In attendance: Jackson, Ty

Meeting Start: 7:10 PM

1. Event Review: The discussion drew a spirited group. The writer of the article in question was present, who seemed pretty enthused that we were holding a discussion on his piece. As were many familiar faces to us, though rarer that we have them all for the same discussion day! A little denser read that most of our usual articles chosen, and the reading was finished in about 40 minutes and Jackson reports that they really only got to scratch the surface of the article’s potential discussion material.

2. Buttons: Marc and Ty borrowed the button maker for the week for making pronoun buttons for their wedding. They will pay back the House for all materials used. But in the meantime, Marc is also pressing designs for Black Cat purposes, and wants to know whether he should make others besides political and pride flag designs, and new pronoun button designs. Jackson brings up the new cat logos, and wonder whether some would make good buttons.

3. Black Musicians and Liberation: We have not had much luck in getting in further panelists, and we don’t have a lot of time yet. Also complicating matters is the personal loss suffered by UNL and specifically its Black faculty with the passing of Anna Shavers. We will be getting back to the panelist we were aiming to get on board, to see if he would be willing to do an interview with Dance and Q&A, but given that’s not what we had initially asked him about, he may say no. We do have a potential backup in the form of Marvin Lynn’s offer to do an online presentation on critical race theory, one of the topics he specializes in. This, we’re really intrigued on taking him up on regardless, it’s just a matter of when.

4. Spring Calendar: We basically have the calendar ready to go. For the stuff we’re still waiting on, Marc will work on the spring calendar design so that we can change it up real fast and we can get it printed.
   Saturday, March 12, 1-3 PM: Intersectional Feminism for Beginners
   Saturday, April 2, 1-3 PM: Garden Day Workshop
   Saturday, April 16, 1-3 PM [tentative]: Library Open House
   Saturday, May 7, 1-3 PM: January 6th Insurrection (a reading discussion)
   Friday, May 20, 8 AM – 6 PM & Saturday, May 21, 8 AM – 2 PM: Yard Sale Fundraiser

Meeting adjourned: 8:40 PM

In attendance: Jackson, Ty (secretary)
Meeting Start: 7:05 PM

1. Upcoming Event: We have the Marxist morality article reading this Saturday. We’re reasonably confident about content – just a matter of attendance at this point.
2. Library Donation: Jackson has brought the library a few donations, including multiple books by Arundhati Roy. Technically a few overlapping essays between them, but after a quick discussion on accessibility and shelf space, Jackson and Ty determined that it would not be a waste of shelf space to accept the overlapping material.
3. Collaboration email: We were reached out to by a collective based in Jerusalem. They do similar online/in-person education events to us on various topics, and provided some fliers of recent discussion series they have done. They’re interested in global solidarity and collaboration, and want to see whether we’d be interested in similar. We’ll reach out to them about this, and chat more about the prospect when we have more of our own collective members at an upcoming meeting.
4. Email: Ty is still having trouble with our official email channels. But we got into the main hosting again! So it should be okay.
5. Website/Facebook: This will be tabled for further discussion, but basically Facebook is losing traction as a platform and we need to prioritize our own website.

Tabled: Website, Spring Calendar [NEED TO GET DONE NEXT WEEK]

Meeting Adjourned: 8:15 PM

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

1. Upcoming Event – Our annual counter-protest of the Walk For Life is this Saturday. We are ready.
2. Library Donation – Jackson has two more books for the library this week. They’ll fit in nicely.
3. Spring Calendar –
   March – Open or Reading Discussion (preference to feminist topic?) OR Feminist Panel?
   Saturday, April 2nd, 1-3 PM – Garden Day workshop
   Late April – Digital Panel on Climate Change or Environmental Justice
   Early May – Open or Reading Discussion
   Friday, May 20th (8-6) and Saturday, May 21st (8-2) – Yard Sale Fundraiser

Possible discussion subject: current state of right-wing/proto-fascism; Jackson is investigating leads on a good article to build a discussion around.

Meeting adjourned: 8:45 PM

In Attendance: Jackson, Marc (secretary)
Meeting Start: 7:04 PM

Upcoming Event: Counter-Protest at the Walk for Life
– The Facebook discussion group for the counter protest has been fairly quiet.
– Jackson posted in the group asking if there was any interest in a meeting to discuss counter protest strategies and organizing. Marc is still available to host/moderate the Jitsi discussion if there is interest.
– Marc will create a Jitsi link for said discussion.
– We’ll also share the counter protest event page more often on the BCH Facebook page.

Upcoming Event: Black Musicians and Liberation Panel
– Jackson reached out to a potential panelist and is waiting to hear back. It’s possible that the email got buried in their inbox, so Jackson will work with another potential panelist on how to proceed. Otherwise, no further updates here.

