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

1. Event Review – We had our discussion, “How the Democrats Are Fracking the Left” on Saturday. It went really well. We should do this topic again.

2. Earth Day – Ty says we’re expecting an email from the Lincoln Earth Day organizers very soon with details about this year’s event. We’ve chosen some zines to take along, but we won’t be printing any more this year. Joe of the SWP has asked us if we could share a table, and has offered to pay half of our entry fee in exchange. We are ok with this, and Jackson will talk to Joe.

3. Yard Sale/Fundraiser – We spent some time and discussed our fundraising options for the year. We have decided that having a yard sale at our house is not an option this year, and we’ve also dismissed the possibilities of having a full-scale yard sale at an alternate location. We will explore selling our high-end donations online (e.g.: craigslist, Facebook marketplace), and possibly send some mid-level stuff to our families’ yard sales if those happen later in the summer.

4. Summer Calendar – Sama has asked us if we’d like to host a concert for her on August 21st. We will!

Ju Ping has recommended either In This Corner of the World or Yunagi City, Sakura Country in remembrance of the atomic bombings of Japan.

Jackson proposes one open discussion and one screening per month, plus one reading discussion to make a total of 7 events for the calendar.

June – Something for Queer Pride (anniversary of Stonewall Riots)
Early August – A film to commemorate the atomic bombings of Japan
Monday, August 21st, 7 PM – Sama’s concert

No Dates and Possible Conflicts:

Friday, June 7th (Ty’s having surgery, and will be on the mend for 2 weeks); Sunday, June 11th (Pride March); Star City Pride (a Friday/Saturday in July? Maybe 8th/9th?) — Jackson will also likely have work on one or two Saturdays in June… he’ll get back with dates next week.

Discussion is tabled to next week.

5. DSA Education Group – Some of the young DSA members who attended our discussion on Saturday are organizing a leftist education group. Jackson would like to offer them the use of our space for this event, and Ty has no objections.

Meeting adjourned: 8:20 PM

Tabled items: Articles for Discussion, Graphic Designer, Stuff to Buy (canopy, stuff to secure bike rack, paper cutter, labels, 7×7 no-slip outdoor mat for porch, new SSD hard drive for public laptop), Summer Calendar

In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Ty (moderator)
Start time: 7:04 PM

1. Event Review – We had our reading group on “The Safety Pin and the Swastika” on Saturday. We spent about half an hour with our group reading of the 8 page essay. Jackson thinks we can continue to do this format with readings up to 10 pages long. Our turnout was a bit low, but we still had a pretty good discussion thanks to the material in the reading. Jackson would like to try another event with this format over the summer.

2. Upcoming Event – “The Coming Repression” is next Tuesday! James has emailed us to tell us he’s preparing to leave Houston, and Ty has responded with what we believe to be what he’ll need to find us and keep in touch.

3. Next Week – Ty will be out of state next Monday, so we’ll cancel next week’s meeting. We’ll announce it on Facebook.

4. Web Events – We spent a bit of working on getting more events advertised online from our spring calendar.

Meeting adjourned: 8:17 PM

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

1. Event Review – We showed the documentary Women in Red Stockings on Saturday night. It was ok.

2. Upcoming Event – Our “What is Fascism?” discussion is this Saturday! We spent some time to brainstorm our structure and talking points:

Take definitions in intros
Use Holocaust History Museum poster as primary group definition
Do people agree/disagree with what’s on the poster?
Can the U.S. be considered fascist?
Is Trump a fascist?
Introduce Antifa and see how people feel about those tactics
Explore other tactics of resistance?

3. Reimbursement – Jackson has bought us the larger whiteboard we have wanted for months. It cost him $25.49. He also bought us more dry-erase markers to use on our whiteboards for $6.39. We agree to reimburse him for these collective purchases.

4. Street Harassment Event – We’ve heard back and PREVENT’s flier and our calendar will both be called “Standing Up Against Street Harassment.” Rae has also provided us with a short draft description for our Facebook event, but Jackson has asked if we can possibly get a little more information about her about the structure of the event to also include in event descriptions. Ty will email her to check into this. Ty will be getting PREVENT’s flier printed and distributed around town.

5. Earth Day – Ty has received word back from the Lincoln Earth Day organizers and it is ok that we register as a non-profit again this year. Jackson will get us registered ASAP.

