Penny U borrows its name from
18th century London coffeehouses called “Penny Universities,” where for the
price of a penny people got coffee, pamphlets, the latest news and gossip, and
lively conversations on politics and science, literature and poetry, commerce
and religion. The low cost led to a mingling of people from all walks of life –
poor with rich – and the Penny universities became safe havens for political
discussion, exchange of ideas, and civil debate.
These Penny U conversations are
jumpstarted by ideas speakers on Town Hall’s stages. An underlying aim is to
tie big, often challenging, ideas to our own daily lives, here in this city and
region. Trusting that everyone who comes brings valuable knowledge and
experience, we’ll explore ways to engage everyone in the room – by leading with
questions not answers, by taking an informal approach, and by talking in small
groups as well as all together. Like the early Penny Universities, over time we
hope to create our own mingling of fields, incomes, cultures, and generations –
a cadre of people who talk together face-to-face about things that matter,
reinforcing the commons that is Town Hall.
Anne Focke & Edward Wolcher
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