Home › Forums › Open Discussion › A Fitness Club For the Mind Might be Fun
- This topic is empty.
-
AuthorPosts
-
October 2, 2008 at 5:46 pm #588240
DanTompsettMemberI imagine this club as a building with floor-to-ceiling book-lined walls. Tables in the center of a large room with several computers on them. Comfy sofas and seats placed here and there. A few smaller rooms that could be used for book discussions, readings, chess games, etc., etc.
The club would be open from 9am-midnight, six or seven days per week.
There would be a modest membership fee, and members would need to be 18 years of age or older. (A separate club could be opened for younger people, perhaps).
The club would be sort of like a privatized library, but interaction among patrons would be encouraged.
Does anyone think this notion has legs, or is this just another one of my goofy ideas?
Thanks for reading.
October 2, 2008 at 5:54 pm #641750
wsChicMemberI like it. Sounds like the kind of place I would hang out in. :)
October 2, 2008 at 6:05 pm #641751
DanTompsettMemberThanks for the reply, wsChic. The public library hours are awful, in my opinion. I participate in an online writer’s site where people post poems, prose, etc., and comment on each other’s work. It’s very popular, so I was wondering how well something like that would work in a “real” world setting.
October 2, 2008 at 6:21 pm #641752
AnonymousInactiveI think it would be a great idea if it were genuinely for the intellectually curious as opposed to the intellectually superior crowd. It would get boring really fast if people just wanted to pat themselves on the back about how much they know.
On the other hand, if it was a forum for discovery where anyone who wanted to explore would be welcome, it could be very cool.
October 2, 2008 at 6:55 pm #641753
flowerpetalMemberI think this could be valuable. I am concerned about how it might be financed and the “modest fee.” I would want to exercise at the intellectual gym which has participants of all economic backgrounds.
I wonder who is doing innovative work with public libraries. What this topic speaks to me is the lack of our libraries giving us what we need/want.
October 2, 2008 at 7:17 pm #641754
CountingCoupMemberDan,
Oh yes, actually I had a simular idea, where there would be an adult center with a series of art forms (small impromptu classes) of various forms.
Music, Sketching, Improvisational Acting, open mic poetry and or story telling. Not so much about performance but about participation.
October 2, 2008 at 7:51 pm #641755
datamuseParticipantLibraries do have meeting rooms. One of the reasons is so people can hold events like these. Why don’t you start one?
If it’s something you want the library to take leadership on, contact the person in charge of program development. You’ll find them listed here: http://www.spl.org/default.asp?pageID=about_contact
Library hours are almost always directly related to funding. When funding is poor hours are the first thing to go. (Yeah, I know SPL just built a bunch of new branches. Different funding source.)
Outside the library, there are facilities like Hugo House, CHAC, Youngstown. In terms of existing events, there’s Science on Tap: http://www.scienceontap.org/index.htm
October 2, 2008 at 8:17 pm #641756
DanTompsettMemberWow, great responses. I know the library hours are limited due to funding issues.
I have participated in a couple of poetry readings at the Hugo House. (I love Victor Hugo’s poetry, BTW).
I too, would want all to be welcome to participate in such a club, but I would be concerned about it becoming a place where one-and-all would be able to use it as just someplace dry to hangout, etc., so that would be the purpose for the fee, but because the club would be privately owned exceptions could be made.
There’s not much chance of my own back getting bruised by receiving “pats” on it due to my vast knowledge, so I agree with JT.
Thanks, all, for the input.
October 2, 2008 at 8:54 pm #641757
datamuseParticipantYou could maybe deal with the “hangout” issue by having a participation requirement. Unless you mean that such a place has a permanent facility? In that case you’d need staff to ensure members only–which doesn’t necessarily mean a fee, though facility and staff (not to mention materials) would have to be paid for somehow.
Some bookstores offer community spaces, too. (In fact, one of the Science on Tap gatherings meets at Third Place.) Perhaps that would be an option?
I just get the sense that your idea is less about the physical facility and more about what happens in it–sort of a salon, in the old sense of a place to discuss ideas. You can have one of those almost anywhere it’s quiet enough for people to hear each other.
