In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Ju Ping, Ty (moderator)
Start time: 7:05 PM

1. Upcoming Event – Our discussion, “Now What: Organizing Resistance in the Age of Trump” is next Saturday.

Going beyond writing letters to politicians; toward more productive forms of protest (occupations, barricades, boycotts?); critiquing non-violence/not conflating it with legality — property destruction? Police being violent against protestors?/self-defense; Ground Rules? – should we even talk about the election at all? Probably not — let’s keep the focus on the fight ahead… Try to keep emphasis on tactics, try not to bog down in feelings too long;

Tabled sub-item: We decide to thoroughly revisit our discussion on more effectively moderating our discussions next week. This might be very necessary, given the strong feelings many have on this situation and the reality that there could be diversions and distractions.

2. Calendar distro – It’s a work in progress, but Ty and Ju Ping seem confident that they can finish the distro this week.

3. Library Sorting – We spent a little worktime shelving some of our new library books and brainstorming how we may go about re-arranging our library soon.

Meeting adjourned: 8:15 PM

Tabled items: Review moderating discussion next week!, Stuff to Buy (canopy, stuff to secure bike rack, paper cutter, whiteboard, labels)

In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Ju Ping, Ty (moderator)
Start time: 7:00 PM

1. Upcoming Event – We’re watching Ma Vie En Rose on Friday night. Ty will have the movie ready for us.

2. Winter Calendar finalization –

December:
Friday, December 9th, 7-10PM – Movie Night: Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?
Saturday, December 10th, 1-3 PM – Now What?: Organizing Resistance in the Age of Trump (a community discussion)
Friday, December 16th, 7-10 PM – Movie Night: Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

January:
Saturday, January 7th, 1-3 PM – #NoDAPL Discussion: Water Protectors and the Fight Against Climate Change
Monday, January 16th, 7-9 PM – How to Protect Yourself Against Trump’s NSA (a digital workshop)
Date TBD: Walk For Life Counter-Protest (Tentatively Jan 14th?)

February:
Saturday, February 11th, 1-3 PM – What is Imperialism? (a community discussion)
Saturday, February 18th, 7-10 PM – Movie Night: The Black Panthers – Vanguard of the Revolution
Friday, February 24th, 7-10 PM – Showing of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – “Far Beyond The Stars”

Tabled items: December Calendar, Stuff to buy (canopy, stuff to secure bike rack, paper cutter, whiteboard)

Meeting adjourned: 9:15 PM (officially extended to complete the calendar)

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

1. North Dakota – Wyatt just came back from North Dakota, and he spent some time telling us about what’s going there around the DAPL protests.

2. Nebraskans For Peace Conference – Wyatt and Jackson discussed some of their takes from the NFP conference that they both attended on Saturday.

3. Upcoming Event – “Can We Vote Our Way Out of This Mess?” is this Saturday! We need to promote it, and continue to think about what we want to open the talk with.

Winter Calendar –

Discussion ideas:

DAPL? (hopefully in Late Jan when Wyatt could be available or at least have materials to share)

A response to the election? (“Did We Vote Our Way Out of This Mess?”)

Imperialism?

Movies:
December:
Movie Night: Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?
Movie Night: Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

January:
Walk For Life Counter-Protest

February:
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – “Far Beyond The Stars”

Tentative Events:
Movie Night: Rebuilding Hope: Sudan’s Lost Boys Return Home
Race: The Power of an Illusion (three-part documentary series)

Note: Ty will not be able to be around for February 17-19 as he’ll be at MBLGTACC in Chicago.

Library – We agree that Ty will be reimbursed $7 for buying us 7 new library books, including six collections of Bechdel’s Dykes to Watch Out For!

Also, Haymarket Books is having a huge 50% off sale and we want to take major advantage of it. We agreed that we will put up to $300 of our general treasury into the library, and Jackson and Wyatt will each be donating another $20 to the library out of pocket. Altogether, we seemingly have a budget of up to $520 to upgrade our library.

Meeting adjourned: 9:10 PM (including a vote to formally extend the meeting… a lot going on tonight!)

Tabled items: Stuff to buy (canopy, stuff to secure bike rack, paper cutter)

In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Ty (moderator)
Start time: 7:02 PM

1. Event Review – We had our discussion on debt on Saturday. We had a good turnout, and the discussion was great. We should probably schedule another discussion on this subject again down the road. We didn’t get around to testing our new moderation techniques. We didn’t need them on Saturday, but it would still be good to review those and be ready to use them soon. The election discussion may require more moderating.

