ROOTED IN SOCIAL WORK

WILD Bill's is one of the coffeeshops which has become a "third place"
in the lives of its customers. Ray Oldenburg uses that phrase in his
book "Great Good Places" to describe gathering places which are
in-between home and work. His description of such places is remarkably
similar to the way Jane Addams described the coffeeshop at Hull House.

I believe places like Bill's are attractive for three reasons:

1. They are places with egalitarian potential, locations which flatten
and mute differences of age, religion, race and income.

2. They are voluntary settings with a minimum of rules and expectations.

3. They allow an individual to choose the level of community she or he
wants. You can participate in a chess game or be left alone. You can
take part in a political discussion or read the newspaper. You can
talk about the meaning of life or draw a picture.

Bill's has an additional mission: its role as a place which integrates
individuals of different abilities. This "abilities awareness"
initiative is very much in keeping with Jane Addam's original idea of
social work. She described the profession as a "mutual exchange" in
which all are learning and teaching. The coffeeshop was one of the
institutions she developed as a setting for that to happen.