3/25/24 Minutes: April Newsletter, Reimbursements, Summer Calendar

In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Matt, Salem
Start time: 7:05 PM

  1. Event Review – We had our Stepford Wives movie night on Friday night. We enjoyed the movie, even if it was a bit dated in places. Our turnout was low, but we had a long and spirited discussion.
  2. Library Donations – We have new books for our library. Most of them came from a library sale that Jackson, Marc, and Ty attended over the weekend. We also received an envelope full of political zines from a distro on the West Coast that we’re very excited about.
  3. Reimbursements – Jackson will be reimbursed $132.97 for buying us more button parts. We are excited to press some more in time for Earth Day. Jackson will also be reimbursed $6.86 for buing a DVD of our May movie.
  4. April Newsletter – Jackson will try to draft an email newsletter for our April events in the next week. Please pass along all content or suggestions for content to him.
  5. Summer Calendar –
  • We still need to check for blackout dates for Native powwows
  • Marc and Ty reported to Jackson that Star City Pride will be more expensive for us to table it, so it may not be worth it to us. No decision has been made yet, but we may stick to free pride events this summer.
  • “LGBTQ Damage Report?” concept for a discussion event
  • We still want to do a Pride month movie. Salem will be screening To Wong Foo to see if it’s appropriate for us.
  • Do we find space for the anti-Amazon discussion?
  • Jackson would still like to commemorate the atomic bombings in August. Is Godzilla Minus One worth showing? Salem was into the concept of going back to Godzilla (1954).
  • Matt has an interesting suggestion for a summer documentary: Strange Victory (1948); It’s available on his streaming service.
  • Salem had a movie suggestion, which Jackson thinks might be better for the the Fall Calendar: The Breadwinner for our September movie?

Meeting adjourned: 8:15 PM

3/18/24 Minutes: April Discussion Added!

In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Matt, Salem, Wyatt
Start time: 7:18 PM

  1. Upcoming Event – We’re showing Stepford Wives on Friday night. Marc and Ty are bringing the DVD. Jackson will get the space cleaned. We will be ready!
  2. Calendar Distro – It’s a work in progress. We made a list of what still needs to be done and added it to our Discord.
  3. April Discussion Added! – Jackson and Wyatt are working with Dr. Dance to bring her colleague Fredrik Gregorius to Lincoln in mid-April. He is an expert particularly on non-Christian religions, which should be of great interest to many in our community. We still need to pick a title and refine the concept for his event here at the Black Cat House, but we’re planning to have a community discussion featuring Fredrik as a special guest. Because of other commitments during his time in Lincoln, we will have to hold our event on Sunday, April 14th, from 1-3 PM. We have agreed to commit $150 of our treasury money towards Fredrik for his visit. We will continue to workshop this event on our Discord, and may want to create a special flier for this event (especially as it didn’t get finalized in time for our spring calendar).
  4. Summer Calendar – TABLED to next week

Meeting adjourned: 8:07 PM

Tabled: Summer Calendar

3/11/24 Minutes: Spring Calendar Distro, Summer Calendar Brainstorming

In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Matt
Start time: 7:05 PM

  1. Event Review – We had our abortion rights discussion yesterday. We had a decent turnout, in spite of some less than ideal circumstances (during UNL spring break, on an odd day, our calendars distro still being incomplete). We had a nice mix of old and new friends, and the newsletter definitely worked in spite of Jackson getting it out late last week. Our friend from NEAR was very knowledgable and had a lot to share with us.
  2. Spring Calendar Distro – Jackson got UNL’s City Campus sites on Thursday. Salem stopped by and got materials for the downtown area, but we don’t know what has and hasn’t been done in the greater downtown area. And it’s safe to assume nothing has been done beyond the downtown area. Open Harvest has officially moved from South Street to the Telegraph District, so that will need to be updated on our master list.
  3. Summer Calendar Brainstorming –
  • Make sure to double-check for blackout dates on Native powwow dates!
  • Are we going to table at Star City Pride again?
  • “LGBTQ Damage Report?”
  • Pride month movie?
  • anti-Amazon discussion?
  • commemorate the atomic bombings in August? Is Godzilla Minus One worth showing?

