Allen: Historically, Matthew Shepard was a member of our campus ministry and was an Episcopalian. I’ve felt a strong conviction since taking this role that this is a huge part of our community that needs to be carried forward. That’s been a big part of the motivation behind our outreach.

We have a statewide gathering every year. They said, “Allen, lead a workshop.” I was like, “I don't even know what I'm gonna talk about.” Connor and I had just had coffee, talking about how he's very rooted in his faith and that's a big part of his motivation, but he doesn’t have many outlets to explore that at a public university.

So we thought: how can we talk about restorative justice and faith? And I needed to do a workshop that month, so we said, “Let’s do it.” We came up to Casper and had planned for 10 to 15 people to show up—there were 65. So we kind of blew it up. We couldn’t do a talking circle with 65 people, so it evolved into a broader conversation about restorative justice.

And [the Episcopal church] is in the middle of repatriating a ton of artifacts [to tribal communities in Wyoming], and then exploring repatriation of land. That became the topic that everybody in the audience wanted to talk about. So it was not the workshop we planned, but it was really cool to do that with him.

Nancy: What do you think was the draw? What got that many people in the room?

Allen: I think partly it's just, as a church, we have made reconciliation and justice a huge priority the past couple of years. I would say that most of the people there were very excited because they're able to connect parts of their faith and parts of their worldview that used to be segregated. And now they're seeing the connections and the integration a lot more. And then there were some really angry people there too that were like, “What does the Bible have to do with justice?” And they wanted to have their voices heard because they feel like their perspective as being the silent majority—whatever that means—that was definitely part of who showed up as well.

Nancy: Where are you from originally?

Allen: Tennessee.

Nancy: How long have you been in Wyoming?

Allen: Four years.

Nancy: How are you finding it?

Allen: Very different in the two towns that I've lived in. So I moved to Cody, Wyoming in 2020. That was a really interesting experience. And then I moved to Laramie a year ago. I would say fundamentally different experiences—almost no connection between them in how different it's been.

Nancy: I would love just to hear how you—as a person of faith and who is active in education and outreach in relationship to faith—define “common ground”?

Allen: I think that’s a really good question. Let me think about that for a second. I was saying earlier in the talking circles—this might not directly answer it—but I think my brain answer and my gut answer are very different.

So obviously I think the common ground is, as a Christian, the belief that we’re all created in the image of God and that there's that divine spark within everyone. So the common ground is that shared humanity and that shared divinity that's within all of us. And so finding that common ground is almost not a constructive process but a deconstructive one—like a removal of barriers and artificial subdivisions and categories and lenses through which we view and interact with the world. If we can strip all that away and just experience that shared humanity and divinity within each other, that’s the goal.

I think my gut response is like, I don’t know, just kind of like—why do I gotta put in the work to find common ground with awful people, you know? I think there’s this kind of subconscious feeling in my mind of—if we’re not even agreeing on what is humanity and what is respect, if we don’t even have starting language and assumptions, then it’s kind of a futile process.

I don’t want that to ever take over, and obviously that’s not how I operate, but I think that was my gut response to this theme in particular. Like, I don’t know—common ground? Some people are in the air, some people are in the water, some people are on the ground. I don’t know.

Nancy: How does one keep hope and faith for some kind of movement towards an actual authentic common ground?

Allen: Well, I think it's gotta be based on lived experience of that beloved community that you can then strive to duplicate or expand on. When you're building a bridge, you need a really strong foundation on each side so that you're not just falling into the ravine.

So you’ve gotta have that common ground in those beloved spaces, those third spaces, or those communities where you feel fully belonging—so that then that can become an aspirational thing too. But I think it is really hard to have hope if you've never experienced glimpses of a goal.

Creating and facilitating those spaces where people can be truly themselves and encounter each other in an authentic and genuine way—even if it's super small-scale—is critical. That can be the vision they hold onto and the roots that ground them in this exercise.

Nancy: Is there anything else you want to say about the theme before I turn off the recorder?

Allen: I think just thinking about Wyoming more broadly—and coming from Tennessee—I guess the biggest thing is that the necessity of finding common ground is... no, that’s the wrong phrase. It’s impossible not to do that work in Wyoming because the communities are so small. You can’t silo yourself.

In Tennessee, there are 9 million of us. It’s easy to run in your own circles, to self-segregate into echo chambers. In Wyoming, it’s like—in Cody specifically—there’s like ten of us here doing the same thing. I run into everybody everywhere. There is no option for me to not have a relationship with these people if I’m going to exist in this community.

There’s a lot of beauty in that. And finding the nuance, too. It’s so hard to homogenize people once you actually get to know them. You realize—we’re all crazy in very different ways. Cody’s the craziest town I’ve ever lived in. That’s so beautiful. And I love that.

I’ve also had the benefit of being a six-foot-six white guy. I’ve been told I “pass” as conservative, which is a wild statement. I’m like—don’t use that language—but yeah. I could enter into situations and contexts in Cody that I don’t think would be safe for other people.

I ran an internship program in Cody and brought in a ton of young adults who were queer and had moved to Wyoming to do community service. There were spaces I could go that I wouldn’t feel safe encouraging them to go into on their own.

So I think you’re forced to find common ground in Wyoming because of how small everything is. And I definitely come from places of privilege in doing that, I guess. That’s what I’m trying to say.

Note: The transcript above has been condensed from its original audio recording to improve the flow and readability of the story.