2. Getting November Events Online – We spent the rest of our meeting putting our November events up on Facebook and our website.

Meeting adjourned: 8:20 PM

Tabled items: Stuff to buy (canopy, stuff to secure bike rack, paper cutter)

Reminders: “Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?” for Winter Calendar

In attendance: Ju Ping, Ty (moderator)
Late: Jackson (secretary)

Start time: 7:10 PM

1. Event Review – Ju Ping’s Ubuntu workshop was on Saturday. He was able to help a couple of visitors who came by for technical assistance.

2. Columbus Day – There have been some changes in the larger Columbus Day rally at the Capitol, and it will now be starting later than initially discussed. The good news is that their rally no longer conflicts time-wise with ours; the bad news is that there seems to be some dissension and disorganization within that larger action. We have tentatively agreed to return to our original plan of holding our rally at the Federal Building from 5 to 6ish, and then possibly joining the Capitol rally for a little while as well at or just after 6. We’ve also learned that there will be a Columbus Day action in Omaha on the Saturday before the holiday, and we may investigate our options for participating in that as well.

3. Online Promotion – We spent some meeting time putting up Facebook events for October events.

Meeting adjourned: 8:30 PM

In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Ju Ping, Ty (moderator)
Start time: 7:00 PM

1. Event Review – We showed Dr. Strangelove on Friday. We’d hoped for a few more people, but we enjoyed the film and the discussion afterward.

2. Upcoming Event – We’re showing Just Do It this Friday. We have the movie, and we’re ready to go.

3. Tabling @ LGBTQA – Ty and Ju Ping will be tabling for us at a resource fair on Thursday. We’re making buttons tonight to hand out there.

4. Reimbursement – Ty needs to get repaid $7.78 for getting more handbills and button papers printed. We agree unanimously.

5. Columbus Day – Jackson has been notified of another Columbus Day action that has been organized at the same time as the one we’ve scheduled. We have tentatively decided to cancel our protest and join with their action. Jackson will be in communication with their organizers to see if we can be of any assistance.

Meeting adjourned: 8:05 PM

Tabled items: Stuff to buy (canopy, stuff to secure bike rack, paper cutter)

Reminders: “Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?” for Winter Calendar

In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Ty (moderator)
Start time: 7:03 PM

1. Reimbursement – Jackson finally found a replacement keyboard for our damaged collective laptop. It cost him $37.39, and we agree to reimburse him for it.

2. Work time – We finished adding our September events to Facebook and our website.

Meeting adjourned: 7:40 PM

In Attendance: Jackson (secretary), Ju Ping, Ty (moderator)
Start time: 7:00 PM

1. Fall Calendar:

Our calendar is finalized! Ty will get them printed and distributed on Wednesday!

September
Friday the 9th: Movie Night: Dr. Strangelove
Friday the 16th: Movie Night: Just Do It
Saturday the 24th: Liberate Your Computer! An Open House Ubuntu Workshop

October
Saturday the 8th: Movie Night: Joe Hill
Monday the 10th: Protest Against Columbus Day
Saturday the 15th: Capitalism and Debt: A Community Discussion

November
Saturday the 5th: Can We Vote Our Way Out of This Mess? A Community Discussion
Friday the 18th: Movie Night: Ma Vie en Rose

2. Meeting Moderation

Ty did a bit of research on the subject, and we discussed the findings. Major tips included: appointing a facilitator, emphasizing the “step up” rather than the “step back” (asking quiet people, especially those who are looking for an opening “what’s on your mind?”), democratically preparing an agenda at the beginning of the meeting (“what were you hoping to discuss when you decided to come to this event?”; possibly encouraging off-topicish suggestions to be scheduled at later discussions), and prioritizing making everyone comfortable enough to contribute at any discussion.

Meeting Adjourned: 8:20 PM

Tabled items: Stuff to buy (canopy, stuff to secure bike rack, longarm stapler, paper cutter)

Reminders: “Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?” for Winter Calendar

In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Ju Ping, Ty (moderator)
Start time: 7:00 PM

1. Upcoming Event – We’re showing Godzilla this Saturday. We’re ready for it.

2. Book – We’ve been offered a free book for supporting the Antifa fundraiser a few weeks ago. We’ve emailed them to accept the offer.

