In ye olden days, the tavern was a place for the free exchange of ideas. Philosophies, politics, world views and--of course--booze came together in a free-flowing intellectual back-and-forth in which radicals, reactionaries, and town drunkards rubbed elbows. No topic of discussion was off the table, no patron's reservoir of expertise untapped. Taverns were the epitome of freedom. Or at least that's how they exist in my idealized vision of the past.
In the 1920s, when only outlaws could drink and be merry, the speakeasy was born. The last bastions of lewd liberty in a war-ravaged world, these rough-and-tumble establishments were the after-dinner junk food to the tavern's more nourishing main course. In addition to being the louder, rowdier cousins of the tavern, speakeasies became powerful centers of uncivil disobedience and added a dash of insanity to a nation drunkenly stumbling toward near-total collapse.
It's in the spirit of these two great American institutions that we present the Freedom Speakeasy. Part intellectual meandering of curious citizens of the world, part underground Roaring Twenties self-indulgence, the Freedom Speakeasy unites the free-spirited tavern with the free-wheeling speakeasy. An aspiring Engineer, Doctor, Historian, and Policy Wonk (no, this last one isn't a real profession) reflect on life, the universe, things they know about, and things they don't. Welcome. Start a tab.
sounds like a great idea to me.
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