Together Apart

What we deem worthy of gathering around matters. We are in a moment where the Fourth of July is being contested and some are asking, why haven’t we always celebrated June 19th as the true day of freedom for all? Listen in on our season finale as we check back in with Tanesha Forman, a middle school teacher in New Haven, CT who planned a virtual Juneteenth for her entire school with Priya Parker’s help earlier this year.

What could the future look like if Black people’s thoughts - and their existence in America - were held in the highest regard? Listen in as artist, activist, and facilitator, Alicia Walters creates a gathering for Black people to dream and shows us how we can all witness, honor and protect those dreams.

How do we celebrate the graduates in our lives and help them close an important chapter during a pandemic? Even while our luminaries are giving virtual commencement speeches, we still need unique, personal, community-driven shared experiences to say goodbye. Listen in as Priya Parker helps four high school seniors from a Chicago Public School prepare a closing ceremony for their graduating class.

Finding love has always had its challenges. Finding it in quarantine might seem virtually impossible. This week, we host a Together Apart Digital Speed Dating Experiment with the owner of an IRL speed dating company to see if virtual dating could be meaningful, fun, and even a little disarming. Listen in on the results!

Engaged couples around the world are trying to decide whether to postpone, forge ahead, or modify their weddings. What does a Zoom wedding look like and is that the best way to reimagine a wedding if you want to save your date? Listen in as Priya Parker talks to two couples as they redesign their weddings under quarantine.

Teachers are the OG gatherers. And many of them are discovering innovative ways to keep their students as engaged and motivated as anyone can be amidst a pandemic. But how should they think about the school events that hinged on the community coming together? Listen in as Priya Parker helps a teacher re-imagine an annual end-of-school-year gathering for her 6th grade class.

Could COVID-19 help us reimagine how we share parenting responsibilities in households where both parents are sheltered at home? In this episode about baby showers, Priya Parker explores how parents-to-be have traditionally received parenting wisdom and how this moment could uniquely equip us to innovate.

When external markers of adulthood are at a standstill, how do we continue to facilitate our personal evolutions? Listen in as Priya Parker helps a young woman design a gathering to mark her sister’s birthday and her transition into adulthood.

A woman who has been gathering for Passover Seder with over 40 people for 40 years wants to know how to celebrate digitally without losing the intimacy. Priya Parker helps her design a meaningful digital gathering by exploring one of the most important questions from the Passover tradition — what makes this night different from all other nights?

Together Apart is part guide, part reminder of the resiliency of the human spirit to still creatively meaningfully gather, even while we have to be apart. The show is hosted by Priya Parker, a conflict facilitator whose expertise is in how we gather. Together Apart is produced by Magnificent Noise, in partnership with The New York Times.