Where is public space to be found? College students (really, all of us) live in an ocean of private interaction. We swim from one personal pool to another trying to get into one. Those already in a pool are trying to keep “unacceptables” out. Such pools are known as cliques or peer or affinity or identity groups where people live under the judgment of “cool,” making college either a very happy or very lonely place for us, depending on our social acceptability. Such is the tyranny of the social that we long for someplace else to be truly ourselves. Hidden in plain sight are opportunities for authentic speech called public events or occasions. But who would ever have thought that a public arena serves that purpose? If only we could find one and try it out! They are missing on campus.
Month: December 2016
Go Public, College Chaplains!
Let’s get out of our offices and into the public world where public conversation is happening. I don’t mean on the Internet, but face-to-face conversation. It may be up to us to create such spaces. Plenty of opportunities already exist for social-izing. But we long for more, for really significant conversations, where we are known for who we are. What would it take for us to call such moments into being? Go public, college chaplains.