the passion behind ‘reading at the red house’
Spending time sorting through many options of great literature that can prompt amazing discussion and build community.
I love to bring people together to create community. I have been doing it for over 20 years in different capacities. When our girls were 3 and 1 my husband and I, along with friends of ours, started what would become an annual camping tradition we called Grand Camping Weekend and for 18 years we were continually thinking of ways to include more people. The food was amazing, the laughing contagious, and the memories irreplaceable.
A few years later, our Fall Chili Party was born and over the last 11 years this gathering has grown. We have even found ourselves inviting people we didn’t know that we met at a restaurant in town while out for dinner. Bringing people together from all different backgrounds to enjoy conversation, great food, laughter and some rocking tunes has become something we do well and enjoy immensely.
When I graduated in May, I took a little time to mourn not being in school anymore. I know … insert eye roll here. I got to brainstorming what I would do next for myself. What would I do to share all I learned while celebrating some of the best parts of how I’ve learned it. One of the greatest things I’ve learned in the last eight years was the ability to practice building community with people who didn’t always think like I did. The privilege to study alongside women and men from a myriad of backgrounds, ethnicities, and religious beliefs is what drew me to the school to begin with. I didn’t realize the true impact this would have.
Our society thrives on division; we can’t escape the pitting of groups of people against one another. It sells newspapers and increases ratings, but what division also does is create greater divide and push people apart. The more I thought about this over the summer, the more I realized I want to bring people together. I want to be able to talk about things that might be hard, that might bring out our differences. My hope is that this will help us learn a little more about one another and maybe, just maybe, bring us closer together.
I recently listened to a short podcast that really spoke to me. Nijay Gupta & AJ Swaboda encourage us to get outside of the social media pattern of only reading things that make us happy and flow with what we already believe. This will help us have “a more natural appreciation” for one another even if we disagree with each other. If we are able to come together in trusting community to discuss tough topics, we might be able to come to see each other in a more peaceful way. Instead of being divided we may begin to appreciate our differences.
Through literature that provokes us and causes us to think outside of our comfort bubbles, we will chip away at division. Whether it is political, generational, religious, or racial, literature has the ability to prompt growth, community and peace in our relationships with others.
SO … I am going to do it. I am going to find ways to bring people together to talk about hard stuff in a considerate way. The first step, build a community of women who like to read and want to talk about hard things. Add in delicious food and conversation, then stir. I look forward to joining you on this adventure … who knows where it will take us.