MN GLBTA Campus Alliance Spring Dinner

(We have 2 tables, please let Sidney know ASAP by emailing glbt@metrostate.edu if you are interested in attending)

The 2nd Annual Spring Dinner will be held on April 4th, 2008

The MN Campus Alliance Spring Dinner is an annual gathering of students, staff, faculty, alumni, and community members from college and university campuses from across the state. Held at a different campus each year, the Spring Dinner is an opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of those doing GLBTA campus work, to share best practices, and to network with one another.

Social Hour & Tretter Collection,

6:00pm - 7:00pmDinner & Program, 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Keynote: Farheen Hakeem

• Educator, community organizer, and advocate for social justice, Farheen Hakeem joins our MN GLBTA Campus Alliance event with a strong "Get Out the Vote" message promoting inclusive and progressive politics with a pro-GLBT stance in this important election year. Born and raised in Chicago, Farheen Hakeem moved to Minneapolis in 1999. Farheen has worked as a teacher and previously she was a strong third-party candidate for both Mayor of Minneapolis and Hennepin County Commissioner. Community advocacy is vital to Farheen's pro-inclusion stance, as she is affiliated with the Muslim Girls Initiative for the Girl Scout Council, policy advocacy with Grasstops Inc, and the MN Adoption Resources Network. We thank Farheen for serving as our keynote speaker for this event.
  

Entertainment: Tori Fixx

• A Minneapolis treasure, Tori Fixx is one of the first openly gay national hip-hop recording artists. A member of the pioneer hip-hop group, Rainbow Flava, Tori's success has launched in the Midwest with 6 solo albums, including "Black.Out," "Marry Me," and "Code Red." Tori has headlined the national HomoRevolution Tour for GLBT hip-hop artists. Media credits include the Tyra Banks Show, CNN with Paula Zahn, and he was selected as a featured pioneer in the homo-hop documentary, "Pick Up The Mic" regularly shown on Logo. Tori gives back to the GLBT community, serving as a member of Minneapolis' Gay & Lesbian Amateur Sports Society and the Twin Cities Goodtimes Softball League. Every attendee at the MN GLBTA Campus Alliance Spring Dinner will receive 1 of 300 Limited Edition CDs solely created for this statewide college event, courtesy of Tori. These CDs will feature some of his more political songs, in accordance the theme of 2008 as an election year. Listen to his hits at www.myspace.com/torifixx!

Featuring a display from the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies at the University of Minnesota

Location:

North Hennepin Community College 1st Floor,

Campus Center

7411 85th Avenue North

Brooklyn Park, MN 55445

Driving DirectionsMaps

Sponsors:

• North Hennepin Community College
• GLBT Alliance
• Diversity & Multiculturalism
• Diversity Council
  

There will be gender neutral restrooms available at this event.

Opportunity to Get involved in Planning National GLBT Conference

Hello friends, activists and educators,

Some of you may know that I am involved with the planning of a 2009 queer college leadership and social justice Summit. The Stonewall Campus Leadership Summit will be held June 2009 at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities Campus. The Summit is a program of the Minnesota GLBTA Campus Alliance, a group that works for equality and justice on issues of gender and sexuality on college campuses in the state of Minnesota helping to create welcoming and affirming campuses for GLBTA students, staff and faculty.
The Summit was born out of momentum following the 2007 Midwest BLGTA College Conference here in Minnesota. Many of us felt we needed more; we wanted to take our activism to the next step. We envisioned a space where student activists, the future of our social justice movements, could come together and polish our leadership and activism skills. The Summit will not be just another queer campus conference; it will be a 4-day activist community that prepares leaders to take action in their community.
40 years after Stonewall, college leaders will have a chance to revitalize the movement by honoring the past, looking to the future and preparing ourselves to organize at the intersection of our many identities. Our hope is that participants will leave The Summit as stronger campus leaders who are prepared to continue their social justice work in broader communities after graduation.
Initial planning conversations have taken place during the last year, but now is the time to get the details set. I am seeking to create a programming committee who can help to prepare curriculum and programs for The Summit. I highly respect the work you all have done and would love for you to be a part of this process. Are you interested in helping to plan The Summit? The Summit needs experienced educators and activists like you to create the strongest programming possible.
Once I have compiled a list of folks interested in helping with this process I will send out a meeting survey to schedule the first programming committee meeting. I hope you will be able to help with this effort. Please let me know by April 1 if you are interested in being a part of the programming committee. Feel free to forward this to anyone you know who may be interested in this work.

