New Website

If you have been following this site, or have just stumbled upon, we are no longer using this site as a primary communication for the Mid-Michigan Chapter. Go to www.zeitmm.com and here you can register and and be able to log on and submit posts and comments to the forum were we can engage in conversation outside of the meetings. I will still keep the email address zeitmidmich@gmail.com open and if you have any questions you can reach me here.

Peace,

C.B.

October 2nd Meeting / NEXT MEETING October 16th

Friends,

Last Saturday's meeting was great. We spent most of the time discussing things for the new website. You can check it out at www.zeitmm.com. We are using the basic template from the movement but we are going to make our own changes to make the site as original as possible. The main page has been the biggest focus because we are creating the site for people who have not heard of the movement before. What a lot of sites (including the global site) have done is have paragraphs upon paragraphs of text that I think would certainly deter people from taking the time to understand what the movement stands for. We came up with having a series of slideshows. One will explain the Cashflow Quadrant (check it out on google if you haven't heard of it), and another that will show problems within Michigan (Unemployment data, etc). The point is to make the first page outline the problems since the whole site is dedicated to the solution.

WHAT WE NEED YOU TO DO: Submit any and all ideas and topics that should be covered on this main page. We have a few people working on this, but we need everybody's input if the website is going to be at all effective. Send any text or images to zeitmidmich@gmail.com

We had someone check out Michigan Energy Options. They are going to have a meeting this Saturday but is by invite only. Nate will be attending this meeting and will give us feedback about it at our next meeting on October 16th.

For those who didn't catch Peter's last radio address, Zeitgeist - Moving Forward is going to be released in January. His plan is to have a global screening of the film. This is a great idea and it is something we should start preparing for.

WHAT WE NEED YOU TO DO: Contact any local movie theaters and 1) see if they would let us rent a theater for a few hours to show the movie and host a Q and A, and 2) see how much it will cost. From what I understand theaters make the bulk of their money on concessions, so they may not have a problem letting us show the movie.

We are also going to be contacting MSU professors to get a Registered Student Organization moving quicker. Going right to the staff may be the best way of getting the wheels turning on this project since we don't have any MSU students in the chapter yet.

WHAT WE NEED YOU TO DO: If you are good at writing, please draft a letter to one of them. If you know any of the faculty at the school, more power to us. Send the draft to me at zeitmidmich@gmail.com and I will distribute it to the other members for feedback.

As stated above, the next meeting will be Saturday, October 16th. Again this will be at the main lounge of the MSU Union. Parking is a little rough because of the football season. There is a public parking garage on Bailey St. Its about 4 or 5 blocks from Abbot Road, so its a little bit to walk. The attendance for these meetings have not been too impressive the last couple months. If you are on this mailing list, you NEED to be at the meeting. I'm going to start insisting that everyone RSVPs for the meeting so that I know what kind of turnout we are going to have this way there isn't time wasted waiting for people to show up. At this point there is no reason why we can't have 20 people attend a meeting. So whether or not you can make it let me know at zeitmidmich@gmail.com

Hope to hear from you.

Peace,

C.B.

September 18th Meeting / NEXT MEETING October 2nd

Friends,

Last Saturday's meeting was absolutely great. We were able to cover lots of ground, and also got to see a few new faces.

Here is what we covered:

1) Debrief of MSU Initiative / Future Initiatives: This so far hasn't brought any new people to the movement. I have not received any new emails from people who were at MSU that day. In the future, we are going to set up a tent (come rain, shine, sleet or snow), possibly with a TV set up showing a Zeitgeist related video. We will get lots of attention if we are serving hot chocolate and/or coffee. From here we can pass out DVDs and flyers. Another great approach would be to take emails from people who pass by. It's better to go to them, then wait for them to come to us. A day to do this again is yet to be determined.

2) Recognized Student Organizations: Still waiting on this subject. This one is a priority, though. If you attend MSU or know someone who attends MSU, we need to have their support so that we can get established in MSU. But MSU isn't our only focus, this applies to any college or school. We had an individual attend the meeting last week who is going to set up at Adrian College and start a chapter in the area. I have also received an email from an individual from the S.E. Chapter who is trying to get momentum started at Wayne State. If you know anyone at Wayne State, please let me know and I will give you his email.

