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THE GRANT CROWELL CYBERBULLYING PROBLEM: There are no "Elgin Conversation Salon" videos on YouTube or anywhere else on the internet. Those are Grant Crowell's attempt to harm us because we stopped inviting him to the salon, which he obviously really wanted to attend. With so many nuts out loose in the world, we have been amazingly lucky! We have been hosting the conversation salon described on this web site for over 12 years. As this web site explains, (please read beyond this stuff about the anti-social behavior of Grant Crowell, or just scroll down past it to the real stuff about the salon), unless we pick up a distinctly negative vibe from someone who inquires about the salon, we invite pretty much anyone who wishes to attend. After a person has shown up once, we usually continue to invite him or her regardless of the nature of their views or personality disorders as long as the latter do not directly disrupt the peaceable, friendly atmosphere of the salon itself. Grant Crowell came to the salon as a new friend of one of our friends. It took some time for us to arrive at our collective belief that Grant has anger control problems and is not a safe person to have in our home. Having so concluded, we stopped inviting him to the salon. He is presently retaliating on the Internet, thereby confirming our belief that he is not someone that we want at the salon. As a web professional who markets his services through a company called "Grantastic Designs," Grant Crowell knows how to create vicious little pieces and use targeted marketing to ensure that they plague his intended victims. There are no "Elgin Conversation Salon" videos or YouTube or anywhere else. Those are Grant Crowell's attempts to harm us and the salon. In our opinion, Grant Crowell's conduct is consistent with that of a classic cyberbully and certainly is not becoming of a competent Internet professional. Fortunately, in 12-plus years of hosting the salon, Grant Crowell is the only such person we've encountered so far. We assure everyone who presently attends the salon or is contemplating attending that if anyone sending off Grant-like vibes happens upon the salon again, we will cease to invite him or her, as well. Grant Crowell's claims about the salon and the host that he has targeted, (a 58-year old grandmother and a practicing attorney for 28 years), are either inaccurate or downright false, defamatory and actionable under tort law. His malicious, aggressive conduct has caused us all great emotional distress and concern. However, we prefer not to take any legal action against him at this time, as it is against our principles to bring the wrath of the government and civil judgment down upon anyone, especially such a struggling, troubled person as Grant Crowell appears to be, without first giving him a chance to clean up his act voluntarily. We choose to hold off on filing anything, hoping that he will come to his senses soon, demonstrate that he knows how to act like a decent human being and leave us alone. One of Grant Crowell's more absurd false and defamatory claims is that the salon host he attacks is a "pot-smoking hippie." That is not true. While we hosts playfully refer to ourselves as "vintage hippies," we must admit that we are, in fact, well-employed, successful, law-abiding professionals whose worst vices are pricey red wine and an occasional G & T. If Grant Crowell's claims have led you to expect that the salon is a pot party and you decide to attend for that reason, you will be very disappointed! We hope you will decide to come anyway, for what is usually a pleasurable evening of interesting, intelligent, humorous conversation and camaraderie with fun, mostly harmless people. |
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Articles about our conversation salons
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ENOUGH ABOUT GRANT CROWELL, WHAT ABOUT THE CONVERSATION SALON?! Since March, 1998, we've been offering a way for people who, like us, consider friendly, imaginative conversation to be great entertainment, to have good fun together. We've formed a healthy-sized group of people who meet regularly to engage in the art of conversation. We try to provide a place where thinking people can freely exchange and commingle ideas, imaginations, energy, talents, wild-eyed visions–where we can comfortably and effectively suspend our assumptions about life in order to inquire into the unknown together. Our inspiration was the concept of a neighborhood conversation salon promoted by the Utne Reader in the early 1990s. The gatherings we host aren't much like the long-ago salons of Paris or New York, where authors, artistes, pundits and socialites would strut their stuff. There is nothing elitist about this salon. The gatherings probably most resemble encounters you may have had around campfires, over kitchen tables, in dorm rooms or at slumber parties, during times in your life when everyone you knew seemed eager to share visions and ideas. We don't argue or debate–most of the time, we take a topic as a point of departure and see how far we can go with it. It's not an "ain't it awful party," nor is it a dry seminar that requires research or preparatory readings. Educated revelations are always welcome, but most of the time, we exchange gut reactions and whimsical musings, our in-the-moment responses to each other's "what if"s and "what would you like to see"s. We usually get a crowd of 25-40 people per salon. We arbitrarily divide into two smaller groups, sit on futons and cushions on the floor in two furniture-free rooms and talk our heads off from 7-10 p.m., with a break somewhere in the middle to allow for more intimate exchanges, duels, room switching, whatever. The salon is not a closed society that you have to join. We usually mail invitations for each gathering to about 150 people. The first 36 or so to rsvp form the group that attends a particular salon. Different topics draw different people and personal schedules will preclude some would-be attendees from joining us on any given date. It is safe to say that, 95% of the time, there is room for everyone who wants to be at a particular gathering. Consequently, every salon is a unique mix of personalities. There are people who come nearly every time, more who attend about half the gatherings, and several who show up only a few times a year. Nearly every salon has new faces. Thus, each gathering feels both fresh and familiar. We
are very fortunate to have attracted people with a variety of backgrounds.
Educations range
from doctorate-level degrees to high school dropouts. We include
professionals, blue collar workers, sales clerks, artists, slackers, you
name it. Ages range from very early 20s to late 70s, with the
majority of attendees being in the 35-65 age range. (We four hosts are 21,
54, 56 and 65 years old.) We probably have a higher per
capita occurrence of anarchists, activists and vintage hippies than one
finds in most groups; however, we have a healthy minority of right-wing,
conservative, business-people, as well as libertarians, members of
mainstream religions, etc. The vast majority of the salon people can walk
around a mall or an airport without attracting undue attention. The group
has always been amazingly (and accidentally) gender-balanced and includes plenty of singles and couples. Needless to say, the salon
gives rise to feelings of community and affinity, to meaningful
relationships and celebratory connections. There
is absolutely no charge for any of this. The salon is a labor of
love, an effort to bring people together to entertain each other and make
our own ragged joy. If this sounds like it’s up your alley, let us
know and we'll take it from there. Email us at basement@elginsalon.org
and we'll get back to you soon! Please note that the salon is a real live phenomenon, not a cyber-something. We're too busy socializing with people in their embodied form. If Elgin, IL, isn't geographically convenient, we're really sorry, but that's where this salon happens. We urge everyone who can't come to Elgin, or who can but don't like us, to consider starting their own conversation salon style discussion group. If you're from Katmandu and expect to be in the Chicago/Elgin area, feel free to check with us to see if your visit coincides with a Salon Saturday!
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