Meeting adjourned: 7:45 PM

3/4/24 Minutes: Calendars Printed!, March Events, Visiting Speaker

In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Matt, Wyatt
Start time: 7:05 PM

  1. Upcoming Event – The abortion rights discussion is this Sunday afternoon! Matt has been in contact with our representative from NEAR, and she will be bringing swag!
  2. Spring Calendars – They are printed! Jackson needs to be reimbursed $23.60 for getting those printed. Jackson also reports that the city union copy center is apparently closing later this year! We will need to start going to the main UNL print center on Y Street. We need to get on distribution ASAP, as events start this week.
  3. Visiting Speaker – Dr. Fredrik Gregorius, a colleague of our good friend Dr. Dance, is visiting Lincoln in mid-April. The Black Cat House will be co-hosting his visit along with several academic units at UNL. We are planning on adding an event with him, most likely on Saturday, April 13th after our garden workshop or on Sunday, April 14th in the afternoon. We are tentatively hoping for a more informal event format than the talk he’s preparing for campus; we may build it around a discussion between Dr. Gregorius and Wyatt, as they have mutual expertise and interests.
  4. March Events Online – Our abortion rights discussion and Stepford Wives movie night need to be posted ASAP. We took time to draft the discussion event with remaining meeting time. Jackson will continue work on the movie description and post it to the Discord channel.

Meeting adjourned: 8:08 PM

2/26/24 Minutes: Instagram, Newsletter, Stuff to Buy, Spring Calendar

In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Matt, Salem
Start time: 7:05 PM

  1. Instagram – Ty has recovered our ancient Instagram account, and we’re going to post some stuff on it and see how it goes! Matt says we will definitely want to put our calendars up there. Salem recommends taking advantage of their “reels” with short videos. We now have a meme stash section of our Discord to collect and vet memes to be shared to social media.
  2. Newsletter – Ty has asked for some assistance with the next month’s Black Cat email newsletter. Jackson will draft something very basic. He welcomes assistance to make it less basic.
  3. Masks – Jackson will be ordering another box of face masks for the house, but he will need to be reimbursed for it. We are cool with that.
  4. Button parts/stickers – Ty also reminds us with tabling at Earth Day around the corner that we’re going to need swag to give away. Jackson will get the button parts figured out soon. We’ll probably do another order of the stickers that Marc designed for last year, since they were so popular then. Jackson thinks an order similar to what we got for last year’s Earth Day is appropriate, and that the treasury can afford it.
  5. Earth Day Tabling – Ty got our application in, and had to pay $35 for it. He will be reimbursed. Jackson, Matt, and Salem have committed to working the booth.
  6. Spring Calendar Notes and Updates:

-> Matt has provided several potential calendar templates. We picked one we preferred via the Discord.

-> Winslow’s Wardrobe got back to us to say that they were busy with another engagement on April 13th. They offered three alternate dates, but the only one that might work for us is May 18th. We were planning an anti-Amazon discussion on that date, but Matt is willing to postpone that event to a later calendar. We’ll reach out to them and try to get an answer ASAP.

-> We reached out to a community group about co-sponsoring our abortion rights event. We got one email back, where they wanted to change the date and title of the event. Attempts to follow up with alternate dates have not been answered, and we don’t have time to wait on that. We will be changing the name of the discussion to “Desperation and Hope”, but we are planning to go forward with the event on our own with our original date.

-> We will be showing the dramatization Cesar Chavez (2014) for our May movie.

-> We still need a few microblurbs for our calendar. We need to fill them in ASAP on the Discord.

-> We’re shooting to get the calendars printed this week.

Meeting adjourned: 8:12 PM

2/19/24 Minutes: Spring Calendar finalization?

In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Marc, Salem, Ty
Start time: 7:05 PM

  1. Event Review – We had our “Why is Everything Racist?” discussion on Saturday. Our turnout was modest, but we had a good quality discussion.
  2. Spring Calendar

MARCH

Saturday, March 9th, 1-3 PM: Death & Desperation: Abortion Rights in 2024 (a community discussion)

Friday, March 22nd, 7-10 PM: Movie Night: Stepford Wives (1975)

APRIL

Saturday, April 13th, 12-2 PM: Garden Day Workshop
(NOTE: The folks of Winslow’s Wardrobe want to do something here in April. We think this would be the best day for them to do so.)

Friday, April 19th, 7-10 PM: Movie Night: Israelism

Saturday, April 20th, 10 AM – 2 PM: Come see our table at Lincoln Earth Day!

MAY

Friday, May 10th, 8 AM – 6 PM and Saturday, May 11th, 8 AM – 2 PM: Yard Sale Fundraiser

Saturday, May 18th, 1-3 PM: Why Does Amazon Suck? (a community discussion)

Friday, May 31st, 7-10 PM: Cesar Chavez film/documentary?

