create a "Junto" group

I’ve created several groups following similar goals of Ben Franklin’s Junto Society, started in Philadelphia, in 1727. He was just 21 years old at the time!

I’m a huge fan of Old Ben. And my community building has always been inspired by his example.

To form a group with the Junto name would be great, as long as I can do it, so it remains true to the form and function of the original, while still being relevant to the times.

I’ve had this goal on my list for a long time, so when the “personal challenge” feature came out – I thought, “why not challenge myself to accomplish this one”?

My original vision for my junto group was a broad (8-12) group of people who would set aside an evening for intellectual exploration and maybe some port. But then I stalled.

Why? I love discussing ideas. I need to get away from the house and talk with other adults. Folks volunteered to help host it and people came out of the woodwork to say they’d like to join. But I kept stalling.

I decided the delay was because I’d let the idea get too grand. And so instead of starting boldly and fearing I can’t meet expectations I’m going to start small, with just 4 people including myself. I’ve selected a particular topic that has personal interest to all of us, and 3 of the 4 have already committed to making it. I think with this group I’ll describe the broader idea of the junto and see if there is interest in growing it.

Thanks to all the folks that showed an interest in my junto group. I hope to grow it into something that can meet everybody’s expectations.

I’ve written a bit about the original junto over on the mutual improvement blog, but I’ve had a goal for some time to start my own junto group.

I’m the kind of guy who would love to run the “junto” weekly, but I’m thinking it might be best to start out every other week. I’m thinking of checking out a biznik meeting to see how that operates and see if there are any lessons to draw from it.

Ideally, I’d love the junto to run as a philosophical society, and a mutual improvement group. Personally, I like the idea of each member preparing a short talk as well.

I wonder if I’ll get anyone else to join.

When I was stuck in bed and going in and out of a pain killer haze…I thought I heard an interview on GMA about Good Magazine…it sounded so different and so positive. Perhaps I dreamed it? No, I did find a website www.goodmagazine.com. Imagine this: 1oo% of your subscription fee goes to organizations like Teach for America and Unicef. I’m curious about the content so I’ll subscribe and share it with the “group”.

I think I have two separate Junto groups…One of friends… and one based on business. I don’t really see the two groups merging any time soon. But, the friends group would certainly be enthusiastic cheerleaders for the business group.The B group is sort of idling in legal limbo…some exciting productions are in the works. Will post pics when the time comes.

The friend group had a little dinner this week at our favorite local Thai restaurant. No one was taking notes at this meeting but as I recall our first priority was ordering our favorite foods…Pad C U, fried wonton, and Pho. Our group is determined to keep our little Thai business open. It does have quite a bit of competition in town. So one of our graphic artist knights of the “Junto” round table has agreed to jazz up the menu flier…and we will make sure we distribute these to the motels and such… after a scrumptious repast…there was some talk of a magazine project…the ideas bounced around…sort of a scrapbook just for us…issue’s??? 2 or three a year?big pix…a yearbook for our a”muse”ment??? a physical blog??? we’ll see what happens as we scatter several directions for a while… till next time …I think I’m craving chicken sitay…I’ll save some for Ben!

Hope to have some engaging get togethers with friends (soon and very soon) to make our Junto list together…It will be fascinating to see our list emerge from all of our submissions.