3) New Website: This is beginning to come to fruition. We are using a chapter template for the Mid-Michigan website. While it isn't finished yet, you can see it for yourself at www.zeitmm.com. We have someone working on this now, but if you or someone you know has Web Design experience, we can use all the help we can get. The new site will have lots of functionality, such as member registration/login, a forum for members to post topics and communicate, any tools that we use, such as flyers, pamphlets, DVD torrents, will be available for download.

4) Creating Awareness / New Media: There have lots of ideas of things we can make to help spread awareness. Some ideas we have going at this time are: Bus Benches (renting a space of a bus bench, creating an ad, basically), Magnets (possibly something to put on your car), Bumper Stickers, Key Chains, Buttons, Business Cards, T-Shirts. We have an individual who has been making DVDs for us and has about 250 ready to go. I think it would be great if we could put CD labels on them so that they look more presentable. If you have creative skills and would like to help make some of these things, please do so. And also if you have any original ideas or creations, please either email me at zeitmidmich@gmail.com or come to a future meeting and show off your creations.

5) Contact Peter Joseph: We are still in the beginning stages of the chapter and even the movement itself. Our number one goal right now is creating awareness. I'm going to send Peter an email asking for any suggestion he may have to make this chapter more effective.

We have a lot to do. But nothing is going to happen if no one is putting forth the initiative to make it happen, so if you are on the mailing list or seeing the website for the first time, GET INVOLVED. If you don't know what to do, send me an email, tell me what your expertise is and I'll find something for you to do.

The next meeting will be Saturday October 2nd. Again, the meeting will take place at the MSU Union Main Lounge. The Union is right off from Abbot Road on Grand River on MSU Campus. There are usually football games going on during these days so finding a parking spot can be tricky on campus. There is a parking garage located a few blocks East of Abbot Road, Bailey Road I believe. There is a Blockbuster on the same block. Anyways this parking garage has no tollbooth so you can park for free here. The meeting will start at 1 PM. If you are lost or have any questions, give me a call at 517-304-3104 and leave a message. I'm a little weary answering numbers I don't know, but if you leave a message I will call you back.

Peace,

Casey Brockway

MSU Initiative / NEXT MEETING September 18th

Friends,


It is to my delight to say that this last Saturday's endeavor of spreading awareness throught MSU and East Lansing was quite a success. Things didn't work out entirely as planned, however things we much better than expected. One there was the football game, so there were people everywhere. So instead of setting up a table, a group of us walked through MSU campus and the stores along Grand River in East Lansing handing out DVD's, putting pamphlets on windshield wipers, and putting flyers up in the stores. And as I had expected, we had run into a few individuals who had heard of the movement and support it. With hope, they will be onboard with us. I would very much like to do this again in the near future. If you want to be involved in the movement, you have to do your part. Like Jacque Fresco says, "If you do nothing about it, I guarentee you that nothing will happen."

With that said, I have the next meeting scheduled for Saturday, September 18th. Again at 1:00 PM at MSU Union's Main Lounge. We found out, this last Saturday, that the Union is set up for people who want to watch the game. But there are some tables off to the right when you walk into the main lounge we can meet. I think that having the meeting out in the open will draw some attention for us. But that's only going to be effective, it we have everybody there. So if you are on this email list, please make it out. If you are not on the email list, then email me at zeitmidmich@gmail.com.

A few things that I think should be discussed for the next meeting:
-Debrief of last Satuday

-Future Initiatives

-Recognized Student Organizations at MSU, LCC, and any other schools

-The NEW Website and all its content

-Ways of becoming more personally active with the movement

-Ways of creating awareness

-Michigan Energy Options (If you have time during the week to visit this place, please do. We need to find out what these people can

do get someone competely off the grid. They are located at 405 Grove St. in East Lansing (Right around

the corner from the Library). You can also visit their website at http://www.michiganenergyoptions.org/.)

-New media (If you can make DVD's for the movement, we need them. We went throught our whole supply this last Saturday.)
If there is something that is on your mind that isnt on this list, then email me at zeitmidmich@gmail.com and/or come to the next meeting on the 18th.
Peace,

C.B.

