Hey Garden(ers),
This week is the last week of Black History and Black Futures Month(s) in the US. From Frances Thompson to Pauli Murray to Ella Baker to Fred Hampton we know that revolutionaries come from being in deep community with each other. As we seek to build a world where we are all honored, we want to take a moment to honor these Black truth tellers that made our politics, our lives, and our commitment to liberation possible. We see building space for community to gather and commune as part of a legacy we have learned from our elders and ancestors on building the tools we need to thrive. It is a Black radical imagination that has made this space possible. In a world that often extracts from Black folks, without honoring them, how have those of you in the US been seeking to dismantle anti-Blackness in your corner of the world?
This upcoming Sunday, we'll be inviting 9 Garden Members to share rants/poems/dreams/ideas as part of Garden Talks! These short micro-talks will run the gamut from better understanding how we use language, to queer poetry, to the theft of Ballroom culture. Check it out March 2nd at 1pm PST, ASL provided. RSVP here!
This past Saturday we had a Connect 4 Tournament! Thanks to everyone who came out and congratulations to our Connect 4 Champion Dan!
🪩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 Friday starting February 28th at 6pm PT. Click here to RSVP here!
💼Severance fans, we'll be meeting every Saturday at 3pm PST until the end of the second season! Join us March 1st, we'll be watching episode 7 with a discussion afterwards! RSVP here
🎙️ Join us for Garden Talks, a festival of 15 min (or less) ideas/dreams/rants from Garden members on March 2nd, at 1pm PST! Make sure to RSVP here! ASL provided. Check out the updated schedule here.
🎉 Laissez les bons temps rouler! 🎉Gear up with your masks 🎭 and beads 📿 as we bring the vibrant spirit of New Orleans right to Garden for Garden Gras! Mardi Gras is one of the grandest celebrations on the planet, and you're invited to join the revelry! Dive into a festive night of New Orleans-themed movies, delectable recipes, and irresistible grooves. 🎷 It is all happening at the Game Spot on March 4th starting at 7pm EST/ 4pm PST. Join anytime, we plan to party all night! Check out recipes, music ideas and submit movie suggestions here! RSVP for the festivities!
🎨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 March 8th 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.
🫁 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. Tonight 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.
💃🏾Co-Twerking returns to Garden on Tuesdays at 2:30pm PST w/ Caroline!
📔Quiet-ish Reading Club / Connect (QRC) 💜💛📚 Tuesdays starting @ 6:00pm PT . QRC - Garden Edition is where we chill together in mostly quiet company. 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. We'll be planning for two 45 min reading blocks with 15 min breaks / connect check-in time in-between.
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 is a 2002 musical named after a city. Think you know what it is? Come thru and find out! RSVP via the visit page.
🫂 The next session of Chronic Illness and Long Covid Support Group will be next Thursday February 27th 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 this Friday 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 PST. 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!
📺 Join us every 3rd Saturday of the month at 11am PST for Garden Ghibli, where we view a Ghibli movie and attempt to make our way to watch all the magical Ghibli movies! The next showing will be this Saturday March 15th. 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 March 22nd at 5pm PST. 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.
🫰🏾Liberation Medicine School (LMS), a village of Black Trans medicine practitioners and decolonial abolitionists, is searching for a grant writer to support their work in 2025 and beyond. Pay for this contract is $25,000. Apply here! Applications will be accepted until this position is filled.
💡The J.M.K. Innovation Prize gives up to $150,ooo over 3 years to bold problem-solvers leading transformative, early-stage projects in the fields of heritage conservation, the environment, and social justice. Applications due April 25th.
🌐🌈Circa: Queer Histories Festival is accepting submissions from all over the world for their month long festivities happening in October 2025. Due by March 28th.
🍉 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.
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!