12/10/18 Minutes: Triumph Donation, New Books

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

Start time: 7:02 PM

1. Upcoming Events – Sorry to Bother You is on Friday, and we are very excited. We have a DVD identified and it will be hand delivered this week. We are expecting around 10 people. Cleaning will be done before Tuesday so we should only need to do a once over with the vacuum on Friday.

The Library Cart will be updated with books relevant to Sorry to Bother You.

2. Library Donations
Wyatt donated the Crazy Horse:The Lakota Warrior Life and Legacy book signed by Grandson of Crazy Horse to the BCH Library.
Two books sent by Ty’s pseudo- social democrat secret admirer are added to the library. Can Democracy Survive Capitalism, Robert Kuttner. The Great Transformation, Karl Polanyi. The arguments may not fit our perspective but it is a reference nevertheless.
Several books left in the box of donations by Brian are added to the library.

3. Printer donation – The Triumph working class magazine needs a new printer desperately. They still need $1000. BCH would like to donate. Black Cat House agrees to give $75 now. We will consider another donation in the near future. We will also share on our social media and include the link here. Consider Donating to support this very important publication! https://www.gofundme.com/x73j5k-help-the-triumph-buy-a-printer?fbclid=IwAR2Sf_PxZHJr30D-b4bM1KPWl62C-Ny8iDTPB56G6Cei13yupFgeOU7Indo

4. January Events – We still need to three of our January events up online. We spent remaining meeting time working on a draft for January’s Popcorn Politics.

Meeting adjourned: 8:30 PM

Tabled: AK Press Reimbursement, “Who Owns Politics?” Discussion Event, PKK/Bookchin Discussion, Graphic Designer, Stuff to Buy (canopy, stuff to secure bike rack, new SSD hard drive for public laptop), AK Press reimbursement

12/3/18 Minutes: Meeting Cancellations on 12/24 and 12/31, Counter-Protest

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

1. Event Review – Our Solidarity Network reading discussion was a success! Plenty of people, and while the discussion didn’t stick to the reading so much, it definitely stuck to the idea of solidarity networks for housing justice. We actually had quite a few action items, and people got connected where there weren’t connections before. The room was excited about this and we should keep pushing events like this on gentrification, because it’s a issue that’s affecting people right now in a very tangible way.

2. Reimbursement – Ty printed more calendars and the discussion articles, and spent $5.29 on it. He was approved for reimbursement. We finally got the last AK Press book, and so Jackson is up for reimbursement on that, but he asked for that to be tabled.

3. Winter Calendar Distributions – Jackson got the rest of the calendars up. He also proposed putting up one at The Bay. Jimmy John’s on 14th and O also has a bulletin board. Wyatt says he can get The Bay. Jackson will get the Jimmy John’s.

4. Counter-Protest of the Walk for “Life” – It’s still something we’re supporting, and we’re still going to provide child care. There are other people who want to get involved and we really encourage that, but we established among the group that The Black Cat House is not a sponsor: we are a participant in the counter-protest, and we volunteer the child care.

5. Meeting Cancellations – Our meetings on December 24th and 31st will be cancelled. We’ll get them off the website calendar, and post as much on Facebook as well.

Meeting adjourned: 8:32 PM

Tabled: AK Press Reimbursement, “Who Owns Politics?” Discussion Event, PKK/Bookchin Discussion, Graphic Designer, Stuff to Buy (canopy, stuff to secure bike rack, new SSD hard drive for public laptop)

11/26/18 Minutes: Events, Events, Events!

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

1. Upcoming Event – Reading discussion is coming up! We need to print off 15 copies of the article, and we need to clean the room, but we’ll be good.

2. Che Event – We have it scheduled! April 19, at 7 PM! We will work out further details with Martin Smith as we approach the event.

3. Winter Calendar Distributions – 8 more of the big calendars need to be printed! Cultiva, Bluestem Books, and Scooters still need to be posted, and the LGBTQA+ Resource Center at UNL can get one. We also brainstormed potential new options. Perhaps some receptive churches?

4. Event Idea – We had proposals for a discussion from a friend! Specifically, on Murray Bookchin and the PKK (Worker’s Party of Kurdistan). This would be for the spring calendar, but the friend in question seems fine with that.

Meeting adjourned: 7:52 PM

Tabled: “Who Owns Politics?” Discussion Event, PKK/Bookchin Discussion, Graphic Designer, Stuff to Buy (canopy, stuff to secure bike rack, new SSD hard drive for public laptop), AK Press reimbursement

11/19/18 Minutes: Winter Calendars, Che Book Talk

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

1. Event Review – We showed Tough Guise here on Friday night. We had a decent turnout and a great discussion.

2. Winter Calendars – Our winter calendars are here! Ty got them printed, and will be reimbursed $7.60 for getting that done for us. Now we need to get them distributed!

