Sometimes It's More Than the Thought That Counts
FLASH SALE for my crew!
Hello! Hello! JT here in your inbox with something a little different than my usual post. If you’ve been following along–(first of all, thank you!)–you’ll know that my hope is to host a space that helps us lean in together and catch our breath. If our community had a motto, it might be something like: let’s make living human again.
I suppose that could sound woo-woo (cue the jazz hands), except that I’ve come to believe that living humanly isn’t merely aspirational or theoretical. It hinges on embodied choices – routines and liturgies we step into on a daily basis. It’s these grounded and tangible activities that shape the horizons of what's possible.
The question for our consideration, then, is not: are you building a life? The question is: are you building a life by default or by design?
I used to think that living by design needed to start inside the realm of soul & spirit. And from a certain perspective, I still see those as foundational. But it turns out that soul and spirit have wide-ranging expressions; they’re not constrained to a church pew or hours spent in solitude.
In fact, soulful living involves and implicates our bodies and our built environments. Every activity in our life – be it hymnal singing or holiday shopping – has the power to be formational or deformational.
In his book, Culture Making, Andy Crouch sets forward the idea that “artifacts” – things we create like omelets, sweatshirts, and songs – are simple and powerful ways to make and remake the world. He suggests five questions that I find especially helpful:
What does this artifact assume about the way the world is?
What does this artifact assume about the way the world should be?
What does this artifact make possible?
What does this artifact make impossible (or at least very difficult)?
What new forms of culture are created in response to this artifact?
Placing “artifact” at the center of our attention keeps us from being only theoretical. It insists that the work of designing our lives is bound up with practical choices and creative pursuits that hit the ground. (A beloved saint who spent years laboring for change inside of vulnerable KC neighborhoods once told me: “Everyone who wants to change the world becomes a priest or a social worker, we need some city planners in the mix too.”)
This both / and perspective is one of the reasons I’ve been so excited about a working venture I’ve stepped into, alongside my business partner, D.J. Smith. Together, we're collaborating to build an agency that pairs coaching with branding – and it’s such fun to see our work find tangible expression, be it a logo, a website, or a team ritual.
D.J. has also been playing at a side-gig passion project for nearly a decade, an apparel brand built around the idea that community is not just where we live, it's how we live – together. The mission is simple: create comfortable, street-ready men's and women's apparel that sparks surprising conversations and meaningful connections.
It’s a fashion line made with intention, founded on the belief that a simple artifact can elevate a conversation or transform a coffee shop encounter, making space for something different – something deeper, more human, more rare.
After a little poking and prodding, I talked D.J. into setting up a holiday shop just for you! For the next several days, Brandhearted, in partnership with Community Supply, is featuring a few items — hats from a Chemistry of Connection line and a monogram sweatshirt.
As we take simple steps to make culture – creating and sharing these products with you – we hope it’s a reminder that it is both the thought and the artifact that count. Most of all, we hope you are better equipped to play at surprising connections and conversations, reaffirming our shared humanity along the way.
NOTE: our storefront, Printful, has said that December 10 is the deadline for standard shipping on apparel to arrive before 12/25.
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