4/22/13 Minutes: Calendar, May Day

Start Time: 5:32 PM
In Attendance: Ashley (moderator), Jackson (moderator), Tati (secretary)

1. Chair reimbursement: Jackson bought a chair for the house, asked for $5.33 to cover that. The House agreed to do so.

2. Calendar: Calendar will be as follows:

June 1st, from 3 to 7 PM – Black Cat Open House
June 15th, at 1 PM – What is… Anarchism?
June 22nd, at 7 PM – Movie Night: Dr. Strangelove
June 30th, at 2 PM – Feminist Discussion Group: Feminism in the U.S.

July 13th, at 1 PM – What is… Nationalism?
July 21st, at 4 PM – Movie Night: The Corporation
July 28th, at 2 PM – Feminist Discussion Group: Geek Culture

August 8h, at 7 PM – Movie Night: Bowling for Columbine
August 17th, at 1 PM – What is… Gender Identity?
August 25th, at 2 PM – Feminist Discussion Group: Intersectionality

edit: Ashley found out ze is going to be out of town in early August, so the dates had to be moved around so ze could host the “what is..?” event. the original plan was for the Gender Identity event to be on the 10th and the movie to the be on the 15th.

Open hours are on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, from 3 to 6 PM. Meetings are on Mondays at 7 PM.

3. May Day: Jackson is going to be the MC, and he will get ahold of the speakers at least a week before the event to figure out how they want to be introduced. In addition to the intros he will also explain the parade route and some guidelines before we march. Everyone in the room has agreed to be marshals, and we will ask a few more people for added safety. Ashley will get us whistles and armbands.

Meeting adjourned: 6:07 PM

Note: Meeting was earlier than normal this week due to a decision to be at an event held by the International Socialist Organization, which was taking place at the same time our meeting would usually be held.

4/15/13 Minutes: May Day, Movies, Bike Kitchen

4-15-13
Start time: 7:00 PM

In attendance: Ashley (moderator), Jackson (secretary), Tati (moderator)
Making an appearance: Ella

1. May Day – Facebook event is now public, and our “friends” have been invited. Ashley is still following up with our tentative speaker lineup: Jeffrey, Steve, Ben, Mika? Ella delivered fliers. We need to distribute fliers at the following places:

SOUTH LINCOLN

Meadowlark
Open Harvest
Pepe’s

NEAR SOUTH

Cultiva
F St. Rec Center
Russ’s

DOWNTOWN

Coffee House
Creamery Building
A Novel Idea
Yia Yia’s
Grateful Greens
Parrish Studios/Anti-Oppression Art
Hudson Bay
Grateful Bread
Bodhi Imports
Bourbon
The Mill
Maggie’s

CAMPUS

UNL Union

2. Website – Ashley wants to replace our Tumblr link in the footer, with a link to our new Twitter account (which is much more active). We are ok with this.
3. Bike Kitchen – Ashley thinks we should offer our backyard for a “guerrilla kitchen” day. We like the Bike Kitchen, so we’ll see if our space is adequate for their needs. We’ll probably wait to do host one until after we open in June.
4. Movies – A Good Day to Die (American Indian Movement) — save for February; still need movies for June, July, and August; tabled – we need to do research out of meeting and be prepared for decisions next week.

Meeting adjourned: 8:00 PM

4/8/13 Minutes: Opening & Future Events

In attendance: Ashley (moderator), Ella (secretary), Jackson (moderator), Tati
Meeting started: 7:00

1) Opening – A contractor has been chosen and given the go ahead to start building the wheelchair ramp. Opening Saturday, June 1st to allow time for any issues or roadblocks that may arise. Aiming to have handbills and promotional materials prepared and printed in time for May Day March.

2) Events – Open House will be Saturday, June 1 from 3:00–7:00pm. The first three What is…? events have been modified to Anarchism, Nationalism, and Gender Identities. FDG events will remain approximately as Western Feminism 101, Geek Culture, and Intersectionality. Movies yet to be determined but suggested topics include the death penalty, American Indian Movement, BP Oil Spill. Tabled for later discussion.

3) May Day – The rally at the Capitol has been approved but have not received approval for the March as of yet. Ashley will call city officials tomorrow to see the status. Four speakers have accepted the request to speak.

4) Promo Materials – Open House handbill and seasonal event poster/handbill needs to be designed next. May Day poster/flyers are waiting for event details to finalize for printing.

5) Social Media – Twitter and Instagram could be useful outreach social media tools. Going to begin utilizing them after prep and social media strategy research.

Meeting adjourned: 7:56pm

4/1/13 Minutes

There was very little to discuss at the meeting, so we decided to spend it working instead.

3/25/13 Minutes: May Day

In attendance: Ashley (secretary), Ella (moderator), Jackson, Tati (moderator)
Meeting started: 7:00

May Day: The city forms are printed and taken care of, but Ashley can’t find the number for the capitol, so they’re going to ask Brian tonight. Both forms will be filled out and sent before the end of march. We have a list of guidelines for speakers:

We are seeking no more than four speakers for our May Day rally.

