What started as a personal "social experiment" has grown into a monthly community event in which strangers are invited to simply have a conversation with one another to help "rebuild social connection."
On July 20, Carrie Parsons and Jacinthe Lauzier held their first Meet a Stranger event where about 25 people gathered in the Fairfield neighbourhood and had a one-hour conversation with each-other based on three different conversation prompts they got to choose from.
It started in February, when Parsons began a personal 50 First Dates Project and her goal was to have a one-hour conversation with 50 different strangers who replied to signs and posters she left around the city.
"We sit down, and we talk about anything under the sun, like life, love, literature, God, morality, philosophy, whatever, nothing's off limits, as long as it's authentic," she said. "I have the chat, and then I go home and I overthink the whole conversation, and I figure out what the life lesson is. Because honestly, I figure everything in life is a teachable moment if you're paying attention."
After the conversation, Parsons would take a photo with the stranger, then write a short essay reflecting on what she had learned from the conversation. At the end, she intends to write a book where the first half of the book would be the 50 photos and 50 essays, and the second half of the book would be a longer-form reflection as to how she has changed since the beginning of the project.
Lauzier, a project manager, was her 31st stranger. They talked about the benefits of "strangers coming together to connect through communication."
"She said, 'I'm a super-duper introvert, but I love what you're doing.' And I was like, 'Well, I'm not an introvert, and I love what I'm doing, you want to team up?" said Parsons. "She's basically the left brain, and I'm the right brain of this new project."
Together they decided to hold the first Meet a Stranger event, which saw more than two-dozen strangers having their own one-hour conversations.
"There were actually two older gentlemen who were there and they ended up getting paired at random together and they had a beautiful conversation, and [one of them] came over and he was thanking me so profusely for giving him the opportunity to engage with strangers," she said. "There are so many people in society that we tend to be overlooked that are in need of conversation, they want to feel invited to connect to a stranger."
Parsons said she received lots of good feedback after the event, and she has since applied for the My Great Neighbourhood Grant through the City of Victoria, and they plan to apply for grants through the District of Saanich with the help of the Fairfield-Gonzales Community Association, who agreed to be their non-profit sponsor for the grants.
Until the grants are approved, they will be hosting the monthly events, which are expected to be every third Saturday of the month, outside in a free public space. However, once funding is available, they plan to move inside the Fairfield-Gonzales Community Association.
For more information about meet a stranger, visit aroundthecampfire.ca.
