I went to a Coffee Party today in Ohio

[roseBudd]

There were three total coffee houses selected for the meetings in my city. The one I went to is a block from the University.
The Coffee Party Facebook group for my city has over 600 fans. I would say we had about 15 people.
There was a good mixture of folks. Some came from the surrounding Republican suburbs/counties.

The format is to be as amorphous as possible. I expect that there will be great variability moving forward. They are encouraging breakouts among the group.

[japple]

1. I had never heard of Coffee Party until this story ran on NPR this a.m.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124648089

~snip~

In just a few weeks, fans of the Coffee Party on Facebook mushroomed from a few hundred to more than 100,000 — making Park the accidental leader of an political movement.

"I've kind of had to put a lot of things on hold to focus on this," Park tells NPR's Jacki Lyden. "It's definitely been a surprise in my life."

On Saturday, newly-formed Coffee Party chapters are meeting all across the country — and what are they going to do, exactly?

"This is the National Coffee Day," Park says. "People are coming together as a community to engage in a conversation about what concerns them."

She says that the Coffee Party is a way for people to practice democracy. "During campaigns, there are clear ways to participate. But when you're not in the middle of a campaign, it's very hard to figure out how to engage in a political process in an ongoing way, that's effective and constructive. So we're trying to create opportunities for that kind of effective, ongoing engagement."

Despite the reactionist origins of her group, Park says the Coffee Party doesn't want to be seen as the anti-Tea Party. Like the grass-roots conservative movement, Park says people drawn to the Coffee Party feel the federal government doesn't represent them, either. The two groups might even have a lot to talk about.

"I think it's important for us to actually meet with people who identify themselves as Tea Party members and sit down and have coffee or tea with them," she says.

"In fact, after they dumped tea into the harbor, the Continental Congress declared coffee the national drink," Park adds. "That became the solution to the problem."

[roseBudd]

4. I agree with Annabell's point that between campaigns we lose sight of how to participate

[tilsammans]

2. That sounds encouraging

I hope others who attended across the U.S. will post their impressions here on DU.

[alfredo]

3. I went to one in Lexington Ky. Six images below

there was about 14 in attendance. That's good because at the time of the get together, UofK was playing in the SEC semi finals, and there was a parade downtown that featured several Dem candidates.

[WCGreen]

6. And I bet....

They all can spell...

[madinmaryland]

7. Heh! I'm sure they were not talking about the "Pubic Option"

[WCGreen]

8. Only for snicks and grins...

I wonder how they compare with the clatches that Wes Clark came up with in 2004...

[roseBudd]

12. I was a Wes fan in 2004, I must have missed that

[alfredo]

14. It was a good start.

[cal04]

5. i Reports on CNN has a video from LA

thanks for your post

Coffee Party Kick Off Los Angeles
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-419811

[CaliforniaPeggy]

9. One thing I don't understand: the purpose of a Coffee Party?

What do they accomplish? Do they belong to a particular political party, or not?

:shrug:

[chowder66]

10. To fix/reform our government...

not downsize (like the tea party) and to get better representation.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

11. Thanks!

[leftstreet]

13. The Obama campaign mobilized a brazillion citizens. Where are they?

:shrug:

Why on earth would we need 'Tea' or 'Coffee' parties?

:shrug:

[roseBudd]

15. Because right now, people need an alternative, they're disgruntled