Weekly Update 03.05.18
"You must make women count as much as men; you must have an equal standard of morals; and the only way to enforce that is through giving women political power so that you can get that equal moral standard registered in the laws of the country. It is the only way."
Emmeline Pankhurst
SAVE THE DATE for the next WeCAN Cafe! Clear your calendars on Thursday March 15th, 2018 from 7pm-9pm and join us at 118 Elliot (118 Elliot Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301) for an evening of storytelling, discussion, food, music, and poetry about racial justice designed to build community and help activists “fill their spirits” through information sharing, celebration and connection. This event is free and open to the public. For more info, contact [email protected]. We hope to see you there!
HAPPENING THIS WEEK MONDAY, MARCH 5th, 2018 - SUNDAY, MARCH 11th, 2018
Our Time to Shine, In Celebration of International Women's Day
hosted by Downtown Brattleboro
Monday, March 5th, 2018 at Pliny Park (Corner of High Street and Maine Street, Downtown Brattleboro, VT, 05301) from 8:45am-9:05am.
We need YOU for a striking photo that will be taken on Monday!
This International Women's Day is a perfect opportunity for Brattleboro to shine. Our community, which is rich with women and trans, genderqueer and gender non-conforming people will be featured in a Brattleboro Reformer story, photo and DBA press release that will go even farther.
Do you run an organization, own a business, are you an entrepreneur or creator? Are you killing it in a typically male dominated field? You need to be in this photo! We think we have impressive gender diversity that has created growth, support and innovation. Come help us share this amazing story.
Join us for a photo across Main Street to celebrate this spirit and and show our impressive number. The Brattleboro Reformer will be writing a story for International Woman's Day, March 8th and we will be sending a press release out far and wide. Share this with other women and trans, genderqueer and gender non-conforming leaders and business owners who have inspired you in our community and ask them to join us! We will meet at Pliny Park and then hold hands across Main St. during the walk cycles. If you can, please click here to contribute a short quotation for us to use in our press release. Take advantage of this and promote you and your business. These are due by Monday March 5th.
Food for thought....
-How do you think of yourself as a leader and mentor in this community?
-How we in Brattleboro share and care for this entrepreneurial spirit?
-What is inspiring about working in such a gender diversified led community?
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#MeToo Solidarity Rally on International Women's Day
Thursday, March 8th, 2018 at Pliny Park (High & Main Streets, Brattleboro, VT 05301) from 5pm-6pm.
Let's gather on International Women's Day with all our courage, strength, rage, and empathy. In #MeToo Solidarity, we'll rally against rape culture and stand with survivors of sexual assault and harassment. Meet at Pliny Park at 5 pm. Wear Red! Bring your signs and songs. Be ready to march, shout, dance and dismantle the patriarchy. All are welcome.
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Protest Vigil at TD Bank
sponsored by Post Oil Solutions
Friday, March 9th, 2018 (and every Friday) in front of TD Bank Brattleboro (215 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301). 12pm-1pm. Signs will be provided.
TD is a major investor in Tar Sands. TD helps to fund the Dakota Access Pipeline. The State of Vermont Keeps Most of Our Cash in TD. What You Can You Do (besides attending the vigils):
If you’re a TD depositor, change banks!
Founded in 2005, Post Oil Solutions is a 501c3 community organizing project in Southeastern Vermont whose mission is to help empower the people of the Central Connecticut River Valley bioregion to develop sustainable, resilient , collaborative, and socially just communities leading to a self- and community-sufficient post petroleum society. For more information please contact [email protected] or 802.869.2141.
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Talk and Discussion with Award-Winning Author Judith D. Schwartz
part of Living Earth Action Group’s regular meeting
Friday, March 9th, 2018 at the Westminster West Congregational Church (44 Church St, Westminster West, Vermont 05346). 5pm-6:30pm. For more information please email [email protected].
