Connecting the Gap Collective is here to share mutual experiences, grow into our best unified potential, and bring people together.

Hello, there! This may be a shout into the void, but as I am learning increasingly it is more likely than not that someone is behind a screen of their own reading this. The universe is unpredictable and giving in that way. So, to whatever beautiful human reading this, my name is Maddie (hi, again!). This is a website that I hope can be a meeting spot for ideas, people, and a place of sharing. In this little introductory blurb I hope to establish my hopes and goals not only for this website space, but for myself and my journey.

But first, let me properly introduce myself. I am a recent grad of graduate school with a passion for the arts, culture, and human connection. It is my belief that every person on this planet can find relatability with every other human on this planet as long as they are open-minded. Since graduating in May, I have been spending my time trying to learn about different people, their cultures, and varying belief systems while trying my best not to remain overwhelmed by everything going on in the world. 

Like most, the past several months have felt like a dumpster fire of chaos which has caused me to feel lost and not knowing how I can help to make change. It seems as though everyday there's something new to face with a never-ending, accumulating laundry list of apocalyptic-level events that we have to try to combat (on top of a global pandemic!). One worry that I have had over the past few years is how divided our society is becoming. I can only speak really for the United States, but this huge divide that has become larger is causing many issues and danger for us all. The fact that the United States is such a divided nation and (for better or for worse) has so much influence over other countries leads me to believe that other nations may be dealing with a similar struggle. Since there are so many menacing events happening in the world, this issue of division has seemed to be pushed to the backburner of our collective minds.

So, what are my intentions for this website you may ask? I hope that it can be a place where people can come to learn about many different human experiences without judgment and with an open-mind. As I said before, I have a passion for connecting with others. You may be asking yourself what I mean by that. Well, what I mean is that the moments in my life where time seems to stand still and I am not worried about anything else is when I am learning about other people’s experiences whether that be cultural, personal, or in any other way. I hope this website can become a place where we can learn about each other in hopes of potentially closing that divide that is so destructive. I will talk about some of the things that rest on my mind in hopes of starting an open, honest, and vulnerable dialogue.

One thing I must mention before ending this introduction is that I am also starting this website to be a creative and self-empowering outlet. One thing that I have struggled with my whole life is not only thinking, but truly feeling that what I have to say is important. I was always the kid that struggled to raise their hand in class because I was worried about receiving judgment from my peers. More than that, I felt that what I had to say was not worthy of any audience -- including my own. I have gotten better with this as I have gotten older because I have recognized this and tried to tell myself otherwise, but I still have a hard time with it. By putting what I have to say on digital paper and presenting it to any audience seems like a good way for me to try to alleviate this issue. What I have to say is important. What you have to say is important.

I have always wanted to be more creative and give myself a way to express myself more freely AND now more than ever it seems like the right time to try to bring people together in any way possible, so… I hope that both of these things can progress even a little bit through this collective space.

If you are still here with me, reading this and resonating with anything I just said then, welcome! I am so happy that you are here with me on this slice of a journey. I am here to serve as your host and friend. Together, hopefully, we can connect the gap.

With the warmest of welcomes,

Maddie