Conversation Café

What questions do you want to put in the midst of a caring, lively group of people?

Thirty-One Months of Inspiring Questions
Larry Gaffin, Seattle host

February 26, 2002. Creating a world that works for everyone

March 5. Living with integrity in these times
March 12. Andrea Yeats trial/mental health
March 19. The 8 or 10 events that resulted in your coming to the Conversation Café
March 26. What words come to mind upon hearing the company name, Enron?

April 2. Finding your passion in life
April 9. Open topic
April 16. The Middle East
April 23. The environment – a livable future – your favorite strategies
April 30. Environmental theme continued

May 7. Your best experience of community and its essential ingredients
May 14. Media’s impact upon community
May 21. Community and class
May 28. Community and class

June 4. What causes/gives rise to personal and social change?
June 11. What you are doing to create community? What can you do?
June 18. What is the boundary between the individual and community? Civil rights and privacy
June 25. What are you afraid of?

July 2. What is trust? In what do you trust? Its ingredients. Its creation.
July 9. What is appropriate lying?
July 16. A favorite poem or short reading
July 23. What is a patriot? The meaning of being patriotic?
July 30. Characteristics of a patriot

August 6. Reconciliation
August 13. Does punishment create effective change?
August 20. How and what are we taught to be loyal citizens/Americans?
August 27. How we have been personally influenced by the media – impacted our own life and beliefs?

September 3. What vision do you have for a media that works? Bring examples.
September 11. The images the media has given us over the last two weeks.
September 18. Why do they hate us?
September 25. Are we united as Americans?

October 1. The role of art/artists in helping us understand 9/11
October 8. Being hopeful in a time of despair
October 15. Guiding principles you live by. Your single most important learning.
October 22. What inspires you?
October 29. Why are so few involved in the political process?

November 5. The role of the imagination in creating change
November 12. What makes you laugh?
November 19. What do you do when you don’t know what to do?
November 26. Thanksgiving – its hope/hype

December 3. WTO Seattle - three years later
December 10. The meaning, purpose and use of time?
December 17. The differences between being passionate and being fanatical?

January 7, 2003. Holiday stories and experiences
January 14. The merits of reparations
January 21. Guilt
January 28. Waging peace in perilous times

February 4. Is it harder to wage peace than war?
February 11. Black authors
February 18. Black poets
February 25. How do we decide and act upon "what is right" without imposing it on others?

March 4, 2003. What is modern diplomacy?
March 11. How have conversations changed your life/the world?
March 18. Do you ever regret not having asked someone a question?
March 25. How does fear and vulnerability influence us?

April 1. How do we develop courage?
April 8. Dealing with uncertainty and ambiguity.
April 15. What can we do?
April 22. If you had $100 billion to help make a better world, what would you spend it on?
April 29. Is it possible to live without expectation?

May 6. Is it possible to live without expectation? – continued
May 13. The effects of intercultural exchange and travel
May 20. The shaping of personal identity by travel
May 27. The meaning of "home"

June 3. Suppose you woke up one day and discovered that there was no human being to be found. As far as you can tell all humans around you have disappeared (but you’re not sure) ... everything else is intact – grocery stores, gas pumps, animal life, trees, your own health, telephone – except, of course, things begin to deteriorate because there is no one around to replenish, fix, etc. What would you do?

June 10. Should you (personally) be involved in national security planning?
June 17, 2003. How do we create the change we want to see through peaceful revolution?
June 24. How can we channel anger creatively and positively?

July 8. Depression
July 15. Optimism
July 22. Modernity and tradition
July 29. The influence of influence

August 5. Defining the common good. How does your life / work / job / company / organization serve the common good?
August 12. Presidential candidates and the common good
August 19. Rants and raves
August 26. Take Back Your Time Day

September 2. How we use public services
September 9. On being judgmental
September 16. Are there universal values?
September 23. Where does happiness come from?
September 30. What is the role of conflict in our lives?

October 7. What is the role of conflict in our lives? – continued
October 14. Discernment
October 21. Time, free time, no time …
October 28. How accurate are the images the media is providing us about the problems and situations in Iraq? Do you have any ideas on the reconstruction and nation-building?

November 4. Public transportation - the monorail and light rail
November 11. Finding useful jobs for folks that utilize their abilities and serve the public good
November 18. Bilingual education
November 25. The place of gratitude in our lives

December 2. Clutter - its benefits and costs
December 9. Your most surreal experience
December 16. Your most influential dream
December 23. Your 30-second biography
December 30. Open topic

January 6, 2004. Open topic
January 13. open topic
January 20. Your 30-second biography
January 27. Open topic

February 3. Why we need Conversation Cafés in our culture
February 10. The world’s most important inventions
February 17. Bumper stickers you love / hate / want to create
February 24. Generosity

March 2. Super Tuesday: If you were a Presidential candidate, what concerns would you want on the platform for the Fall election?
March 9. Your favorite teacher
March 16. Memory and remembering
March 23. Do you believe there is an interaction between the recent terrorist attack in Spain and the results of the Spanish election?
March 30. Life on the edge(s), living on the edge(s)

April 6. Where would you like to live and why? Qualities you look for.
April 13. When were you happiest?
April 20. Open topic
April 27. Inclusion, exclusion and the creation of civil society

May 4. How does the Middle East situation inform our understanding for handling human conflict?
May 11. What are we individually doing to help create a better world?
May 18. How do pictures in the media influence our decision making?
May 25. What is your vision of a just society? What are essential elements and building blocks?

June 1. The polarization and depolarization of society
June 8. Polarization – continued
June 15. Were we right to go to war in Iraq?
June 22. If you were President today, how would you handle terrorism?
June 29. Should constitutional limits and respect for international law be modified to deal with terrorist threats?

July 6. What is your idea of a nice three-day getaway?
July 13. How do we create educational excellence?
July 20. Continued: What would a successful K-12 education system for ALL children look like? How would you know if the system was successful?
July 27. How can we create a culture that values children?

August 3. Meaning and money – what is enough?
August 10. Cynicism, idealism and disatisfaction
August 17. Defining globalization. Describing what we consider the historical marker events / ideas leading up to today’s understanding of the word.
August 24. How can we maintain the middle class?
August 31. Open topic

September 14. What constitutes leadership? What are the characteristics of a leader?
September 21. Regional and national transportation solutions
September 28. Open topic

October 5. Open topic
October 12. Open topic – four topics at the same time!
October 19. The ballot initiatives
October 25. The ballot initiatives – continued

November 2. No Café – home watching election returns
November 9. How to celebrate and affirm difference
November 16. How to celebrate and affirm difference – continued