Judith D. Schwartz is the author of Cows Save the Planet and Water in Plain Sight and she will give us a global snapshot of water cycle restoration in action. For the last decade, she has researched and visited water restoration sites across the world for her book Water in Plain Sight. She'll be showing case studies from around the world where farmers, land managers, entrepreneurs and agencies decided to capture, store and repair natural water cycles and reaped tremendous benefits as a result.
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Revolution! - The Women's Film Festival Gala Event
hosted by Women's Freedom Center
Friday, March 9th, 2018 at New England Youth Theatre (100 Flat Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301). 7pm-10pm. For more information please visit womensfilmfestival.org. Tickets for the gala are $30 and are being sold now. All proceeds benefit the important work of the Women's Freedom Center.
To purchase:
Online: Go to http://womensfilmfestival.org/tickets/
Call: The Women’s Freedom Center 802-257-7364 or
Email: [email protected]
The 27th annual Women's Film Festival Gala is here and it's time for a Revolution! In honor of our exciting opening night film, Left on Pearl, our gala theme this year is revolution. Dress up as your favorite activist, be inspired by a revolutionary time period, or just rebel against patriarchal clothing standards by being your most glamorous, comfortable self!
Kicking off the Women's Film Festival, the Gala begins with a reception of champagne, wine & hors-d'oeuvres, followed by a screening of Left on Pearl. This inspiring documentary highlights a significant event in the women's movement, when hundreds of Boston area women took over a Harvard-owned building to demand a Women's Center and low-income housing for the community being displaced by the expanding university.
The full Women's Film Festival lasts for three weekends this year, running from March 9th -25th. All films are at the New England Youth Theatre. For all the info, films and schedule visit our website at http://womensfilmfestival.org/.
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Winter Farmers’ Market
sponsored by Post Oil Solutions
Saturday, March 10th, 2018 (and every Saturday through March) at the Robert H. Gibson River Garden (157 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301). 10am-2pm.
Area musicians will perform from 11am-1pm. No pets allowed. Metered parking available within walking distance. Restrooms and cafe seating available on site. Family friendly.
We are beginning our 12th Season! Join us every Saturday for vegetables, fruits and meat from local farms, a variety of baked goods, locally and regionally produced artisan crafts, and freshly prepared food in the beautiful River Garden building on Main Street in downtown Brattleboro.
EBT customers can turn $10 into $20 with CropCash
INFO: contact Market Manager, Sherry Maher, 802.869.2141, [email protected]
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Countdown: Dance, Comedy, Tears for our Future
hosted by Sobo Studio
Saturday, March 10th, 2018 at Sobo Studio (74 Cotton Mill Hl, # 346, Brattleboro, Vermont 05301). 7:30pm-9pm. Tickets are $15 general, $12 students and seniors. Purchase tickets online or at door. To make reservations and for more info please email [email protected] or call (802) 258-7378.
SoBo Studio presents Countdown: a melodramatic comedic manifesto tearing down the patriarchy through dance and theater.
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The Putney Huddle Meeting with Judge Patricia Whalen
Sunday, March 11th, 2018 at the Putney Public Library (55 Main St, Putney, VT 05346). 1:30pm-3:30pm.
All are welcome.
Agenda
1:15pm PRE-MEETING ACTIVITY: Join in creating Love Brigade Postcards for victims of hate.
1:30pm INTRO and ANNOUNCEMENTS
1:40pm BUHS STUDENTS: Share info on the Women’s March #Enough walkout on March 14th
1:45pm JUDGE PATRICIA WHALEN: Special advisor to the War Crimes Chamber at the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and from 2007 through 2012, international judge of the country’s War Crimes Chamber—the busiest war crimes court in the world will speak with us about her experiences, the steps towards and prevention of fascism.
3:10pm SISTER DISTRICT: Southern VT Sister District will be participating in a postcard drive in partnership with the Voter Participation Center (VPC) to help register voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Arizona. The goals are: to register voters in these states (with important mid-term elections) and to test the efficacy of postcarding in increasing voter registration.