October 2, 2008 at 9:14 pm #641758
AnonymousInactiveA permanent facility would be nice though. As the OP stated, with different “workout” stations. Discussion being but one option. Reading, research, computer work, sharing original material, etc. Ongoing workshops. And your chess/games idea is great too. I learned to play as a child, but game piece movement only. I have zero strategical skill and would love to learn.
Financing could come through membership fees as well as some type of supplies sales. Notebooks, journals, pens, games, laptop accessories, and of course cool logo t-shirts and coffee mugs.
So when are you going to open this gym?
October 2, 2008 at 10:06 pm #641759
DanTompsettMemberI play chess sometimes online at pogo. It’s free, and all skill levels play there.
I have no $ to open anything, but if someone else opened such a club I would love to manage it.
October 2, 2008 at 11:03 pm #641760
SueParticipantI’m with JT, about it needing to be for the intellectually curious not just “superior” – I once joined a group for booklovers and was pretty much told that even though I’m avid reader, that the type of books I read just weren’t “good enough” for them – that was pretty insulting.
October 2, 2008 at 11:56 pm #641761
JulieMemberFriends of Southwest Library have described the library as the “community’s living room”. This sounds very much like what you’re describing, except that it’s open to all, not just those who can pay. I do think libraries should be open “9am-midnight, six or seven days per week”. I have thought about suggesting a game night in the meeting room, but haven’t taken the time to do it.
October 3, 2008 at 12:02 am #641762
datamuseParticipantSue, jeez, that’s awful! It’s one thing if your interests don’t fit the group’s, but to have them look down their noses at you over it is, I agree, insulting.
Julie, I bet they’d love the suggestion.
October 3, 2008 at 12:38 am #641763
ellenaterMemberI think that the phrase “intellectually curious” is going to attract snobs. Most people who become well educated in academia become snobs. I think you’d be better off finding a coffee shop that’s open late, making it free, and starting a forum thread to see how other people envision it. Good luck. Sounds cool.
October 3, 2008 at 3:04 am #641764
DanTompsettMember“intellectually curious” weren’t my words, but I’m not sure those words would “attract snobs.” I never went to college, and am not the best-educated guy in town by any means, but I do enjoy learning and sharing thoughts with others, especially with those who ARE well-educated.
October 3, 2008 at 3:14 am #641765
datamuseParticipantMost people who become well educated in academia become snobs.
As someone who works in academia, I question this.
The problem is that academics know one area very, very well, and if you’re not careful the discussion becomes all about that. (Well, all right. I have met some who think that being expert in one thing makes them experts in everything. These are rarer than you’d think, though.) That’s why you never seat people who work in the same field together at dinner–inevitably, they’ll talk shop. :)
October 3, 2008 at 3:22 am #641766
DanTompsettMemberThere are several well-educated people in the online writers forum I participate in and so far I haven’t noticed any snobbery. There have been a few short-lived “flames” though when flaws have been pointed out in some of the writers work. Some accept critique more willingly than others.
October 3, 2008 at 3:56 am #641767
AnonymousInactiveIntellect: 3. A person who uses the mind creatively
That’s all I meant. A curious mind as opposed to an all-knowing mind. The opposite of snobbery, if you will.
October 4, 2008 at 4:40 am #641768
JoBParticipantDan Tompsett..
what on-line writer’s group?
did you know there is a group at cafe rosella? i haven’t attended yet but the Friday night music this summer has made me very curious..
October 4, 2008 at 6:27 am #641769
JanSParticipantThanks, Dan, for the poetry…nice to have you here…
October 4, 2008 at 2:17 pm #641770
DanTompsettMemberThe online forum is called thisisby.us.
http://www.thisisby.us/index.php It’s a mixed bag of poor to very good writers on topics from sex to politics, prose fiction and poetry.
The site promotes itself with the slogan “Write for the world-get paid” but ignore that if you visit. Most posters there are lucky to earn a penny a day. I post there using the handle “owlster.” I post mostly poetry.
October 4, 2008 at 2:18 pm #641771
DanTompsettMemberThanks for the welcome, JanS.
October 7, 2008 at 8:23 am #641772
KevinParticipantHere is something that sounds close to what you are thinking of Dan. I have never been to a meeting but the idea intrigues me and I have followed their web site for some time.
I’m sure the same concept could work somewhere in West Seattle.
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.