Hard Rules:

1) Speech must be no longer than 5 minutes.

2) Speech’s topic must be directly related to the working class struggle and/or unions and their importance.

3) No hate speech or conspiracy theories.

4) No sectarian advocacy for organizations or political parties. (We know you love your group, but don’t spend five minutes telling us that we’ll only make a difference if we join your organization.)

Other suggestions:

5) Keep it light on political theory.

6) The best speeches come from personal experience. For example, we would prefer a speaker of color if we have a speech discussing the intersections of race and class.

Our Current Topic Wishlist:
(Feel free to volunteer for one of the below, or to pitch something of your own.)

– The History of May Day
– Intersectionality of class with other oppressions
– Unionizing
– Something motivational

If interested, please be prepared to give us a general idea of what your topic is and what direction you’ll be taking it in.

Email: the bch email accounts don’t seem to be working, Ashley has been having trouble with them for a few days, and Ella made a few changes and fixed them.

“Need” list: We make a final list of the things we are looking for, which includes things we will always need stocked, to post on the website.
Nice marker board
Big bulletin board
Toilet paper
pads and tampons
sippy cups and healthy treats
book case
relevant DVDs and books

Meeting ended: 8:01

Treasury Log 2013 (General/Library)

GENERAL TREASURY
(Scroll to bottom for Library Treasury)

Treasury log, April 2012 to December 31, 2013

Donations:

1) After our resignation from the LUNk Collective, Black Cat members Ashley, Jackson, and Tati received one-half of the then-LUNk Treasury, totalling $2482.06.
2) Jackson donated an additional $2299.59 over the last year.
3) Brian donated $4.

$4785.65 total before debits

Debits:

1) $100 were paid to Brian for ownership of the projector. (5-24-12)
2) A $100 donation was made to the Bike Kitchen, after they were robbed of all of their tools. (July 2012)
3) Jackson was reimbursed $33.87 after paying for web hosting with privacy for Blackcathouse.org. (8-16-12)
4) Jackson was reimbursed $44.97 for paying for theblackcathouse.org domain. (1-21-13)
5) Jackson was reimbursed $3660 for paying for bathroom construction. (3-7-13)
6) Jackson was reimbursed $20 for buying a projector screen. (3-11-13)

After all of these changes, the overall balance is $826.81.

March 18 Update

Our fundraising garage sale of March 15th and 16th was a huge success, raising $999.54 for a wheelchair ramp. Our overall balance is now $1826.35.

March 26 update

Jackson donated $10. Our balance is now $1836.35.

April 4 update

1) Monte donated $210.
2) Ashley donated $140
3) Tati donated $40
4) Jackson donated $20.

These total $410 in new donations. Our balance is now $2246.35.

May 13 update

New debits:

1) Jackson is reimbursed $5.33 for buying a chair. (See 4/22/13 meeting minutes.)
2) Ashley is reimbursed $13.78 for march supplies. (See 5/6/13 meeting minutes.)
3) Jackson is reimbursed $6.69 for printing May Day fliers. (See 5/6/13 meeting minutes.)

These total $25.80 in deductions from the treasury.

New donations:

1) Ashley donated $500
2) Jackson donated $500
3) Tati donated $500
4) We received an additional $500 loan from Ashley toward the ramp. The collective will need to repay this.

These total $2000 in new donations.

Altogether, our balance is increasing $1974.20. Our new overall balance is $4220.55. (We also owe Ashley $500.)

June 4, 2013 Update

1) Ashley donated $1.
2) Jackson was reimbursed $4180 for paying for the construction of the wheelchair ramp.

Our balance is now $41.55. (We still owe Ashley $500.)

September 2, 2013 Update

1) $4 were taken from our donations box.

Our balance is now $45.55. (We still owe Ashley $500.)

October 15, 2013 Update

1) Jackson was reimbursed for printing costs ($14.98) and posterboards ($6.41), or $21.39 total. These were approved in the October 14th meeting.

Our balance is now $24.16. (We still owe Ashley $500.)

December 31, 2013 Update

1) Jackson is donating $61.
2) $5 were taken from the donations box.
3) Jackson was reimbursed $14.88 for purchasing a toner refill kit for our copy machine. This was approved in the December 30th meeting.
4) We transferred $8.95 to the library treasury to cover Jackson’s reimbursement for purchase of library books. This was approved in the December 30th meeting.
5) Ashley forgave the $500 loan that was put toward our ramp contruction in spring. This was announced at the December 30th meeting.

Altogether, we received $66 in new credits, and we lost $23.83 to new debits. That means our treasury increases by a total of $42.17. And we are officially debt-free! We ended the year with our general treasury at $66.33.

LIBRARY

On July 29, 2013, we officially started a library treasury with a $10 donation.

On August 12, we reimbursed Jackson $3.95 for purchasing a book for the library. Our current balance in the library treasury is $6.05.

On December 30, we transferred $8.95 from the general treasury. Jackson was then reimbursed $15 from the library treasury to cover the cost of several new books for the library. Our library treasury was reduced to $0.

