COF on winter hiatus

Efforts are being made to find an indoor location until then, keep checking in.

no forum (formally) this week

fyi: I will be out of town and it looks like we don't have enough support to pick up the slack. Organizers are frustrated and losing steam and this might be it for our little experiment. Its too soon to say for sure, I'm not ready to throw in the towel but the way things are headed it doesn't look good. will keep you posted. Thanks!

Corvallis Open Forum Begins its 3rd Season

On April 19th, the sporadic, windy storms came through, followed by sunshine, then more storms. Most Farmers' Market and Earth Faire attendees ran for cover while the Corvallis Open Forum held its own, rain, shine or hail. Co-organizer Joe Mogus showed what a free speech trooper is all about.



We had a few passers-by drop in, but only momentarily. Most folk were too wrapped up in the festivities of the parade and the Market, even as Joe tried to convince them to come to the Forum.


Our first speaker was a young girl who spoke about the ills and dangers of HIV.


Other past regulars such as Joe Magner and Cosmo came to speak, drawing crowds that tended to ebb and flow continuously.



The Forum meets between the market and the Riverfront each Saturday from 11-1. I know we are still relatively comfortable as a society. No food riots or widespread chaos as of yet, but many of us recognize the danger of escalating complacency. One symptom of this is a lack of civil discourse and the abandonment of our First Amendment right. The Corvallis Open Forum hopes to alleviate this and other ills of an isolated, decreasingly communicative society.

COF to resume April 19

We will be sprouting up again on the Riverfront (next to the Farmer's Market) at 11:00am April 19 and every week thereafter, until weather drives us back inside. JoMo and I discussed the lapse this winter and we will be working on finding a suitable location for next winter, possibly on campus.

This season should be especially exciting what with the election year and all. Hope to see you there.

COF on hiatus

Well, we gave the Beanery a go but it was ridiculously noisy. So we will regroup and do something else in the new year.

Winter 07-08

Corvallis Open Forum will be moving (inside!) to the downtown Beanery on 2nd St. The time is also changing to Wednesday nights, 8-10ish?

See you there!

about the Corvallis Open Forum

The Corvallis Open Forum (COF) was started by a group of citizens who are concerned with the lack of civil discourse in American culture today. Real solutions to urgent problems go unheeded, sacrificed at the altar of partisanship and dirty politics and/or covert manipulation by the captains of industry. While recognizing the power of the internet to share information and ideas, we also desire an outlet/forum for such exchange to occur face to face with our neighbors and community members. We don't want to become like the pod people in the movie The Matrix.

The issue of whether or not there should be a specific topic was one that was discussed and debated extensively, though never set in stone. Currently, we do not specify a topic, encouraging participants to speak about the issue or topic that they are most engaged in at the time.

Essentially, we are resurrecting the ancient culture of the agora of ancient Greece. Situated near to and concurrent with the Farmers Market, we are creating a marketplace of ideas on a personal level. We need to cut through the b.s. and get to the truth of the matter, according to you.

More to come.