My Communitas

By: Carly Le Blanc
12/4/07

Today we heard a story about Dr. Redick's personal experience with communitas and it made me realize I have experience this phenomena a number of times. Today I was riding in my car with two other people and we were just driving, listening to music, and smoking cigarettes. My boyfriend and I, the broke but nicotine-addicted college students that we were, were out. We sat in silence almost the entirety of the ride but later I realized there was so much interaction taking place. My friend put a cigarette in his mouth and held two others in the air. I didn't distract my attention from the window and my boyfriend kept his eyes on the rode but we each took one. My friend passed the lighter to my boyfriend who then extended it to the back toward me. As I reached forward to hand the lighter back to the owner, my boyfriend had simultaneously held the car's designated "ash can" out to me. I passed the lighter into my friends hand and grabbed the ash can. All throughout this exchange verbal communication was unnecessary. There was an inherent understanding of each others needs.