Hey Garden(ers),
🐶Did you know May is national pet month? Whether they are just being cute, goofy, and playful, or are providing assistance to people with disabilities, pets contribute so much love and many benefits to people's lives! If you have a pet, give them an extra hug, kiss or a treat this month🐾
Also did you know we have an area in Garden with pandemic related information? Whether it's learning how to swab correctly, finding up to date data on COVID levels, or how to talk to others about taking precautions. Check out the Pandemic Sanctuary info area in the Enchanted Library.
🎨 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 this Saturday May 17th 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!
😷 Hang out, chill and play games with Black folks who take COVID precautions at Bonfire in Garden every 3rd Saturday! The next Bonfire is this Saturday May 17th at 5pm PST. We'll be talking about anti-Blackness as it manifests in our communities. RSVP here.
🌿 May 24th at 2pm PST, GenDoc will be leading a session on Dismantling Anti-Blackness for non-Black Garden members, with a closed session for Black folks the week before on May 17th at Bonfire. As a Black-led, BIPOC space, understanding how anti-Blackness can show up in our communities is an important tenet of our work. RSVP for this session here.
☀️ Our 24 hour long Summer Solstice event to welcome the sun will be going down June 21st-22nd! Have a workshop idea, a shop you want to vend, a performance, a game you'd like to facilitate, a meetup, or have capacity to be a late night hours volunteer? Check the volunteer form here (please fill out by June 1st) and RSVP here! Day Passes will be available.
🫁 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. Next time, Monday, May 12th, we're watching Yu-Gi-Oh- the second season. Your move!
💃🏾 Join Caroline for Co-Twerking on Tuesdays at 3pm PST! We will follow video(s) with a warm-up and cooldown sequence, with dancing in between. This is meant to be an aerobic exercise, so bring water and items that will provide you comfort while dancing your butt off! Video suggestions welcome. Duration: ~30 minutes. RSVP here
📔 Quiet-ish Reading Club / Connect (QRC) 💜💛📚 meets Tuesdays at 6pm PST! 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. 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(s) is a 2024 science fiction thriller about a grief stricken woman who sees herself in the woods- and shoots. 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 May 22nd 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.
For this upcoming meeting, we will be having a Creativity Show and Tell! Have you made something with your favorite art medium? Do you enjoy making specific food or drink recipes? Have you had to problem solve through hard conversations? Or find solutions to your care needs? "Creativity" isn't exclusive to certain people and skills. There are infinite ways to create with finite resources. Come share and celebrate together our most joyful, satisfying, and proud creations! Bring your stories, items, and photos to show on camera and/or in chat. RSVP via the calendar on the visit page. RSVP via the calendar on the visit page.
🪷 Stretch it out as Caroline leads us in another weekly afternoon Yoga sesh Fridays at 3pm 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.
🪩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 The next viewing will be next Friday May 23rd at 6pm PT. Click here to RSVP!
🦾 Self Defense Discussion Series with Caroline will be Sundays at 8am PT. 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!
💻 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.
🌱The Eliza Moore Fellowship for Artistic Excellence is awarded annually to one outstanding, early-career artist who is developing new works that address plants, gardens, or landscapes in the broad sense. This award is open to visual artists, literary artists, dancers, and musicians. The award includes a $10,000 individual grant and requires a 2–5 week stay at Oak Spring. Deadline is May 31st.
🌸 Healing (and Queering) the Mother Wound: A Radical Forgiveness Space for Black Queer & Trans folks raised by Single Black Mothers. With Mother's Day falling in May, and amidst the pain that exists between us & our Mothers, this month is an especially challenging one for some of us . It's also true that mainstream media degrades Black Mothers & Black Mothering, not affording them or us the compassion that we all need to heal. Led by Tu'Mecca (they/them) and anchored in compassion-rooted meditation, this affirmative space is an offering toward liberatory forgiveness that extends backwards & forward, across generations. Bring your tenderness & let 2025 be the year you drop into this important work in a space that was designed with you in mind. Offered every Saturday in May 2025 (May 3, 10, 17, 24, 31) from 10 AM - 1 PM PST. Sliding scale: $45-$75, scholarships available. Apply to join here.
🍉 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!