Symposia Community Events – December 2010

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• On December 1, 2010
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Public Voice Salon – Friday, Dec. 3rd, at 7.30 pm

Please join us as our experimental “citizen intervention” in TV Land continues. Come and learn—possibly in an “aha moment”—that you too have ideas, questions, and stories as worthy of sharing with the public as the “talking heads” that dominate our corporate controlled media. Come to share an artwork too, if you’re so inspired (maybe a poem, painting, or song) or an excerpt from an essay that you (or someone else) wrote, as together we forge a new “public space curriculum” that is hopeful, intellectual, and humane: elements sadly missing from today’s shrill and shallow public discourse.

I was reminded last week, in a wonderful channel 13 documentary on John Lennon, that art and politics can come together—through the power of imagination—as they did, with the help of Lennon and his activism, in the 60s and 70s. What songs might John sing today (were he alive) about Citizens United, the collapse of the American working class, or the political apathy that has infected so much of our population? One can only imagine.

Moving forward in our New Salon Movement, as we struggle to critique alienation and get back to “face to face” in an age of Facebook, I’m happy to report that our first NYC broadcast is Dec. 23rd at 5:00 pm, on MNN”s channel 1.  I’m glad that fast paced New Yorkers will get a glimpse of our cozy small bookstore gathering—the opposite of glitz and glamour—a place where the particular and the local are valued, where the pace is blessedly slowed down so that community (and ideas, and creativity) can grow and flourish. In such small spaces, as our public voices become more confident and assured, our hope is that democracy, too, will be strengthened.

Space is limited, so please RSVP John at jfbredin@hotmail.com to be on our 8 member panel, or studio audience.

“The Christmas Box” Brunch, Reading, and Movie Watching  – Sunday, December 5, 2010, 11am to 3 pm

Come join us for the reading-brunch of “The Christmas Box“, a worldwide bestseller and hit television movie by author Richard Paul Evans.
Make this the beginning of a Great Christmas Season.

We will start with brunch (consisting of cheeses, cold cuts, dessert, red and white wine, soft drinks, coffee and tea) followed by the watching of  The Christmas Box movie.
After the movie we will have a reading of the Christmas Box letters and book discussion. The event will finish with a raffle from which all the money will be donated to the Symposia bookstore.

For more details, please contact Ray Castro at 201-921-3436

Spoken Word Series – Poetry/Prose Reading and Open Mic
Sunday, December 5th at 3 pm

Past artists who have been featured include: Diane Lockward, Brian Bradford, Stuart Greenhouse, Shanna Compton, Valerie Schermerhorn, Sintora Regina Vanderhorst, Sander Zulauf, Deena Linett, George Harvilla, Meg Kearney, BJ Ward, Faith Vicinanza, Joel Lewis, Renee Ashley, John-Paul Marotta, postmidnight, Edmund Conti, Peter Murphy, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, Laura Boss, Jack Wiler, Mike Fleming, and David Messineo.
Season 2010-2011
September 12, 2010 at 3 p.m. – Susanna Rich

March 6, 2011 at 3 p.m. – Ray Brown and Paul Sohar
October 3, 2010 at 3 p.m. – Lois Marie Harrod and Michael Steffen
November 7, 2010 at 3 p.m. – David Messineo and Tony Gruenewald
December 5, 2010 at 3 p.m. – Joe Traum
February 6, 2011 at 3 p.m.- Tara Jepson and Danielle Rose
All events in this series are open to the public and free – with a suggested donation of $3.Event organized by Debaun Auditorium in collaboration with Stevens Institute of Technology

Presenting artists from academia and industry, with voices from traditional to modern, co-hosts Siobhan Barry-Bratcher and David Vincenti will introduce you to a panorama of poetry that will stretch not only your view of the art, but your view of your world as well.

Each featured writer will read selections from their collection and then the microphone will open to the public to share their work. This series is at 3 p.m. on the first Sunday of each month at Symposia Bookstore.

All are welcome to come and be part of the reading series. It is not necessary to pre-register for 
these events, either to attend or to read during open-mic time