The Third Space Connection

Hello friends!

While our physical location is closed, we are taking The Third Space community digital! We will send out biweekly emails to keep the conversation going and engage in creative ways with you, our Third Space family.

Today’s Third Space Connection considers the necessity of third places.

In our Monday newsletter, we talked about how important “third places” are during a pandemic. Today, we wanted to share some more information about third places. We hope this inspires you to engage with third places now (which likely means online) and in the future (when we can gather together in community once again).

Here’s a “third places reading list” to start a conversation about third places:

This Brookings Institution article provides an excellent introduction to third places and their importance.
This article considers how third places can counteract loneliness.
This Q&A with Ray Oldenburg provides more information about third places, including the 10 important functions of third places.

We also mentioned the television show Cheers in the newsletter, because it’s a great example of how third places function in people’s lives. Here are a few more lyrics from the theme song that help explain why third places cultivate equity:

You want to be where you can see

The troubles are all the same

You want to be where everybody knows your name.

You want to go where people know

The people are all the same

You want to go where everybody knows your name.

We would love to hear your thoughts about what makes a great third place and your stories of a third place making a difference in your life. Drop us a line on Facebook , Instagram or by email ! We hope you will continue to engage with our third place, The Third Space!

THE THIRD SPACE | 331 W. BOYD ST., NORMAN, OK 73069

405-857-7525 | WEBSITE | EMAIL