2022 Issue 5 Sept/Oct Focus - Mid-South magazine

shift away from small towns. This problem, this lack of
community, has long been felt by LGBTQIA+ people:
existing in societies and systems that largely exclude queer
ways of living and being has necessitated the creation
of alternative third places. But we all have likely felt this
problem again, and acutely, in these last couple of years:
having lived through lockdowns of our ongoing pandemic,
seeing our first, second, and third places disappear or
collapse into one, seemingly never leaving home.
To “enter” second and third places in/since/during
Covid has required going, not to separate places
physically, , but to separate places mentally (or emotionally,
or spiritually), trying to access as much of the spirit of
our second and third places as we can. But “daily life, in
order to be relaxed and fulfilling, must find its balance in
three realms of experience. One is domestic, a second is
gainful or productive, and the third is inclusively sociable,
offering both the basis of community and the celebration
of it.” And, he stresses, there need to be physical
distinctions between each of them. Covid has made this
only more apparent.
In the last episode of Somebody Somewhere, Joel is
now the character needing to rediscover a sense of place
and belonging: he told the pastor of his church about
Choir Practice, admitted that he had been lying to her,
and decided, too, to take a break from formal religion. His
friends from Choir Practice take him out to lift his spirits
and to scout other spots to meet. Driving around town
in Fred Rococo’s van that night, all of them together,
talking, laughing, singing, he shouts, “This is church! This
is church!” Choir practice is still Joel’s third place: his
community and sense of belonging, fun and support are
there. It is his great good place. May we understand the
value of third places in our lives. May we each find our own
great good place. And if we can’t, may we embody our
queer legacies and create them.
REFERENCES:
Bos, Hannah and Paul Thureen, creators. Somebody Somewhere. . Duplass Brothers
Productions and The Mighty Mint, 2022.
Oldenburg, Ray. The Great Good Place: Cafés, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair
Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community. . Hachette Books, 1999.
focuslgbt.com | Nerds! 43
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