Upcoming Event: Reading Discussion
– Jackson wrote up the event description for Facebook.
– We decided to change this into an online event due to the extreme spread of COVID in Lincoln. Marc created a Jitsi link for this discussion and sent it to Jackson.
– The reading is quite philosophical in nature and style, so this event could benefit from using the Jargon Giraffe shorthand (or something similar).

Spring Calendar Planning
– Wyatt expressed interest in moderating a panel about social justice in non-christian religions.
– We are planning on shooting for hosting 1-2 events/month during Spring, due to planned unavailability for some folks and potential unavailability because of COVID.
– March: Jackson suggested having a reading discussion in the tail end of March or early April, probably about gender to some regard due to March being women’s month. Additionally, we could have a gardening day at some point during March, depending on the work that needs doing.
– April: Earth Day is during this month, and depending on the panel’s topic. We still need to hammer out details for the panel topic and potential panelists. Marc and Ty will reach out to one potential panelist to see if they’re interested and have the knowledge base/background we’re looking for.
– May: Reading Discussion in early May, and Yard Sale in late May.

Meeting Adjourned: 8:10 PM

In Attendance: Jackson, Marc (secretary), Ty (moderator)
Meeting Start: 7:07 PM

Event Review
– The Social Justice in Christianity panel went really well. Marc is writing up thank-you cards to the panelists and moderator, and they should be sent out by tomorrow.
– A preliminary screening of the panel recording also turned out good, according to Ty. Ty said that it should be fairly straightforward to edit and upload to YouTube, though he doesn’t have an exact timeline when that will happen. Ty hopes to have the video finished this week.
– Jackson plans on sharing the recording with left-leaning churches once it’s uploaded.

Upcoming Event: Counter Protest at the Walk for Life
– The counter protest will happen at the end of January. The event has been posted, but it could use a cover photo. Ty will find an appropriate photo from our archives and/or from a friend.
– Marc can help host a virtual planning meeting. Interested attendees will be told to express interest in taking part in this planning discussion by reaching out to the BCH Facebook page privately, to help avoid the chat becoming overrun by bad actors.

Upcoming Event: Black Musicians and Liberation
– Jackson is writing up an email to a potential panelist. One of the folks who worked on planning the event last year has also spoken with them. We may need to find a moderator, as the person we originally had in-mind to be a mod is on the fence about doing so.
– We’ll need a separate event poster, similar to last year. Marc will take point on designing and printing it. We also need to clarify whether the event will be co-sponsored by the Institute for Ethnic Studies again.
– We would also like to explore working with another international panelist.

Library Donations
– Jackson donated a ton of books to the library. Many of these titles were published fairly recently as well.

Spring Calendar
– COVID is still raging on, so we’ll continue to consider and prioritize safety while planning events.
– Ty pointed out that we may be able to hold in-person events outdoors, in addition to online events, particularly as March/April roll around.
– We’ll definitely do a garden day in March or April, weather permitting.
– Ty and Marc will be unavailable to plan during the 2nd half of April.
– Our online panels have been pretty successful so far and drummed up community interest from outside our usual attendees. Marc proposed trying to do at least 1 online panel per season.
– Potential Topics:
Social Justice and religion beyond Christianity: We have some ideas of who/where we could ask for potential panelists, e.g. the Unitarian Church, South Street Temple, and a few individuals in mind. We would like a more diverse representation of religious belief, including pre-colonial European, Native American religion, etc. Depending on who participates, this event could be tied into ecology or Earth Day.
– Yard Sale: We plan on having our yearly yard sale fundraiser. We may shoot for mid-May for this event. Our tentative dates are May 20th and 21st.
– Reading Discussion during the first week of May. May Day would be an easy topic to read about and find an appropriate reading for.

Meeting Adjourned: 8:14 PM

In attendance: Jackson, Ty (secretary)
Meeting Start: 7:25 PM

1. Upcoming Event: We have our online panel on Social Justice in Christianity this Saturday! Dance has looked over the questions and they’ve been sent to our now three panelists, as Wyatt had successfully made contact with a Call to Action representative during our break.

We have not been able to flier as well as we hoped, but we had help compiling a list of some good churches in the area to reach out to. Jackson contacted six on social media, and had some back-and-forth conversation with a representative from one of them. At the very least, we can share the Youtube link with them once it’s posted.

We’re going to continue reaching out to who we can, and Jackson will flier around the usual First Friday routes so that those walking by will access.

2. Library Donations: We had a great many donations! Our friend Eric has donated a copy of his recently edited horror story anthology, Antifa Splatterpunk.
3. Counter-Protest: Jackson will work on the event description so we can get that event posted ASAP. We have decided not to offer child care this year due to COVID risk still being high and cases rising recently. For the same reason we won’t have a sign-making party, but we still have many signs from years prior.

Tabling discussion of seeing who may want to be involved in planning the counter-protest, and a contact person for people day-of.

