The calendar shows events we are part of, and events we are sponsoring. For more events of interest, check out our partners Climate Council of Kansas City and Deep Roots KC.
Do you have an event we should know about? Send us a message.
For the March JEDI Book Club, we will be reading Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer and discussing it on Mighty Networks.
“I give daily thanks for Robin Wall Kimmerer for being a font of endless knowledge, both mental and spiritual.” —RICHARD POWERS, NEW YORK TIMES
Here is the Goodreads Summary:
As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these lenses of knowledge together to show that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings are we capable of understanding the generosity of the earth and learning to give our own gifts in return.
Please feel welcome to attend, even if you missed earlier book club meetings. This is an open group, and we understand that our lives are busy and not everyone will be able to attend each month!
The JEDI Book Club is facilitated by Resilient Activists Brenda Bennett-Pike and Anne Melia. We hope you will join us!
Also, check out Robin Wall Kimmerer exemplifying what she teaches in her book in this beautiful video made by The Commons KU.
GIFTS OF THE LAND | A Guided Nature Tour with Robin Wall Kimmerer | The Commons KU – YouTube
For our April JEDI Book Club, we will be reading, You’ll Never Believe What Happened To Lacey, Crazy Stories About Racism by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar. Here is a link to the Goodreads Summary.
Please note that for April, we will be meeting on April 11th, the 2nd Tuesday of the month, rather than the 3rd Tuesday!
The book is written by writer and performer on Late Night with Seth Meyers Amber Ruffin and her sister Lacey Lamar. They share stories of racism that Lacey faces everyday living in Omaha, Nebraska. While the racism faced by Lacey isn’t really very funny, the book is infused with humor, and some of the stories would be unbelievable if they weren’t true. I really enjoyed the book. It was a fairly quick read, and a nice departure from what we have been reading.
(Photo Credit: Goodreads)
Please feel welcome to attend, even if you missed earlier book club meetings. This is an open group, and we understand that our lives are busy and not everyone will be able to attend each month!
The JEDI Book Club is facilitated by Resilient Activists Brenda Bennett-Pike and Anne Melia. We hope you will join us!
For our May book club, we will be reading, My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem. This book is not an easy read, but it deeply impacted me in the way that it talks about how the trauma of slavery and racism impacts white, black, and police bodies.
Goodreads says, “In this groundbreaking work, therapist Resmaa Menakem examines the damage caused by racism in America from the perspective of body-centered psychology. He argues this destruction will continue until Americans learn to heal the generational anguish of white supremacy, which is deeply embedded in all our bodies. Our collective agony doesn’t just affect African Americans. White Americans suffer their own secondary trauma as well. So do blue Americans—our police.”
Here is the link to the full description by Goodreads
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Please feel welcome to attend, even if you missed earlier book club meetings. This is an open group, and we understand that our lives are busy and not everyone will be able to attend each month!
The JEDI Book Club is facilitated by Resilient Activists Brenda Bennett-Pike and Anne Melia. We hope you will join us!
(Photo Credit: Goodreads)