Join my six-week challenge to find third spaces

In the past year, there has been increased public interest in “third places” or “third spaces” as key in the fight against America’s loneliness epidemic. As the internet replaces more and more in-person gathering spaces, it seems as though the isolation of the post-college years has become even harder for young people to bear. During my time at The Post, I’ve written several columns about how volunteering, hobbies, small talk and embracing intergenerational friendships can all be part of the cure.

But make no mistake — advice and ideas alone won’t solve post-grad loneliness. Even when young people spend significant time, energy and money in third spaces, there are still barriers to experiencing sustainable social joy and warmth.

To better understand those obstacles, we need to go out into the world and put Post Grad’s advice to the test.

Enter: The Third Spaces Project. In this six-week challenge, I’ll investigate how hard (or easy!) it is to make friends and build community in the average U.S. city, inviting Post Grad readers along for the experiment. Every week, we’ll venture on an outing to a potential “third space” in our communities. We’ll document these adventures in social life, both awkward and awesome, here in the columns as well as newsletters and on social media.

This is an excerpt of Renee Yaseen’s Post Grad column. Read the rest for free on washingtonpost.com, or sign up to get the full edition sent to your inbox twice a week.?

Let’s find ‘third spaces’ together

What kinds of community spaces, classes and activities would you recommend I try as part of the Third Spaces Project?

Below are two reader responses to our question of the week that stood out. To get our complete collection of reader responses each week, sign up to get the full edition of Post Grad.

“Dance classes! I live in Spokane, WA, and the country swing dance community is a great place to get to know people. I am not a huge dancer, but moving my body and meeting new people has been a blast.” — Rachel A., 23

“When I was in my mid-20s I signed up for a short story writing class through Fairfax County Public School’s Adult Continuing Education program. It was a great class and our group and teacher stayed close for years and would get together to talk about one another’s writing. I was the youngest one in the class but made friends (and mentors) across generations which was really cool.” — Kate D., 34?

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