Hey Garden(ers)!
Thank you to everyone who came through to celebrate another Gregorian New Year here in Garden! We had such a fun time dancing, throwing snowballs, battling at the Tetris Tournament, go-kart racing, watching movies together and counting down to the final hour of the night across multiple time zones. We hope y'all enjoyed it as much as we did! Here are some photos that we think captured the ephemeral and ethereal energy of NYE/NYD🪩:
Our next special event will be Garden Talks, a festival of ideas/dreams/rants that is happening here in Garden Jan 11th, 1-5pm PST. Made up of talks that are less than 15 minutes each, you can learn more about the appropriation of ballroom culture, the algorithm's impact on your friendships, a reimagining of a popular theater production (except the cast is birds!), queer af poetry and more! RSVP here! A tentative schedule can be found here. *ASL will be provided.*
🛏️Ru and Chanelle are back at it again to host another installment of queer-British-teen-tv-show slumber party marathons! It's time for some Sex Education! Pull up to the Up All Night Room in your coziest winter jammies, with tasty snacks and a sippy drink. Friday Jan 10th at 6pm PST to watch the next episodes. Let's talk about sex, baby! RSVP for a reminder!
🗣️Garden Talks, a festival of ideas/dreams/rants is happening here in Garden Jan 11th, 1-5pm PST. Made up of talks that are less than 15 minutes each, you can learn more about the appropriation of ballroom culture, the algorithm's impact on your friendships, queer af poetry and more! RSVP here! Schedule can be found here.
🎨Skyriver will be guiding us into Imagination & Creative Space, an open space and time to work on creative projects, and crafts, on January 18th 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. You can RSVP!
📝 Tax Season is around the corner! Did you know that in most cases, it's pretty easy to file your own taxes AND you can securely file them yourself for FREE? Gata will be hosting her Taxes 101: Finesse the IRS workshop January 19th 1pm PST. She will go over the basics of credits, basic bookkeeping for self employed folks, and a walkthrough of income tax forms. RSVP here!
🐲 Beginning January 20th at 5pm PST, join Dan every other week to watch drag queens slay dragons in this dark, macabre, and often hilarious fantasy world brought to you by Dropout.tv and Dimension20. Dungeons & Drag Queens S1 Watch Party features the on screen stylings of Monét X Change, Alaska Thunderfuck, Bob the Drag Queen and Jujubee! Episodes range from 2-3 hours. RSVP here!
💔Saturday, February 15th at 6pm PST, we will be bringing the internationally acclaimed tour "Cupid Ain't @#$%!: An Anti-Valentine's Day Poetry Movement" to GatherTown! Part heartbreak, political rants, bitter love poems and YOU, this poetry event will have various featured artists and an open mic portion. Come ready for the haiku slam if you'd like to be dubbed the Anti-Valentine's Day Slam Champion! RSVP here!
🌟 Join the Ultimate Connect Four Showdown! 🌟 Get ready for a thrilling battle of wits and strategy! We are hosting a Connect Four Tournament on Thursday, February 22nd, at 2 PM PST—Walk away with bragging rights AND a $50 cash prize! (to be venmo-ed or cashapped to the winner!). Don't miss out, and RSVP!
🫁 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. January 13th, 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.
🎥 Name That Movie (Night!) is Wednesday at 5:30pm PST! This week's movie is a 2024 musical about two witches- one was awkward, one was cool, and they were friends back at school. Think you know what it is? Come thru and find out! RSVP via 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!
🫂 The next sessions of Chronic Illness and Long Covid Support Group will be this Thursdays January 16th & 30th 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.
🐣The next Parents Meetup will be Friday January 17th at 5pm PST! This meeting will be an unfacilitated casual meetup for parents and an intentional space to connect. RSVP here!
📺 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! 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 January 18th 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.
❄️Ceremonial Welcome to Winter w/ Ze: For those that would like to add to the Winter Solstice altar that was shared during the ceremony, click here.
🏳️⚧️NYE/NYD TGNC Meetup w/ Ang: For any US based Trans/Non-Binary/Gender Expansive person trying to figure out what the process is to change your government documents where you are, please check this site. If you'd like some thought partnership on next steps, J Mase is meeting with folks individually over the next few weeks. Please email us at info@MeetAtGarden.com to schedule a time.
✊🏾Working Towards Witness w/ Ebbie & Sun: Thank you so much to those who attended Working Towards Witness with Ebbie and Sun on January 1st! Ebbie and Sun would love to hear your feedback! Here is a link to a short evaluation that takes 10 minutes or less to complete. The top of the evaluation form also includes links to the resources shared during the workshop. Stay tuned for an upcoming poll about future similar offerings.
🛒NYE/NYD Vendors: Check out and support our vendors from NYE/NYD: Bamboo Blue Forest, muck house herbs & self compassion coach! Their booths will be up on Garden map until this Friday!
🕯️BIPOC Trans+ Leaders Circle of Care is for trans+ people who are community lighthouses, often in various roles, especially those who are in particular need for rest, release, and radical welcome. We are a refuge designed to provide deep care for the hearts, spirits, and emotions of trans+ folks who help others. Stipends available for cohort members; applications due January 10th.
🎨Innovate Grant (worldwide) opens later this month for its Winter cycle and distributes (2) $1,800.00 grants each quarter, to one Visual Artist and one Photographer. In addition, (12) honorable mentions (6 in art and 6 in photo), will be featured on our website and join a growing community of vibrant and talented artists.
👗The LVMH Prize (worldwide) is open to designers from all over the world, aged 18 to 40, who have created at least two womenswear, menswear or genderless collections. Winner receives 400,000 euros. Applications due January 12th. (Please note since decision makers are not in the US, it is highly recommended to apply by mid day on the 12th.)
⌨️Dissenters, a national anti-militarism youth organization, is seeking a full time remote Communications Director. The salary for this position is $70,000 and applications are due by January 25th, 2025.
🍉 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.
❓Q: Should Garden host more events for single/available people to meet? Fill out this survey to let us know what you think!
🌻 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!