Dozens of St. Augustine locals came together last night to attend The St. Augustine Symposium, a local speaker series created by Micah Gilliam.
Gilliam and his wife Lauren moved to St. Augustine so Lauren could pursue glass blowing. The two also play in a few bands together.
“One of his friends is more independently minded, autodidactic, person who talked a lot about the olden days of symposium guys in togas sitting around and debating the great ideas of the day and Micah really loved that idea,” Lauren Gilliam said.
Micah Gilliam created the series last January, and since it’s inception the series has hosted local Florida poets, politicians and all types of artists.
“I kind of hand pick people who I think have interesting qualities. Sometimes I try to put themes together - like the one for tonight is people who are doing things that would garner a lot of criticism,” he said.
District 24 Florida House of Representatives candidate Adam Morley was one of Gilliam’s guests yesterday. “It’s bringing new ideas that can be talked about in a casual, not so heated way, which is really the way to do it. If you go in looking for a fight you’re not going to come out with anything, but if you go in looking for a discussion, and just a casual conversation that’s where ideas really start to come up and good ideas are born,” Morley said.
“The purpose is to have community critical thinking, cause I feel like critical thinking is really suppressed in our country,” Micah Gilliam said. “I want people to get together and be challenged. I want their paradigms to shift a little bit, and I want people whose paradigms have shifted greatly to affect other people.“
The St. Augustine Symposium is a quarterly speaker series held at Cafe Eleven in St. Augustine Beach.