Postcards and messaging details will be provided. We have 200 postcards to fill out, so please join us and help get out the vote!
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UPCOMING EVENTS
Brattleboro Union High School Walkout: “Enough! End Gun Violence”
For more information about a National School Walkout near you please check out these websites: http://act.indivisible.org/event/national-school-walkout/
https://www.actionnetwork.org/event_campaigns/enough-national-school-walkout
Wednesday, March 14th at Brattleboro Union High School (131 Fairground Road, Brattleboro, VT, 05301).
10am-10:20am.
Women’s March Youth EMPOWER is calling for students, teachers, school administrators, parents and allies to take part in a #NationalSchoolWalkout for 17 minutes at 10am across every time zone on March 14, 2018 to protest Congress’ inaction to do more than tweet thoughts and prayers in response to the gun violence plaguing our schools and neighborhoods. We need action. Students and allies are organizing the national school walkout to demand Congress pass legislation to keep us safe from gun violence at our schools, on our streets and in our homes and places of worship.
Students and staff have the right to teach and learn in an environment free from the worry of being gunned down in their classrooms or on their way home from school.
Parents have the right to send their kids to school in the mornings and see them home alive at the end of the day.
We are not safe at school. We are not safe in our cities and towns. Congress must take meaningful action to keep us safe and pass federal gun reform legislation that address the public health crisis of gun violence. We want Congress to pay attention and take note: many of us will vote this November and many others will join in 2020.
Join us in saying #ENOUGH!
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WeCAN Cafe: Fuelling Your Activist Spirit
Thursday March 15th, 2018 at 118 Elliot (118 Elliot Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301). 7pm-9pm.
An evening of storytelling, discussion, food, music, and poetry about racial justice designed to build community and help activists “fill their spirits” through information sharing, celebration and connection. Free and open to the public. For more info, contact [email protected].
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Rising of the Moon, Brattleboro: Irish Songs of Wonder, Emigration, and Resistance
sponsored by All Souls U-U Church, Asylum Seekers Project, Song & Solidarity, Act for Social Justice, Indivisible Brattleboro, The Putney Huddle, GunsenseVT
Saturday, March 17th, 2018 at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church (29 South Street, West Brattleboro, VT, 05303). 7pm. For more information please call George Carvill at (802) 490-2052 or email him at [email protected]. For advance ticketing information please click here. Admission at the door will be for a suggested donation (cash, credit or plastic) of $15-25 for adults, $10 for student/low income, $5 under 18. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. ("Be generous! Be Affordable!")
Celebrate St Patrick's Day with Charlie King, Annie Patterson, and Peter Blood at this benefit singalong concert for the Community Asylum Seekers Project. CASP is a tax deductible nonprofit whose mission is to provide basic needs and a supportive community for those in the process of seeking asylum in the U.S. Charlie King is a beloved nationally known activist, satirist and singer songwriter whose 2 dozen CDs include the 1999 "Brilliant: Songs of Ireland" album. He is this year's recipient of the Phil Ochs Award, in recognition of his music and activism for social and political justice in the spirit of Phil Ochs. Annie Patterson & Peter Blood are the creators of Rise Up Singing and the 2015 sequel Rise Again. Annie is an accomplished performer of traditional Appalachian & Celtic music. Peter Blood is the editor of Pete Seeger's autobiography Where Have All the Flowers Gone: A Singalong Memoir. The concert will combine performance and group singing - many songs will include audience participation. Bring your copy of Rise Up Singing and Rise Again if you have one. Copies will also be available to borrow or buy at the concert.
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Spring 2018 Cross Class Dialogue Circle
hosted by ACT for Social Justice; co-sponsored by Post Oil Solutions, Marlboro College Diversity and Inclusion Task Force, Youth Services, Hilltop Montessori School, and the Vermont Resource Generation Praxis Group.
