Meeting: Saturday 1st March 2025 @ 10:30am
Join Online Meeting: bit.ly/climate-network
With agenda items, upcoming events, or more email wcmncn@googlegroups.com
Agenda:
- Community Check In
- Announcements
- Notice of potential support needed for a friend
- Town Hall on Consolidation and Right to Repair
- Crissy Dam Informational Meeting
- Community Building Process
- Determine Next Meeting
Notes:
Community Check In, who you are and something important to know about you
- @syd has many Galileo Thermometers in her house
- Joel is excited for the warm weather because he is an outside guy!
- @Susan_Gilbert is ALSO a weather nerd!
- @Nic_McPhee is proud to share about about Sue’s art in the Edward J and Helen Jane Morrison Gallery, he will also have a busy day of crisis averting, and coding streaming.
- Kim was invited by Jeff and she loves owls and gnomes!
- @Jeff has sewn gnomes made by his partner all over the house!
- @cberthiaume LOVES CATS.
- @Cait_C is the Master Gardener President & a cross-stitch fiend!
Announcements
- Notice of potential support needed for a friend, stay tuned for email updates if people power is needed!
- Town Hall on Consolidation and Right to Repair - in Donnelly on Tuesday, March 4th.
- Crissy Dam Informational Meeting - Thursday, March 6th from 5PM-7PM at the Old No. 1
- Soil Health Event on March 13th 9AM-1PM at Old No. 1 - Presentations and discussions about how stril-till, cover crops, and other soil health practices affect agriculture and the environment.
- Art Show at UMM - Check it out!
- Stand Up For Science Events - Shared by @nomuzz who isn’t even in Morris anymore <3
- Resource Fair by group of folks wanting to build resources & support as we enter this new political/cultural era
- Group of “like minded do-gooders” coordinating it
- Resource Fair will be on Saturday, March 22nd from 2-4PM at Federated Church
- There will be tabling by various groups in the community to make connections and remind people there are ways we can support one another here
- @Susan_Gilbert offered to table for the WCMNCN
Community Building Process
- @syd suggested we try a new format at this meeting, where we do intros & announcements and then maybe do a structured reading/communication/reflection activity together. This is a method of all learning something together and then discussing it as a group.
- Folks were asked to do one of these two things and then come back to the group to reflect:
- Read: this zine by Jewish Anarchists - Don’t Just Do Nothing: 20 Things You Can Do to Counter Fascism | It's Going Down OR
- Freewrite/art about some of the prompts from this Guante resource - Let Every Word Be A Wrench In Their Machine: Writing Prompts
- Discussion/Sharing (syd’s internet got pretty wonky here, so please let me know what notes I missed and can fill in!):
- Jeff was excited to be put onto the genius that is Guante! He is excited to have more connections and prompts for songwriting
- Kim shared some of her story about when she first felt true connection and community in Nebraska, and why her family eventually had to move to MN.
- Captain shared about how they were thinking about their friends in other parts of the country, and how we do have it pretty good in MN. They talked about how they support their friends in Texas and Florida and how it can be overwhelming to know there is so much to do but still finding the energy to do it anyways.
- Joel shared his list of “things I want to photograph that capture the world I am fighting for” which included things like people gathering together (strollers, friends, events) and people connecting with the outdoors.
- Sue shared about the impressive work already being done in MN and how that makes them feel hopeful. They shared about Mariame Kaba specifically and how some work and teachings can be hard to digest or re-frame in your mind, but it’s important and empowering (to yourself and others) to do so.
- Caitlin shared about how she has been thinking about the racism embedded in grass lawns. How wealth, power, wastefulness, and so many more factors are the history of this non-resilient practice in our society.
- Syd shared about the world she is building towards: one with joy, laughter, free bus rides, our worth based on our being and not our doing, and how the world she is building towards is this current world with these current people, places and memories.
- Folks seemed to like this form of the meeting, and we ended up staying a half an hour longer to make sure everyone got a chance to share and reflect.
Determine Next Meeting
- We decided that the next meeting, Saturday, April 5th at 10:30AM online, will follow this same format, with some sort of article/reading/art-ing activity. If folks have suggestions for an article or activity, please share it!
- We talked about how this summer we want to table at the Morris Area Farmer’s Market again, we would like to make more yard signs as a gathering/activity, and how we would love to take a WCMNCN Field Trip to Niemackl Lake County Park.
