Sun, Jun. 18, 2017 ⁄ 2:00–4:30pm

Municipal Research Group: Second Assembly

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We need a new way of doing politics, not just new politicians:

A politics that is really by and for the people.

A politics that works to combat economic inequality.

A politics that works for the common good.

A feminized politics, driven by collective intelligence and concrete action.

A politics with racial justice at its heart.

A participatory politics, where people have power more than once every four years.
An open source, flexible politics, that can be adapted to the contexts of our big cities and our rural communities.

An ethical politics, with zero tolerance for corruption and cronyism.

Join us on Sunday, June 18 @ 2pm for our second meeting on Municipalism. We will be meeting at, of course, The Future (2223 E 35th St).

During this meeting, we’ll get to know each other and discuss a draft statement of principles (quoted above) being written by US activists working with Barcelona en Comú international to define municipalism in a way that’s relevant and responsive to the US context.

We’ll use this meeting to talk with each other and to read, discuss, reflect and critique the document. We’ll send this feedback back to the working group as an illustration of the participatory politics we are striving to create.

A full first draft is still being prepared. We will distribute it before the meeting.

Time / Location

When:

Sunday, June 18
2pm

Where:

The Future
2223 E 35th St
Minneapolis, MN 55407

See you at the Future!

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Didn’t get the memo? What is Municipalism?

As we slip deeper into a presidential crisis, we direly need new social and political ideas. Municipalism is a social movement inspired by the idea of creating a new relationship between people and power: Municipalism isn’t about electing better politicians. Municipalism is about changing the relationship between institutions, social movements and citizens. Elected representatives are just the institutional branch of a movement that is based in the streets and neighborhoods, where the real power resides. Municipal movements work both inside and outside of institutions, building dual power and creating concrete solutions. Municipalism depends on active, organized and independent social movements that support representatives to enact their demands – and push them when they don’t… Find out more by coming to the meeting.

· Resident Weirdo· ∞

Poster

The shop was closed, for the most part, the last few days. It was the kids spring break and we went to visit my family, the day following our great Municipalism assembly on the MidTown Greenway with Alan Moore. I closed up the shop in high spirits, but I can’t deny that I’ve returned feeling a little low.

All throughout my childhood, like so many others my age on the tail-end of the Cold War, I felt like the bombs could drop at any moment. Annihilation was not a possibility, but a promise yet to be fulfilled. In an essay I wrote a few years back, I wrote:

“Somehow within our conversation Erika and I started to discuss ideas around uncertainty, fear, everyday terror, and simply the plain unease of the unfamiliar in mass, and this evoked for the both of us our states of feeling in relation to being a kid… It may seem odd to anyone growing up post-1989 but the underlying feeling of ‘maybe today’s the day’ seemed ever present.”

This “everyday terror” is, of course, a familiar trope, and atomic bombs are simply its most intersectional weapon. This terror isn’t unique to nuclear war. Nuclear war is simply its endgame. A well oiled system dispenses terror bespoke, tailoring our fears as a form of control for various publics based on race, gender, class, ethnicity… Nonetheless, the bomb is one-size-fits-all.

Posters

I want to find middle ground though. Facing not the reality, but the existential threat of nuclear war, how does one confront the problems and desires of home and neighborhood through a lens of hope and togetherness? How to avoid the nihilism of the “what if…?” I know there’s an answer, a compelling proposition to suggest that, if we all focus intently on where we’re at we’ll get through this to a better place. It’s not an easy road to travel. If anything, that’s a certainty.

As one method of working through these feelings I made this poster this afternoon. Feel free to stop in and take one.

· Resident Weirdo· ∞

Fri, May. 13, 2016 ⁄ 7:30–9:00pm

Book Release: We Believe in Infinite Intelligence by Lacey Prpic Hedtke

IMG_2699“This is a little of what I’ve learned through talking to Spiritualists, researching the religion, looking at it through art, and practicing mediumship and healing. I’m also interested in the religion and its relationship with photography–both grew up around the same time (March 31, 1848 is the official anniversary of Modern Spiritualism), and photography is recognized as officially starting on January 7, 1839.

It feels good to be connected to a history of a religion that has been feminist and anti-racist from the start.” – from We Believe in Infinite Intelligence by Lacey Prpic Hedtke

 

Let’s celebrate South MPLS Society Librarian and resident Beyond Repair Spiritualist and weirdo, Lacey Prpic Hedtke’s new – and quite hefty booklet – We Believe in Infinite Intelligence. It’s Lacey’s own personal guide to Spiritualism here, in the 21st century, all coming from her own long engaged experiences with the practice.
Along with useful histories and tools, the booklet comes with amazing Risograph printed 19th c Spiritualist photographs.

Booklets and posters will be available. Chanting, snacks, spirit songs! After 8pm we’ll move to Eastlake Brewery for more revelry and kombucha or beer on tap.

· Resident Weirdo· ∞