Windham County Action Network (WeCAN)

Major! Free Community Screening
sponsored by Green Mountain Crossroads
Saturday, April 29th, 2017 at the Latchis Theater (50 Main St, Brattleboro, VT, 05301). 4pm-6pm. Admission is free.

This is the story of one woman’s journey, a community’s history, and how caring for each other can be a revolutionary act.
MAJOR! follows the life and campaigns of Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a 73-year-old Black transgender woman who has been fighting for the rights of trans women of color for over 40 years. 
This is the first screening of Major! in Vermont! Through Major!’s “Major to the People” Program, we are thrilled to offer free admission to the film. 
We will also be collecting donations to be shared with Miss Major’s Circle of Care (missmajorfilm.com/circle-of-care) as well as local groups, Green Mountain Crossroads (greenmountaincrossroads.org) and The Root Social Justice Center (therootsjc.org). 
This screening is being brought to you through a collaboration between Green Mountain Crossroads and Lost River Racial Justice (LRRJ) as part of LRRJ’s racial justice film series. Huge thanks to The Latchis for making this wonderful community event possible!

Film synopsis: 
Miss Major’s personal story and activism for transgender civil rights, from mobile outreach and AIDS prevention to fighting the prison industrial complex, intersects LGBT struggles for justice and equality from the 1960s to today. 
She is a veteran of the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion and was incarcerated at Attica months after the 1971 Uprising. Most recently, Miss Major has served as the executive director of the San Francisco-based Transgender Gender Variant Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP), a grassroots organization advocating for trans women of color in and outside of prison that is led by trans women of color. 
Miss Major’s extraordinary life and personal story is one of resilience and celebration in a community that has been historically traumatized and marginalized. While mainstream gay rights and marriage equality dominate the headlines, Miss Major’s life is a testament to the fierce survivalism and every day concerns of transgender women of color, who so often live in the margin of the already marginalized.
Official trailer and more information at missmajorfilm.com.


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May Day March for Dignity! / ¡Marcha para La Dignidad! 
Monday, May 1st, 2017 at The Federal Building (259 N. Winooski Ave, Burlington, VT). 12pm - 1pm.
Sponsored by the Vermont Human Rights Council: Migrant Justice, Vermont Worker's Center, 350VT, Green Mountain Self-Advocates, VT Center for Independent Living, VT Interfaith Action, UE, United Academics, Pride Center, Rising Tide Vermont, Green Mountain Central Labor Council
March to Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shop to demand they implement the Milk With Dignity Program as promised nearly 2 years ago. A rally at the Federal Building to lift up Vermont voices and campaigns will follow. 
Meet at the Migrant Justice/ VT Worker's Center at 12pm and we leave at 1pm sharp to march through the Old North End to Ben & Jerry's scoop shop to demand they implement the Milk with Dignity Program as promised nearly 2 years ago! (feel free to meet at us at 1:30pm at UU Church if you can't join earlier). Then we march and rally at the Federal Building (next to post office) demonstrating our unity and dignity in the face of Trump's hate and division--lifting up Vermont voices and campaigns in resistance to Trump's attacks on our communities.
This is especially crucial in the face of ICE arrests of migrant workers in Vermont. Carpools or vans from Brattleboro may be available. For more info or to sign up for a carpool or van ride please email [email protected] or call 802-257-4436. You can view the event online here: Facebook Event .


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Southeastern Vermont Community Action Community Event 
May, 2017 (Date TBD)
This year we will be moving from Advocacy to Activism, and – much like the WeCAN: Spring Into Action Fair - we wish to highlight different groups in the Brattleboro area who are making their voices heard on so many important issues. More information (like the date!) will follow, but please consider yourselves warmly invited!



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High-Level Nuclear Waste Tour 
Saturday, May 6th, 2017 at the Centre Congregational Church (193 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301), in the Parlor. 4:40pm-6pm.
Citizens Awareness Network, the Safe and Green Campaign, and the VT Yankee Decommissioning Alliance are organizing a High-level Nuclear Waste Tour in New England to address the abdication by the federal government and the nuclear industry to deal with stranded nuclear waste at reactor sites throughout the country. The tour will bring speakers who will discuss the issues of high-level nuclear waste (HLNW), Federal waste policy and environmental justice. The tour will be in Brattleboro May 6.

Speakers include:
• Rose Gardner from Sierra Club in Texas, a resident of a community impacted by both a Texas low-level waste dump and a proposed site for HLNW in Andrews County, Texas;
• Kevin Kamps with Beyond Nuclear will address the vulnerabilities of on-site storage of HLNW and federal policy; 
• Deb Katz with Citizens Awareness Network will address the issues of NorthStar, decommissioning, and hardened onsite storage at nuclear reactors. What is needed is a scientifically sound and environmentally just solution to this monstrous problem. 
Contact: Leslie Sullivan Sachs [email protected].


