The Day I Discovered Free Intelligent Conversation
By Alex Wong
The moment the plane departed from Portland and headed for San Francisco, an excitement rushed. The next time the plane’s rubber tires would touch a tarmac would mark the beginning of a brief respite from my first Pacific Northwest winter. By chance, it also happened to be the coldest winter Oregon had experienced in 24 years.
When I flew back from San Francisco, I was accompanied with a different type of excitement, one charged with hope, potential, and curiosity. This new excitement was intimately rooted in the experiences of Saturday afternoon.
In just a few short hours on a random Saturday afternoon in San Francisco, I had spoken with a mother and her daughters about politics and their thoughts on America moving forward (this was immediately after the United States Presidential Election of 2016), my friend had written his will because an Armed Forces veteran told him “you never know”, and I had met a man whose charisma and ideas could only be overshadowed by the very movement he founded: Free Intelligent Conversation.
Kevin and I standing side by side at our first FreeIC event.
My original itinerary was to spend a weekend with my close friend, Kevin, and catch up. He had just moved to San Francisco for a new opportunity and was keen to share with me his new city and his new life. With so much to talk through, we figured we’d escape to somewhere free from the hustle and bustle of city life. As with most people on a nice day in San Francisco, we went to Dolores Park.
We must have been at the park for a half-hour or an hour when I noticed to my left, a man with a medium-sized white sign with several words on it, standing confidently among a group of about 10 people. Curious, I walked up to see what was happening, which was when the man caught my stare and immediately welcomed me into the group. He then told me to wait just a moment as we were waiting for the others. Others?
He soon began to explain what Free Intelligent Conversation was, an idea borne of a collision of a number of factors: a dynamic curiosity, rich childhood experiences, and a bold sense of initiative. After meeting Kyle, I believe there could be no more perfect an outcome than what Free Intelligent Conversation is, especially for a man who spent much of his time as a youth conversing with friends from all over the world, for a man whose inquisitiveness is boundless, for a man who thought of the simple, yet brilliant, idea of making a few signs and driving to Chicago to see “what if”.
That “what if” has blossomed into what the organization is today. Today, Free Intelligent Conversation is a non-profit movement with a presence in numerous states and countries throughout the world. Regardless of one’s background, Free Intelligent Conversation provides a venue for connection among people. From Sydney to France, to either coast of the United States, Free Intelligent Conversation is facilitating community through conversation. Is today the day that you discover it too?
