Reinvigorating Conversation in our daily lives will be the focus of a Conversation Café at 7 pm, January 28, at St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church, 3809 E 3rd Street.

The program will feature Thomas H. Greco, Jr., director of the nonprofit Community Information Resource Center (http://circ2.home.mindspring.com) and local author of Money: Understanding and Creating Alternatives to Legal Tender, and Robert B. Bechtel, UA professor of environmental psychology specializing in, among other topics, small communities. They will speak briefly on the “lost art” of conversation and its role in fostering grassroots democracy and social harmony.

In the second half of the program, participants will discuss the topic Does the News Match Your Views? Tables will be hosted by Cliff Berrien, Danielle Berrien, Jack Challem, Elizabeth Davidson, Michael Millard, Trish Rosas, and Al Schroeder.

Hope to see you there!

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NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: January 7, 2003
Contact: Patricia Rosas (520) 795-0495 or Mike Millard at (520) 325-4675
RE: Reinvigorating Conversation - Tuesday, January 28, 2003

Reinvigorating Conversation in our daily lives will be the focus of a Conversation Café at 7 PM, January 28, at St. Mark's Presbyterian Church, 3809 E 3rd Street.

"Tucsonans have a lot to say about topics that matter to them, but they have a hard time finding a place where people will listen," said event co-organizer, Mike Millard. "The seemingly simple act of conversing has been lost in our busy society, and this meeting will help people rediscover what it means to speak from the heart, be heard, and gain new understanding from others."

A short program will address the issue of conversation as "a lost art" and will introduce the Conversation Café format, a process for conversing that can be used by any organization, classroom, business meeting, or at our own kitchen tables. Following the presentations, attendees seated at café style tables, will use the Conversation Café format to discuss the topic Does the News Match Your Views?

Deep and often brilliant conversation unfolds when participants respect the 6 basic agreements of a Conversation Café: Acceptance - suspend judgment as best you can; Listening - with respect; Curiosity - seek to understand rather than persuade; Diversity - invite and honor all points of view; Sincerity - speak from the heart; Brevity - go for honesty and depth without going on and on.
Conversation Cafés are free hosted discussions held in public places where people of varying views can gather in a safe, warm, relaxed place to explore their thoughts, feelings, and actions in the world today. Mike Millard and Patricia Rosas launched Tucson's first café last May. Currently, Conversation Cafés are held twice each month at the Rincon Market on 6th Street in midtown and the Cottage Bakery, 800 N. Kolb. Two additional locations, Caffe Diva on Campbell and a west side event, will start in January.

Be part of this citizen initiative where we can learn together how to create a culture of conversation. For more information on the event at St. Mark's or local Conversation Cafés, log on to www.conversationcafe.org or call Mike Millard at (520) 325-4675.