The Outward Facing Clique

Well, hey there, Cadre. Happy Tuesday. How are you? I hope that you are good. And if you've tuned in before to me leading a live stream, I hope you can start literally reciting the things that I say every single time that I sign on. Like, how are you? And that there's someone in the world who hopes that you are good. Hey, junk food junkie. Nice to see you, my friend. m. m. is a regular time that works for you. Hey, speak wonder. Nice to see you as well. I really do hope every time that I have the opportunity to sign on here that you hear someone ask how you're doing.

Jules, nice to see you. And that you hear that. I hope that you are good. And this is the most important part. And if you aren't good, to know that that is okay, too. Meaning that you're still in the right place. This is not the place to come to when things are good or when you have things figured out. It is the place for that. It's the place to come to whenever, all the time. Whenever you have a moment, whenever the synapse of your brain goes, ah, I'm bored, I'm sad, I'm stressed, I'm happy, I'm excited, I'm confused, I'm distracted, I'm whatever.

Mild in the wild. So my name is JC Lippold. If we've never shared time and space together before, thank you for the opportunity to do so. It's an honor to spend some time with you, Jules. I'm so glad to hear that. It is a terrific Tuesday and an exclamation point kind of day. Matt tappy. Nice to see you, my friend. m. livestream more often during the week, that is. Well, hey, I am currently sitting in a big old auditorium, one of those auditoriums that has the stage built right into it. Who grew up going to a school where the auditorium, field house, stage area was all the same.

My middle school was like that. Well, this is Shell Lake, Wisconsin. Shell Lake, Wisconsin is home to Shell Lake Art center, which is a beautiful complex. A little dusty, a little worn, but beautiful nonetheless. Where all summer long they hold the different camps. Art, music, theater, all those types of things. And I teach at the musical theater camp, Steph Erwin. Oh, my gosh. This is like an MVP Cadre session. Y'all so cool to see all y'all so I am here with 32 young people from around the globe.

We have a couple here from France this week. I guess they were getting away from the Olympics, but on Tuesdays, we talk about building community, and I talk about the idea of the outward facing click. And I'll tell you, there's nothing like a theater camp to talk about the potential of people feeling a part of something. That's what a click is. Well, at this camp, there are people who attend, literally from the time they are fifth graders to the time they graduate high school. We have one camper this week.

Their name is Van, and they have attended eight years at this camp. They are the one eight year camper this year. And V will be going off to Verturbo University this fall. But there's people like V who've been here forever and a majority of people who've never been here before. I tell you, on that first day, it's like that. It's literally like that. Holding your lunchroom tray on the first day going, where do I go? Because I am the outsider. And here's this really cool thing that happened. We started on Sunday night, and we start with this little mock audition where the kids get to be in the reality of the anxiety of being somewhere new, and they all sing for one another.

And there's no, like, now you go. Now you go. But they come up and sing whenever they want to do so. So the kids who are maybe a little bit more anxious or nervous wait until the end going like, oh, God, I want to do this. Now I have to do this. There's less people. I don't want to wait anymore. And the two individuals who are from France, Victoire and Caroline, they're sisters. Finally, Victoire came up in front of the whole group and was super, super nervous. And then all of a sudden, her sister, without even asking, came running down next to her sister.

It's like, can we sing together? And you could just see the two of them are so nervous, and they start singing together. They look at each other like, okay, let's do this. They start singing, and then all of a sudden, one grabs the other one's hand, and it's literally like you're watching people do something that they could feel the outside force and energy happen, and everyone in the room is just. The breath has taken away at this beautiful moment, and they get done singing, and everybody bursts into applause and support.

That was Sunday night. Now it's Tuesday morning. Those two individuals now are feeling and acting more a part of the thing. I'll tell you the reason why. In a very short amount of time, everybody feels a part of this thing is because those people who have been here before, with the help of us as facilitators, have been doing a really good job of making sure that it's not about them, it's not about the people who've been here forever, but it's about making the people who've never been here before feel a part of the thing.

And all of a sudden, the thing becomes not what was, but what is. And I tell you, V and Chase and Roman, those are the three who and when. Those four have been here at least three years, and they are so doing the most wonderful of jobs, of inviting people in because the old people like me, we can go ahead and be like, hey, everybody, outward facing, click. But it's the people who are actually in that circle who have the power. Junk food junkie says it's good to have someone like V, who is one of the peers, to encourage the newbies to do things.

Yeah. And not even to encourage them to do things, but to let them know that even if they don't do things, that the prerequisite is not. You need to do, you need to earn. But we, as the people who've been here, need to open space to be receiving of the perspective of the people who've never been here before. Because that's what keeps things like this alive. This camp has been here for literally ever. This camp has been a place for people to come in the summer and have that summer camp experience.

And steph, you just said it literally right when I said it. Camp has such a magical way of making so many feel included. I can tell you so many stories about this camp and what it has done for people, young people and old people alike. So my invitation is for you to consider those circles that you have been in for a long time that you feel are so, so important. How can you open up the space for other people to take ownership, to make their moment, be the moment? Because Victoire and Caroline, they said, no, we're going to do this together.

No one gave them permission to do that. But they risked, and once they risked, they were met and received into this space. And I bet that'll be the moment that people remember from this week and ten years from now and 20 years from now when those two young people from France in Shell Lake, Wisconsin changed the 29 lives of the other people here from Wisconsin and Minnesota and Illinois and North Dakota and Iowa. And all of a sudden, we remembered the power of the outward facing click. So about 4 hours from now, midday noon central standard time, Doctor Leslie Davis has come on in to talk about the power of that one on one relationship.

Always with that cup of coffee. Y'all have a great rest of the day and oh my gosh, we have so many wonderful people here who are opening up the door in this click for others. Steph Tappy speak wonder junk food junkie. All y'all. Right, I'm scrolling back to remember Jules, who else signed in this morning? All y'all, thank you for what you do for making this a space for people to walk into. Junk food Junkie says JC. Side note, when it comes to it, that is what Cadre is, a magical space that makes everyone feel important.

Yeah, that is exactly what makes Cadre the wonderful magical space junk food junkie. And you are right within that mix of making that magic happen. We'll talk to you later.