Democracy Café

For many years, there has been a thriving Socrates Cafe at Thomas Memorial Library in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, a figurative stone's throw from Portland. Then, they kindly invited me to give a presentation about how my Socrates Cafe initiative, where I shared how it also has evolved into a Democracy Cafe endeavor that has touched a chord the world over. Their interest was so piqued that they invited me to return later that year to inaugurate one. Democracy Cafe now has become one of the library's mainstay gatherings for diverse folks who want to 'democratize' about timely and timeless issues pertaining to open societies in these polarizing times. Listen in as their fearless and marvelous facilitator, Janie Downey Maxwell, describes the boons of convening an ongoing Democracy Cafe at the library. Janie is the Innovative Programming Librarian (what a cool title), and is committed to making ours a more thoughtful, inclusive and participatory world. On a side note, the southern Maine region is where I began my