Saturdays March 17th, March 31st, and April 7th, 2018 at the Rockingham Free Public Library (65 Westminster St, Bellows Falls, VT 05101) from 9am-3pm. Sign-up for the 3 day circle at www.act4socialjustice.com. FREE. Childcare, Transportation, and Lunch are provided. Please come fragrance free and nut free.
Visit www.act4socialjustice.com to see a video about the circles, to sign up, to donate, and for more detailed information. Contact us at info@act4socialjustice.com or 802-254-3400.
Economic Inequality is real and is hurting our communities. Be A Part of the Solution!
The class divide in the US is growing, and yet, we have a hard time talking about class or across class lines.
Cross Class Dialogue Circles bring together 10-15 community members with a diversity of class experiences, ranging from being homeless, to managing family foundations, and everything in between. Our goals in meeting together are to better understand class as part of an economic system, and our own experience with class and how it shows up in our daily life and communication; to learn and practice strategies for engaging with each other about difficult subjects; to learn and share practical tools for contributing to economic justice; and to build stronger community ties for economic justice. We meet these goals with courage, depth, humor, and sincerity.
We would also like to acknowledge that organizational sponsors are important in ensuring the continuation of this community education opportunity; we thank them.
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March For Government Action Against Gun Violence/ March for Our Lives in DC
Saturday, March 24th, 2018 on The Mall (Washington DC). 10am-10pm.
We are combining our efforts with March for Our Lives on the 24th of March! For more details: https://www.facebook.com/events/157161255003456/
We have all watched too many individuals, especially children, killed by senseless gun violence. While all individuals do have the right to bear Arms, the Government needs to step up and do something. This is the Anniversary of the Columbine shooting and it feels like very little has been done in the area of gun control and protecting our citizens. Please March peacefully and show that we need change now! Visit www.saveourschools.us for more information.
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March For Our Lives Montpelier, VT
Saturday, March 24th, 2018 at the Vermont State House (115 State St, Montpelier, Vermont 05602). 12pm- 2pm. Please email [email protected] if you have any questions.
Not one more. We cannot allow one more child to be shot at school. We cannot allow one more teacher to make a choice to jump in front of a firing assault rifle to save the lives of students. We cannot allow one more family to wait for a call or text that never comes. Our schools are unsafe. Our children and teachers are dying. We must make it our top priority to save these lives.
March For Our Lives is created by, inspired by, and led by students across the country who will no longer risk their lives waiting for someone else to take action to stop the epidemic of mass school shootings that has become all too familiar. In the tragic wake of the seventeen lives brutally cut short in Florida, politicians are telling us that now is not the time to talk about guns. March For Our Lives believes the time is now.
On March 24th, 2018, the kids and families of March For Our Lives will take to the streets of Washington, DC to demand that their lives and safety become a priority. The collective voices of the March For Our Lives movement will be heard.
School safety is not a political issue. There cannot be two sides to doing everything in our power to ensure the lives and futures of children who are at risk of dying when they should be learning, playing, and growing. The mission and focus of March For Our Lives is to demand that a comprehensive and effective bill be immediately brought before Congress to address these gun issues. No special interest group, no political agenda is more critical than timely passage of legislation to effectively address the gun violence issues that are rampant in our country.
Every kid in this country now goes to school wondering if this day might be their last. We live in fear.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Change is coming. And it starts now, inspired by and led by the kids who are our hope for the future. Their young voices will be heard. Stand with us on March 24. Refuse to allow one more needless death. MARCH FOR OUR LIVES!
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March for Our Lives Northampton, MA
co-sponsored by Pioneer Valley high school students, the Badass Activists of the Pioneer Valley, Indivisible Northampton, Pioneer Valley Women's March, and Progressive Pioneer Valley
Saturday, March 24th, 2018 Northampton High School (380 Elm St, Northampton, Massachusetts 01060). 12pm.
