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2024 52 Card Project: Week 6: Gigi's Cafe
Feb. 16th, 2024 12:13 pmIn a way, this is a thematic follow-up to last week's collage, which was a meditation about discerning the kind of life I wish to lead. One thing I have been thinking about for a while is how I want to rebuild my social network. Rob and I didn't socialize much when he was going through his treatment. Then there was grief, and then there was the pandemic.
I have been reading about Blue Zones, the regions of the world that scientists are studying because that's where people thrive the best into extreme old age. One factor that has been identified that helps is social connections. This is something the Surgeon General has also been examining (see the report here) and he has warned of the danger that loneliness poses to people's health.
I ran across an article in the Star Tribune about an experiment a woman by the name of Anna Bonavita has started: she had spent some time in Italy while her husband was dying, and one thing that she found helped her profoundly was the communal table at a nearby restaurant. When Anna came back to the United States, she decided to try it at a venue called Gigi's Cafe. Anyone interested can come to join the conversation on Thursdays from 6 to 8 pm.
So I went to check it out. The number was a bit small because it was a rainy night. Several people in this circle are involved in the Twin Cities tango dance community. Despite the small number, I enjoyed the conversation immensely and have already gone back a second time (last night), which was better attended.
The text over the bottom of the collage is one of the pull quotes from the Star Tribune article.
I enjoyed doing this collage. The picture I took of the couple dancing was taken from inside the cafe looking out, but I think I did a good job of making it look like the couple was being viewed from another angle, from outside the cafe looking in.
Description: A view from outside through a cafe window (Gigi's Cafe). The cafe (the colors are slightly washed out) is empty, except for a couple (vividly colored) dancing in an aisle between the tables, eyes closed totally focused on one another. Lower center text reads: “When you feel hungry, you eat. When you feel a sharp pain in your lower extremity, you move your toe off the tack. But when the unpleasant state is loneliness, the best way to get relief is to form a connection with someone else.”
Gigi's Cafe
Click here to see the 2024 52 Card Project gallery.
Click here to see the 2023 52 Card Project gallery.
Click here to see the 2022 52 Card Project gallery.
Click here to see the 2021 52 Card Project gallery.
I have been reading about Blue Zones, the regions of the world that scientists are studying because that's where people thrive the best into extreme old age. One factor that has been identified that helps is social connections. This is something the Surgeon General has also been examining (see the report here) and he has warned of the danger that loneliness poses to people's health.
I ran across an article in the Star Tribune about an experiment a woman by the name of Anna Bonavita has started: she had spent some time in Italy while her husband was dying, and one thing that she found helped her profoundly was the communal table at a nearby restaurant. When Anna came back to the United States, she decided to try it at a venue called Gigi's Cafe. Anyone interested can come to join the conversation on Thursdays from 6 to 8 pm.
So I went to check it out. The number was a bit small because it was a rainy night. Several people in this circle are involved in the Twin Cities tango dance community. Despite the small number, I enjoyed the conversation immensely and have already gone back a second time (last night), which was better attended.
The text over the bottom of the collage is one of the pull quotes from the Star Tribune article.
I enjoyed doing this collage. The picture I took of the couple dancing was taken from inside the cafe looking out, but I think I did a good job of making it look like the couple was being viewed from another angle, from outside the cafe looking in.
Description: A view from outside through a cafe window (Gigi's Cafe). The cafe (the colors are slightly washed out) is empty, except for a couple (vividly colored) dancing in an aisle between the tables, eyes closed totally focused on one another. Lower center text reads: “When you feel hungry, you eat. When you feel a sharp pain in your lower extremity, you move your toe off the tack. But when the unpleasant state is loneliness, the best way to get relief is to form a connection with someone else.”
Click here to see the 2024 52 Card Project gallery.
Click here to see the 2023 52 Card Project gallery.
Click here to see the 2022 52 Card Project gallery.
Click here to see the 2021 52 Card Project gallery.
