Hey Garden(ers),
Last week, a larger than life Black Trans elder, became an Ancestor. We want to honor the legacy, gifts and brilliance of Miss Major Griffin-Gracy whose activism touched those incarcerated by the state, dealing with housing/food insecurity and transantagonism. Thank you, Miss Major, for teaching generations of Trans people how to fight for our liberation!
As the US government shutdown continues, we wanted to remind folks of some necessary resources. If for whatever reason, you are in the US and find yourself, or someone you care about, to be food insecure, here are three sites to find food banks where you/they are: Food Finder, FindHelp and Feeding America. If these are not resources you personally need, please share with your folks.
⏰ Our events are generally listed in PT. Need help converting to your time zone? We recommend using World Time Buddy!
🌿 Garden's Way Graduation 🎓 is happening Sunday October 26th at 11am PST! At this final meeting, we’ll be signing our “yearbook”/creative contract, a promise to lock in with each other and keep pursuing our creative dreams together. ✍🏽 Be sure to bring anything you’ve worked on, started, or imagined these past 12 weeks for Show & Tell! 🎨 We’ll talk about the possibility of restarting the 12-week "Artist's Way" series or holding ongoing creative check-ins. Newbies and returning folks welcome! ✨ See Dan, Deeda, or Mo for details. RSVP!
🎥 Sunday Scaries, a weekly scary movie watch party (till the end of October) continues this Sunday October 26th at 4pm PT, where Mo will be holding it down with Guillermo del Toro Dark Fantasy Night! Movie Schedule: 4:15pm PST Shape of Water // 6:33 pm PST Pan's Labyrinth // 8:48pm PST Pinocchio (2022) RSVP here!
👻 Save the date and join us for our second annual 🎃Garden Halloween Party🎃 Saturday November 1st-Sunday November 2nd! RSVP here! A full schedule will be shared this week! The tentative Schedule is as follows:
Saturday November 1st
5:00pm PT Speed Meeting/ Family Feud
7pm PT Costume Contest
7:45pm PT Step & Slide Dance Party
9pm PT Late Night/Early Morning Movie: Vote Here
Sunday November 2nd
11am PT Pixelated Pumpkin Decorating
1pm PT How Assata Got Free on Dia de los Muertos (and finding your liberation)
3pm PT Karaoke & Open Mic
5pm PT - 11pm PST Movies: Horror & Non-Horror Room Options
Help us with our Family Feud questions by answering our survey here!
Need a few Day Passes for BIPOC friends you'd like to join in on our Halloween festivities? Share this form!
🫁 Want to increase your lung capacity? Come to Breathing in the Knowledge Nursery! Every weekday at 9am PT. RSVP here!
💃🏾 Co-Twerking on Tuesdays with Caroline is on break until the 21st at 3pm PT! RSVP to get notified!
📔 Quiet-ish Reading Club / Connect (QRC) 💜💛📚 meets Tuesdays at 6pm PT! 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. 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 PT! This week's movie is a documentary honoring the legacy of Miss Major! 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 Thursday October 23rd from 5:30pm-7:30pm PT 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 here!
🪷 Stretch it out as Texta leads us in a weekly afternoon Yoga sesh Fridays at 3pm PT 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.
🗡️Join us next Friday October 24th at 5pm for Garden's Among Us Game nights! Join for fun, strategy, and a little bit of betrayal 🗡️ Complete your tasks (yes, even after you are killed!), look around to see who is acting suspicious and see if you can spot the Impostor before it’s too late. Whether you're a seasoned crewmate or a sneaky saboteur, all skill levels are welcome to join! RSVP here!
🦾 Self Defense Discussion Series will be returning on Sunday October 26th at 8am PT! We focus on ease of movement, light strengthening or flexibility exercises, and reading/discussion on self-defense and liberatory principles. Message Caroline with any questions. RSVP via the visit page!
