 "Photo: Greg Elliott")
When it comes to intellectual cultural activities, the UT student has no dearth of options. But when one visits a museum, he or she will rarely get a chance to discuss newly absorbed ideas in a lively, social atmosphere. Hence, the Dionysium, monthly gatherings that feature lively intellectual discussions.
"When I was in school, I would be leaving class, and there wouldn't be a place to discuss the ideas that interest me socially," said L.B. Deyo, Dionysium president, whose organization gets its name from Dionysius, the Greek god of wine. Deyo said he feels that intellectual conversations are considered rude in today's culture and founded the colloquium to encourage them.
Deyo founded the precursor to the Dionysium five years ago in New York City - the Athenaeum. In May 2004, he joined longtime friend Buzz Moran to recreate the operation in Austin.
Tuesday night marked the first Dionysium performance at the Alamo Drafthouse, where the theatre's seating barely accommodated the audience.
"The audience was almost all new people today," said Moran, Dionysium chairman. "We feel like our show is getting better and better."
Tuesday's Dionysium centered on the Civil War, in honor of Juneteenth - the June 19 celebration of the end of U.S. slavery.
"Texans received the news of emancipation two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was written," said Bernadette Pfeiffer, director of George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center and lecturer at Tuesday's Dionysium. "Juneteenth is a celebration of the American who received the news of freedom."
After the lecture, three audience members volunteered to participate in an improvisational story-writing contest to be completed before intermission concluded.
The highlight of the Dionysium was the debate. Expanding upon the Civil War theme, the debaters probed whether or not "the Civil War was fundamentally about slavery." Arguing the affirmative - that the Civil War was about slavery - was George Forgie, a history associate professor who teaches a class on the Civil War and Reconstruction. George Manning, retired army officer and lieutenant commander in the Sons of Confederate Veterans, debated the counter argument.
Both participants presented a thorough knowledge of Civil War history but respectfully disagreed on the role slavery played.
"Disputes over slavery led the South to secede in 1866," Forgie said in his opening statement. "Southerners were very frank in their secession conventions that slavery was constitutional."
Manning disagreed, stating that Southerners seceded because of "unfair distribution of funds from the National Treasury," he said. "The South could prevent an amendment against slavery, but could not prevent taxation." Slavery, according to Manning, was merely a moral justification for the North's invasion of the South.
After the debate, the moderator presided over an audience referendum on the question at hand.
Voters expressed their support of the respective positions through applause, and the result was ambiguous. In the interest of retaining Dionysium solidarity, the moderator called it a draw.
Though the lack of a clear-cut resolution on the issue may have disappointed some, most would admit that Tuesday's Dionysium was an enlightening event.
"Simultaneously entertaining and informative," said Pamela Colloff, 33. "Where else can you discuss emancipation, Juneteenth, and drink beer?"
The Dionysium convenes on the first Tuesday of every month at the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar. The next meeting will be on July 5, and they will address the question: "Should genetically modified food be banned?"
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