3. Fall Calendar –

Tenative schedule:
September
Friday the 9th: Movie Night: Dr. Strangelove
Friday the 16th: Movie Night: Just Do It
Saturday the 24th: Liberate Your Computer (An Open House/Workshop to Install Ubuntu)

October
Saturday the 8th: Movie Night: Joe Hill
Monday the 10th: Indigenous People’s Day/Protest Against Columbus Day
Saturday the 15: Discussion on debt

November
Saturday the 5th: Electoral Politics
Friday (preferably)/Saturday the 18th/19th: Film (preferably documentary) on queer issues

Days not to schedule events on:
September 3rd, 10th, 17th
Also out: Sunday the 4th

October 1st, 22nd
Also out: Friday the 28th
Probably not: Sunday the 9th

November 12th, 19th

Interesting anniversaries: Occupy Wall Street camp formed Sept 18th; October is LGBTQ History Month (and Asexual Awareness Week is in there somewhere too?); Joe Hill born Oct 7th; US invades Afghanistan Oct 8, 2001; Indigenous Peoples’ Day October 10th; Million Man March was on October 16th; Malcolm X released from prison Nov 4th; Berlin Wall fell Nov 9th; March on Washington to protest Vietnam War on Nov 15th; Trans Day of Remembrance Nov 20th; Buy Nothing Day is Nov 25th (also eliminating violence against women day?); Harvey Milk shot Nov 27th; International Day of Solidarity with Palestinians Nov 29th
Ideas suggested to us: electoral politics, death penalty, queer anarchism, debt

Meeting adjourned: 8:10 PM

Tabled items: Stuff to buy (canopy, stuff to secure bike rack, longarm stapler, paper cutter), Fall Calendar, Moderation methods

Reminders: “Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?” for Winter Calendar

In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Ty (moderator)
Start time: 7:02 PM

1. Event Review – We showed Libertarias on Friday night. We enjoyed the film, and think we should do it again sometime. The turnout was disappointing, though, probably because of a feminist event also going on at The Commons at the same time and the fact that we were kind of late in promoting the event. It would’ve helped if we’d managed to track the film down sooner, too, as Ty was disturbed by some of the scenes of graphic violence and sexual violence depicted in Libertarias. He recommends that we do more to screen the films in advance to offer proper warnings in our event descriptions.

2. Upcoming Event – Our discussion on libertarian communism is this Saturday. We spent some time deciding on some of the talking points we want to be ready to make.

3. Reimbursement – Jackson made donations that the group pre-approved last week, sending $50 to the Sacramento anti-fascists and $10 to the prisoner-solidarity distro. He requests reimbursement for sending those donations, and it is agreed to. He has also been in contact with Jason about the book we decided to order last week; we’ll be arranging an in-person meeting to bypass the shipping charges.

4. Website – Jackson reports that it’s nearly time for us to renew our blackcathouse.org domain and privacy. It’ll be $27.87, and we decide to take care of it immediately. Jackson made the purchase during our meeting, and he will be reimbursed for the expense.

5. Fall Calendar –

We still need to schedule the Linux programming event that Ju Ping suggested.

Days not to schedule events on:

September 3rd, 10th, 17th
Also out: Sunday the 4th
Questionable: 23rd-24th (possible engagement for Ty with campus… that would negate our last possible Saturday for a discussion)

October 1st, 22nd
Also out: Friday the 28th
Probably not: Sunday the 9th

November 12th, 19th

Movie Ideas: Dr. Strangelove (Peter Sellers born Sept 8th),
Interesting anniversaries: Occupy Wall Street camp formed Sept 18th; October is LGBTQ History Month (and Asexual Awareness Week is in there somewhere too?); Joe Hill born Oct 7th; US invades Afghanistan Oct 8, 2001; Indigenous Peoples’ Day October 10th; Million Man March was on October 16th; Malcolm X released from prison Nov 4th; Berlin Wall fell Nov 9th; March on Washington to protest Vietnam War on Nov 15th; Trans Day of Remembrance Nov 20th; Buy Nothing Day is Nov 25th (also eliminating violence against women day?); Harvey Milk shot Nov 27th; International Day of Solidarity with Palestinians Nov 29th

Meeting adjourned: 8:12 PM

Tabled items: Stuff to buy (canopy, stuff to secure bike rack, longarm stapler, paper cutter), Fall Calendar