Before Meetup.com, there was the Elgin Salon

I'm continually surprised by the great things Elginites have done. I don't even know how I came across this, but sometime in the past few weeks, I stumbled upon the website of something called the Elgin Salon.

The Elgin Salon is an intimate gathering of people from throughout Chicagoland who regularly converge in Elgin to talk about philosophy and the such--especially from a left-leaning perspective. It's not a forum for chitchat or networking.

In March, 1998, we began collecting as many bright, curious, open-minded, maybe slightly eccentric, occasionally intense, inventive, unconventional thinkers and doers as we could find. People for whom TV and an occasional beer with friends-from-work were not enough. Interesting people who enjoy the society of other interesting people. People who possess and appreciate wit and imagination. Philosopher-daredevils. Cool, self-invented people up for doing something extraordinary, maybe even a little far out. (source: Elgin Salon website)

What's the difference between a club and a salon? Clubs are more closed; they have members. Salons are in principle open to anybody, though they may still need to "apply" to the host to be invited. Clubs typically have dues. Salons do not. Clubs typically have some obligations of membership. Salons do not. Salons are primarily about ideas.

A salon is an intimate forum for thoughtful and respectul discussion of ideas.

Especially since Meetup.com will charge fees as of May 16--and nobody's going to use it anymore, salons can be Elgin's way of localizing the meetup phenomenon. Salon is a more elegant term than meetup, don't you think? Other places have meetups and Elgin has salons. How civilized!

Just a few salon ideas to get you started:

1. Tech
2. Web
3. Classical music
4. Area music
5. Visual/performing art
6. Preservation
7. Downtown revitalization
8. Politics
9. Conservative politics
10. Liberal politics
11. Conservation/environment

And maybe for Elgin-related issues...an Elginite salon?