📺 Based on Issa Rae's acclaimed web series Awkward Black Girl, Insecure is a show about the awkward and messy experiences of a young Black woman. Join us Friday October 31st at 6pm PT to stream and chit-chat about Issa and her crew's hilarious moments, relationship drama, bad decisions, breakups and glow-ups. Issa watch party at The Dunes! RSVP via the visit page.
✍🏽 Are you an aspiring writer? Come join The Storytellers' Anthology every other Saturday. The group will meet again Saturday November 1st at 1pm PT, hosted by Louis. This group is created for writers who want feedback and constructive criticism on their unpublished literary works, especially for those looking to publish their piece, but just need an extra pair of eyes and encouragement. All genres are welcomed and encouraged. RSVP to attend here.
☕ Sunday November 2nd at 1pm PT, Garden will be hosting its next Social Hour series. Each Social Hour will feature a 15-30 min rant// talk// presentation// performance from a Garden member on a subject of their choosing as well as time for folks to meet other members in a casual hang out space with games and activities. Want a place to share your random idea, your new poetic works, to present something special, get feedback or even host at a Garden Social Hour? The format is flexible as needed, and can be a space to practice facilitation skills for those wanting a friendly place to try something new. Want to share your topic at the next, or a future Social Hour? Send us your proposals here! RSVP to attend here. Nov 2nd's Social Hour will be: How Assata Got Free on Dia de los Muertos (and finding your liberation) w/ Deeda & J Mase!
📖 Join Deeda November 10th at 6pm PT as she hosts an interest meeting to explore forming a study group around ❤️🩹 The Pain We Carry: Healing from Complex PTSD for People of Color by Natalie Y. Gutiérrez, LMFT (and the companion workbook). The group will offer community support for addressing systemic, intergenerational, and attachment trauma through therapeutic practices. This meeting will be a space to learn more and decide together on the group’s structure (meeting frequency, dates, and focus). No commitment required. Just bring your curiosity and ideas! RSVP to attend here.
😷 Hang out, chill and play games with Black folks who take COVID precautions at Bonfire in Garden! The next Bonfire will be Saturday November 15th at 5pm PT RSVP here. (Black folks only.) November's Bonfire will be a community meal.
💻 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.
🎞️ Sundance Collab is now accepting applications for the 2026 Cultural Impact Residency! The application deadline is Monday, November 3rd at 4pm MT. In honor of social justice leader Michael Latt, this six-month online residency (March–August 2026) on Sundance Collab supports early-career, underrepresented storytellers whose work is rooted in creative, cultural, and social impact. The program aims to inspire and galvanize artists through meaningful opportunities, mentorship, and a supportive creative community. Apply here.
🖊️ HerStry has long been a place for women identifying and nonbinary folks to tell their stories. HerStry's Eunice Williams Nonfiction Prize is open for submissions until January 1st! There is no theme to adhere to for this contest, simply nonfiction written by you, about you. Give us your best work, the stuff of your heart. First place $400 / Second place $250 / Third place $100.
⌨️ Advocate Accounting is seeking a fully remote seasonal Tax Preparer. Advocate Accounting LLC is a values-driven firm that provides accounting, tax, training and consulting services in the greater Seattle area. We care about our clients and their missions and want it to show in our work. Compensation: $39-$45/hour, $7,000-$10,000 seasonal total. Applications reviewed on a rolling basis.
🍉 Centering Palestine has a zoom every Tuesday at 5pm PT, 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 PT.
📢 As a follow-up to the Anti-Blackness sessions GenDoc facilitated with us a few weeks ago, she has graciously provided this Notes on Anti-Blackness write-up which shares some key takeaways about how Anti-Blackness shows up in BIPOC spaces and what non-Black folks can be doing to support dismantling that.
🌻 We are continuing 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
🎉Want to host your birthday, or the birthday of a friend in Garden? Check out our Birthday Guide and email us!
💌 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!