Hey Garden(ers),
Whether you celebrate the upcoming holidays or not, we have a host of events for you all this week and into the New Year!
For those into the Xmas feels, today at 4pm PST, Groovy is hosting Noche Buena Dinner & Movie Night Extravaganza. Join Groovy in celebration of Noche Buena, the Christmas Eve celebration mainly observed by the Latin American and Filippino communities. In anticipation of the birth of Jesus, we get together with our loved ones and eat some good food. Bring your own meal & let's spend some quality time together! We'll be watching The Nightmare Before Christmas... the night before Christmas, get it? Everybody’s welcome at Noche Buena, no matter if you celebrate or not! RSVP here!
Tomorrow on Xmas Day, starting at 1pm PST, there will be two movie rooms, one showing Chilling Christmas (Horror) themed movies and one showing Caring Christmas (Soft Landing ) themed movies. Films will start at 1pm PST/3pm PST/5pm PST. Chilling Christmas Room: Krampus / The Children / Gremlins. Caring Christmas Room: How the Grinch Stole Christmas / Elf / Home Alone. RSVP!
⏰ Our events are generally listed in PST/PDT. Need help converting to your time zone? We recommend using World Time Buddy!
🪩 We are about two weeks out from our annual 🪩New Year's Eve/Day Party🪩! A 24+hr shindig fit for the people, our festivities traditionally include dance time, performances, workshops, game tournaments, countdowns to the New Year across time zones and more. Day Passes will be available, so please feel free to invite BIPOC friends/colleagues who are not already Garden members. ASL Interpreters will be available and can be requested on the Day Passes form or by replying to this email. RSVP to attend here. Check out the schedule here!
❄️ Are you dreaming of a colder climate? Do you love indigenous stories? Need more laughter in your life? If you said yes to any of those questions or just need something to do on a Friday night then join Double-E in the Up All Night room for a mini marathon watch of the Canadian comedy series “North of North.” The show follows a young Inuk mother who tries to reinvent herself after a spontaneous and extremely public exit from her marriage with the town's golden boy in a tiny, tight-knit Arctic town. There’s only one season, so the watch party will be split across 2 sessions with four episodes each. RSVP to attend Let’s Go North of North!
🫁 Want to increase your lung capacity? Come to Breathing in the Knowledge Nursery! Every weekday at 9am PT. RSVP here!
💃🏾 Co-Twerking is on Tuesdays at 3pm PT with Caroline! 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 the 2025 installment of a mystery series with knives, death and detectives. Think you know what it is? Come thru and find out! RSVP via the visit page. TW: for mentions of harm to a child.
🪷 Stretch it out as Caroline 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.
📺 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 December 26th 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.
🦾 Self Defense Discussion Series is every Sunday at 8am PT!The upcoming self-defense session on Sunday 12/28 @ 8am PT will be the last. Please bring thoughts on any topics you'd like to discuss and any resources you've found helpful. We would love to hear what you thought of this series as well!
It's been a rewarding, uplifting experience to discuss self-defense principles and practice movements together among BIPOC CC friends who get it. Thank you for spending your Sunday morning with us over the past year and a half! We've been collecting readings and resources here. Feel free to take a look and contact Caroline whenever you want to chat about self-defense. RSVP via the visit page!
🏳️⚧️ At our most recent Trans Meetup, the group was unanimous in deciding that Trans Meetup will be a monthly occurrence. Every fourth Sunday in Garden, at 2pm PT will be a day that Trans folks have made! The next meetup will be Dec 28th! Join us by RSVP'ing here.
🫂 The next session of Chronic Illness and Long Covid Support Group will be Thursday January 1st 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. For the first session of the new year, chronic illness group will have a special Show and Tea event. We’ll share how we’ve grown over the past year and the tips we’ve learned to manage chronic illness - all while enjoying tea and other delicious beverages! Further details coming soon! RSVP here!
🗡️Join us Friday January 2nd at 5pm PT 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!
✍🏽 Are you an aspiring writer? Come join The Storytellers' Anthology every other Saturday. The group will be taking a break until January and will meet again January 3rd 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 January 4th 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. January's presenter will be Learn Your ACABs - an alternative alphabet song choir practice w/texta.
🍿 Monday, January 5th at 5pm PT, BJ will be hosting Black Movie Night, a bi-weekly movie (and show) night to highlight movies (and shows) made by, for, and about Black people. The media will generally be entertainment focused, but will also include nights where the intention is education. (Black Folks only.) RSVP!
😷 Hang out, chill and play games with Black folks who take COVID precautions at Bonfire in Garden! The next Bonfire will be Saturday January 17th at 5pm PT RSVP here. (Black folks only.)
💻 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.
🌍 Terra Foundation Convening Grants support programs that stimulate interdisciplinary and intercultural exchange through conferences, workshops, and gatherings worldwide. Inquiries due by February 16th, 2026.
✊🏿 Liberation Medicine School is inviting you to our Year-End sessions holding on the 27th and 28th December 2025, 9am-12pm PST/5pm-8pm GMT each day African/Black Trans/Gender Expansive People can register here.
SESSION 1: OUR BODIES - Caring for our bodies as the homes of our selves: through somatic practices and herbalism - part 1: Body Care, including grounding practice and a reflection exercise on the ways we care for our bodies as the homes of our selves part 2: Herbalism for personal and collective care : knowledge & practices from Ghana & Southern USA
SESSION 2: Witnessing - Creative writing as a tool for witnessing and affirming our selves and our journeys part 1: Understanding creative writing as a tool for affirmation
part 2: Reflection Exercise : Using creative writing to witness ourselves and our journey
🥐 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.
🍉 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 months 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!