Thursday, December 3, 2015
6:30-8:30pm

Agenda

Present: Anna, Briana, Sarah G., Rosa, Doris, Juli, Whitney, Nancy, Sarah F.

• Current Events/Chatting (~15 min)
  • This time was spent waiting on the baked potatoes to finish cooking.
• Check-ins (~15 min)
  • This time, we used “what’s keeping me from being fully present” or “what is taking up space in my head/heart/body.” Lots of good feedback on doing check-ins each week.
• Warm-up Activity (facilitated by Sarah G.) (~10 min)
  • Big Hug (pp. 100-101)
  • Sarah G. guided us through hugging ourselves.
• Transformative Feminist Leadership Toolkit Discussion (~45 min)
  • Quick review of pp. 77-82 (definitions, etc.)
    • Definitions:
      • 3 realms of power: public (where visible), private (relational), intimate (within ourselves)
      • 3 faces of power that operate in any of the realms:
      • visible (who is excluded from decision-making, ex. Corporations, political leaders),
    • hidden (who influences without overt authority, e.g. who we listen to),
    • invisible (shapes self-image, social attitudes, biases, ex. Media and marketing)
    • power under
    • organizations
    • deep culture or deep structure
  • Exercise 1a: Personal History with Power
    • Facilitated by Sarah F.
    • We completed a guided free-write on our relationships with power (the first time we became aware of power between people, the first time we felt powerless, which position of power we most often find ourselves in [control, subjected, equivalent], and which we are most comfortable in). Some of us then shared our reflections, and many of us related our experiences with power back to our families or romantic relationships.
• Business (~30 min)
  • How did Transgender Day of Remembrance, ThanksGIVING Eve, CoreAlign events go? Any other reports from past events?
  • Sarah G. suggested next year we have a table at the Transgender Day of Remembrance.
  • ThanksGIVING Eve went well, they met their goal. Whitney expressed that they are still in the fundraising process.
  • Briana shared on CoreAlign. Conversations about activist/social justice groups being “silos” or working separately when it seems goals could be better achieved collectively.
    • “VISION MAP/BOARD”: something that they did at CoreAlign that could be something for us to do as a group. Ex.: In a year, what would NFC look like?
  • Personality Test results
  • How could leadership and members vote on decisions going forward (re: signing TIRRC letter)?
  • T-shirt Design Competition
  • How does the website posting work, can we do a training?
    • This and Facebook moderation. Something to discuss next time.
  • Reproductive Justice Training w Cherisse Scott
  • Multicultural art event
  • Feminist lobbying training in Nashville hosted by NFC
  • Sexual Assault Center street harassment campaign
  • Gender and Incarceration 101 workshop
  • Other Business:
    • Anna helped design the Lobbying 101 conference call/webinar for Healthy and Free TN
    • We discussed splitting into working groups so that we can meet more often or if there are things we want to accomplish, we don’t all have to get together. Or people with connections/expertise in certain areas can be grouped together.
    • This stemmed from a conversation about division of labor, accountability, trust in one another, and recognizing that everyone’s strengths lie in different areas.
    • Several people expressed a desire to create a list of priorities and issues.
    • We discussed switching up the order to do business first and toolkit second. We were not all in agreement about this. If left up to the facilitator for each time, we will get a good variety in meeting styles.
• Next Meeting Briana’s house, Dec. 17th, 7pm
  • Folks were in general consensus about 7PM being a good time for the rest of our meetings.
• Wrap-up Activity (~5 min)
  • From toolkit: we stood in a circle, closed our eyes, took 3 deep breaths/observed how we were feeling, then opened our eyes and acknowledged the humanity of each person present
• Meeting Evaluations