3/18/13 Minutes: Wheelchair Ramp, House Maintenance, Books and Zines

In attendance: Ashley (moderator), Jackson (moderator), Tati (secretary)
Start time: 7:01 PM

1) Ramp – Contractor has been called, he’ll be by within the week to give us the estimate on the wheelchair ramp. Ashley says ze’ll also find someone else who deals specifically in accessibility construction for a second estimate.

2) Treasury – Discussed different methods of documenting the treasury updates, in order to keep it regularly updated but not clutter the blog. Decided that a yearly post that will be edited and added to throughout the year will suffice.

3) Projector and Porch light – Combining these topics for the minutes because the solution to install both were the same: we’ll have Jake take a look at them tomorrow.

4) Bathroom – Painting needs to be done; Tati will see if tir mom has any leftover supplies on the matter, Ashley also offered to buy some paint brushes for the house but would like to be reimbursed if ze does so. Bathroom supplies such as towel rack, mirror, toiletries will also be needed, Tati will get those.

5) Cleaning – House area will be cleaned and excess furniture at the very least posted online for sale by next meeting.

6) May Day – Organizational meeting was yesterday; minutes will posted on the website. Ashley will apply for the necessary permits. Next steps will be making advertisements for the march as well as figuring out who will speak. We’ll work on the speakers throughout the week.

7) Books – Added some donated books and DVDs to the library. Will check to see if there’s extra copies of them to add also. We’ll keep two copies of all the zines that were donated to us as well.

Meeting adjourned: 7:38 PM

MAY DAY PLANNING MEETING, MARCH 17, 2013

In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Luther, Tati, Brian (late)

Select Date/Time

Sat, May 4; 1 PM (after finals)

Parade Route

Rally at the Capitol (North side)
Take 16th to O
Take O to 10th
Take 10th to Lincoln Mall
East on Lincoln Mall back to the Capitol

Speakers

Jackson suggests 20 minute limit on all pre-march speakers (combined): we don’t want the marchers to get impatient. Individual speakers should be limited to 5 minutes.
Brian nominates Jackson to do the history again
Something motivational? Fire up the marchers.

Stipulations for speakers:

No sectarian advocacy for organizations/political parties
No hate speech?
No conspiracy theories
Light on theory
Time limits?
Diversity! Not all white men again!

Should we solicit volunteers?

Permit

Call Capitol and they’ll email you a permit application.
Find parade permit at interlinc.gov, fill it out and mail it in.
Possible conflict with Mayor’s Run? (Also May 4th.)
Get it done by end of March.

Next meeting:

Do we need another in-person meeting? Brian proposes that we continue discussion by email.

To-do: We need fliers ASAP!

Adjourn: 5:00 PM

3/11/13 Minutes: Yard Sale Prep, Bathroom

In attendance: Ashley (moderator), Jackson (secretary), Tati (moderator)
Start time: 7:00 PM

1) Projector screen – Jackson needs to be reimbursed $20 for picking up a projector screen. We still need to figure out how we’re going to mount it up.
2) Yard sale – Ashley has nearly priced everything we have right now. More donations could be coming. Tables are coming tomorrow, and we can probably get more. Tati will probably be taking work off to assist Ashley on Friday. We’re feeling optimistic that the snow will be melted, etc. by then given the week-long weather forecast. Jackson needs to post an ad to Craigslist tomorrow and repost it late Thursday. Jackson has change, but we could probably use a money box. Tati needs to see about signs; we’ll need to get them up by Thursday night.
3) Bathroom – We need some stuff: a mirror, a toilet paper holder, a small towel rack. We also need to paint it. This will become a priority after we finish with the yard sale.
4) Books – We had a great deal of time after completing our formal agenda, so the remainder of the meeting was spent sorting a pile of previously undecided library books into the few that we’ll add and the majority which will join the yard sale box.

Meeting adjourned: 8:20 PM

3/4/13 Minutes: Garage Sale, Website

In attendance: Ashley (secretary), Ella. Jackson (moderator), Tati (moderator)
Meeting started: 7:03

Books: Ashley found a bunch of books in hir garage sale stuff that would be relevant for the library. We opt to include most of the books, while Ashley takes one out to do a little more research on.

Garage Sale: Tati’s family is giving us more things, and letting us borrow a clothing hanger. We Decide we want to do it Friday, as well as Saturday. Since Ashley has work off, ze will do it alone on Friday. Ashley volunteers to make the facebook event, and to ask relatives for tables. Tati is going to look into getting signs, and Jackson is going to make the craigslist ad.

Treasury: Jackson is setting up a treasury log from the last year.

Website: Ella didn’t think there was enough on the support section to have a page for it. We agreed we can launch the site without a support page (or an active events page) until we can create a comprehensive list of the things we need. Instead, we’re putting the donation information on the “about” page for now.

May Day: A few more people have weighed in on the time, and we pick Sunday at 4.

Sign: We need someone who can cut the shape out for the sign, and Ella volunteered to paint it at that point. We decide to go with the circle logo and put it on the porch.

Meeting Adjourned: 8:30