6. Anti-Repression Event – An activist in Houston is organizing a workshop tour through our neck of the woods, and he wants to do one in our space! He has suggested March 28th (Tuesday) or 29th (Wednesday), but indicated he has some flexibility that week. Ty is emailing him back to see if he can do it on Thursday the 30th as it would be better for us and also likely better for our likely turnout, but Jackson is prepared to make it work on Tuesday or Wednesday even if he has to do it alone (as Ty will be out of state on those days).

7. Taiwan Marriage Equality – In a discussion started last week, we decide that we can spare $20 toward the crowdfunded media campaign. Jackson will make the donation on our behalf, and he will be reimbursed.

8. Monthly Review Press – Our friend Wyatt sent us word on an online sale at Monthly Review Press! We don’t really have time or energy to look at their catalog tonight, so we agreed to look at it on our own time in the next few days (since the web coupon will be expiring before our next meeting).

9. Web Events – We spent the last part of our meeting putting up some web promotion for upcoming events.

Meeting adjourned: 8:30 PM

Tabled items: Articles for Discussion, Graphic Designer, Stuff to Buy (canopy, stuff to secure bike rack, paper cutter, labels, 7×7 no-slip outdoor mat for porch, new SSD hard drive for public laptop)

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

1. Event Review – We watched Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution on Saturday night. The turnout was great, with a bunch of new people. The movie attracted a lot of attention, as there’s still a lot of interest in the Panthers. Jackson says we should run it again.

2. Upcoming Event – We’re showing “Far Beyond the Stars” (Star Trek: DS9) on Friday night. We’re ready for it.

3. MBLGTACC – Ty just came back from a conference for queer college students. He reported back on some of the cool panels there, including “Marxism and Queer Liberation.” He was inspired by how the very radical workshops there were jam-packed!

4. Book – Ty picked up a book called Queering Anarchism at the conference. He wants to donate it to the library, and he wants to be reimbursed $20 for buying it. We’re ok with this!

5. Spring Calendar:

March
Saturday, March 4th, 7-10 PM: Movie Night: Women in Red Stockings (A documentary about the 1975 Women’s General Strike in Iceland)
Saturday, March 11th, 1-3 PM: What is Fascism? (a community discussion)
Saturday, March 18th, 1-3 PM: “The Safety Pin and the Swastika” reading group/discussion (the use of symbols in identity politics and the alt-right)

April
Saturday, April 1st, 1-3 PM: Standing Up Against Street Harassment (A Bystander Intervention Workshop with UNL PREVENT)
Saturday, April 8th, 1-3 PM: How the Democrats Are Fracking the Left (a community discussion)
Friday, April 21st, 7-10 PM: Trekkies For Justice: “Force of Nature” (Star Trek: The Next Generation) [allegory about environmentalism]
Saturday, April 22nd: (Tabling at Lincoln Earth Day)

May
Friday, May 12th, 8 AM – 6 PM, and Saturday, May 13th, 8 AM – 2 PM: The Black Cat House Yard Sale Fundraiser
Sunday, May 14th, 12 PM – 5 PM: Trans Clothing Swap
Friday, May 19th, 7-10 PM: Movie Night: Harlan County, USA (documentary about 1973 coal miners’ strike)
Saturday, May 20th, 1 – 3 PM: Little Red Singalong (learning to sing leftist songs!)
Friday, May 26th, 7-10 PM: Dr. Who For Justice: “The Zygon Invasion/The Zygon Inversion” (allegory about conflict and refugees)

Meeting adjourned: 8:40 PM

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

1. Upcoming Event – Our discussion on imperialism is this Saturday. We’ll be ready for it. Ju Ping may make food.

2. Announcements – There are two campus events this Thursday that are of interest to us and possibly some of our friends: 1) a protest against Trump’s Executive Order on the Travel Ban from 12-1 and 2) A roundtable: “We the People: Black Lives and American Politics” will be held in the Heritage Room of the UNL Union from 7-9 PM. We’ll share their Facebook events on our page.

