People's Cafe is all about the talk

By Colleen Quinn, For the Boulder Daily Camera
August 19, 2006

Religion, money, politics — these can be the topics that create heated debates, even amongst the best of friends. But can they inspire friendly conversation between strangers? It's hard to imagine.

Believe it or not, this is indeed possible through discussion groups held in Boulder, Longmont, Louisville, and surrounding cities called the People's Cafes.

Described by its Web site as "an ongoing series of cafe discussion groups," the concept of the People's Cafe is a simple one: interesting, purposeful conversation in an environment that is safe for all opinions and viewpoints. It began about three years ago as a discussion group about the upcoming 2004 presidential election, called Progressives Looking Forward. But since then, the name and purpose has changed.

"It's an opportunity for community building, and for people to discuss issues of the day," said Mark Sweitzer, founder of the People's Cafe. He said that the discussion groups are meant to foster an environment for open communication, and for people to share their opinions and points of view. A big problem for today's society is a lack of intelligent conversation among regular citizens, Sweitzer said, and this is compounded by the fact that most people are dissatisfied with the state of local and international affairs, according to the Cafe's Web site. Sweitzer intended to help solve that problem by developing the concept of the People's Cafe.

"We're bringing the element of conversation back to society, and not only conversation, but conversation with depth," he said. According to Sweitzer, intelligent communication is powerful in building up community, and a strong community is a step towards making change happen.

This sense of community is reflected in the four main tenets of a People's Cafe: Think, Feel, Unite, and Act, which are described in depth on the Cafe's Web site. They encourage people to think about where their opinions and beliefs come from, consider those of people with differing beliefs, cooperate, and to act and live in a socially conscious way. All of this is cultivated by the kinds of conversation found at a People's Cafe.

"It's building a foundation for social transformation," said Sweitzer. In addition, each People's Cafe has a strong commitment to be non-partisan, politically, socially, or religiously.

When a session of a People's Cafe begins, a someone from the group, normally an assigned "convener," introduces a topic for discussion, and the rest of the group takes it from there. One main rule of a cafe is that each person may speak for no more than two minutes at a time, so that everyone has a chance to speak.

"The key is decentralization; we want cafes to be autonomous," said Sweitzer, "It's up to the communities to start their own conversations, because each community has their own unique issues."

A People's Cafe can be started by anyone in any community. The first step is to contact Sweitzer, whose e-mail address is on the People's Cafe Web site, www.peoplescafe.us. He said that this is mainly to share what he's learned over the years, and to go over what a People's Cafe is about. The next step is to find a location, which is almost always an actual cafe.

"People's Cafes take place usually in locally-owned, non-corporate cafes," Sweitzer said. "They already have that focus of community building, a sense of community." He said that finding a place that shares similar values as those of a People's Cafe offers a great environment for such conversation, and to invite patrons nearby into the discussion. In Boulder, a People's Cafe is held every Monday night from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Folsom Street Coffee Company, a coffee house that certainly shares the goal of community building.

"It has to do with localization," said Patrick West, who works with Sweitzer to encourage the cafes and sometimes is the convener for the cafe in Boulder. He added that local cafes and coffee shops normally focus on waste management and organic products.

"There are lots of places to get coffee in Boulder, but I think there are very few true coffee houses," said Chris Warner, owner and manager of Folsom Street Coffee. "It's about community. I think it's good for a place like this to be a destination, not a stop on the way to somewhere else."

The coffee house is known for being environmentally friendly, which is something that the People's Cafes strive for.

"People should feel good about where they go," said Warner. "It's basically voting with your dollars." Indeed, this concept of environmentalism was one of the many topics covered in a recent People's Cafe at Folsom Street Coffee. In the roughly two-hour session, the group of 12 people also discussed topics like minimum wage, lack of personal time, the war in Iraq, poverty, and the lack of conversation in modern society.

"This was a great salon; people were able to put aside disagreements," said Julie Lake, who has been to a few Cafe gatherings before, and who organized her own, similar conversation salons in the early 1990s. She added that participating in gatherings like the People's Cafe can help a person look at their own ideas and opinions.

Sweitzer emphasized that at a People's Cafe, the purpose is to discuss, not debate. With an "agree to disagree" mentality, he hopes to see more Cafes grow from people's experiences with this kind of conversation.

"These are projects that will change things socially in the long run," he said. "There is a greater potential for change."