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Cross Class Dialogue Circle
Sunday, May 7th, May 21st, and June 4th, 2017 (participation all 3 days is required) at The Root Social Justice Center (The Whetstone Studio for the Arts, 28 Williams Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301). 9am-3pm.
Childcare and transportation available, light refreshments provided, and wheelchair accessible. This event is fragrance free.
The dialogue circle is funded through a cost-sharing process. 
Cross-class dialogue circles are a powerful way for people across the class spectrum to come together to talk about their experiences with class, listen to each others’ stories and perspectives, better understand class as part of an economic system, and then to work together as change makers for economic justice. Sign-up today!

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Climate Change Café: A Community of Concerned Citizens 
presents
SOS: Secret of the Seasons
(The Original Global Climate Change Co-Opera)
co-sponsored by Post Oil Solutions and Green Up SIT 
Sunday, May 7th, 2017 at the Brooks Memorial Library  (224 Main St, Brattleboro, VT, 05301) in the Main Room. 5:30pm. Free. Light refreshments available.

Based on songs written by SIT Professor John Ungerleider and Bill Conley, the SOS co-opera is a reflective, participatory musical journey that engages the audience with the external and internal challenges that global climate change is bringing to our lives. 
Audience dialogue between thought provoking songs is designed to move participants from Fear and Denial to Hope and Action in response to the threat of global warming.
The title song asks about the local impact of climate change:  “Will it still feel like my home, when the leaves don’t turn to red and gold, and the ice doesn’t cover the fishin’ hole?” 
More more information please call 802.869.2141 or email [email protected]

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A Study Group
sponsored by Brattleboro Solidarity
Tuesdays, May 9th, 16th, 23rd, and 30th, 2017 at Flat Iron Cafe (51 Square, Bellows Falls, VT, 05101). 5pm-7:30pm. Bread and soup will be served. We are asking people to commit to all of the dates listed. Readings will be sent ahead of time. Free and open to the public. 

The social construction of "race" as a way to divide people is as old as the founding of the United States. Today we are seeing an escalation of ICE raids, escalation of wars, police killings and white supremacist attacks on people of color that are directly related to the construction of whiteness. It is imperative  we continue to expand our knowledge of the history of race in this country in order to fight the supremacy in our society. Brattleboro Solidarity will be hosting a study group to expand our understanding of the  historical divisions along race and class lines in the U.S as a tool for economic exploitation.

Please sign-up by contacting [email protected] or calling 802-380-1463. Visit our Facebook Event and help spread the word. 

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Teaming with Microbes Seminar
May 15th, 2017- May 16th, 2017 at Lake Morey Resort (1 Clubhouse Rd, Fairlee, VT, 05045).
Eventbrite Link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/teaming-with-microbes-soil-seminar-with-nicole-masters-didi-pershouse-tickets-33557437198

New Zealand Agro-ecologist Nicole Masters is on a teaching tour throughout the US and Canada this Spring and we are lucky to have her for two full days in Vermont.

Its all about your underground livestock!
Farmers, gardeners, environmental policy makers, and conservation folks: take your understanding to the next level, with this dynamic soil class, taught byNicole Masters from Integrity Soils and Didi Pershouse from the Soil Carbon Coalition. Learn practical tools and concepts to maximize nutrient cycling whilst lifting soil, plant and/or animal performance. Learn soil's important role in climate resilience and public health.
We will spend the first day overlooking the beautiful Lake Morey, (swimming anyone?) and the second day getting our hands in the soil in a variety of settings to see these principles in action.

Schedule:

Day 1: The Hidden Life of Soils
•Deepen your understanding of soil health and soil microbes
•The vital role of soil microbes in building farm and climate resilience
•What do microbe groups do in the soil?
•How can you feed the good guys?
•Learn how to make a lacto-bacillus serum for your farm

Day 2: Field Day
•Visual assessments for health in a variety of management settings
•Keys that biologically mediated water, carbon and nitrogen cycles are working optimally.
•Learn how to "read your weeds" and take actions to reduce pressure from weeds.
•How to track changes and share successes in soil health with an open-source map databasehttps://atlasbiowork.com/

