I was contemplating something the other day.

It came out of a very brief conversation with someone. Another writer. Just two sentences, really. Not much on the surface, but it was an exchange. More than just a quick chat.

And it got me thinking.

The kind of thinking that stays with you. The kind that bubbles in the background. It pops its head up every so often, just long enough to add a little something to the conversation, but not long enough to hold your full attention. Then it slips away again… and continues simmering quietly in the background, almost as if it’s having its own conversation.

That little exchange isn’t something just any two people can have.

It requires context.

Writer to writer.
Artist to artist.
Musician to musician.
Creator to creator.

It’s more than a conversation. More than a chat.

It’s a discussion about ideas, stories, and the strange things that make us create.

It’s common ground.
It’s context.

And coffee is always invited.

While pondering this, it occurred to me that something similar happens in our classrooms.

When teachers ask students to read something and respond to it, we often assume they have the context to do so properly. We ask them to react to art, to music, to literature that isn’t theirs. We ask them to explain what they feel when interacting with someone else’s creation.

But most of them can’t.

Not really.

They don’t yet have the context.

And the very same thing happens to us as adults.

Our kids bring us their drawings, their music, their writing, their strange little creations that mean the world to them… and sometimes we don’t get it. Not fully. Not the way they do.

Not because we don’t care. But because we lack the context. 

That realization is powerful. 

It’s one I’m still working my way through. It takes me back to moments across my career—as an educator, as a coach, as a leader. Moments where I now realize that what was missing wasn’t effort, or intelligence, or curiosity.

It was context.

And when I really think about it, that idea stretches far beyond the classroom.

Hell… it might encompass my entire trajectory as a creator.

And this really is the key.

Context is the language creators use to talk to each other.

Without it, people can hear the words… but not the meaning.

Wow.

A lot of things suddenly start to make sense under that framing. Conversations that went nowhere. Blank stares from students asked to respond to something that wasn’t theirs. Moments when someone shared their work and the room stayed quiet.

Not because there was nothing there.

But because the context was missing.

And now I find myself back where all good journeys begin.

At the start.

Looking again.
Listening again.
Searching for the context.

Maybe that’s the real work of teaching… and creating.

Helping others step into the place where the conversation actually begins.

The coffee is usually good.

And even when it isn’t, the conversations around it keep going.

Ideas bounce around the table.
Stories get tested.
Thoughts sharpen.

And every once in a while…something valuable appears.

Those conversations?

Those are gold.

There’s more waiting at https://xinkblotz.com. Telling stories, sharing thoughts, and drinking coffee. A blend of fiction, reflection, and whatever’s brewing – one post at a time.