Dear Friends,

In 2012, with the impetus to create a new type of gathering, I started throwing salons in New York City on thematic topics related to our common humanity. I have decorated my home with rose petals and candlelight and asked people to explore the meaning of “romance”, brought a group together and asked, “what would you do if you were not afraid”, asked men and women to share their most “feminine” and “masculine” moments, conversed for hours on “how will you measure your life”, and uncovered that “style” can be found in the poorest places in the world. While this began, and has remained a very personal experiment, the subtle shifts in the fabric of our society and the deepening of our divides has led me to believe that perhaps this type of conversation could play a greater role in fostering conversations across boundaries.

From these salons I have learned that, in a world filled with opinions and facades, sharing personal experiences and drawing meaningful connections from those experiences can create an authentic opening from which our healing begins. On a daily basis, we move through life making judgements about people we have never met and whose story we may never understand. In one of my favorite pieces, “In the Name of Identity” by Amin Maalouf, he states “For it is often the way we look at other people that imprisons them within their own narrow allegiances. And it is also the way that we look at them that may set them free.” I would even take this further to say it is not just how we look at them but how we interact and connect with them that may set them, and ourselves, free.

Warmly,

Blair Miller

Founder, Art of Salons