Windham County Action Network (WeCAN)

"Every minute of every hour of every day you are making the world, just as you are making yourself, and you might as well do it with generosity and kindness and style."
Rebecca Solnit (b.1961)
Rebecca Solnit is an American writer that has written on a variety of subjects, including feminism, the environment, politics, place, and art

     We'd like to extend a thank you to all those who wrote in this past week to tell us how much they appreciated our Tips for Winter Activism piece in last week's Weekly Email Update. Our neighbor, John Hagen, is currently enrolled in Zoom (a webinar and video chat application) with a subscription that allows the delegates of the Windham Democratic Committee to attend committee meetings via video; he would like extend his access to the WeCAN community organizers for use. The Committee is actively promoting this video based alternative to reduce the carbon footprint of activities and to highlight the idea of seeking alternatives to driving to events. 
     If there is a group that would like to test out Zoom, John would be happy to set up information sessions and orientations to make this a comfortable and practical alternative. You can contact John at [email protected], call him at 802-251-0777, or text him at 802-380-9756 to take him up on his wonderful offer!
     We thank John so much for his generosity of resources and time and if your group or organization does take him up on his offer, please let WeCAN know so we can include the link to your Webinar in our Weekly Email Update. 
      Have a wonderful week, WeCAN friends. We look forward to seeing you at an event or meeting in the near future! 

HAPPENING THIS WEEK, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25th, 2019-SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1st, 2019

Brattleboro Community Thanksgiving
hosted by Brattleboro Annual Community Thanksgiving
Thursday, November 28th, 2019 at St. Michael’s Catholic School (48 Walnut Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301). 12pm-5pm.
Come have a family style Thanksgiving Dinner with your community. Free of Charge, open to everyone!

______

Protest Vigil at TD Bank
sponsored by Post Oil Solutions
Friday, November 29th 2019 (and every Friday) at TD Bank Brattleboro (215 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT). In front of the building. 12pm-1pm. Signs will be provided
TD is a major investor in Tar Sands. TD helps to fund the Dakota Access Pipeline. What You Can 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 in this era of global warming and climate change to develop sustainable, resilient , collaborative, and socially just communities leading to a self- and community-sufficient post petroleum society.

______

Restorative Justice of Southern VT: Can Restorative
Practice Be a Balm for Troubled Times?
sponsored by RCJSV
Saturday, November 30th, 2019 at Moore Free Library (3 West St, Newfane, VT, 05345). 1pm-3pm. Open to the public. 
In these days of polarization, mistrust and faulty communication, can restorative practice be a way to navigate the roiling waters and even make an occasional landing on a friendly shore?
Restorative Community Justice of Southern Vermont is sponsoring a talk about restorative practices: What are they? How can they help our cultural/political stalemates? Is it easy and possible for us to learn these practices and put them to use? Can a never-Trumper and a my- Trump-right-or-wronger have a disagreement and still remain friends?
Dan DeWalt will be hosting this discussion, along with some introducing the notion of restorative practices and giving attendees a chance to put some of these precepts to practice.

______

UPCOMING EVENTS

US Immigration Policy in Historical Perspective
hosted by Vermont Humanities Council
Wednesday, December 4th, 2019 at Brooks Memorial Library (224 Main Street, Brattleboro, Vt, 05301). 7pm-8:30pm.
One would think that current anxieties about immigration in the US have never been more intense, but history teaches us otherwise. Dartmouth professor Richard Wright examines the present-day contradictions of US immigration policy and places them in historical perspective. Part of the Vermont Humanities First Wednesdays free lecture series.

______

Greenfield Harmony Holiday Concert to Benefit
led by Mary Cay Brass
Community Asylum Seekers Project (CASP)
Saturday, December 21st, 2019 at the Wesley Methodist Church (98 North Maple Street, Hadley, MA). 4pm. Admission is $15, children under 12 are free. For more information about the concert, the choir, or the director go to www.marycaybrass.com. For more information about CASP please go to www.caspvt.org.
Greenfield Harmony is a unique, multi-generational choir known for its eclectic mix of music from diverse cultural musical heritages.
The choir will present soulful and thrilling songs of joy, love and peace, as well as songs for social justice, from the Balkans, Israel, the British Isles, South Africa, Sweden and the Republic of Georgia.
Every Greenfield Harmony concert is a benefit for a local or global peace initiative. This year’s concert will assist the Community Asylum Seekers Project. Based in Southern Vermont, CASP’s mission is to provide basic needs and a supportive community for those in the process of seeking asylum in the U.S. www.caspvt.org.