3. Che Event – Ty reports that Francie & Finch has not responded to his email, so it looks like we’re hosting it here. He will contact the author to get into the details of scheduling.

4. Work Time – We spent the rest of our meeting drafting our description for our Sorry to Bother You movie night and starting to re-sort our library.

Meeting adjourned: 8:30 PM

Tabled: “Who Owns Politics?” Discussion Event, Graphic Designer, Stuff to Buy (canopy, stuff to secure bike rack, new SSD hard drive for public laptop), AK Press reimbursement

11/12/18 Minutes: Winter Calendar Finalization, More New Books

In Attendance: Ty, Chris, Casey, Jackson (moderator), Wyatt (secretary)
Start Time: 7:05pm

1. Event Review
Movie Night: Johnny Got His Gun. We had a nice turnout with some new people and some people we hadn’t seen in awhile. Enjoyed an enthusiastic and analytical discussion after the movie.

2. Upcoming Event
Tough Guise was checked out of the library, so we have the DVD. Copy may be damaged so Ty will preview it. If needed will service at Game Room. Scheduled for Nov 16, this Friday.

3. Books
Mutual Aid Event, 17 zines, Puerto Rico Graphic Novel, Gardening in your Apartment, 5 Ak Press Books. $81 to Wyatt. Reimbursement in order.

Finally received last three items from Kerspelpedeb! Shipment Finalized. $74.95 to Jackson. Reimbursement in order.

Still waiting on final items from AK Press….tabled.

4. Che Event
Heard back from Indigo Bridge Books, unfortunately they are not interested in hosting the event. Ty will reach out to Francie & Finch bookshop and ask if they would like to host. Last resort remains doing it at BCH.

5. Winter Calender
We finalized the winter calender! Going to print this week and events will start to go up online shortly. Jackson will post online event for Gentrification discussion ASAP. Then outreach to the other orgs we would like to invite to be involved.

Tabled: “Who Owns Politics?” Discussion Event, Graphic Designer, Stuff to Buy (canopy, stuff to secure bike rack, new SSD hard drive for public laptop), AK Press reimbursement

11/5/18 Minutes: December Calendar, More Books!

In Attendance: Jackson, Ty (secretary), Wyatt (moderator)
Start time: 7:08 PM

1. Event Review – Men’s Rights vs “Men’s Rights” got a nice turnout, and the discussion went fairly well. We hit most of the issues that folks wanted to discuss.

2. Upcoming Event – This Friday, we’re showing Johnny Got His Gun. We have the DVD, we just need to set the room up for a film showing.

3. Books – We’re still waiting for the final AK Press and Kersplepedeb books. Wyatt brought some books from Southeast Community College’s book sale that he thought would be of interest to the library. We’ll reimburse Wyatt the $1 it cost him.

4. Che Guevara Children’s Book Author – Ty got in touch with Indigo Bridge about hosting the event, and they’re initially interested and are just passing info along their staff to see who would be a point person on it. After letting M. Smith know about this update, he also let us know that he had some copies of “Little Karl” available. We would definitely like to get a copy from him.

5. Winter Calendar –

December:
December 1, 1-3 PM: Reading Discussion: Solidarity Networks and Housing Justice (roarmag.org/essays/us-housing-solidarity-networks)
December 14, 7-10 PM: Popcorn Politics (Co-hosted with DSA Lincoln): Sorry to Bother You

January:
January 5, 1-3 PM: Socialist Cuba at 60 (a community discussion)
Popcorn Politics (Co-hosted with DSA Lincoln): Videodrome
Movie Night: American Socialist: The Life and Times of Eugene Victor Debs
January 26, 10 AM – 12 PM, at the Nebraska State Capitol: Counter-Protest to the Walk for Life

February:
6-10 PM: Popcorn Politics (Co-hosted with DSA Lincoln): Malcolm X
February 16, 1-3 PM: Obama Didn’t Fix It? The KXL Pipeline
Movie Night: The Garden

Jackson still needs to reach out to DSA and Renters Together about possible collaboration on the reading discussion on Solidarity Networks and Housing Justice.

Malcolm X, due to the long runtime, will have an intermission for food. We’ll order pizza.

