Many years ago, Garrison Keillor (1985) wrote about the “storm home” that had been assigned to him as a welcoming place to go after school if there should be a snowstorm that prevented him from finding his way back to his family home. Keiller never met the people who lived in his storm home; however, he envisioned that they would be warm and welcoming of him. They would protect him from the storm and nourish him until he could safely travel to his parents’ home. Keiller suggests that we all need our “storm home,” given the kind of turbulent challenges we face every day. We are navigating a whitewater environment (Vaill, xxx) that requires us to engage in centering and find balance (Bergquist, 2025) This is not easy if we feel saturated and uncertain.
Perhaps, 54 Below is a storm home for me. I don’t even have to be present at this cabaret or watch a Sondheim performance at this Broadway club. I find my storm home just thinking of the warm glow I experience when entering the door of this cabaret or clicking on the link that opens the 54 Below website.
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References
Argyris, Chris and Donald Schön (1974) Theory in Practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Bellah, Robert and others (1985) Habits of the Heart. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Bergquist, William (2025) The New (Ab)Normal. Harpswell, Maine: Professional
Gergen, Kenneth (2000) The Saturated Self. (Rev. Ed.) New York: Basic Books.
Keillor, Garrison (1985) Lake Wobegon Days, New York: Viking Press.
Miller, John and Scott Page (2007) Complex Adaptive Systems. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.
Sommer, Robert (1975) Street Art, New York: Links Books.
Sommer, Robert (1980) Farmer’s Markets of America, San Francisco: Capra Press.
Vaill, Peter (2008) Managing as a Performing Art. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Whyte, William (1956) The Organization Man. New York: Anchor.
Wilson, Sloan (1955) The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit. New York: Simon and Schuster.