______

LGBTQIA+ Allies Youth Yule Dance
sponsored by Outright Vermont
January 3rd, 2020 at The Root Social Justice Center (The Whetstone Studio for the Arts, 28 Williams Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301). 7pm-11pm.
Like in Goblet of Fire, but with fewer straight/cis people. 

______

RESOURCE FOR WeCAN: Rapid Response Text Alert System
When WeCAN began, Song & Solidarity set up a Rapid Response Text Alert System for WeCAN Groups. Directions for signing up are on WeCAN's website, here: https://www.wecantogether.net/rapid_response. We are grateful to Song and Solidarity for providing this service.

______

STANDING REGULAR MEETINGS  

Women Veterans Weekly Coffee and Tea Social
Thursday Mornings at Brattleboro Legion Post 5 Inc. (32 Linden Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301). 9am-10am.
All female veterans are invited to join in the Women Veterans group coffee held at the American Legion.  All women veterans are welcome. You do not need to be a Legion member.

______

Youth 4 Change
Meetings are held on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of the month from 5:30pm-8pm. 
For more information please contact Youth 4 Change at [email protected].
Agenda:
5:30pm: Drop in homework time and art making
6:00pm: Food
6:30pm: Meeting and Organizing
Youth 4 Change is for local-area youth 12-22 interested in political organizing around local/state/national social justice issues that are important to them. Brattleboro area advocates and educators are holding a space, and assisting youth in building a strong personal tool kit to organize for change. Using a variety of creative methods, we aim to enable youth with tools for resilience, courage and compassion, while fostering their ability to speak up about issues that matter to them, and to take action in the name of love and liberation for all people.  Come explore issues of racial, economic and gender justice through art, movement, first-hand accounts and contemplative practices. Connect with area youth around the issues that matter to you and strengthen your tool kit for action! 

______

Windham County NAACP Regular Meetings
Monthly community meetings are held on the third Thursday of every month at The Root Center for Social Justice (The Whetstone Studio for the Arts, 28 Williams Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301) on the First Floor from 6pm-7pm. For more information please email [email protected]. All are welcome. 
The meetings are open to anyone interested in racial justice. The Mission of the NAACP is to secure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons.

______

Brattleboro Common Sense Open Meeting and Orientation for New Volunteers
Every Sunday at 16 Washington Street (Brattleboro, VT, 05301). 10:30am. For more information please call 802.490.9363 or go to www.BrattleboroCommonSense.org.
Come and check out Brattleboro's kick-ass group that makes global issues local. 
This summer our proposal for renewable-sourced municipal electricity and our petition for a sustainability coordinator were approved, but other terms of our Climate Crisis forum and common sense conservation lost their first vote in March. Brattleboro voters also approved our Youth Vote Amendment in March.
CURRENT AGENDA :
We are very glad to improve our unique and aggressive DECLARATION of CLIMATE EMERGENCY with Selectboard input that sets all Americans equal across the political divide, establishing compassion and unity for the sake of climate rescue; Local Wall Street Tax; police safety; basic social research
BACKGROUND : in 2010 EMDOVY v Brattleboro: Superior Court order that ends censorship of petitions by the Selectboard; in 2014 We promoted Brattleboro's Declaration that climate change is a real and human-made, and that carbon be listed as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act.

______

ONGOING EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING 

Indigo Radio
Sundays at 12pm on Brattleboro Community Radio 107.7FMTo 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. 

______

     Thank you for your activism this and every week, WeCAN friends, and we wish those who celebrate a very Happy Turkey Day. Cheers! 

Joanna and Leslie 
{{settings.site.full_url}}