Meeting Adjourned: 8:30 PM

In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Marc, Ty
Start time: 7:10 PM

1. Event Review – Our Matrix movie night was a bust!
2. Next Week’s Meeting – We decided not to meet next week. Our next meeting will be on January 3rd.
3. Janurary 8th Panel – The event is now up on Facebook and the calendar on our website. Marc has designed and printed fliers, and we need to get them up around town this week, including at some of the more progressive churches. Our efforts to find a third panelist have seemingly fallen through, and we need to explore other leads if we’re going to add anyone else to the event.
4. Library Organization – Naomi was here with Jackson and Wyatt last Friday and we have our “Marginalized Identities” books on our new shelves. We need to decide what we want to put on our former Identity bookcase. There was discussion of wanting to put something of high priority and interest there, as that case is in the middle of the room and convenient to browse. There was some thought of putting up the communist/anarchist theory stuff, or possibly the environmentalist stuff. Jackson also has the thought of having a shelf of “Greatest Hits” or specific favorites or recommendations from the Black Cats. Ty added that we should possibly put more collaborative work into our library cart displays a la the staff recommendations shelf at local bookstores.

Meeting adjourned: 8:25 PM

In attendance: Jackson, Ty (secretary), Wyatt
Meeting start: 7:05 PM

1. Upcoming Event: We’re playing The Matrix on Friday! Jackson will get the room set up on Thursday.
2. Social Justice in Christianity Panel: Marc drafted the description for the event, which the rest of us reviewed and edited. We got the bios for our panelists and moderator to include with the description. Our outreach to a potential third panelist didn’t get any response; we are going to reach out on a broader level to see if someone besides the local chapter may be interested in speaking on this panel. If not, we think the two panelists we already have are a strong enough backing to the event.

We’re going to give the questions we would like to ask the panelist to Dance first, as she is the one who’d be asking them and so she should be able to tweak the wording. Then we will send her pass of the questions to our panelists so they can start thinking on how they might answer.

Marc is working on the banner image for this event. We discussed also making handbills specifically for this event, with the link now that we have it. We’ll ask Marc whether he can put this together, then we’ll print a run of 50 and distribute, particularly to local progressive churches.

Meeting adjourned: 8:42 PM

In Attendance: Jackson (secretary), Marc, Ty
Start time: 7:15 PM

1. Event Review – We had our “Labor vs. Capital For Beginners” discussion on Saturday. It was well attended, and the discussion seemed inspired.
2. Library Donation – Marc donated three books for our lending library. Thanks, Marc!
3. Calendar Distro Update – Jackson and Wyatt got all of downtown. There’s still a handful of far-off places that are not yet done, and Marc and Ty will take the rest of our available calendars and try to finish up this week.
4. Library Update – We had to postpone our library committee meeting because Naomi was sick and we are going to wait for her to re-shelve books. She has still been very busy with investigating software solutions. Login information has been forwarded to the Discord chat. We’re hoping to get the re-shelving done later this month, if and when Naomi gets healthy and maybe has some free time.
5. January Panel – We spent some time wordsmithing an appeal asking for our third panelist. We need to get our online advertisement up for this event in the next week; Marc and Ty will start drafting that. It’s also about time to start collecting 2-3 sentence bios about our moderator and panelists. And we also need to prepare some questions for the panel; we hope to continue this brainstorming in the Discord chat this week. Marc will start designing something visual for an online banner and/or special flier.

Meeting adjourned: 8:30 PM

In attendance: Jackson, Marc, Ty (secretary), Wyatt

Meeting start: 7:11 PM

1. Upcoming Event: Labor vs. Capitalism is coming up this Saturday! We did seem to have a few people interested in the discussion for its intended purpose of learning new things, so we want to establish at the beginning of the discussion that people can and should interrupt to ask for definition as they need. Perhaps using the jargon giraffe? A way to lighten the mood and making things accessible. We should also ask as part of the usual icebreakers, what people want to learn as a part of the discussion in order to steer the conversation in the direction they wish to go.

1.5. Library Meeting: We are meeting with Naomi at 11 ahead of the discussion on Saturday in order to do some library organizing.

2. December Movie: Jackson put together a description for The Matrix showing. We reviewed it, we liked it, and other than some tiny tweaks to the closing paragraph, it’s good to post!
3. Calendar Distro: The calendars and handbills are printed, and looks great! Now we just need to post them around.

Jackson: Haymarket
Marc: East campus, Mo Java
Ty: City campus
Wyatt: UU church, South/17th locations, Downtown

4. Logo Designs: We looked over the logo designs that Arden sent. We love the cats! The font might not work well for the sometimes subpar printing we have to resort to when we’re pressed for time, so Marc will reach out about it.
5. January Panel: We have not yet reached out to Call to Action about whether they would have someone interested in participating.

Meeting adjourned: 8:33 PM