Thank you very much,
Alfonso Wenker
Director of Programming
Stonewall Campus Leadership Summit
Minnesota GLBTA Campus Alliance
www.mncampusalliance.org/summit

Volunteer Oppurtunity

Dear Friends at Metro:

I was hoping that we could get interested staff and students of Lavender Bridge and Metro State to serve this year as ambassadors for our upcoming Dining Out for Life, April 24, 2008. We have 134 restaurants that are participating this year with some doing breakfast, lunch and/or dinner. We will need nearly 400 ambassadors that day.

An ambassador serves as a representative of The Aliveness Project at the restaurant performing the following tasks:

invite all your friends, faith community, work, school, etc. to dine at your restaurant (thereby filling it)
welcome all diners that day
work about 4 hours (plus a mandatory 1 hour training)
help the restaurant have a smooth and exciting time (I’ve bussed tables, greeted people, poured water, etc to help the restaurant)
register diners for the prize drawings while asking them to donate
Answer any questions someone might have about The Aliveness Project or Dining Out for Life.

We find that about 85% of folks know it’s Dining Out for Life and that’s why they came out. It makes the job very easy. As mentioned above there is a mandatory training so that you feel like you’re prepared for the task. Those times can be seen where you register to become an ambassador (http://www.aliveness.org/dol-volunteer.htm). We have a variety of times and dates available over the next couple of weeks.

Please let me know if you have any questions. If nothing else, eat out that day at one or more of the restaurants. Dine Out. Do Good.

Thank you,

Tim


Mark your calendarfor DINING OUT FOR LIFEon Thursday, April 24, 2008.ALL YOU HAVE TO DONATE IS YOUR APPETITE!Invite your friends and family to dine out at one of over 100 participating restaurants--for breakfast, lunch or dinner,and a portion of the proceedswill be donated to The Aliveness Project! Tim Marburger612-822-7946, extension 204

Come to OutFront Minnesota's justFair Lobby Day

If you don't have time to volunteer but do have time to come to the Capitol - register for OutFront Minnesota's justFair Lobby Day here!

OutFront Minnesota makes it easy for you to attend.

See carpool and bus schedule here.

OutFront Minnesota makes it easy for you to talk to your lawmaker.
OutFront Minnesota makes it easy to get educated on the issues.
OutFront Minnesota makes it easy and fun to be part of the Rally for Fairness.

OutFront Minnesota's justFair Lobby Day
Stand OUT. Live OUT. Speak OUT.

Lavender Bridge Meeting Notes 3-19

Here are the notes that I compiled from today's meeting.

In order to help rebuild the organization and to attract more members we have decided to pursue the following options:

• Will approach The Metropolitan to find out about the possibility of doing an article or press release about the organization
• Will continue to pursue sending and HTML email to all currently enrolled students about changes in office structure and student organization.
• Will talk to Student Senate about helping to get the word out about Lavender Bridge
• Start Blogger Page as an alternative to static website that is difficult to manage
• Schedule a Potluck for April 9th @ 4:30 pm
• Look at starting group for MN AIDS Walk on May 18th

Lavender Bridge Has a Blog!!!

This is the 1st ever Lavender Bridge Blog. We will be using this space to help connect GLBTA students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends with Metropolitan State Univeristy and beyond.