• Wreck doesn’t halt action at Castle Street center
• Local gathering held to protest against war
• Titan opponents gather outside County Commissioners meeting
• Boarded Up: Damaged Community Action Center gets a beautiful band-aid
• Neighbors come together to build garden on Castle Street

Here’s a video from WWAY of a Critical Mass ride last spring.

Come out this Friday (March 27th) for Wilmington’s first Critical Mass of Spring 2009! The sun stays out later now, so no worries about getting pulled over by the cops for not having lights!

Join Critical Mass on MySpace.

Critical Mass is a worldwide movement to promote the use of bicycles as a viable means of transportation. It has arisen in response to what many call the “car-culture:” an overdependence on the private automobile. It is, more than anything else, a reclamation of space, a demonstration to show that the city belongs to people and not machines. We’re not protesting, we’re CELEBRATING our vision of a preferable alternative mode of transportation in the city of Wilmington.

For those of you who couldn’t attend this months meeting, here is a quick overview of what we discussed. If I left anything out, please feel free to add it by hitting “reply all”. If you wish to help out in any of the things listed, please be in touch!

HERO FEST 2009

• be more organized this year!!! there was a lot of confusion as to which workshops were going on when and a lot of cancellations which made things even more hectic, so this year we plan on being more organized on the day of so everyone knows what is going on, when and where. (This also means we’ll need more volunteers!)
• throw fundraisers to help raise money for Hero Fest so we can help cover the costs of bands, workshop presenters, etc who will be traveling from out of town
• places to consider having the fundraisers: Juggling Gypsy, Soapbox, Bottega, Action Center
• each fundraiser will be tailored to the people who hang out at each location and integrate different aspects of what to expect at Hero Fest (workshops, bands, speakers, etc)

  Things to consider by next month’s meeting

• Secure a date at the Soapbox for the Festival. (Can anyone help with doing that?)
• start planning dates for fundraiser events.
• Call For Submissions – we want to get a head start on planning this year and make sure we reach out to as many different groups as possible. A Call For Submissions flyer will be ready by next month’s meeting for people to distribute.
• Think of things YOU want to see at Hero Fest, think of bands you want to play, groups you want to present workshops, and other events that you want to happen and bring these ideas to the next meeting. (For instance, we couldn’t get a group to come last year to present on Radical Mental Health, so this year let’s make it happen!)
• Remember, this festival is for YOU!

COMMUNITY GARDEN

• plans to start a community garden in the space next to the Action Center
• come up with a written agreement to use the space. A draft of the proposal will be ready for next month’s meeting.
• If anyone is interested in getting involved, please be in touch.
• considering an HERB fest in the future

TREK TO RE-ENERGIZE AMERICA

• this is a bike ride to DC which will take place over the summer. For more information: http://trektoreenergize.org/
• spaghetti dinner fundraiser for supplies on February 13th @ the Action Center (more details to follow)
• Again, if you are interested, please reply and you’ll be put in touch with the right people.

FOOD NOT BOMBS

• Food Not Bombs will cook on January 31st (since the RRFM falls on Feb 1st)
• Cooking will be at Liz’s house (Liz, you’re still on for this right? can you email me your address?)
• A reminder email will be sent later this month.
• NEED KITCHEN FOR FUTURE MONTHS. we want to keep things fun by cooking at a different house each month. If you can provide your kitchen, please reply and let me know what month you’re available or if any month is good, we’ll just queue you up.

BE YR OWN QUEERO

• this is a spin off of BYOH which focuses on gay rights. for more information check out www.beyrownqueero.com
• Check out BYOQ in this week’s Encore magazine! http://encorepub.com/articles.php?i=read&article_id=359&section_id=3

SPREADING THE WORD
it’s awesome that we are doing all of these events and projects, but its even more awesome when we reach out to more and more people. Be Yr Own Hero is entirely made up of volunteers who are passionate about creating a strong and sustainable community. Any way that you can spread the word about any of these events is helpful in so many ways.

A pre-made flyer of all RRFM dates of 2009 can be found below, but please feel free to make your own flyer if you’d like:
http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/61/l_333bb32f83154f9fb0d1fe9b5347d9b2.jpg

For those of you who missed the BYOH meeting this month, here’s a quick wrap up. Is anyone interested in planning a holiday party? If so, please contact Liz at wearejustmortalsouls (at) yahoo.com or just hit reply all and share your ideas!

Really Really Free Market
- RRFM will be moved to the FIRST SUNDAY of each month and will be held at the COMMUNITY ACTION CENTER (4th and Castle)
- Lynn will alter the flyers to reflect this information
- Gray and Denny will make copies
- We need people to help distribute flyers. any UNCW/CFCC students interested in passing/posting flyers around campus?
- next RRFM date: January 4th @ 12:noon

Food Not Bombs
- Since the RRFM date has moved, so has the FnB. Cooking will be the NIGHT BEFORE the RRFM. and serving on the FIRST SUNDAY of each month at the RRFM.
- Does anyone want to step up and become a main FnB organizer? Please let us know!

John Cranford’s Photography Exhibit: A Benefit for SEACC
- December 19th 6-9pm
- John Cranfords photographs of the Black River Farm featuring heroes Noel & Danielle.
- A portion of proceeds with go towards the Southeastern Alliance for Community Change
- more info & RSVP: http://movement.meetup.com/57/calendar/9307041
- John’s website: http://john-cranford.com

NEXT MONTHS MEETING:
January 14th (2nd Wednesday of the month) @ 7:00pm at the Community Action Center
Please add it to your calendar: http://movement.meetup.com/57/calendar/9311950/

If you have any ideas, would like to help out in anyway or have an event to share, please comment!