Salon: Past Events

Echo Fields, retired SOU professor of sociology, will join the Jefferson Center for a discussion of Homelessness in our Region. The discussion will focus on key issues relating to homelessness. These include: problems in gathering reliable data on the homeless population; how this information relates to stereotypes about homelessness arising from stigma, emotion, and punitive impulses; what needs to change in our social systems in order to implement solutions to homelessness; and what kinds of actions individuals and non-profit organizations might undertake. Blaming and trying to change homeless individuals is unlikely to resolve the problem, and such approaches let "comfortable people" off the hook for the need for system changes. Changing these intersecting social systems takes time and requires collaboration among government, non-profit organizations and citizen volunteers. How do we get there?
The program will be held in the Jefferson Center space, suite 101, in the Old Armory Building, 208 Oak St., in Ashland. Light refreshments will be served. This event is free and open to the public. If you have questions, please contact Tony Davis (tonydavis0@gmail.com).

The Jefferson Center continues our traditional Summer Solstice Social Gathering at 5 pm on Sunday, June 23rd at the home of Tony and Martha Davis, who have graciously offered their home for this event. Both inside and outside seating will be available. Please bring a potluck dish to share (main dish, side dish, or dessert) to serve six to eight people. The Jefferson Center’s program committee will provide wine, water, beer, and soft drinks, but please feel free to bring your own beverages if you wish.

Please RSVP to Tony Davis tonydavis0@gmail.com to receive directions to their home and to let us know what you'll bring, so that we can ensure a varied culinary spread.

Please Note: At present, we do not plan to hold salons in July and August, but expect salons to resume in September. We’ll let you know if things change.

In our society, which is currently deeply polarized on political (and other) grounds, conversation across our ideological divide can feel impossible. Is this sort of talk worth pursuing? If meaningful interactions can take place, what would they be like? Bruce Borgerson, who is active with the national organization Braver Angels (http://www.braverangels.org), will join us as we discuss values and strategies for open conversations that bring people together, instead of rehearsing or sharpening our divisions. What can we learn from each other? How might we understand each other beyond stereotypes, form alliances where we can agree, and reduce the vitriol that poisons our civic culture? Please join us in The Jefferson Center to discuss this topic and related strategies on Sunday afternoon, April 21st, from 4 to 6 pm. Please note that this is the third Sunday of the month, not the regular second Sunday.

How do we (or should we) determine whether to take evidence seriously, since we cannot observe most of it directly ourselves? Charles Darwin, renowned for developing the theory of evolution through natural selection, was born 215 years ago this month. He was a keen observer of the natural world whose cautious and unhurried approach to gathering and synthesizing evidence remains a hallmark of scientific investigation at its best. How do observations “in the wild” (which constituted a large part of Darwin’s evidence) compare with data from controlled experiments? The Jefferson Center will host a roundtable discussion, facilitated by the Program Committee, focusing on the nature of evidence, and how we do and should use it. We’ll examine questions about what constitutes solid evidence. How do these issues play out today? Are we all entitled to our own opinions, but not our own facts (evidence), or is that reversed?
The program will be held in the Jefferson Center space, suite 101, in the Old Armory Building, 208 Oak St., in Ashland. Light refreshments will be served.

Please note that the February salon will be held on the third Sunday of the month in order not to conflict with the Super Bowl.
Also, the salon on animal rights which was originally planned for this date has had to be postponed because our guest was forced to cancel for this date.