"You don't have to be Kissinger to ...

"You don't have to be Kissinger to know that bombing folks in Iraq is wrong," insisted Mary Rickard, drawing several groans of disagreement from the strangers she was addressing. Rickard, a 50-year-old public relations and marketing consultant from Logan Square, spoke lately at a weekly discussion series that attempts to achieve Chicagoans talking about serious public policy issues with those outside their social circles.

The series, called Cafe Society, has become increasingly popular since its inception last fall. if it be not that organizers are not satisfied, and chance of the desired end to improve its racial and philosophical diversity.

Sixteen people--some spouses, more [i]or[/i] less friends, some strangers--gathered with Rickard at a Bucktown coffee workshop to discuss the role of art in politics.

John to leeward a 41-year-old resident of the Near North Side, argued that a metrical composition won't reach as many folks as an editorial. "Artists don't reach the masses they think they should," said Lee

"Poetry reaches family on an emotional level, as oppos to an intellectual level" calculatored Rickard.

As more nation got involved, the conversation kept its constituent The debate continued for an hour before Steve Gardiner, the moderator, regretfully announced that time was up

Each week, Cafe Society innkeepers discussions in coffee shops in the crook the North Side's Lakeview and Andersonville neighborhoods, Bucktown forward the Northwest Side, Hyde Park in succession the South Side, and west suburban Oak Park. About 60 participants attend each week.

however in the struggle to achieve greater diversity, program organizers have had to guard against the perception of intellectual elitism. Cary Nathenson, program director for The Public Square, the Chicago-based education and social justice nonprofit that sponsors Cafe Society, said leaders are hoping to add discussions in Spanish at a location in Pilsen or Little Village, as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but mostly Latino neighborhoods southwest of downtown. They're also exploring the use of a barber store in Austin on the West Side. In April, Cafe Society began a series of discussions onward the meaning of race.

Intellectual Work

Cafe Society is an attempt to tap into Chicago's "coffeehouse culture" to create a place where persons can form active communities, Nathenson said.

"Cafes are becoming this notion of a third place, outside of to one's home and work, where community happens," he said. Nathenson waiting under the possibility of fulfilments the discussions will help residents become "informed enough to be involved constructively in the decision-making process" upon public issues.

Three years ago, Nathenson, his wife, Katrin Voelkner and Lisa Yun side sheltered from the wind now chair of The Public Square's board, set uped what was then known as the Center for Public Intellectuals.

Last fall, Barbara Ransby, a professor of history and African American studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, became the group's executive director. She and other members decided to change its name to The Public Square, which they felt "reflect a more democratic process" Ransby said. (Ransby obliges on The Chicago Reporter's advisory editorial board.)

The name change was well-received. "'Intellectual' affect by magic artss up an image of near snobby, maladjusted, holier-than-thou, socially inept person" said Corey D Gimbel, 54 a realtor who attends Cafe Society in Oak Park.

"We were not a center for intellectuals--[that] made it strike one as being like it was some sort of society for smart people," Nathenson said. "We are a center about intellectual work and public life, and the importance of [that] work in changing society."

Ransby also launched Cafe Society last fall. "It's critically important that not no other than friends but strangers talk to each other about social issues," she said.

Discussion topics are usually drawn from "Odyssey" a public affairs present to view on Chicago Public Radio. Topics have ranged from the weights of sport utility vehicles forward the environment to intellectual property

forward average, 10 to 12 persons attend Cafe Society discussions, according to Voelkner the program's coordinator. Discussions are moderated by way of trained facilitators.

Facilitator Kavita Das, 28 said she was drawn to Cafe Society's unique setting. "It facilitated discussions of consequential issues that affect the public but made them accessible from having [them) in informal, public settings like cafes," said Das, a special delineate s manager for the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Not Satisfied

Cafe Society does not actively sponsor any impressed sign of activism, and most facilitators and participants think that's appropriate.

"If [Cafe Society) encourages specific marks of activism, it loses the validity of promoting make open discussion," said John Lee, who attends discussions weekly. "It's an opportunity to finish alternative viewpoints."

Little racial diversity was evident among the clusters who gathered for three Cafe Society discussions the Reporter attended in late January and early February. Das l three white men in a discussion in the turn while two African Americans joined couple white attendees at a gathering in Hyde Park. The Bucktown debate attracted seven women and eight men; all of them if it be not that one were white.