• What does it look like to Come Alive & truly be yourself?
• Do (y)our spaces encourage this?
• ???

“The future is promising. Let’s build it together” – Margaret Chandra Kerrison

Why this book?

I love what they’ve done with the place! It transported me ‘beyond’ as a convention center. Highly recommended.

During the keynote session, Margaret (an expert facilitator in holding creative tension and calling forth new futures born of your imagination) walked us through a series of design prompts as part of the S.T.O.R.Y. framework that she shares. It walks you through clearly defining the narrative of a place/concept so that it profoundly resonates with the intended audience.

(remarkable speaker sourcing to the team and @Phil Green — I can’t thank you enough.)
Why you should meet our APAIL25 keynote, Margaret Chandra Kerrison

MCK’s S.T.O.R.Y. goes something to the effect of:

• S – Share – Why share this story w/ the world?
• T – Theme – What is it? What’s the meaning? (This is what MCK calls the “narrative thrust” of the experience)
• O – One-of-a-Kind – What makes this [place, story, experience] unique?
• R – Reflect – Why are you the one telling the story? (Eg. Unique takes, lived experience, etc)
• Y – Yearn – Why are visitors here? (to feel safe, belonging, adventure, etc…)

“How do you want them to change or feel?”
“Wishing + Doing = Becoming”
-MCK

So… The talk was Nitro for my creative spirit and a part of me already coming alive over the course of the conference snapped to attention and dialed in to this way of framing life and opportunity. So, I bought her latest book (a physical copy–because I converse with books through all kinds of markup.)

The Book via MCK’s affiliate link

Welcome to “Reimagined Worlds: Narrative Placemaking for People, Play, and Purpose”

I absolutely love the concept of exploration & playful co-creation of our civic world through:

• Invitations
• Inquiries
• Quests
• Projects
• Ventures of all types

This book activated all of that glorious energy. Naturally, I sunk my teeth in.

• People
• Purpose &
• Play

These are places that

And ultimately, we feel:

• “I am here. Right now. With you.”

MCK draws a direct connection from the burning platform that is our mass longing to

She also shouts out Ray Oldenburg’s “The Great Good Place”, where he evidently coined the term “Third Space” (Parking this here: I found that book is getting a reboot with Oldenburg’s co-author, Karen Christensen: Ray Oldenburg & Karen Christensen on third places.)

The Invitation

MCK wastes no time calling us to move from a paradigm of “What is” and open up to “What could be?”

She spoke right to me with her invitation for readers to “imagine a world that we want to live in. A reimagined world in which we have shared community, a deep sense of belonging, and where we feel we can truly be ourselves.”

I encourage you to meditate on this invitation.

As a members of civic communities, as people with ownership of the world around us and a responsibility to steward our story, reality, and future, this invitation is one to carry all of the days of our life.

MakeBelieve

AKA a place to #ComeAlive in your creative expression

Inspiration here from a talk by Margaret Chandra Kerrison on Immersive Storytelling for Real & Imagined Worlds delivered to the 2025 APAIL | State Conference
& to her latest book:

Reimagined Worlds: Narrative Placemaking for People, Play, and Purpose; A Designer’s Manifesto

I’m sharing a series of responses to various chapters or concepts from this book.

#WorkStation #PlayStation