Vision: Build Salon as conscious resistance to the attention economy’s human fracking in de-industrialized America.
SALON GOALS
Use human companionship across generations to create citizens, not subjects:
- SHARE learning
- SHARPEN human skills for consciously resisting dehumanizing forces
- GENERATE collective action that enhances life in our communities
FELLOWSHIP GOALS
- SUPPORT six NE Ohio fellows to understand human fracking & consciously resist
- PROMOTE SoRA to NE Ohio, USA, & SAPIR journal
WHAT WE DID in 2025
Deep Dive. Bi-weekly fellowship Zoom calls + weekly Attention Activism 101 course + monthly EfA calls + guidance from SoRA educators + curated content to develop the right language & strategies for conscious resistance.
Sound Bath Pilot. Ran sound bath attention exercise in rural Ohio with five people using "Deep Hockets" by Pauline Oliveros & SoRA educator guidance (most report images come from this event).
First Salon Cycle. Completed four sanctuary experiences covering * NAFTA-trade-inequality-politics, * tech-humans-anti-social-century-or-awakening, * storytelling & impact, * rest & productivity.
Long-term Community. Building short-term fellowship into longer-term collaboration with the SoRA community.
WHAT WE LEARNED
Awareness & Liberation. "The 'algorithm's' impact is broad, deep, & growing. Awareness does not = liberation from addictive fracking. Unsettling.
Naming Comes First. Focus on the attention economy is exploding. Sanctuaries help people resist its fracking. This is a Luddite moment. Will we do better?
The Work Ahead. SoRA opened at the right time. How do we translate dense academic content for "the people"?
NEXT STEPS
Cycle Two Launch. Salon founders' reflection on cycle one & sound bath experience in October 2025. Launch six-month cycle with expanded membership in January 2026.
Media Partnership. Recruit local, national, or global journalist (and/or SAPIR journal) to walk with us in cycle two built for de-industrialized communities in swing states like Ohio.
Build More Attentionauts. With SoRA activists: link fellowship to impact in communities via exercise write-ups for the SoRA library; find journalist; open Cleveland chapter of Avis Tertia.
SoRA ecosystem. Promote the new book "Attencity" locally + join national organizing calls on Study Corps expansion + monthly EfA session.
Scale the Model. Integrate SoRA learning into sustainable development ventures for deindustrialized areas.
Impact
"Chase Hughes released a haunting perspective on the long-term impact of ... devices and modern media: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsF3REbr-44"
~ Comment in the chat from an Attention Activism 101 class
"I REALLY enjoyed the 101 course with dynamic facilitators and classmates from across the USA."
~ Comment to instructor after Attention Activism 101
"I woke up smiling with the memory of our Sound Bath."
~ Comment from a participant in this attention exercise
"[Rest is] a radical act in our productivity-obsessed culture... [L]earning to pause has become rebellious and essential ... [to] navigat[ing] the tension between doing and being."
~ From the description of the final Salon Cultivar experience in cycle one
"Love the idea of getting a Midwest or national/global reporter involved. I have a background in PR. Would love to connect... I do some work with [a local independently organized event that brings the spirit of TED to my community]... Would love to chat about your project."
~ Comments by fellows during a fellowship session
"If D. Graham Burnett's New Yorker essay, 'Will the humanities survive artificial intelligence?' is spot on, what then? How do we live? It seems like we fellows show different ways for relational being, sensing, and choosing."
~ Comment in the Fellowship signal chat after the last bi-weekly Zoom call
~ Photos by Molly Lipe (https://www.mollylipephotography.com/)