Wednesday Wind-Up Writing Party
The Hudson Valley LGBTQ+ Community Center is excited to offer a new ongoing social Writing Party series, facilitated by The Generations Project, starting April 21st and continuing on the Third Wednesday of every other month through August, (June 16th, August 18th), from 5-6:30pm EST!
At each session, TGP facilitators will guide participants through a variety of short creative writing prompts, designed to help each person express themselves, share their story and get to know each other. No writing experience necessary! These are fun, accessible exercises to flex your imagination and get to hear the perspectives of other generations of LGBTQ+ people. April’s session falls just before Earth Day, so we’ll be exploring related themes: the Indigenous history of the land, the environment and our global queer community.
BIPOC LGBTQ Mindfulness Meditation Sit
Please join me for
a BIPOC – LGBTQ Mindfulness Meditation Sit
Tuesday, March 16th 5-5:45pm
Sunday, March 21st 9:30-10:15am
Tuesday, March 23rd 5-5:45pm
If you are looking for a helpful tool to connect with your self, help reduce stress or anxiety, or even to simply have a mini respite from the busy-ness of your day, in the company of other BIPOC folx please join me, for a deceivingly simple 20 minute practice based on the teachings of Rev. angel Kyodo williams. ALL levels welcome!
To register, and/or if you have questions, simply send me an email with your name, tel. number, and intention for joining this sit, to: heartandhands.suzu@gmail.com with “BIPOC lgbtq sit” in the subject line.
It will be on zoom, and I will ask that you join with video at the beginning, so that we can all create a feeling of safety, “knowing who is in the room.” You are welcome to go off screen while meditating if you prefer.
i look forward to sitting with you all.
thank you very much ~ suzu kawamoto
🌿
a little about me: I am a licensed massage therapist, and have been serving the Hudson valley since 1991. I love my work, and am now looking forward to opening my life to offer these sits as an opportunity to collectively create a safe and welcoming container for us BIPOC folx to gather and meditate together…. as Rev angel says, “Come as you are, leave as you must…”
Serenity at the Center
Serenity at the Center is an LGBTQ AA group that meets for 1 hour on Fridays. The 1st Friday of the month is a step meeting, on the 2nd Friday we read from Living Sober, the 3rd Friday is a big book meeting, the 4th Friday is a speaker or anniversary meeting, and 5th Fridays are tradition meetings.
Join on Zoom with the meeting ID 765 862 1774.
Inside Black Stories Matter (August)
Join TMI Project for Inside Black Stories Matter, a new storytelling and roundtable discussion series that marries the personal and the political with ideas for direct action for anti-racism that everyone can take to make a positive impact on their community. Host Jessieca McNabb, Workshop Leaders Dara Lurie and Micah, and a featured storyteller — all from the Black Stories Matter program — will be joined by a community leader every month.
All are invited to listen, learn, and leave with concrete anti-racism actions.
On August 6th, join special guests Terry James from The Slave Dwelling Project and storyteller Freedom Walker as they unpack how the past connects us to the present.
Thursday, August 6th, 2020
7:00 – 8:30 PM
Free
Register here for the Zoom link
This event series is free and open to the public with a suggested donation of $20.
Welcome to Chechnya
Join us on July 28th at 7pm EST in collaboration with the Woodstock Film Festival for another installment of their Virtual Films & Conversations series with Academy-Award nominated filmmaker David France. France will speak about his new film WELCOME TO CHECHNYA, now streaming on HBO. The conversation will be moderated by Simon Kilmurry, Executive Director of the International Documentary Association.
ABOUT THE FILM: Since 2017, Chechnya’s tyrannical leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, has waged a depraved operation to “cleanse the blood” of LGBTQ Chechens, overseeing a government-directed campaign to detain, torture and execute them. With no help from the Kremlin and only faint global condemnation, activists take matters into their own hands. In his new documentary, David France uses a remarkable approach to anonymity to expose this atrocity and to tell the story of an extraordinary group of people confronting evil. ABOUT THE DIRECTOR: David France is an Oscar-nominated filmmaker, New York Times best-selling author, and award-winning investigative journalist. His critically-acclaimed new documentary, WELCOME TO CHECHNYA, premiered at Sundance 2020 and is now streaming on HBO.
