study sessions on race, class, queerness and the bakery

[Bread Uprising Bakery]

Hi all --

How do we continue to build the bakery
as a multi-class, multi-racial, queer space?
Who is the bakery and who is it for?

At the last assembly and in the bread team there has been a lot of
discussion about questions like: Who is the bakery? What communities is
the bakery rooted in? How can we come together as a community to talk
about our individual class positions and make decisions about how to
distribute resources?

These questions have really concrete implications for how the bakery grows
-- how should we find new members? Where should we do outreach? How can we
ensure that the bakery stays a multi-racial and multi-class space?

In the new season which started this week, we could have added a second
baking day to open up more space in the bakery for new members. However,
the bread team decided that we should devote the extra time we would have
spent baking to study, reflection and discussion about these questions, so
that we can start off the second year of the bakery ready to grow in a way
that strengthens our commitment to building a diverse and rooted food
justice community.

So, starting the week after Thanksgiving, we'll be meeting every Thursday
from 10 AM to 1 PM in bakers study sessions. We've drawn up a schedule of
readings, writing prompts and discussions, which is at the end of this
email, and is also online (with PDFs of most of the readings) at
http://breaduprising.wordpress.com/internal-study-group-on-race-class-queerness-and-bread/

We'd like to invite all of you to join us in this study process as you're
interested and able -- whether that means being there in person, doing
reading and writings along with us and sending your thoughts, or just
checking in with us to make sure we're keeping on track with our schedule
:). We recognize that the sessions aren't scheduled at the most convenient
time; we chose Thursdays 10 - 1 PM because it was the time we otherwise
would have spent baking and one of the few times the two bakers could
commit to meeting regularly. If those of you who work 9-5 want to come
join us on your lunch break, please do!

Please send any suggestions or feedback on the syllabus as well. We
especially could use more ideas of organizations that have membership
models which are explicitly oriented towards building multi-racial and
multi-class membership.

Love,
Noah and Tim

PS. Thanks especially to Carly, Alexis and Sam for their suggestions on
what to include in the syllabus..

PPS. If you're interested in joining the study sessions but haven't been
as involved in the assemblies or other bakery discussions, let us know so
we can fill you in on what's been going on so far...

---

Winter-Spring 2011 Bread Study Group
http://breaduprising.wordpress.com/internal-study-group-on-race-class-queerness-and-bread/

Goals

    * Come up with a model for membership that is multi-racial,
multi-class and sustainable. What does it mean to be a bakery member? Who
becomes a member and who doesn’t? How can we be attentive to
internal racial/class dynamics?
    * Working definitions of class, food justice, and racial justice for
the bakery and clarity around how queerness fits into the bakery
    * Tentatively answer the question of where the bakery is and should be
rooted, and use that to develop an outreach plan
    * Explore potential models for resource-sharing that are cross-class
and sustainable
    * Ferment discussions around food justice, race, class and sexuality
amongst bakery membership, bread team members and broader community. Keep
written records of our thoughts and discussions in a format that can be
shared
    * Make intentional connections with communities and community
organizations towards our vision for building the bakery.

*note: We may update dates/times on this syllabus over the course of the
next several months, so please check in with us to confirm if you want to
attend specific sessions*

Week 1 - Intro
Thursday, Dec. 2, 10 AM – 1 PM

    * “Coming out about money: cost-sharing across class lines”
    * First chapter of Bell Hooks’ Where We Stand: Class Matters
    * “Lucky, a conversation in many parts” from Queerly Classed

Week 2 – Legacies
Thursday, Dec. 9, 10 AM – 1 PM

Listening session with Durham elder (TBA) about histories of working
class, black & Latino community institutions in Durham (and NC).

Week 3 – Where is the bakery at now with respect to class & race?
Thursday, Dec. 16, 10 AM – 1 PM

Working to answer Class Action’s “Some Questions for Our Organizations”
and some questions (from Tema?) about being an anti-racist organization.
Writing assignment: What are the questions that we want to ask ourselves?
Get ppl from Bread Team as much as possible.

Week 4 – Co-ops, Capital and the Solidarity Economy
Thursday, Dec. 30, 10 AM – 1 PM

    * video: Work, Dignity and Social Change
    * Chapter on co-op businesses from “Economic Co-operation among Negro
Americans”, 1907
    * Chapters 1 and 7 from the Color of Wealth
    * Pages from Ella Baker auto-biography on co-ops
    * Write-up about Arizmendi co-op bakery in San Francisco
    * Other Economies are Possible

Week 5 – Models for membership
Thursday, Jan. 6, 10 AM – 1 PM

Conversation/Interview/Listening session with organizations that have
strategized around issues of membership before. Ideas: SONG, Bull City
SONG, El Kilombo, Stone House. Focused on their membership processes

Week 6 – Where is the bakery rooted?
Thursday, Jan. 13, 10 AM – 1 PM

Writing/discussion: internal conversation about where the bakery is rooted
and neighborhood organizing.

Week 7 – More on class
Thursday, Jan. 20, 10 AM – 1 PM

    * book: Class Matters: Cross-Class Alliance Building for Middle Class
Activists
    * Letters about Poverty
    * The Suspension of Fear
    * Class Stuff
    * personal narrative from Queerly Classed

Week 8 – Membership processes
Thursday, Jan. 27, 10 AM – 1 PM

Writing specifically focused around drafting a membership process for the
bakery

Week 9 – Outreach
Thursday, Feb. 3, 10 AM – 1 PM

Outreach/convos with potential partner organizations (TBD)

Week 10 – Food justice reading
Thursday, Feb. 10, 10 AM – 1 PM

Readings from different food movements (e.g. Zapatista, Via Campesina; TBD)

Week 11 – Food justice writing
Thursday, Feb. 17, 10 AM – 1 PM

Writing/discussion about food/race/class/sexuality.