Hey Garden(ers),
As many of us hit the physical and digital streets to do our best to protect our communities, we wanted to share this set of resources from Defend & Recruit which includes information on how to start an ICE Watch Program, how to start a solidarity fund, and how workers can fight wage theft and ICE raids.
We have been getting some questions about the new Gather 2.0 update. Please note that Garden operates on Gather 1.0. If you have trouble getting to your Gather 1.0 Home Page to access Garden, for any reason, click here!
It's Official! The tentative Schedule for our 🎃Garden Halloween Party🎃is as follows:
Saturday November 1st
5:00pm 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!
Keep missing fun Garden events and getting FOMO? You can subscribe to our calendar and never miss another event. Check out this step by step guide blog on how to subscribe to our calendar and never miss another Garden event!
⏰ Our events are generally listed in PT. Need help converting to your time zone? We recommend using World Time Buddy!
📺 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 this Friday October 17th 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 this Saturday October 18th 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 This group is created for writers who want feedback and constructive criticism on their unpublished literary works, especially for those looking to publish their piece, but just need an extra pair of eyes and encouragement.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.
😷 Hang out, chill and play games with Black folks who take COVID precautions at Bonfire in Garden! The next Bonfire will be this Saturday October 18th at 5pm PT RSVP here. (Black folks only.)
🎥 Sunday Scaries, a weekly scary movie watch party (till the end of October) continues this Sunday October 19th at 4pm PT, with Chanelle & J Mase, International Edition! Movie Schedule: 4:15pm PST Blood Quantum (Indigenous/Canada) // 6:05pm PST Kati Kati (Kenya) // 7:30pm PST When Evil Lurks (Argentina) // 9:20pm PST Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Su*c*dal Person (French Canadian) RSVP here!
👻 Save the date and join us for our second annual 🎃Garden Halloween Party🎃 Saturday November 1st-Sunday November 2nd! Day Passes will be available! Costume contests, speed friending, Karaoke/Open Mic and Halloween themed movies of all kinds and scare levels abound! RSVP here! Schedule will be posted next week.
🫁 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 one word titled horror movie about sports (Sep 2025). 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 on break for two weeks and 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!
☕ 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.
💻 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.
✊🏾 BYP100 is a national, member-based organization of Black 18 to 35-year-old activists and organizers, dedicated to creating justice and freedom for all Black people. They are currently hiring a fully remote Co-Executive Director at a salary of $133k+ benefits. Apply by October 26th!
🎨 The Center for Art and Advocacy believes there is an abundance of uncultivated talent and exceptional creativity among individuals who share the lived experience of incarceration. At a time when the U.S. leads the world in the criminalization of its most vulnerable populations—often made up of people with marginalized identities—justice-impacted artists remain especially at risk of being under-funded, under-mentored, under-resourced, and disconnected from traditional institutions and arts communities. The first of its kind, the Center's Fellowship offers an annual award of $10,000 in unrestricted funds and $10,000 in project development funds to formerly incarcerated artists. Submissions are accepted until October 26th.
🏳️⚧️ Gender Reveal is awarding several grants of up to $1000 for community / art / organizing projects led by trans people of color. They are specifically looking for projects that support trans folks, people of color, or other marginalized communities, and/or projects that foster exploration and celebration of gender diversity and trans lives. Applications are open for submissions GLOBALLY and are due by October 31st.
🍉 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!