Hey Garden(ers),
Special Thanks to everyone who came to and/or shared at Cupid Ain't @#$%!: An Anti-Valentine's Day Poetry Movement this Saturday! Our feature poets, FreeQuency and Déjà Speaks, can be found here and here respectively! Congrats to our Anti-Valentine's Day Haiku Slam Champion P!
Do you like to play Connect Four? Do you like cash prizes? Then come to our Connect Four tournament this upcoming Saturday at 2pm PT, winner gets bragging rights and a $50 cash prize!
As most of you know, every Monday-Friday we host Breathing in Garden at 9am PT. Recently, we've welcomed an additional facilitator, Vyse! Check out this interview with Vyse to learn more about what this group looks like and what they bring to it!
📔Quiet-ish Reading Club / Connect (QRC) 💜💛📚 Tuesday, Feb. 18th 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
⚔️Have you gone on epic quests? Are you seasoned in the sword and arcane arts? When a town you're just passing through needs help, will you stay and offer it? If so, is it time to retire the ways of the adventurer and melt swords down to shovels? Answered yes to most or all questions? Then join "After the Aftermath - A COMMS TTRPG Campaign" on February 21st from 5pm-8:30pm PT. This game chronicles the story of a group of retired adventurers who build a community, from the ground up. All experience levels of TTRPG players are welcome. RSVP here!
💼Severance fans, we'll be meeting every Saturday at 3pm PST until the end of the second season! Join us February 22nd, we'll be watching Season 2 episode 6 with a discussion afterwards! 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 Saturday, 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!). Check out our tournament rules here. Don't miss out, and RSVP!
🪩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!
🎙️ 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.
🫁 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!
🎥 Name That Movie (Night!) is Wednesday at 5:30pm PST! This week's movie is a 2025 comedy starring Keke Palmer, SZA with a title that sure does sound a lot like an old Monica song. 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.
🛏️Ru and Chanelle are hosting their final installments 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. Join Friday at 6pm PST to watch the next episodes. Let's talk about sex, baby! RSVP for a reminder! The final showing will be this Friday February 21st.
🦾 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 February 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.
🎨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. 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.
🏳️⚧️Trans Asylum Support Network (TASSN), an abolitionist mutual aid collective that supports trans asylum seekers, has extended their application deadline for Organizers until February 21st! Want to organize with TASSN and help support trans asylum seekers? Find the application here.
🌎The Martin Roth Initiative offers temporary support for artists and cultural actors worldwide at risk, allowing them to relocate to Germany and continue their work within a safe cultural environment. This initiative helps fund their stay, artistic production, and collaboration with host organisations in Germany. Editor's note: Please be aware that applicants MUST make contact with and secure a host organisation to complete this application. Host Organisations as defined in this application include cultural institutions or collectives in Germany (e.g., museums, theatres, festivals, etc.) Deadline: 28th February 2025. 11:59pm CET
✊🏾The Black-Led Movement Fund (BLMF) of Borealis Philanthropy has Launched their request for proposals for 2025! This fund supports the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) and other politically-aligned organizations to better shape policy agendas for Black communities, create alternatives to institutions that have been harmful to Black people, and build local Black community power. BLMF will provide $183,300 general operating support grants ($91,650 per year) over a two year period, 2025-2027, to U.S. based Black-led power building organizations. The deadline for proposals is March 7 at 9am PST / 12pm EST.
🍉 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!