In the wake of the tragic slaughter of innocent students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Florida, the slaughter of innocent country music fans in Las Vegas, the slaughter of 26 innocent victims at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and the daily scourge of American gun violence, enough is enough.
The students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Florida have called for a nationwide day of action to protest the unending gun violence in the U.S..
We’ll meet at Northampton High School and march to Pulaski Park in downtown Northampton. We’ll hear from high school students who have been failed by politicians, gun companies, and the NRA.
The march will also feature a “lie in” in Pulaski Park to symbolize the needless deaths of high school students and other victims of American gun violence.
The days of “nothing can be done” and “thoughts and prayers” are over. It’s time for sane, rational Americans to work on multiple fronts to end the plague of American gun violence.
Join us in registering your outrage.
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GRRRLS to the Front
a fundraiser for the Women’s Action Network
Saturday March 24th, 2018 at The Stone Church (210 Main St, Brattleboro, VT 05301). 4pm-11pm.
Please contact Sierra to learn more or request a spot as a tabling organization at [email protected].
GRRRLS to the Front is a concert & consent workshop at The Stone Church March 24th from 4 - 11pm. A fundraiser for the Women's Action Team, GRRRLS will feature 10 local bands, each led by a female performer. Poetry, self-defense, and historical theater will also take place between sets.
The Women's Freedom Center & Planned Parenthood will be present tabling, and we are looking for more tablers! We will privilege organizations that have a mission based on or around gender equality, sexual health & safety, LGBTQ rights, women's empowerment, and teen issues.
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Miss Major in Conversation with Green Mountain Crossroads & The Root
hosted by The Root Social Justice Center and Green Mountain Crossroads
Friday, April 6th, 2018. Location TBD (Brattleboro, VT).
5:30pm-7pm. Doors open at 5:00pm.
Suggested donation is $10-50 at the door, no one turned away. Tickets will be sold at the door, however we are asking folks to register through the provided link so we can get a relative head count in case we need a bigger space! For more information or to sponsor the event please contact [email protected].
The one and only Miss Major is coming to town! Join Green Mountain Crossroads & The Root Social Justice Center in hosting an evening with the wonderful Miss Major Griffin-Gracy. Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, is a 73-year-old Black transgender woman who has been fighting for the rights of trans women of color for over 40 years.
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. (from the press release at missmajorfilm.com)
We will be showing clips from the incredible documentary, MAJOR! followed by a discussion between Miss Major and members of Green Mountain Crossroads and The Root Social Justice Center, focusing on building rural communities for trans communities and communities of color.
www.greenmountaincrossroads.org
www.therootsjc.org
houseofggs.org
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Incarceration in America: Immigration Detention, Part of the CAPA Symposium
Friday, May 11th – Saturday, May 12th, 2018 at the Center for the Advancement of Public Action (1 College Drive, Bennington, VT, 05201). Free and open to the public. For more information please contact [email protected] or 802-447-4267.
Panel Discussions
-General Trends in Immigration Enforcement
-Immigration Detention and Private Prisons
-Local Government and NGO Involvement
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STANDING REGULAR MEETINGS
Lost River Racial Justice, Black Lives Matter-South, and People Of Color Caucus Regular Meeting
Reoccurring racial justice organizing meetings every 2nd Monday at The Root Social Justice Center (The Whetstone Studio of the Arts, 28 Williams Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301) on the First Floor. 6pm-8pm. Childcare provided. Fragrance & nut free space.
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Youth4Change Regular Meeting
The Root Social Justice Center (The Whetstone Studio for the Arts, 28 Williams Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301). First Floor.
Youth4Change (Y4C), a program of The Root Social Justice Center, builds the leadership skills of youth ages 12-21, especially those from/in historically disenfranchised communities who want to use education, art, and action to address issues of racial, class, gender, queer, immigrant and indigenous justice.
