Wednesday, October 28th at 6:30 pm//Solidaridad internacional entre los pueblos

En medio de las amenazas, las intervenciones directas y contexto internacional que pone en jaque la certeza de que América Latina y el Caribe es una zona de paz, recordamos que la fortaleza frente a la ofensiva imperial reside en la solidaridad entre nuestros pueblos. Por esa razón, decidimos realizar esta gira con nuestra compañera cubana y referente del Centro Martin Luther King, nuestra principal contraparte en Cuba.

Frente al bloqueo sobre Cuba y la represión y persecución interna contra los nuestros, nos unimos en solidaridad para resistir y recordar que la transformación es posible y está en nuestras manos no sucumbir frente a la barbarie.

La visita de Dayanis nos permitirá conocer los impactos del bloqueo estadounidense sobre la vida diaria del pueblo cubano, pero también sus formas que han encontrado para afrontarlo y defender su soberanía. También podremos intercambiar estrategias y formas de resistencia frente a la opresión.

Esperamos nos puedan acompañar en esta gira y unirnos como pueblos frente a las opresiones que nos atraviesan de norte a sur.

Dayanis García Farinas es licenciada en Psicología por la Universidad de La Habana en el año 2008 y diplomada en Periodismo por el Instituto Internacional José Martí en el 2010. Ha hecho análisis de la información pública sobre Cuba por más de 5 años y desde hace 10 años hace parte del Equipo de Solidaridad Internacional del Centro Memorial Martin Luther King como coordinadora del trabajo con Estados Unidos y de la visitas de grupos estadounidenses en programas de educación sobre la realidad Cubana.

Register at link in Highlights

PSH- Sassasfras Center
1805 Chapel Hill Rd
Durham, NC

Wednesday, October 28th at 6:30 pm//Standing with Cuba: Building Solidarity Amongst Peoples

Join us for a speaking tour centered on international solidarity, featuring Dayanis Garcia Farinas a representative of the Martin Luther King Center in Cuba. The tour offers firsthand insight into how the U.S. blockade impacts daily life in Cuba and highlights the ways communities organize to defend sovereignty, dignity, and collective well-being, while sharing strategies for resistance and solidarity across borders.

Amid threats, direct interventions, and an international context that jeopardizes the certainty that Latin America and the Caribbean are a zone of peace, we remember that our strength in the face of imperial offensive lies in solidarity among our peoples. In this spirit, the Witness for Peace Solidarity Collective is undertaking this tour highlighting our Cuban colleagues and primary partner in Cuba, the Martin Luther King Center.

In the face of the ongoing blockade against Cuba, and the repression and persecution faced by the Cuban people, we come together in solidarity to resist. We affirm that transformation is possible and that it is within our collective power to refuse injustice and build a more just future.

Dayanis’ visit offers an opportunity to learn about the impacts of the U.S. blockade on the daily lives of the Cuban people, as well as the ways communities have organized to confront these conditions and defend their sovereignty. The tour will also create space for exchanging strategies and practices of resistance in the face of oppression.

Dayanis García Farinas graduated with a degree in Psychology from the University of Havana in 2008 and a diploma in Journalism from the José Martí International Institute in 2010. She has been analyzing public information on Cuba for more than five years and has been part of the International Solidarity Team at the Martin Luther King Memorial Center for ten years, coordinating work with the United States and visits by US groups participating in educational programs on the reality of Cuba.

Register at link in bio

PSH- Sassasfras Center
1805 Chapel Hill Rd
Durham, NC

TODAY 10/19, 6:30pm, PSH, Yarrow (white) building
The Somatics Lab with Little River Somatic Healing

The Somatic Lab returns 10/26!

We are living in a moment of intersecting crises. The future seems less clear, often less hopeful, than ever. And somehow we still have to figure out how to collaborate, parent, love, grieve, rest, fight, forgive, and grow.

As the world around us unravels, who do we choose to be?

Despite our beautiful visions and professed values, under pressure, our bodies take over and run the “software” we downloaded as children — individualism and perfectionism, seeking control and comfort, shaming ourselves and others. We slide into feeling powerless, alone, numbed out, or hypervigilant.

The Somatics Lab offers a space to practice being the person we want to become. In the spirit of a dojo, we practice letting go of our automatic behaviors and replacing them with new embodied choices. Through practice we build our capacities for being mature, loving, responsible humans.

TODAY at NOON! PSH, Sassafras (teal) building.
Iced Tea Bar & Queer Joy Yoga with Rosie! 10/18

About us: Queer Joy Yoga is a donation-based, community-oriented yoga class which follows bell hooks’ definition of queer: “Being about the self that is at odds with everything around it and that has to invent and create and find a place to speak and to thrive and to live.”

