The parts

Rhetors and Xenos

He has named two parts for the Agora at Wean Park. Nobody holds either of them. The Agora is not open, and no date is set.

The words are old, and the jobs he has given them are plain. A rhetor was a speaker. A xenos was a guest. On this ground, a Rhetor is anyone who presents, and a Xenos is anyone who comes to enjoy what is presented.

Rhetor

Plural: Rhetors. The people who present.

That means debaters, presenters, vendors, and artists.

  • Debaters take a side, including the side that is not their own.
  • Artists present their art.
  • Dancers dance. The way in for them is to perform.
  • Small businesses sell. The goods are held to his standard: quality, American-made, and highly curated.

Debates are the main event. Art, dance, and the tables are secondary to the debates, on the same grounds at Wean Park.

Become a Rhetor

Write if you would debate, present, perform, or sell.

Xenos

Visitors, watchers, and spectators.

A Xenos is there to enjoy what the Rhetors offer. Not to fill a roster. To be in the room.

Two things are asked of a Xenos, and both can travel in one letter: ask to be told when there is something to attend, and suggest a debate topic. He has already named one topic himself, brownfields turned to modern production. Others are welcome. None are scheduled.

Come as a Xenos

Be notified, or send a resolution.

Both buttons write to [email protected]. That address is a placeholder. It may not be a mailbox yet. There is no form behind it and no list being stored.

What is still his

The parts are named. The rules are not.

He has said that a statement in the Agora should count the way a statement in court counts: verifiable, and recorded. He has not said who keeps that record, who would moderate, how a night would be ordered, or who decides that a table of goods meets the standard.

Until those are his in writing, this page will not invent them. The method the debates would run on is already written. It is Socratic Maverickism.

The nearest thing to an invitation he had published before these parts were named:

Well hop on over here and we’ll start the agora ourselves!

Matthew Coppola, 9 June 2026