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Alternatives to Suicide meets every Wednesday 6pm-7:30PM at the Hive Space (24 Flat St, Suite 202, Brattleboro, VT, 05301). Second Floor, up one flight of stairs.
Alternatives to Suicide is a mutual support group open to anyone who has experienced thoughts of suicide. The group is guided by a charter of values provided by the Western Mass Recovery Learning Community. The group is non-clinical and does not link suicide with illness. Participants are free to talk about and find meaning in their experiences in/on their own terms.
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VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Volunteer Sister District Soup Makers Needed
Volunteer soup chefs provide the time and the ingredients so that 100% of subscription fees went directly to support candidates. We distribute soup on the third Mondays of each month - February 19, March 19, April 16 and May 21. All soups are vegetarian, dairy free and gluten free. We need cooking volunteers each month during the weekend before distribution Monday. Volunteers receive a simple recipe the weekend before they cook and pick up containers and labels the next Friday. Soup makers cook in their own kitchens and purchase ingredients which should cost around $20/4 quarts. If you want to cook but can’t cover that expense, we will hook you up with an ingredient sponsor. Once prepared, the soup is delivered cold to our refrigerators in Putney or Brattleboro. From there, it is picked up by subscribers or donated to the Putney Food Shelf according to the subscriber’s instructions.
You can sign up to make soup as many months as you want. If you would like to cook or have questions, please email Diane Shamas at [email protected] or call 802-579-8294. We will need to know which months you’d like to cook, whether you’d like to make a single (4-5 quart) or double (8-10 quart) batch, and whether you want to pick up/drop off in Brattleboro or Putney.
A Little About Southern VT Sister District:
Subscriptions to our SisterDistrict Soup CSA raised $10,000 for progressive Democrats in strategic races! We helped elect two fine candidates, John Bell and Jennifer Foye, to the Virginia House of Delegates and our third candidate, Margaret Good, is running for Florida's House of Representatives on February 13, 2018. Read more about her here. Many many thanks to all of you who’ve cooked so far and donated the soup that makes it possible!!!
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Inclusion Center is Looking for People Who are Interested in Helping our Organization Grow and Mature in Various Directions
Inclusion Center is an amazing program that works with all people who have disabilities or medical issues, and everyone else who has an interest in being with us.
The possibilities for what Inclusion Center could be in the future are endless: A drop in center within another program! Have our own space with our doors always open. Offer classes. Offer services as well as being a drop in center! And those are just a few of our ideas!
However, in order for us to grow, we need a few more people who can either come to our board meetings (the second friday of each month at 2:00), or come to a work group each month (generally Friday mornings).
At Inclusion Center we all matter. Everyone helps make decisions. It doesn't matter if you want to join the board or just drop in as often as you can. Either way, your ideas and input matter just as much as everyone else's.
Please contact us ([email protected] or 802-387-5285) to discuss how we could work together.
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ONGOING EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING
Indigo Radio
Sundays at 12pm on Brattleboro Community Radio 107.7FM
To stream live: Visit www.wvew.org
Indigo Radio, deepening understanding and making connections! IndigoRadio is a group of area educators seeking to learn through engaging with others in our community and throughout the world. We will be talking about educational and social issues both globally and locally and connecting them to our lives and Brattleboro community. Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/indigoradiowvew/. For archive recordings of past shows: https://soundcloud.com/user-654648353
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Democracy, Eventually
WVEW 107.7FM, Brattleboro Community Radio Station
You can listen to recorded and archived episodes here: https://soundcloud.com/democracy-eventually and you can find us on Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/democracyeventually/ and on Twitter here @Democrazeee.
We are Democracy, Eventually a radio show covering local, state, and underreported national news stories from a progressive analysis. We air live on WVEW 107.7FM LP Brattleboro Community Radio Station.
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Thank you for your efforts this week, WeCAN friends. We look forward at seeing you at a meeting soon!
Ann, Joanna, and Leslie
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