  1. Donations – Marc donated a DVD/Bluray player and a book for our library.

Meeting adjourned: 8:45 PM

2/12/24 Minutes: Spring Calendar

In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Marc, Matt, Salem
Start time: 7:00 PM

  1. Event Review – We had our 10,000 Black Men Named George movie night on Friday. We had a nice turnout, including several new young friends who seemed to have a good time. The discussion was brief, but spirited.
  2. Upcoming Event – We’re hosting a discussion on Saturday called, “Why is Everything Racist?” We’re ready for it.
  3. Spring Calendar

March
Movie Night: Stepford Wives/Transsexual Menace
Discussion about the state of abortion rights? (Could we find a co-sponsor for that?)

April
Garden Day?
Lincoln Earth Day is April 20th (they’ve emailed us about tabling again…)
Al-Nakba: The Palestinian Catastrophe (4 part documentary series)

May
Yard Sale Fundraiser likely on Friday the 9th and Saturday the 10th
“I Fucking Hate Amazon” discussion
Cesar Chavez documentary?

Meeting adjourned: 8:40 PM

2/5/24 Minutes: Upcoming Event, Spring Calendar

In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Salem
Start time: 7:05 PM

  1. Upcoming Event – We’re showing 10,000 Black Men Named George. We’re ready for it.
  2. Spring Calendar – (Notes from last week:)

Yard sale fundraiser?
Matt wonders if there’s a good documentary about Cesar Chavez

March
Something feminist?

Discussion about the state of abortion rights?

April
Something ecological?

Garden Day? We’re interested! Jackson needs to follow up with Wyatt and a representative of a local group that may be interested in collaborating
Lincoln Earth Day is April 20th — we think we want to table again! Ty will take point on getting us signed up. Salem may make some kind of display about reducing plastic waste.

May
Something working class/labor?
“I Fucking Hate Amazon”

Possible March Movie: Stepford Wives (maybe leaning towards ’70s version)

Meeting adjourned: 8:15 PM

1/29/24 Minutes: Website Reimbursement, Spring Calendar, Instagram?

In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Matt, Salem, Ty
Start time: 7:00 PM

  1. Event Review – We counter-protested the Walk For Life again on Saturday. Jackson reports that we had one of the smallest turnouts we’ve ever had for it, which is a great concern especially given the political climate. Jackson thinks we need to find some allies and try to grow future versions of the event as more of a coalition-driven event.
  2. Library Donation – Marc (via Ty) has offered our library a book about 20th century labor history. We’re happy to take it.
  3. Reimbursement – Jackson paid $35.99 to get one of our website domains renewed. He will be reimbursed.
  4. February Discussion – We still need to get advertising online about our February discussion about racism. Jackson hasn’t had time and focus to draft anything yet, but neither Matt nor Ty feel comfortable doing it. Jackson will continue trying to find space to work on this.
  5. Instagram – We are exploring the possibilities of expanding into Instagram. We actually have a very old account started by an ex-member, and we will see if we can get access to it.
  6. Spring Calendar –

Yard sale fundraiser?
Matt wonders if there’s a good documentary about Cesar Chavez

March
Something feminist?

Discussion about the state of abortion rights?

April
Something ecological?

Garden Day? We’re interested! Jackson needs to follow up with Wyatt and a representative of a local group that may be interested in collaborating
Lincoln Earth Day is April 20th — we think we want to table again! Ty will take point on getting us signed up. Salem may make some kind of display about reducing plastic waste.

May
Something working class/labor?
“I Fucking Hate Amazon”

Meeting adjourned: 8:30 PM

1/22/24 Minutes: Spring Calendar, February Events

In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Matt
Start time: 7:07 PM

  1. Event Review – We had a movie night for Space Sweepers on Friday night. Our turnout was just a couple of Black Cats, probably because of the extreme cold. That was unfortunate, since it was a good film.
  2. Upcoming Event – We’re counter-protesting the Walk for Life again this Saturday. We’re hoping for a better turnout than last year, but it seems we will not be offering childcare or a sign-making party.
  3. February Events – We need to get blurbs drafted so we can start advertising our February movie and discussion!
  4. Spring Calendar –

Yard sale fundraiser?

March
Something feminist?

Discussion about the state of abortion rights?

April
Something ecological?

Garden Day? (Jackson has heard a local group may want to collaborate with us on that)
Lincoln Earth Day is April 20th, if we want to table

May
Something working class/labor?

  1. Meeting day – Matt reminds us that we had some brief discussion of shifting the meeting day from Monday to Tuesday. He wants to revisit the matter soon when the group is all present.

Meeting adjourned: 8:12 PM