27+ Places You Deserve

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The 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th places of our world have been designated by sociologists and urban planners as:

• 1st place: Home

• 2nd place: Work or School

• 3rd place: A place for pleasant, impromptu, informal socializing (term coined by Ray Oldenburg in The Great Good Place)

• 4th place: Online communities and online gathering spaces

In the most recent issue of Oh Reader magazine, author Mary Stella Davis posited that we also need a 5th place: Somewhere silent to read in public where you won't be interrupted. But why stop there, I wondered?

How might our disconnected lives and our little worn-out souls be healthier, fuller, richer, calmer, happier, and more connected if we had access to more places that would nourish our hearts, minds, and souls?

So I made you a list of 40 places I think you deserve, and I illustrated 27 of them as a print-at-home poster, framed print, or notebook cover. It’s for sale as a digital download in my online shop for $8. I encourage you to print it out, hang it up on your wall, and start a conversation about it with a friend or two.

“27+ Places You Deserve” • © Kat Vellos

1. First space: home

2. Second space: job

3. Third space: easily accessible, affordable, cheerful, informal socializing spots

4. Fourth space: online community

5. Fifth space: Somewhere silent to read in public where you won't be interrupted (src: Mary Stella Davis, in Oh Reader magazine issue 14)

6. A place to be loud and rambunctious after you've aged out of the jungle gym

7. A place to cry and receive nurturance

8. A place to cry and be left alone

9. A place where you're allowed to sit down and eat with strangers

10. A place where you're allowed to sit in the sun and watch people going by, without having to buy anything to earn the right to sit there people watching

11. A place to take a nap in public and be safe while doing so

12. A place to hang up invitations, announcements, and requests without needing a permit

13. A free and cozy place to hang out and make conversation with strangers and acquaintances that you're not ready to bring to your home yet

14. A place to laugh with lots of people at the same time

15. A place filled with animals you're allowed to pet

16. A place entirely free from animals (except humans)

17. A place where you're welcome to play with a variety of art supplies to your heart's content

18. A place where you can stop by almost any time to hear music being played on instruments by people who live in your neighborhood

19. A place with a crackling fire where people are telling stories

20. A place where you're allowed to hold babies (because it's sad that we live in a world where the only time you're allowed to hold a baby is if you personally know someone who has a baby)

21. A place where you're allowed to come by any day and talk to old-timers

22. A place that doesn't mind if you sit there all day as long as you're kind and considerate to the people around you

23. A free or nearly free transportation portal that moves you safely, cleanly, and quickly to any other part of town so you never need to use a car

24. A place where you can take anything to be repaired, reused, or repurposed

25. A place to express your feelings in words

26. A place to express your feelings in movement

27. A place to express your feelings with art

28. A place to express your feelings through sound

29. A place to be of service to others

30. A place where you can speak to your elected officials, and they will listen to you

31. A place where making idle chatter with passersby is welcome and encouraged

32. A place for asking tough questions

33. A place for getting help figuring out hard answers

34. A place to get health care of all kinds, quickly and affordably

35. A place where you can spontaneously have a celebration with others who want to celebrate whatever you're celebrating

36. A place where mourning and wailing is welcome and need not be suppressed

37. A place that can be whatever you need it to be, whenever you most need it

38. A place that feeds your wisdom from lessons learned in the past

39. A place that helps you feel extremely present

40. A place that feeds your imagination and inspiration for the days ahead

Finding Places & Making Places

After I drew the 27 Places You Deserve poster, I realized that I've been fortunate enough to be somewhere that had almost all of these lovely lil nooks and crannies in it. The first time was when I was a teaching artist and facilitator at Power of Hope camp, and the second time was when I lived in an intentional community called Kalani Honua.

But TBH, I don't believe that you should have to walk away from your normal life in order to experience a community life so exquisitely enriching. You deserve to have all of the above and more, right where you are.

Aaaaaand….not gonna lie, making your existing neighborhood resemble the life depicted in the illustration above would require a redesign of America's individualistic culture, overly restrictive zoning laws, and penchant for privatization/capitalism. But it's happening bit by bit, in the movement to radically update zoning laws and in the thousands of intentional communities around the world that are leading by example. I love 'em — yet, as I said before in this video, “intentional community" isn't a place you go — it's an experience you co-create, and it's a way that you can design your life.

Use 27 Places You Deserve to:

• Hold onto a vision of community

• Get ideas for places to go when you leave your house or apartment

• Plug into undiscovered spaces already in your local area

• See the potential of existing spaces in a new way

• Support existing places that need more visitors

• Encourage the creation of new kinds of spaces

Let 27 Places You Deserve inspire you to work towards making incremental (or dramatic!) improvements in your life/city. Incremental progress is still progress. (Remember that at the voting booth too.)  

Hang up your poster! Talk about it with your friends, neighbors, community folks, and city council members. Use it as a conversation starter at your next potluck, dinner party, crafternoon, staff meeting, DMV waiting line, or mutual aid gathering. 

Most of all, I hope that this poster helps you remember how truly deserving you are: of a neighborhood, town, city, county, country, and planet that offers you all of this and more.

~ Kat Vellos, author of We Should Get Together: The Secret to Cultivating Better Friendships

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