Host Karen Christensen is joined by sociologist Katherine Giuffre, now retired to Italy, who used Ray Oldenburg’s The Great Good Place with her students for many years. They share a concern that term “third place” is being used indiscriminately, diluting the original meaning and making it harder to find the social connections we need. They talk about distinctive features of a third place, and how having a third place of your own manifests itself. Kathy’s amusing story about a crisis at the pub-restaurant in a tiny Italian village illustrates some of the things she considers most important.

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