Cost $225. A wonderful warm lunch buffet is included on the first day.
Spaces are limited.
It is strongly recommended to come for both days, but you may sign up for just one. (Day one alone is $165, Day two is $75.)
You can save us some hefty ticket fees by reserving through the mail. Send an email to[email protected] to let us know you are coming and then send a check directly to Didi Pershouse, PO Box 277, Thetford Center, VT 05075, Please note that your space is not reserved until we receive payment.
Some scholarships may be available: Email [email protected] with a couple of sentences about your situation and how much you can afford to pay. We will let you know as funds become available.
We will have a few spaces available for sponsors/vendors to set up tables on Monday.
For questions, or to reserve a table as a sponsor/vendor, contact Didi at [email protected]and/or Taylor at [email protected]
For rooms at Lake Morey Resort call 800-423-1211, or email: [email protected]

About the Presenters:
Nicole Masters is an agro-ecologist, educator and systems thinker with over 18 years’ extensive practical and theoretical experience in regenerative/holistic farming practices. She has been communicating these methods throughout Australasia and North America since 2003; helping to inspire and guide farmers in innovative ways to produce food.
Nicole has a commitment to finding win-win solutions for the wellbeing of landscapes and landmanagers. She has a proven record in supporting producers in meeting their goals through a holistic approach to soil and pasture management. As a seasoned consultant, Nicole excels at identifying and solving challenges through proactive management. Her passion for fostering the growth of these farming practices calls upon her skills in facilitation, conflict resolution, an understanding of behavioural change and science communication.

Didi Pershouse is a cross-pollinator, helping to connect the dots between soil health and human health. She is the author of The Ecology of Care: Medicine, Agriculture, Money, and the Quiet Power of Human and Microbial Communities. As the founder of the Center for Sustainable Medicine, she developed a practice and theoretical framework for systems-based ecological medicine—restoring health to people as well as the social and ecological systems around them. 
After 22 years of clinical work with patients, she is now working with the Soil Carbon Coalition on a large-scale citizen-science program that engages schools, conservation districts, farmers, and the public in understanding the intersections between soil, water, public health, and climate resiliency. She teaches workshops and develops learning resources on whole systems landscape function—in particular how to measure, understand, and work with the carbon and water cycles that make life on this planet possible. Her work models strategies to build resilient networks of mutual listening, learning, self-care, and support as a way to drive environmental and social change.

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Rising with Roots: Courage, Conviction, and Community in this Beautiful, Teetering Time
a Joanna Macy inspired retreat
Friday, June 2nd, 2017 - Wednesday, June 7th, 2017 at Hallelujah Farm (98-42 Bradley Rd, Chesterfield, NH, 03443). Registration due by May 1st, 2017. Cost varies and is on a sliding scale: Please click here for more information or to register. 
Sign-ups now open for Joanna Macy-inspired retreat in June. Facilitated by Kirstin Edelglass and colleagues. Scholarships available for young adults (ages 18-30) who want to be part of the fourth Earth Leadership Cohort. That cohort will begin by participating in this multi-generational "Rising with Roots" retreat and then have additional trainings in facilitating the Work That Reconnects. For more information please visit http://interhelpnetwork.org/elcivprogamdescription-docx/.

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LOOKING AHEAD

Naomi Klein Study/Action Group 
a Post Oil Solutions project
Summer/Fall 2017

Post Oil Solutions is  organizing a study/action group on Naomi Klein’s latest book No Is Not Enough: Resisting Trump's Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need, that will be published on June 13, 2017. We will begin the study/action group in September so as to avoid the inevitable interruptions of the summer months when people are generally away or otherwise occupied with gardens, and all kinds of summer fun.
A website for No Is Not Enough says the book “reveals, among other things, how Trump's election was not a peaceful transition, but a corporate takeover, one using deliberate shock tactics to generate wave after wave of crises and force through radical policies that will destroy people, the environment, the economy, and national security. This book is the toolkit for shock resistance, showing all of us how we can break Trump's spell and win the world we need.”

Only 2 spaces left, waiting to be claimed! 

If you are interested in being a part of this study/action group, please consider the following suggestions:
•Definitely let me know by return e-mail ([email protected]) ASAP.
•Include in your message the early evenings of those days of the week that generally work best for you.
•This group would meet every other week on the evening and at the time that is finally agreed upon.
•I’m looking for no more than 12 participants; if more than that number express interest, I will try to organize a 2nd group.
•Put your order in now at Everyone’s Books for a copy; perhaps begin reading over the Summer.
•I will create a mailing list of interested parties and send updates about the the study/action group as it develops.

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STANDING REGULAR MEETINGS

350Brattleboro Regular Meetings
1st and 3rd Wednesdays (Leadership Team) in the Brattleboro Food Co-op Community Room (1 Canal Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301). 6pm-8pm.