[3 Sessions Online] Is this what democracy looks like?

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📌 A note about registration: We attract participants from many different sources, including Meetup. We ask that you register directly with Premise so we can stay organized and send you the readings, your Zoom link, and everything else you need.
👉 Sign up here. (Plz sign up at least 4 days before the start date)
Registration Fees: Use the code "POD" for 20% off. If you need to come for free, use "TorontoMeetup" at checkout. We never want money to be a barrier to participation. All fees go toward keeping the lights on and growing our network of chapters.

🗣️ Pod Question: Is This What Democracy Looks Like?
A 3-Session Online Premise Pod
Is this what democracy looks like? It is a question being asked with urgency right now, in living rooms and newsrooms and on the street. But it is also one of the oldest and most enduring questions of human life together. What do we actually owe each other as citizens? Who gets to be "the people"? What does it take to keep a democracy healthy, and what does it ask of us personally?

In this 3-session online Premise Pod, we will explore the idea of democracy not as a settled fact but as a living, demanding question, through guided conversation, short readings, poetry, and one very famous short story.

A Premise Pod is a small group experience built for deeper conversation. You will meet with the same group across all three sessions, which means the dialogue can grow richer, more honest, and more thoughtful over time. This is not a lecture and it is not a debate. It is a welcoming, structured space for adults who want real conversation about the questions that matter.

📅 Dates: Saturdays, April 19, May 3, and May 17
🕙 Time: 10:00 to 11:30 AM Pacific Time / 1:00 to 2:30 PM Eastern Time
💻 Format: Zoom. Link shared after registration.

⚠️ We ask that you be able to commit to missing no more than one session for the cohesion of the group. We are a cameras-on community for our online sessions.

📚 What We Will Explore
Session 1: How are "We the People"? Preparation under 2 hours

• The Iroquois Constitution: The Great Law of Peace (curated excerpt)
• The Preamble to the United States Constitution
• The Declaration of Independence
• Jorge Luis Borges, The Lottery in Babylon
• Shirley Jackson, The Lottery
• Claude McKay, "America" (poem)

📚 Session 2: What does democracy demand of us? Preparation under 2 hours

• Parks and Recreation, democracy montage (short video)
• Pericles, Funeral Oration (excerpt)
• Václav Havel, The Power of the Powerless (excerpt)
• Audre Lorde, "The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action"
• Toni Morrison, "No Place for Self-Pity, No Room for Fear"
• Adrienne Rich, "What Kind of Times Are These" (poem)

📚 Session 3: What does a healthy democracy look like? Preparation under 2 hours

• Alexis de Tocqueville, "What Sort of Despotism Democratic Nations Have to Fear" (excerpt)
• Octavia Butler, "Speech Sounds"
• Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny (curated excerpts)
• Zadie Smith, "On Optimism and Despair"
• Langston Hughes, "Let America Be America Again" (poem)
• W.H. Auden, "September 1, 1939" (poem)

✨ If you are hungry for conversation that is intellectually rich, personal, and grounded in real life, we would love to have you join us.