Thinking about weak community ties vs. friendships.

I learned living in Lynchburg, VA that having frequent, boundaried interactions with strangers actually gives me a different kind of joy than from meeting with friends in NYC. Friends themselves are great, of course. I’m simply thinking that social contact can range from low intensity to high intensity, and it’s those lower intensity forms of social contact that I’ve found valuable, and often missing in my life. I had zero friends in Lynchburg but at times felt a bit more connected to the world. Maybe it was the novelty of experiencing a new place that made me more curious?