Where stories become conversations—and conversations become understanding.
The Long Way Around
A Living Room Conversation is an informal gathering where people come together—in person or online—to engage in thoughtful, respectful dialogue about the issues that shape our lives. Guided by a carefully designed conversation framework, these discussions are intended to foster understanding, encourage genuine listening, and build meaningful human connection.
Hosted in the welcoming setting of a private home or virtual meeting space, each conversation provides a non-threatening environment where people with different experiences and perspectives can speak openly, listen deeply, and explore common ground.
As a starting point, I use stories from my book, America Found: From Division to Connection. These real-life encounters serve as conversation catalysts, inviting participants to reflect on the experiences of others and on their own.
Reading the book is not a prerequisite for participating, nor is there any expectation that attendees purchase it. These gatherings are not book promotions. Their purpose is far greater: to create spaces where understanding can replace assumption, where relationships can transcend differences, and where each conversation becomes one small step toward a more connected nation—and a more compassionate world.
A photographic journey into the people, stories, and unexpected lessons found along America's back roads.
For six years, David Robert Farmerie traveled more than 350,000 miles across America with a camera in his hand and a question in his head:
Are we really as divided as we have come to believe?
He set out looking for an answer.
What he found was something far more complicated—and far more human.
Through photographs and stories of the people he encountered along the way, The Long Way Around explores what happens when we approach strangers with curiosity, listen before we judge, and allow people to be more complicated than the labels we place upon them.
The journey revealed five lessons:
The Camera Is an Invitation.
Every photograph begins with an encounter.
Everyone Wants to Be Seen.
Beneath our differences is a remarkably universal desire to matter.
Listening Changes the Story.
Sometimes the most important question is the one we ask after we think the conversation is over.
Complexity Is Not the Enemy.
Understanding someone doesn't require agreement. It requires allowing them to be fully human.
Hope Lives in Ordinary Places.
America's resilience is found not only in historic moments, but in the quiet determination of ordinary people who keep going.
The Long Way Around is not a political lecture. It is an invitation to look again—to move beyond the easy assumptions we make about one another and rediscover the people behind the labels.
David went looking for a divided America.
He found people.
And by listening to them, the story changed.
Come with me, as I take you on this journey.
Bring Me to Your Conversation
The stories I've gathered over a lifetime of photography were never meant to remain on the page or behind the camera.
They are meant to be shared.
If you'd like to bring one of these journeys to your organization, community, book club, or gathering—whether in person or virtually—I'd love to hear from you.
Let's start a conversation.