If you want a vivid reminder of just how hospitable the Magic Skagit can be, show up at the Lincoln Theater in downtown Mount Vernon at 7pm on Thursday, May 8, 2025 for a public gathering of your friends and neighbors through a program known as "Let's Go Together." The free event offers music and fellowship with the simple agenda of connecting people through the power of face-to-face relationships.

Let’s Go Together invites people of all cultures, faith traditions, ethnic identities and socioeconomic situations to work together for the common good, and it is one programmatic element of an organization called Paths to Understanding (PTU), which provides a vision, preparation, and practical support for wisdom communities to build meaningful relationships with their neighbors.

In this Tales of the Magic Skagit episode, we talk with Viveka Hall-Holt, PTU's events coordinator, about the history of her organization and the journey that led her to its mission of "bridging bias and building unity through multi-faith peacemaking."

If the 24/7/365 news cycle leaves you feeling anxious about the state of the world, Paths to Understanding offers a way of engaging locally in building community. As Viveka relates, "When we are in deep community, that makes us feel most alive -- and that is the truest way of being."