Tag: Community

At the beginning of April I set the intention to have a face-to-face interaction with each of my 24 neighbors. But as April turned into May I still hadn’t taken action on my challenge. Quite simply, I was scared. Not because I suspected by neighbors were incinerating bodies in the basement, but because I was afraid of violating the unspoken but very real norm of privacy, and the unmentioned, but very palpable code of silence that governed our community. In the face of engaging in a simple, but profoundly countercultural act, I completely froze.

The Thread of Community

December 26, 2018

I have begun to see that the hole in my soul that has recently been calling out for attention is in the shape of something I have thought more about than almost anyone, but, in reality, have less of than almost everyone.

The Long Loneliness

December 23, 2018

Healing without sharing has been lonely. A good kind of lonely, maybe—the kind usually described with lovely-sounding words like “solitude” or “seclusion.” But lately it’s started to feel like my period of spiritual confinement might be coming to an end.

About Project Reconnect

What is it about our culture, habits, and daily lives that makes it so hard to feel connected, enmeshed in supportive community, and whole?

I started Project Reconnect in 2019 to experiment with very personal and local ways to challenge and change the hyper-individualism that has created a crisis of loneliness and social fragmentation in America. As I have reviewed my pre-pandemic writing, I’ve been astonished at how resonant it feels as we look to a post-Covid future.

And so, Project Reconnect continues—under circumstances that make experiencing deep connection feel more challenging and elusive than ever. Today my ambitions are humbler, my approach a bit gentler, and my starting point more vulnerable, more raw. Indeed, what felt like an urgent endeavor in 2019 feels like a burning fire of need in 2021—both personally and collectively.

So join me–let’s reconnect.