Meeting Adjourned: 8:19 PM

Tabled: Reimbursements for AK/Kersplepedeb books

Continue Winter Calendar Discussion

Indefinitely tabled: “Who Owns Politics?” Discussion Event, Graphic Designer, Stuff to Buy (canopy, stuff to secure bike rack, new SSD hard drive for public laptop)

10/29/18 Minutes: New Bookshelves!, Winter Calendar

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

1. Event Review – We showed Alien for Popcorn Politics on Friday night. We had one of our best movie turnouts in months, so it was a good pick. We had a decent discussion afterwards.

2. Upcoming Event – Our discussion, Men’s Rights vs. “Men’s Rights”, is this Saturday. We’re looking forward to it, and not feeling like we need to do any special preparations for it.

3. Bookshelves! – Wyatt scored us a couple of nice new bookshelves for $50. We agree to reimburse him.

4. Che Guevara Children’s Book Author – Ty has had no success getting a hold of Indigo Bridge, so we’re tentatively prepared to host it ourselves. It will be sometime in April; Ty will contact the author and advise against double-booking with the Huskers’ spring game.

5. Book Update – Jackson picked up a book at a yard sale this afternoon, and we will add it to the lending library. (He doesn’t want to be reimbursed for it.) Jackson is still waiting on receiving the last backordered items for our AK Press and Left-Wing Books/Kersplebedeb orders to get reimbursed for those. TABLED again.

6. Winter Calendar –

Winter Popcorn Politics/Movie Nights

DSA has indicated that they would like to continue Popcorn Politics. First movie on the list is “Sorry to bother you”.
BCH would also like to screen at least one non-fiction documentary this winter, in an effort to move back toward the 1:1 fiction:non-fiction movie screening ratio. Some possibilities include Manufacturing Consent, Howard Zinn documentary, The People Speak, The Garden, Free Angela, Black Panthers, Black Power.

Discussion Events

Winter Event #1 December 2018
Gentrification. Rejecting reformist approaches (rent controls, tenants rights) and adopting tenement solidarity networks (fixed objectives for monetary recovery, rent strikes)

We like this article as a basis for a reading discussion:

Solidarity networks as the future of housing justice

 

Jackson still needs to reach out to DSA and Renters Together about possible collaboration on this event.

Winter Event #3 January 2019 5th or 12th
Cuban Revolution 60th Anniversary is Jan 1, 2019. OPEN discussion.

Winter Event #4 February 2019
KXL Pipeline. Energy transfer partners will in all likelihood be undertaking construction in Nebraska at this time. We would like to bust Myths about the pipeline, discuss ongoing resistance tactics, give an anarchist perspective on energy capitalism and alternatives.

Other Possible Events:

Popcorn Politics
Eugene Debs documentary (January?)
Movie Night: The Garden in February

Meeting Adjourned: 8:33 PM

Tabled:

>Continue Winter Calendar Discussion

>Reimbursements for AK/Kersplepedeb books.

>Future Event #2 (We really like this idea but Maybe we should table this until before next election cycle)
Who owns politics? Why working people think they don’t. Not into politics? Your boss is! Every year we hear “just vote” propaganda, but why stop there?

>Other tabled: Graphic Designer, Stuff to Buy (canopy, stuff to secure bike rack, new SSD hard drive for public laptop)

10/22/18 Minutes: New Books, Winter Calendar Tentative Events

In attendance: Jackson (moderator), Ty, Wyatt (secretary)
Start Time: 7:02

1. UPCOMING EVENTS —
On Friday October 26 at 7pm BCH and DSA will cohost a Popcorn Politics Movie Night! Alien. DVD acquired and ready. On Friday November 9 at 7pm BCH and DSA will cohost another Popcorn Politics Movie Night! Johnny Got His Gun. Event language approved with all parties and Jackson will post promos to relevant social media.

2. BOOK UPDATE —
We finally received our wholesale order of 22 books from AK Press. We also received two books from our Friends of AK Press subscription. In total we received 24 new AK Press books for the BCH lending library. (One book and some merch was on backorder and is still expected. Jackson will follow up with AK). From Kersplebedeb we received our order of 9 books for the library. Ty found two books at a Library Sale, one for the BCH lending library. Reimbursements tabled.
In grand total the BCH added 34 books to the library. We will make a nice display of some of our new books.

3. Che Childrens Reading
Ty reached out to Indigo Bridge Books in regards to a potential guest author Martin Smith who would like to give an event in Lincoln in April. Unfortunately no response from Indigo Books but Ty will follow up again with a call. We are still happy to have the event here if Indigo Books does not work out. Tabled: Ty will update us next week.

