Hey Garden(ers),
We're a little late getting this newsletter out as we were recovering from all the festivities of the TransTech Action Summit this weekend! Thanks to all who made it out, shared a poem, an analysis, a tip or their contact info with a new connection!
A belated Eid Mubarak to those who have been observing Ramadan and celebrated Eid al-Fitr this weekend!
For those travelling in and out of the US, Electronic Frontier Foundation has both a long form and a pocket guide to help you protect your data at the border, available in English and Spanish.
🐣Parents Meetup is back, Sunday April 6th at 11am PST! RSVP here, and come to have casual conversation with other Garden parents!
📱A Black Mirror Viewing Party is coming to Garden Friday, April 4th at 6pm PST! Season 7 is dropping soon, and we're kicking things off with a throwback viewing party to watch some of the most unforgettable Black Mirror episodes. 📲🍿RSVP!
😴Mark your calendars for the Dreaming is [Trans]cendent Festival which will be taking over Garden April 19th & 20th. 5 Black Trans Disabled Artists build an immersive world of visual art and performance. Come explore, feel and Transcend. RSVP here! Want to bring a BIPOC friend who is not already a Garden member? Day Passes are available for non-Garden members via this form.
☀️Our 24 hour long Summer Solstice event to welcome the sun will be going down June 21st-22nd! Have an offering? Check the volunteer form here and RSVP here! Day Passes will be available.
🫁 Want to increase your lung capacity? Come to Breathing in the Knowledge Nursery! Every weekday at 9am PST. RSVP here!
🥣 Grab your favorite cereal for dinner and watch anime & cartoons with us at Monday Night Cereal! Join us every other Monday at 5pm PST. Next Monday April 7th, we're watching people's grandpas and little brothers get stolen for the sake of a children's card game. Your move! Read more about the event here.
💃🏾Join Caroline for Co-Twerking on Tuesdays at 2:30pm PST! We will follow video(s) with a warm-up and cooldown sequence, with dancing in between. This is meant to be an aerobic exercise, so bring water and items that will provide you comfort while dancing your butt off! Video suggestions welcome. Duration: ~30 minutes. RSVP here
📔Quiet-ish Reading Club / Connect (QRC) 💜💛📚 This week's QRC returns today at 6pm PST! QRC - Garden Edition is where we chill together in mostly quiet company of 45 min reading blocks. Bring your own: book, audiobook, article, magazine, comic book, training manuals, graphic novel, paperwork/forms, poetry, etc. anything you’d like to or need to read. Most of the time will be us practicing sustained silent reading (SSR) in cozy, quiet company together. We will take occasional breaks to chat and socialize - mics optional. Learn more about QRC - Garden Edition. Like to be kept up-to-date on QRC meet-ups in Garden? Fill out this interest form. RSVP here
🎥 Name That Movie (Night!) is Wednesday at 5:30pm PST! This week's movie(s) deal with singing nuns from the 1990's. Part 1 & 2. Something about Whoopi Goldberg and Lauryn Hill. You know, very obscure. Think you know what it is? Come thru and find out! RSVP via the visit page.
🫂 The April sessions of Chronic Illness and Long Covid Support Group will be Thursday April 10th & 24th from 5:30pm-7:30pm PST with Chanelle! Navigating everything that comes with chronic illness can be difficult - from managing symptoms to experiencing grief over missing your pre-illness life. This is a peer support space where we can share our feelings about living with any chronic/long-term illness, including long COVID, during an ongoing pandemic. RSVP via the calendar on the visit page.
🪷 Stretch it out as Caroline leads us in another weekly afternoon Yoga sesh Fridays at 2:15pm PST by streaming a yoga video from YouTube and following along. Videos will be between 25-45 minutes long between easy to moderate pace. Drop ins are always welcome! RSVP via the calendar on the visit page.
🦾 Self Defense Discussion Series with Caroline will be Sundays at 8am PT. Each group includes reading, discussion and (potential) movement on self-defense principles! In these politically challenging times, it is especially important for our collective liberation and self-care to learn self-defense. RSVP via the visit page!
🪩Honoring Uncle Clifford's Rule #.0025 — 'Wear Y'all Mu’Fuckin Mask,' we’re keeping it safe so everyone can party in Chucalissa without leaving home! Join Deeda and GenDoc for 'Nights at the Pynk,' a 'P-Valley' virtual watch party every other The next viewing will be this Friday April 11th at 6pm PT. Click here to RSVP!
🎨Skyriver will be guiding us into Imagination & Creative Space, an open space and time to work on creative projects, and crafts every other Saturday. The next session is April 5th at 12pm PST. Finish an old project, start a new skill, follow the offered prompt or do your own thing. Joy is resistance. Imagination is the path to liberation. RSVP here!
📺 Join us every 3rd Saturday of the month at 11am PT for Garden Ghibli, where we view a Ghibli movie and attempt to make our way to watch all the magical Ghibli movies! We are skipping April's showing, and resume the next showing on Saturday May 23rd. RSVP here!
😷 Hang out, chill and play games with Black folks who take COVID precautions at Bonfire in Garden every 3rd Saturday! The next Bonfire is Saturday April 19th at 5pm PST. We'll be talking and journeying through the Dreaming is [Trans]cendent Festival. RSVP here.
💻 Do you work from home and sometimes feel a little too isolated from others? Come Co-Work with us in Garden! We are a 24/7 drop in space for folks to join to co-work silently, listen to music, play a game or chat amongst each other in the chat box.
🍨Ben & Jerry's Foundation Grassroots Organizing Grant is open on a rolling basis. Average grant award is $20,000.
🖼️The State of the Art Prize from Creative Capital aims to recognize and support one artist from every U.S. state and inhabited territory with an unrestricted artist grant of $10,000. Through the 2026 Open Call for the Creative Capital Award, Creative Capital will select recipients for the new State of the Art Prize. Due April 3rd.
💡The J.M.K. Innovation Prize seeks to identify and support bold problem-solvers leading transformative, early-stage projects in the fields of heritage conservation, the environment, and social justice. Applications due April 25th.
💖Third Wave's Mobilize Power Fund reopens April 4th! The Mobilize Power Fund is a rapid response fund that resources gender justice organizations to adapt or pivot their work when met with unanticipated, time-sensitive opportunities or threats to their movement building work and organizing conditions. Apply by written application, video, or phone!
🪴Rootable is seeking a Full Stack Software Engineer, full time or part time. remote. Salary range for full time is $130-$150k. Part Time range is $65-$85k. Applications due by April 13th.
🍉 Centering Palestine has a zoom every Tuesday at 5pm PST, along with other resources to show up for Palestine available here.
😷World Health Network has a weekly call to organize community members against mask bans every Friday at 12pm PST.
🌻 We are looking to open Garden up to more community orgs who would like to share space with us here. If you are part of an org that may benefit from office/event space here, please email info@meetatgarden.com
💌Don't forget, we can design and host non-Garden virtual events too.
🌱Since our digital doors opened here at Garden, it's been a whirlwind! So, we did some calculations and wrote up a bit of what we've been doing in this Impact Statement.
Until next our avatars meet,
🪄Al, 😻Gata & 🪻J Mase
PS: Have a one-time-event or a recurring event and need a place to host? Email us at info@meetatgarden.com!
Garden is a free 24/7 space, but it does cost money for us to maintain it on Gather.Town. If you'd like to donate to this work, consider throwing some money in the pot here. To send donations directly through our 501c3 fiscal sponsor, email us!