The Bahala Podcast, episode 1
We have a podcast!
Bahala founders Carlo and Deb recently recorded Bahala’s premier podcast episode, Bahala’s experiment: a third space, reimagined. Prompted by Jess, Bahala blog writer, the conversation explored the “living experiment” of the organization. Part community center, part coworking space, Bahala makes room for people to talk, think, and figure things out together.
Bahala operates on a principle Carlo jokingly calls “complaining plus action.” People want someone to listen and to help translate concern into movement. Sometimes that movement is small: adjusting a website so it’s clearer, talking to a neighbor on a dog walk, asking for an outlet at the Montana Library’s outdoor space. Sometimes it’s bigger: creating new programs, new spaces, or entirely new ways for neighbors to connect.
Bahala’s current programming reflects that ethos. Friday mornings bring Coffee & Connections, informal gatherings with guest speakers and hands-on workshops. The Gardening Club meets at the plot in Park Drive Community Garden to dig in the dirt on Sunday mornings. Now with coffee! Deb is looking for ways to involve the many people on the waitlist for their own plot as a way to emphasize the “community” in community gardens. She’s also expanding Bahala’s gardening program to include green spaces around the city. “Tell us about a great hike you took, take a photo of a pretty flower, or help someone who’s giving away fruit from their tree.”
New to the Bahala lineup: Monday Night Meetups, which launched on Feb 2nd at 5pm in the Community Room at the Colorado Center. The first session was led by Carlo and focused on AI not as a technical lecture, but as a shared inquiry. Monday Night Meetups will not be “this could’ve been an email” info dumps, but welcoming spaces for brainstorming, sharing fears and hopes, and identifying shared values collected as a living document.
That openness extends to agency. Anyone associated with Bahala is empowered to help shape it. Want to start a club? Host a discussion? Bring an idea? There’s room. From their first meeting at GoodPeople Coffee, Deb and Carlo’s partnership has centered on curiosity over certainty, conversation over agenda, and a shared willingness to ask What if we tried this?
Bahala aims to be connective tissue, linking small organizations, neighbors, ideas, and moments of possibility. “There are so many people and organizations doing good things in our community,” Carlo and Deb emphasized. “Let’s do it together so we’re not all struggling in the dark by ourselves.”