There’s a swift invasion underway of our cafes, bars, restaurants, and public spaces all over America. In the last few years, you may have showed up to your favorite neighborhood hangout one morning to suddenly find there’s a flat screen behind the cash register broadcasting advertisements at you. Or you may have taken a date to what used to be a quiet, intimate bistro, only to find that every visible wall is now occupied by giant, blinding TV screens.

When did force-fed TV and “hot media” become de rigeur in our places of dining, conversation, and community? It’s now so commonplace that speaking up or complaining about it will earn you blank looks or confused reactions.

What can we do? Especially when the hospitality industry is barely holding on in a brutal economy, and will do anything to draw more customers?  Might there be another way?

The Real Places Campaign has an answer. Join writer and media activist Jen Burke Anderson to learn about a plan to positively define what we need from our public places, and reward those who deliver.  Come help shape a grassroots experiment to create real places for real lives.

Event cohost: Abundance League, an grassroots network of social innovators. 

MEETING:
When: WEDNESDAY, January 20th, 2010, 6:30-9:30pm
Where: Cafe Royale, 800 Post St.  San Francisco
(415) 441-4099

AGENDA:
6:30 – 7:00 Arrive – mingle, nosh
7:00 – 7:30 Attendee announcements
7:30 – 8:00 Break – nosh, make connections based on announcements
8:00 – 9:15  Presentation and discussion
9:15 – 9:30  Clean up, clear out

BRING
-Willingness to give and receive help. Respectful, uplifting discussion and social skills. Yourself, friends. Note: no potluck this time. Reasonably price fare available at the Cafe Royale. 

Thumbnail pic courtesy of Yoav Lerman on Flickr.