4. WINTER CALENDAR–

Winter Popcorn Politics/Movie Nights

DSA has indicated that they would like to continue Popcorn Politics. First movie on the list is “Sorry to bother you”.
BCH would also like to screen at least one non-fiction documentary this winter, in an effort to move back toward the 1:1 fiction:non-fiction movie screening ratio. Some possibilities include Manufacturing Consent, Howard Zinn documentary, The People Speak, The Garden, Free Angela, Black Panthers, Black Power.

Discussion Events

Winter Event #1 December 2018
Gentrification. Rejecting reformist approaches (rent controls, tenants rights) and adopting tenement solidarity networks (fixed objectives for monetary recovery, rent strikes)

We like this article as a basis for a reading discussion.

Solidarity networks as the future of housing justice


This article was posted to social media by Lincoln DSA, so they may be interested in a discussion. Also Jackson will reach out to Renters Together to gauge interest/cooperation.

Winter Event #3 January 2019 5th or 12th
Cuban Revolution 60th Anniversary is Jan 1, 2019. OPEN discussion. Joe can plug the Brigade.

Winter Event #4 February 2019
KXL Pipeline. Energy transfer partners will in all likelihood be undertaking construction in Nebraska at this time. We would like to bust Myths about the pipeline, discuss ongoing resistance tactics, give an anarchist perspective on energy capitalism and alternatives.

Other Possible Events:

December 2: anniversary of John Brown’s hanging

December 7: Noam Chomsky’s birthday

Meeting Adjourned: 8:31pm

5. TABLED:

>Continue Winter Calendar Discussion

>Reimbursements for Ty Library Sale and Jackson Kersplepedeb books.

>Future Event #2 (We really like this idea but Maybe we should table this until before next election cycle)
Who owns politics? Why working people think they don’t. Not into politics? Your boss is! Every year we hear “just vote” propaganda, but why stop there?

>Other tabled: Graphic Designer, Stuff to Buy (canopy, stuff to secure bike rack, new SSD hard drive for public laptop)

10/15/18 Minutes: Book Orders, November Events

In attendance: Jackson, Ty (secretary), Wyatt (moderator)
Start time: 7:01 PM

1. Event Review – “To Each According to Our Needs” was a bust, unfortunately. Fall is tough to schedule, what with competing events around non-Husker home games, but our open discussions don’t bomb very often so this is weird to us. Ty wants to shelf this topic and try it again some other time.

2. Book Orders – We finally got an email notification that the AK Press order had shipped, with an estimated date of Friday the 19th. Jackson also got the money removed from his account, and for the Left Wing Books order, though one of the Left Wing Books was out of stock so he was partially refunded for that. We’ll talk reimbursement for him when they get here. Wyatt’s also looking into some mahogany bookshelves.

3. Winter Mat – Wyatt successfully got us a mat for the porch! He paid $10 for it, and we’ll reimburse him for it.

4. November Events – We spent a lot of time getting November events up online.

Tabled – Winter Calendar Brainstorming
Discussion idea: Who owns politics?/Why working people think they don’t/Not into politics? Your boss is!, Other event: Cuban Revolution 60th Anniversary is Jan 1, 2019
Something about gentrification?
KXL Pipeline? Sometime in February?
December 2: anniversary of John Brown’s hanging
December 7: Noam Chomsky’s birthday

Meeting adjourned: 9:58 PM

Tabled items: Winter Calendar, AK Press Purchase, Graphic Designer, Stuff to Buy (canopy, stuff to secure bike rack, labels, 7×7 no-slip outdoor mat for porch, new SSD hard drive for public laptop)

10/8/18 Minutes: Mod/Sec Rotation, Speaker?, Winter Calendar

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

1. Upcoming Events – We’ve got our discussion, “To Each According to Their Needs,” coming up on Saturday. We need to clean the room, but we’re feeling pretty good about this event.

2. AK Press – We’ve finally had follow-up from AK Press, but Jackson is still waiting on his final invoice and he has not yet been billed for our order. We will come back to this next week.

3. Moderator/Secretary Rotation – Wyatt will be joining our moderator/secretary rotation.

4. Email – We got an email from a leftist author of children’s books that would like to do a reading and book signing with us. While this is relevant to our interests, Ty made a good point that Indigo Bridge might be a better fit for this event. Ty will be sending out the relevant emails to the author and to Indigo Bridge to see if we can help work this out. We are also decided that we are interested in hosting here if Indigo should not work out for whatever reason.

5. Winter Mat – Wyatt has some leads on mats for our porch. He’ll keep looking.

6. Winter Calendar brainstorming – Discussion idea: Who owns politics?/Why working people think they don’t/Not into politics? Your boss is!, Other event: Cuban Revolution 60th Anniversary is Jan 1, 2019

Meeting adjourned: 8:30 PM

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