When I visited Cultivator Bookstore in the small town of Murfreesboro, North Carolina, Caroline told me that the property the bookstore sits on is an old grist mill and mill pond where she and her dad used to fish. Today, Caroline has turned an old house on the property into a non-profit bookstore and gathering space. “We opened it as a bookstore because there is no place to buy books in this county. You have to drive up to Virginia or go an hour to Roanoke Rapids just to get books here,” she explains.
Quickly, however, the Cultivator became about more than just books. Caroline found that once she created the space, she was able to learn more about the needs of her community. Soon, Cultivator volunteers started a food distribution program and, later, a youth theater program. “We are letting our neighbors tell us what the town needs,” she says. “But we had to create a space first to start the conversation.”
The third spaces Sheurle, Kirk, Warren, and Caroline are creating in their hometowns are places of belonging where people don’t necessarily have to be a worker or a consumer to be there. They are public leisure spaces where everyone is welcome. While their pretense may be on art or job training, or books, they thrive by not being strict about their purpose. Instead, participants help shape the space as it grows. In this way, I’m reminded that third spaces are just good for public leisure, but they are also great equalizers—places where people with different perspectives and ideas can mingle and overlap.
Read the rest at Working Class Storytelling
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