Welcome to the Party

I’m beyond excited to put out into the world my thoughts in this space, a space I hope will be one where we learn together as I outwardly process and where you’re also mildly entertained by my crazy inner thoughts.

So why “The InBetween?” 

You know how in movies or tv shows the characters can be having an in-depth conversation at location A, then we cut to them getting out of a car at location B and continuing that conversation as though nothing had happened in between? What did they do, just sit in silence for 45 minutes? Did they talk about sports, only to switch back to the topic once they weren’t sitting in a car with nothing better to do?

These jump cuts have always bothered me. Not only because they’re unrealistic, but because so much of life happens between two points. On the way to the event. On the way back after we’ve experienced something incredible. The thoughts, realizations, and conversations we have in anticipation of and reflecting on the major events of our life. We often ignore these in between spaces, but I think they are more important than we realize.

After one of the Black Lives Matter LA protests, my friend and I went to Santa Monica the next morning to help clean up. I was thrilled, and a little nervous, to go. Prepped with all our COVID gear, we headed off to serve the community. On the way, we chatted about the protests, all the news coverage and footage we had seen of police pepper-spraying and tear-gassing civilians. We chatted the whole way there. And then after we were finished, we chatted the whole way back.

Usually when I think back on events like this, I think “oh yeah remember that time I went and helped clean up after the protest?” But I never think about the trip there. Or the trip back. Which is the part of the experience filled with dialogue and questions and conversations and ideas. The part that often shapes and refines our perspectives – sometimes more than the actual event did. It’s the banter and analyses after watching a good movie. The discussion at dinner after receiving some heartbreaking news.

The space before, the space after. The moments in between the moments.

My belief is that it’s in these in between spaces where our deepest learning happens. We don’t magically go from unaware to educated overnight. It takes wrestling, processing, difficult conversations, and implementing into action. My hope is that The InBetween will be a space where that process can happen.

In the coming months, the hope is to create more formalized learning spaces for people who are interested in growing together with others.

I’m extremely excited. Our culture doesn’t allow much space between reading the next tweet, watching the next clip, reacting to the next comment, or downloading the next podcast. There’s always a next hit. And then, if we want to go deeper, at the other end of the spectrum there are full-fledged academic programs packed with so much reading and endless discussion that sometimes knowledge feels divorced from our on-the-ground realities and sometimes even divorced from action. And more importantly, a lot of these programs and the content aren’t accessible to everyone. The hope is to provide a learning space in between these two polar realities.

So if you’re craving a space to process what you’re living and experiencing every day, and want to grow and learn alongside others who want the same thing, then welcome to the InBetween. A space between the spaces. A place between the moments of our crazy lives to reflect and connect with both ourselves and each other.

If you are interested in receiving information for what’s to come, be sure to sign up.