We’re reading On Earth We are Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong.

The OSG Book Club meets every Tuesday at 7 PM. All are welcome! You’re welcome to purchase the book yourself but it is not required since the host will read out loud in the group.

If you’d like to join, just register once to receive the Zoom link, and we’ll send it automatically thereafter.

About the book:

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family’s history that began before he was born — a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam — and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation. At once a witness to the fraught yet undeniable love between a single mother and her son, it is also a brutally honest exploration of race, class, and masculinity. Asking questions central to our American moment, immersed as we are in addiction, violence, and trauma, but undergirded by compassion and tenderness, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is as much about the power of telling one’s own story as it is about the obliterating silence of not being heard.

With stunning urgency and grace, Ocean Vuong writes of people caught between disparate worlds, and asks how we heal and rescue one another without forsaking who we are. The question of how to survive, and how to make of it a kind of joy, powers the most important debut novel of many years.

*Note: Sign-up is mandatory. We will communicate any changes via email and our Whatsapp group here.

This week for our Social Justice Club we’re reading and discussing the book Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong. “Poet and essayist Cathy Park Hong fearlessly and provocatively blends memoir, cultural criticism, and history to expose fresh truths about racialized consciousness in America. Part memoir and part cultural criticism, this collection is vulnerable, humorous, and provocative—and its relentless and riveting pursuit of vital questions around family and friendship, art and politics, identity and individuality, will change the way you think about our world. With sly humor and a poet’s searching mind, Hong uses her own story as a portal into a deeper examination of racial consciousness in America today. This intimate and devastating book traces her relationship to the English language, to shame and depression, to poetry and female friendship. A radically honest work of art, Minor Feelings forms a portrait of one Asian American psyche—and of a writer’s search to both uncover and speak the truth.” In all the following Social Justice Club meetings we’ll continue the book until the end. You’re welcome to purchase the book yourself but it is not required since the host will read out loud in the group. If you’d like to join, just register once to receive the Zoom link, and we’ll send it automatically thereafter.

This week for our Social Justice Club we’re reading and discussing the book Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong. “Poet and essayist Cathy Park Hong fearlessly and provocatively blends memoir, cultural criticism, and history to expose fresh truths about racialized consciousness in America. Part memoir and part cultural criticism, this collection is vulnerable, humorous, and provocative—and its relentless and riveting pursuit of vital questions around family and friendship, art and politics, identity and individuality, will change the way you think about our world. With sly humor and a poet’s searching mind, Hong uses her own story as a portal into a deeper examination of racial consciousness in America today. This intimate and devastating book traces her relationship to the English language, to shame and depression, to poetry and female friendship. A radically honest work of art, Minor Feelings forms a portrait of one Asian American psyche—and of a writer’s search to both uncover and speak the truth.”

In all the following Social Justice Club meetings we’ll continue the book until the end. You’re welcome to purchase the book yourself but it is not required since the host will read out loud in the group. If you’d like to join, just register once to receive the Zoom link, and we’ll send it automatically thereafter.

*Note: Sign-up is mandatory. We will communicate any changes via email and our Whatsapp group here.

This week for our Social Justice Club we’re reading and discussing the book Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong. “Poet and essayist Cathy Park Hong fearlessly and provocatively blends memoir, cultural criticism, and history to expose fresh truths about racialized consciousness in America. Part memoir and part cultural criticism, this collection is vulnerable, humorous, and provocative—and its relentless and riveting pursuit of vital questions around family and friendship, art and politics, identity and individuality, will change the way you think about our world. With sly humor and a poet’s searching mind, Hong uses her own story as a portal into a deeper examination of racial consciousness in America today. This intimate and devastating book traces her relationship to the English language, to shame and depression, to poetry and female friendship. A radically honest work of art, Minor Feelings forms a portrait of one Asian American psyche—and of a writer’s search to both uncover and speak the truth.”

In all the following Social Justice Club meetings we’ll continue the book until the end. You’re welcome to purchase the book yourself but it is not required since the host will read out loud in the group. If you’d like to join, just register once to receive the Zoom link, and we’ll send it automatically thereafter.

*Note: Sign-up is mandatory. We will communicate any changes via email and our Whatsapp group here.

A recent article about a study examining the connection between dance and autism was published in the Virginia Tech Magazine and included the following statement: “People with autism often lack social skills and struggle to understand others’ feelings.”

Some autistic self-advocates in our community who disagree with this statement are drafting a letter to correct these assumptions made about autistics, and would love for their peers to add their voices to the conversation.

An Autistic Self-Advocates Forum will be held via Zoom to have a discussion and formulate this group letter. Please RSVP below to receive the Zoom link and email claudet@ourstompingground.org with any related questions.

Learn the nuts and bolts of how to lease-up at one of the OSG communities. We currently have two communities opened in Alexandria and Arlington and are expecting four more opening in 2022 with leasing starting now until the Fall.

Webinar hosts include OSG Board Members, Jeannie Cummins of DBHDS, and a housing representative.

Please register below to receive the Zoom link. All are welcome! Please use our contact form should you have any questions.

Calling all dedicated film enthusiasts! The OSG Film Club meets virtually once a month to watch and discuss a “classic” movie of choice. In October, the group’s pick is The Godfather (1972).

Please register to receive the Zoom link. All are welcome! If you’d like to join the What’s App group to keep in touch with other club members, please use this link.

This week for our Social Justice Club we’re reading and discussing the book Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong.

“Poet and essayist Cathy Park Hong fearlessly and provocatively blends memoir, cultural criticism, and history to expose fresh truths about racialized consciousness in America. Part memoir and part cultural criticism, this collection is vulnerable, humorous, and provocative—and its relentless and riveting pursuit of vital questions around family and friendship, art and politics, identity and individuality, will change the way you think about our world. With sly humor and a poet’s searching mind, Hong uses her own story as a portal into a deeper examination of racial consciousness in America today. This intimate and devastating book traces her relationship to the English language, to shame and depression, to poetry and female friendship. A radically honest work of art, Minor Feelings forms a portrait of one Asian American psyche—and of a writer’s search to both uncover and speak the truth.”

In all the following Social Justice Club meetings we’ll continue the book until the end. You’re welcome to purchase the book yourself but it is not required since the host will read out loud in the group.

If you’d like to join, just register once to receive the Zoom link, and we’ll send it automatically thereafter.

Join OSG and APAH at Queens Court for an afternoon of reading with our younger friends and neighbors. All are welcome!

We will meet in the lobby of Queens Court. Contact Donna Budway at donnab@ourstompingground.org for any questions.

*Note: Sign-up is mandatory. We will communicate any changes of plans via email or Whatsapp here.

Join OSG and APAH at Queens Court for an afternoon of reading with our younger friends and neighbors. All are welcome! We will meet in the lobby of Gilliam Place. Contact Donna Budway at donnab@ourstompingground.org for any questions.

*Note: Sign-up is mandatory. We will communicate any changes via email and our Whatsapp group here.