3. Spring Calendar:

March
Saturday, March 4th, 7-10 PM: Movie Night: Women in Red Stockings (A documentary about the 1975 Women’s General Strike in Iceland)

April
Saturday, April 1, (Time TBD): Bystander intervention workshop with UNL PREVENT
Saturday, April 22: Lincoln Earth Day tabling

May
Monday, May 1: May Day/International Worker’s Day march

Priorities: “The Safety Pin and the Swastika” article reading discussion, Little Red Singalong, Environmentalist movie on probably April 21st, Doctor Who two-part episode: “The Zygon Invasion/The Zygon Inversion” (a sci-fi allegory about refugees),

Not scheduled: Movie Night: Harlan County, USA, discussion on what an anti-capitalist culture looks like, discussion on stopping liberals/Democrats from co-opting direct action, Movie Night: Attack the Block, Movie Night: Battleship Potemkin, Movie Night: Strike, Star Trek?

Blocked out days: April 15
Days Ty will not be there: March 11, March 25-29

Meeting adjourned:  8:32 PM

Tabled items: Spring Calendar, Stuff to Buy (canopy, stuff to secure bike rack, paper cutter, whiteboard, labels, 7×7 no-slip outdoor mat for porch, new SSD hard drive for public laptop)

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

1. Event Review – We had our #NoDAPL discussion. We had a huge turnout, and a great discussion. Ju Ping volunteers to run a listserv to better follow up on the results of these discussion.

2. Upcoming Events – Our counter-protest for the Walk For Life is on Saturday! We’ll have a sign-making party on Friday night (7-9 PM), and we’ll open up the house at 8 AM for the very-last minute sign-making opportunity before the protest. Jackson will stay in touch with childcare volunteers to make sure that’s good and organized.

3. Facebook Messages – We received a number of Facebook messages in the last week. Hank in Omaha wrote to us to ask if we’d be interested in hosting a traveling anti-Trump tour being organized through Crimethinc. Jackson has been in contact to see if this something we can do. We also received a semi-anonymous warning from an Omaha Antifa affiliate that regional Neo-Nazis may be looking to doxx known or suspected Antifa or their supporters; we’ll pass this information along to our contacts.

4. Laptop Update/Reimbursement – Jackson used his connections at his second job to restore our found, broken laptop. It’s fully functional, and it cost him $25. He asked for reimbursement since this is collective property, and the reimbursement was okayed.

5. Event Idea – Jackson wants to add a small reading/discussion event build around an essay he read last week, especially since one of our friends (Hendrik) also suggested making a discussion. He’s thinking about adding it on Jan 21st or 28th, if Hendrik is open on either afternoon. We’re all cool with squeezing this in.

Meeting adjourned: 8:40 PM

Tabled items: Stuff to Buy (canopy, stuff to secure bike rack, paper cutter, whiteboard, labels, 7×7 no-slip outdoor mat for porch, new SSD hard drive for public laptop)

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

Start time: 7:00 PM

1. Event Reviews – We showed the Chomsky documentary _Is the Man Who is Tall Happy?_ on Friday night. We had a nice turnout and discussion, with several new people attracted to the movie. We might run it again, but Ty noted concern that the movie maybe wasn’t as political as we generally prefer. (The interviews in the film were mostly dealing with his philosophical and scientific opinions.)

We also hosted the discussion “Now What: Organizing Resistance in the Age of Trump” on Saturday afternoon. We had a really good turnout, and Ju Ping took some really good minutes that are now posted to our website. We have some ideas for follow-up events that we need to organize toward in the next year.

2. No DAPL Camp – Wyatt gave us another report on his time up in North Dakota. He’s been gathering money and supplies; he reports he’s not currently needing any material support, but with many ambitious projects in the works there may be major needs soon.

3. Upcoming Event – We’re showing Star Trek V on Friday night. We’re ready for it.

4. Nebraskans For Peace – NFP tagged our group to participate in an online poll to determine NFP’s policy/issue priorities for the next year. Those of us here with Facebook accounts participated, and Ty has scheduled a post for our Facebook page to share the poll.

5. Next Two Weeks – We decided to cancel our last two Monday meetings of the year, since many of our core people won’t be around because of the holidays.

6. Buying Stuff – Ju Ping has tipped Jackson off to a good whiteboard for our purposes on Craigslist. Ju Ping also thinks the hard drive in our public laptop is starting to die, and recommends replacing it (and preferably with an SSD of at least 128 GB of storage). We do commit to investing approximately $40 toward a replacement hard drive.

Meeting adjourned: 8:30 PM

Tabled items: Stuff to Buy (canopy, stuff to secure bike rack, paper cutter, whiteboard, labels, 7×7 no-slip outdoor mat for porch, new SSD hard drive for public laptop)

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)