Courageous Vulnerability

Literary salons have their roots in the Middle East going back several hundred years. They moved to Italy but really took off in France in the 17th and 18th centuries where they were dominated by women.

Cara Cruickshank, a multi-media artist and writer is introducing salons to the US and hosts one Sunday January 28th in Denver.

“The premise of any true salon is that it’s a meeting ground for many different disciplines and domains and cultures and generations of people, who might not otherwise come together socially, to have conversations where everyone is equal, there is no hierarchy in the salon, and for new ideas to be born.”

The topic under discussion at the Denver salon will be Courageous Vulnerability : How can Men Support Women to Speak Up and Be Seen? It features speakers on the topic as well as dancers, poets, writers and musicians.

Cruickshank says inviting men into the conversation about sexual assault and harassment of women is important, because as momentum is increasing in the #MeToo movement, more men are wondering how to get involved. “I hear more and more men both in the media and in my personal life, asking how do we know whether we’re on the right side of history, how do we know we’re not that guy, how do we know what the lines are, how do we decipher what’s appropriate and what’s not, and I think if those questions are being asked, let’s have a bigger conversation about that.”