Oct 2, 2010: Tom inaugurates SLOWest Coffeehouse series at Bridgehead

On Saturday, October 2nd, 7:00-9:00 p.m. I will be the inaugural performer in a new monthly series of coffeehouse events called the "SLOWest Coffee House @ Bridgehead." This event is organized by Sustainable Living Ottawa West ("SLOWest") in collaboration with our neighbourhood Bridgehead coffeeshop at 1277 Wellington St., Ottawa (the one just west of Holland Avenue). This will be a casual, acoustic event (no sound system), and admission will be "pay what you can."

SLOWest is a new voluntary organization that describes itself as "A network in the west end of Ottawa discovering ways to live in an environmentally sustainable, socially just and spiritually fulfilling way." SLOWest is exploring ways that the community can respond creatively to issues like climate change and "peak oil"; among other things, that means building a sense of neighbourhood and community, and promoting local, low-carbon approaches to daily living. This includes promoting a local arts scene on a human scale.

In a modest way, we’re hoping that the launch of SLOWest’s Bridgehead coffeehouse series (first Saturday of every month) will help our local community rediscover and reinvent the tradition of the coffeehouse as a place of community and connection, and a fertile ground for interesting conversations that matter. The idea is to have a regular, predictable time and place for community members to come together in a relaxed way, be entertained with some music, stories or poetry, and enter into conversations about the things that matter to them. If you like the idea, come out and be part of it! I hope to see you on October 2nd.