Register Here: https://bit.ly/2AzVSTH
Virtual Pride Month Storytime
June is National Pride Month! Celebrate and join us for this special read aloud as we celebrate all types of love and all kinds of families. We will be reading Mighty May Won’t Cry Today, a story about May, an imaginative and determined girl who tries not to shed a tear on her first day of school but with the help of her two moms, learns why it’s okay to cry.
Storytime will include:
- Q&A with the authors and illustrator
- A live drawing by the illustrator
- A raffle to win a signed book, the live doodle, and a denim bag!
All attendees will receive a free e-book and free digital coloring pages.
Register for free here: https://bit.ly/mmstorytime
All ages and families welcome!
CFD Death Cafe via Zoom, Wednesday, June 17 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Death Cafe returns to the Hudson Valley for the 62nd time for a third virtual gathering via Zoom! Last month nearly 30 people joined our second online event. Folks from four NY counties, along with attendees from California, Seattle, and Puerto Rico, logged in to connect with each other and share their ideas and concerns about dying and death.
Plus, we’ve teamed up with Death Cafe of Westchester for this series of virtual events. We are expanding our circles despite the necessity to maintain a distance from each other. By providing an online safe space for dialoguing and sharing, Death Cafe keeps the conversation going. Join our community, and let’s hang out and talk about dying and death!
Please note: Prompt attendance is required to be admitted into the meeting. The Zoom meeting will open at 6:50 p.m. so that everyone can check in early and be ready to spend some valuable time together. A brief introduction and guidelines review will get us all started at 7 p.m. Then small groups of five or six people will break out into separate rooms for private discussions.
At a Death Café, the aim is to increase awareness of death in order to help people make the most of their finite lives. Death Cafés are open to, and respectful of, people of all communities and belief systems. A Death Café is a group-directed conversation with no agenda, objectives, or themes. It is a discussion group rather than a grief support or counseling session.
Come be with us on Zoom for a virtual CFD/Westchester Death Cafe on Wednesday, June 17 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Bring your tea or coffee and a plate of goodies! We’ll be seeing you soon from the glow of our computer screens!
A link to join the meeting will be posted at https://www.cfdhv.org/events/ on Monday, June 15th.
FOR TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE THE DAY OF THE EVENT …
There will be someone available to assist you if you have trouble entering the meeting. The tech hotline will be open from 6:30- 7p.m. on June 17th.
Call: 513-386-0000. When prompted, the entry code number is: 215697#
Circle of Friends for the Dying is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization in the Mid-Hudson Valley chartered to bring compassionate, competent care to individuals and their families by providing a Home filled with a circle of community support. Circle Home will provide access to quality end-of-life care in a warm and supportive setting. www.cfdhv.org
TMI Project: Vicarious Resilience Viewing Party & Panel Discussion
Join TMI Project for the online release of our award-winning documentary short, Vicarious Resilience. The documentary follows three Hudson Valley residents over the course of a 10-week TMI Project true storytelling workshop as they experience the transformative power of storytelling; they face mental illness, childhood neglect, and addiction head-on; and, ultimately, share deeply personal stories about love, loss, and triumph. Join us as we gather “together apart” to watch the film and then engage in a panel discussion and Q& A with TMI Project’s Co-founder Eva Tenuto, Ellen Pendagar from the Mental Health Association in Ulster County, and other mental health experts. The panelists will discuss the issues brought up in the film and offer guidance for navigating this challenging time.
Watch the film’s trailer: www.vicariousresilience.com
Event partners: Northguild, Mental Health Association in Ulster County, Connectfulness, Woodstock Film Festival, Hudsy, Hurleyville Performing Arts Centre, YMCA of Kingston & Ulster County, Art Society of Kingston, Barnard College, O Positive Festival, Kingston Food Co-Op, Good Work Institute, Everyday Health
TMI Project: Virtual True Storytelling Mini-Workshop
Join us for TMI Project mini-workshop created especially for viewers of our docu-short Vicarious Resilience. In this workshop, TMI Project Workshop Leaders will join you on Zoom where they’ll introduce the concept of timed free-writing and provide juicy writing prompts and a supportive space to share your stories. Join us for the online release of our award-winning documentary short, Vicarious Resilience followed by a panel discussion on May 1st. We’ll kick things off in this workshop with a writing prompt related to the film.