The Vanderslice Salon is a weekly internet podcast, recorded live. In its previous incarnation, it was known as The Buli Salon.

The salon is a place to awaken and strengthen the natural, almost genetic, abilities of community and step out of the blurring pace of modern life into a safe, common space where conversation has the power to open up the world.

By definition a salon is a small, informal group of people in a community from diverse backgrounds and experiences who gather regularly for engaging, stimulating and entertaining conversation on matters of importance to the whole community.

Since our distant ancestors first gathered around the fire, most cultures have had some social form like the salon. It’s basic to being human. All people need to get together and talk over the things they care about and believe in. Salons can be very powerful, too. American anthropologist Margaret Mead once famously said “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

American society encourages and professes to admire a certain kind of isolation —the isolation of self-sufficiency. The importance of community is de-emphasized, but the need for a sense of belonging does not go away. People need places to engage their need for intellectual stimulation, to share their lives with their neighbors and to find a way out of their isolation. That is what the Vanderslice Salon provides our community. And it is my hope that our weekly podcast will help dissolve the alienation and angst that infects so much of America and our community today. My goal for these conversations is to offer some sense of understanding to a complicated time and world.

Salons have always been centers of intellectual and artistic activity, birthplace of new ideas, even foundries of revolution. Our conversations from The Vanderslice Salon will try to capture the creative energy, diversity and challenges of our community each week in our stimulating discussions recorded live from locations throughout the DFW Metroplex, archived and freely available in podcast form on our website.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore summed it up nicely when he recently said “The Internet is a revolutionary medium…it’s good at inviting people back into the conversation.” Our goal is to do just that, to bring everyone in our community into the conversation, to feel a sense of belonging and engagement.

I’ve had a long, satisfying career in radio and TV highlighted by my several years hosting “The Evening Talk Show with Rick Vanderslice” on NPR affiliate KERA FM in Dallas. On my program I had the opportunity to have conversations with writers, entertainers, politicians, academics, philosophers, students, business leaders, revolutionaries and regular people, too. Engaging interesting, creative, thinking people in stimulating conversation is the most satisfying experience in the world for me. I look forward to continuing the conversations at The Vanderslice Salon. I hope the listeners experience will be equally satisfying.

—Rick Vanderslice