Hey Garden(ers),
This past Saturday, Gardeners gathered in the Mushroom room (past the haunted house) for Deeda's "Fall Forward: A Cozy Vision Board Party." We saw examples of different vision boards, explored different ways of setting goals (such as using passion planners), and reflected on the different cycles of the seasons that invite us to take action or to rest and reflect. Gardeners created vision boards for the fall and/or the future.
The next day was followed up by another successful Social Hour! This month we listened to Spongebob & Conspiracy Theories presented by Gata. After learning about the secret ingredient in the Krabby Patty™️ we played a very lively game of draw battle. Then our next presentation was 15 common words & phrases that undermine solidarity with Palestinian Liberation and what to say instead" by kayvon. kayvon has graciously shared his slides here!
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⏰ Our events are generally listed in PT. Need help converting to your time zone? We recommend using World Time Buddy!
🫂 The next session of Chronic Illness and Long Covid Support Group will be this Thursday October 9th 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!
🗡️Join us this Friday October 10th 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!
🎨We're wrapping up our Garden's Way group with a reflection on week 12 activities from "The Artist's Way" and discussion about future creative meetups. Open to anyone (writers, painters, musicians, dreamers, etc.) looking for a supportive space to grow and express themselves. 🌱 Hosted by Deeda & Mo & Dan in the Enchanted Library Tree House, this group's last day is Sunday October 12th at 11am PT . DM a host to be added to the Signal group, or join us at the meeting! RSVP here.
🎥 Sunday Scaries returns for its second installment on Sunday October 12th at 4pm PT, Found Footage edition w/ Chanelle & J Mase! Movie Schedule: Cloverfield 4:15pm PT // Troll Hunter 5:55pm PT // Incantation 7:55pm PT 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 is Tuesdays with Caroline at 3pm PST! 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 (tonight) Wednesday at 5:30pm PT! This week's movie is a 2025 thriller about a man renting out a basement, and the secrets he may unfold with his eerie presence may unfurl. Think you know what it is? Come thru and find out! RSVP via the visit page.
🪷 Stretch it out as Caroline leads us in another 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 next 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 next 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 Saturday October 18th at 5pm PT RSVP here. (Black folks only.)
🦾 Self Defense Discussion Series will be on 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.
📖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.
📚 The 2026 Fresh Voices Fellowship is currently OPEN for applications and will close on November 1st, 2025. The Fresh Voices Fellowship supports one emerging Black, Indigenous, or other writer of color who does not have an advanced writing degree and is not currently enrolled in a degree-granting creative writing program. One writer, in poetry or prose, will receive: A $2000 stipend // A year-long editorial fellowship at Epiphany // Publication in a print issue of Epiphany.
🎭 Play on Shakespeare is seeking a remote Associate Director of Research & Practice. The Associate Director, Research & Practice builds engagement strategies, formalizes documentation and tracking processes, and creates and supports the training and onboarding of teaching artists within Play On Shakespeare’s Research & Practice department. Salary: $80k. Apply by October 15th!
🥊 How many times have you witnessed an altercation turn verbally or physically violent with nobody around knowing what to do? What if you had the skills to assess situations, collaborate with other bystanders, and de-escalate the situation? Join Lavender Phoenix & 18 Million Rising for a: Protect Our People: De-escalation Training, Saturday October 25th from 10am-12pm PT / 12-2pm CT / 1-3pm ET. Register here!
✍🏾 The Drinking Gourd Chapbook Poetry Prize, a first-book award for poets of color in the US, is a partnership between Northwestern University’s Poetry and Poetics Colloquium and Northwestern University Press. This annual award combines the efforts of both organizations in celebrating and publishing works of lasting cultural value and literary excellence. Manuscripts must be submitted by October 31, 2025.
🍉 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!