QJY is a gathering for all those imagining and working towards reinvention and dismantling different systems of oppression (regardless of sexual and/or gender identity). The monthly class involves discussion of themes such as identity, resistance, solidarity, and interpersonal relationships along with a physical and mindfulness practice. Open to all levels of experience with yoga. After class, you’re invited to stay for a casual group social hour to continue the conversation, connecting and build community together.

TODAY 10/15 7pm. PSH Sassafras (teal) building
Permission to Play! Improv for Mental Health Therapists with Katie Blasko LMFT and Shannon Lomasney LCSW

2 hours of improv comedy-based games and programming to allow for authentic connection between people!
We want to offer community-building, in person connection for therapists in the area. This is NOT a networking event, this is a space for therapists to find movement, creativity, and play outside of the heavy work they do on the day-to-day basis.

Saturday, October 31st Destiny Hemphill Presents "Healer, How Come They Call You Hummingbird" Reading.

Destiny Hemphill will be reading her debut short story "Healer, How Come They Call You Hummingbird?,"which recently won Kweli Journal's inaugural DeLana R.A. Dameron Prize in Fiction. Join the celebration! Doors open at 4:30 pm. Reading will begin around 5 pm.

The event will take place in the Yarrow Building of the People's Solidarity Hub campus. The Yarrow building is the white building.

Accessibility: The main entrance of the Yarrow building is at the back, closest to parking. Ramp access is available at this entrance.

Link to RSVP in Highlights

Saturday, November 21st Arezou Paksima, LCSW Presents Curiosity In Motion

Curiosity in Motion is an ongoing series of experiential group workshops centered on embodiment, movement, emotional expression, and connection. Through guided exercises and group process, we explore how our patterns show up in the body and in relationship—and experiment with new ways of moving, expressing, connecting, and taking up space. The intention is not just to talk about change, but to experience and embody it in real time. In this workshop you will:

*Explore what change feels like in the body — holding back, reaching forward, taking risks, connecting, and being seen.
*Use reflection, movement, and embodied practices to notice what protects you and what pulls you forward.
*Expect a participatory experience, not a lecture. You’ll be invited to reflect, engage, and experiment.
*You don’t need to be outgoing or comfortable in groups. You do need a willingness to be curious, participate, and tolerate some vulnerability.
*You choose your level of participation. There is no expectation to share anything you don’t want to share.

Link to RSVP in Highlights

People's Solidarity Hub-Sassafras Center
1805 Chapel Hill Rd
Durham, NC

Wednesday, November 18th// Unisong Presents Guided Song Circle

What medicine does your heart need? Perhaps your soul cries out to sing and clap in joy, to grieve trom your very depths, to shout in anger at injustice, to sing praise to nature, or to hum in deep vibrational connection with others.

During this 90 minute journey designed for beginner and experienced singers alike, we will guide you through singing and movement that invite release, restoration, and healing of the heart.

Link to RSVP in Highlights

People's Solidarity Hub- Yarrow House
1809 Chapel Hill Rd
Durham, NC

Saturday, October 24th// Broken Dreams Presents Queer Country Line Dance

Queer Line Dancing to country music! Who is Broken Dreams for?

*anyone who's ever gone queer line dancing and been intimidated by the vibe or the dances themselves (this event is heavy on the slumber party, lite on the flash mob)

*queers who grew up listening to country music but have since felt alienated from it politically

*southerners who have felt othered for being queer, and queers who have felt othered for being southern

*anyone who's ready to shed bias about country music being uneducated and bigoted, and gain the nuanced beauty of the rural south

People’s Solidarity Hub
Yarrow House (White Building)
1809 Chapel Hill Rd
Durham, NC

#linedancing #southernqueer #queerlinedancing #durhamnc

Thursday, October 22nd Advancing Real Change Inc. Presents The Deserving: Liz Vartkessian in Conversation with Shelagh Kenney

Come participate in a conversation about punishment, mercy, and the stories we tell about people who have caused harm.

Elizabeth Vartkessian is a mitigation specialist and the author of The Deserving: What the Lives of the Condemned Reveal About American Justice. For more than two decades, she has investigated the life histories of people facing the most severe punishments in the United States. Rather than seeking to prove innocence, mitigation asks a different question: What experiences, relationships, trauma, and circumstances help us understand how a person arrived at the worst moment of their life? In The Deserving, Vartkessian draws on that work to explore what might change if curiosity, context, dignity, and mercy played a greater role in our approach to justice.

Vartkessian will be joined in conversation by Shelagh Kenney, Executive Director of the Center for Death Penalty Litigation. Kenney has spent more than two decades representing people facing the death penalty in North Carolina and working to strengthen capital defense across the state.

Together, they will discuss what the lives of people facing our harshest punishments can teach us about responsibility, human dignity, rehabilitation, and how we can all create a more humane criminal legal system.

People’s Solidarity Hub
Sassafras Center (Teal Building)
1805 Chapel Hill Rd
Durham, NC