard box because you don’t come into work that day. 

“‘But do you know who it is gonna hurt? 

“‘It’s gonna hurt me, it’s gonna hurt Patty, it’s gonna hurt Joann, it’s gonna hurt Evan, it’s gonna hurt Andrew, it’s gonna hurt Connor, it’s gonna hurt Wheatus’–and I went down the whole list–

“‘It’s gonna hurt all of us because we’re not only gonna have to do our jobs…we’re gonna have to do your job too!’

“And this guy…I mean, man! He was crestfallen. He looked up at me, and he was real serious, and said: ‘I’ve never thought of that.’

“And I looked at him and I said: ‘You’re telling me that nobody has ever explained this concept to you? Not a parent, not a coach, not a teacher, not a pastor? Nobody?’

“And he said: ‘No, nobody’s ever explained that to me before.’

“So I told him: ‘Brother, this is not your fault. You were failed. You were failed by every level of society. How old are you?’

“And he said, ‘I’m 19.’

“And I told him: “You’re 19 years old and nobody has told you that before. And it takes a 26 year old dude on a forklift to tell you.’

“And let me tell you, Dr. Breck, that guy and all his friends really shaped up. At the beginning of the Summer, I didn’t know about them. But on his last day, one of the guys, he even volunteered to stay late and help me finished what I needed to do.

“I tried to get the Manager to give him a Service Star for that, but he wouldn’t do it, so I took him to Applebee’s afterwards.”

I looked off past the window at the Fire & Ice sign once more, my gaze narrowing as my mind’s eyes searched through the years. 

“Those were great guys. I still got their phone numbers. I need to give them a call.” 

I nodded and turned back directly to Dr. Breck. 

“But this,” I said emphatically. “What we are doing here…this is the best way, because it’s the way of the Indo-European Warrior Caste.” 

Dr. Breck nodded solemnly. 

“Indeed,” he said. 

SEE THE NEXT INSTALLMENT 

OF 

RICHARD BARRETT’S 2026 MAN WEEKEND ADVENTURE IN

DREAMERS OF THE DAY: 

PART III…

COMING SOON! 

Sincerely,

Richard Barrett 

06-22-2026

Written at 8:34 PM, somewhere in the USA…

Sources Cited 

[1] Aristotle. Problems, Book XV, Chapter 16. Pg. 1415. Translated by E.S Forster. Pgs. 1319-1527. The Complete Works of Aristotle. Volume Two. Edited by Jonathan Barnes. Bollingen Series LXXI 2. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984.