Welcome to the Salon

“Where Many Gather, Let Them Enter with Grace”

Salons are more than your weekly pit stop to manage our superficial outward appearances. It’s more than a meet and greet. Once a place of community, perspective and an intersection of the intellect; that had been gathered from all walks of life. An invitation for all, however your acceptance, is only received through the sharing of intellect; a willingness to share.

Gathered together around the table of communal cognition, the English 212 class began the endeavor of the salon. Spanning the realm from the Renaissance to the Reformation. It was a true testament that you do not need to become an expert in all matters of education, however, you must learn the art of learning. Dare to learn. Dare to know just enough about all subjects that when opportunity arises, you might share a gem of knowledge to begin conversation where all are participator friends, elevating all in attendance to a sphere of new thought.

A delicate display of such a discussion, in which I wish to share just a few insights of thought, that were produced under the umbrella topics of the salon.

To begin, and interesting comparison of the the printing press’s effect on humanity. As common knowledge, during the Reformation, the printing press was a revolutionary invention, thus allowing no longer just the elites ability to read and right, but that of the very commoner. Allowing individuals to take oral knowledge, story,etc. to the press, allowing physical dissemination of information that you could personally have. It no longer came from a “chosen” individual or informational gatekeeper. Compared to the Renaissance, travel was the mode for the “printing press”. As travel became the way to go back to the source and find civilizational roots, it became a mode of transferring information. As Europeans began to see new lands, they saw new ways of living. They gathered new forms of plants, societal interaction and new ways of understanding the world around them.

Once Greek oration and collective learning were the basis for ground breaking education. Though, slowly as time progressed, we began moving away from collective learning until the Reformation and one became the mouthpiece; mainly the preacher. As “religion” becomes the center of towns and communal gather, the preacher in a sense became the gatekeeper of understanding. Which today, we see, in society still in part exists; yet through reformation we have greater awareness of individual ability to learn, teach and understand information on our own.

They say we must learn from the past so we might not make the same mistakes. However, I believe we must understand the principles of the past, that we might continue the legacy of innovation. To gather the processes and patterns that brought forth light, life, and the continued cultivation of human intellect. Atmospheres of learning. Once Salons, now found within classrooms, homes, and barbershops. Let us continue to gather in intellect, let us bring home the salon.