100 Days of Uber Drivers

Elle Luna is hosting her annual collaborative art initiative, #The100DayProject which invites anyone to explore their creativity every day for 100 days and post it on Instagram. One creator, Barbara Patchen, a design coach in Nashville, participated in the project with her own creative exploration: taking a deeper LOOK into her weekly Uber rides. What started as a casual observation of the seemingly mundane Experience of using a rideshare app quickly transformed into a beautiful study of humanity. Each time Patchen used Uber (about four to ten times per week), she challenged herself to view each ride as ethnographic commentary on our society. Uber drivers are, after all, a cross section of the American Experience: a diverse group with a range of ages, races, and religions. Not to mention education level and socioeconomic backgrounds. Barbara challenged others to join her on her 100-day journey to learn from strangers because “wouldn’t it be nice if someone who thinks radically different from you took a genuine interest in understanding your perspective?”

Much like Uber, our health care systems are cross sections of our communities and our society as a whole. How might we challenge ourselves to Intentionally and regularly interact with strangers to get a glimpse of their Experiences and perspectives?