MSU Initiative THIS SATURDAY!!!!

Friends,

I am very happy to announce that we are ready for the Initiative this weekend at MSU. We have a table secured and a ton of DVD's, as well as pamplets. If you are planning on coming, come prepared with about 30 flyers each. We are going to need more flyers after this last weekend. We put up a ton of them all around MSU campus. Hopefully, they will all still be there. I have one that I made attached. Also check out this link: http://factualsolutions.blogspot.com/2009/03/promotional-material.html. There are some really awesome materials on here. I highly recommend checking them out.

We are going to meet at the MSU Union's Main Lounge at 12:00 PM. Once everybody is there, we will set up at about 12:15 PM.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns about this Saturday, please email me. 

August 21 Meeting / NEXT WEEK Pass Out Flyers

Friends,

I am very pleased to say that the August 21 meetings by far the best and most productive meeting of them all. We had several new faces show who had lots of great ideas to bring to the table. Some of the things discussed included:

-The MSU Initiative: We are actually going to postpone this one more week. We figured that the arriving students will be spending more time moving in, unpacking and getting settled in to even be able to focus attention on anything we are doing. So we will do this on September 4th. Depending on weather conditions, we will be able to set up a table outside, or if it comes to it, we will set up in the MSU Union. We will be handing out flyers, pamphlets and copies of Zeitgeist: Addendum, in addition to talking with the people who are interested in the movement. This is THE event that is going to help us up our numbers. Once we have enough people we can focus attention of the activities of individual teams.

-The New Website: This one is going to be an ongoing project. The first step is to link the new domain to the Blogspot site. The new domain will be www.zeitmm.com. Keep in mind, it isn't set up yet. But once it is, we can start putting it on other media like flyers and DVDs. After that is done, we can focus on remodeling the site. Blogspot is very limited and it forces you to put everything on one page.

The new website will have several pages for new or involved people to have lots of info and interaction. The homepage is going to be the most important for it will be the first impression for any new people. So it should have things that would be appealing to someone who has never heard of the movement. Things like explaining the current system and society would be ideal because then the ideas we propose will have more relevance.

There will also be links to sites not only in support of the movement but also against it. By doing so, people will be able to have multiple perspectives on the movement as a whole. But most of the videos I've seen against the movement are actually quite entertaining for they really don't argue the movement itself, but arguing little facts that are in Peter Joseph's videos, mainly the Christianity stuff.

There will also be a forum in which people will be able to interact with one another and discuss issues related to the movement. There will be more on this later though.

-Registered Student Organization: This will become more priority after the MSU Initiative because it will require people who are in MSU to do this. I absolutely encourage new students to do what they can, but someone who is not attending for their first year may be more suitable because they would know how things work around the school and also know the faculty, because we do need to be endorsed by at least one professor or grad student.

-Pass Out Flyers: Since the MSU Initiative is being postponed one more week, we can at least take advantage of the time not only to prepare for the event but to get the word out to East Lansing that the movement is alive and well in the area. I think more people are aware of the movement as a whole, but don't realize that people are actually getting involved. So what we are going to do is put flyers up all over the MSU campus and even the stores around the area as well. This is an open invite to anyone who has been wanting to get involved to get started. If you would like to come out, please print your own flyer. It can be an original or you can go to www.zeitgeistmediaproject.com for some ideas. Anything on the website can be used.

We are going to meet at MSU Union's Main Lounge at 1PM on August 28 before hitting the streets. If you want to take part in this please send me an email to zeitmidmich@gmail.com for more details.

Peace,

C.B.

NEXT MEETING AUGUST 21

Friends,

The August 7th Meeting was again a success. We spent the time ironing out plans for the MSU initiative. Fortunetely, we have another week to prepare. So we will set up on MSU campus on the weekend of August 28th.

What we still need:

- A table and a couple of chairs. We really won't need too many people. But if there are enough people willing to participate, we could possibly set up a couple tables on different parts of the campus.

- Flyers. We are gonna hold off making our own flyers for this event. But if you still would like to design something, by all means go for it. But for now, we are going to use some of the flyers from http://www.zeitgeistmediaproject.com/.

We have an individual producing DVD's that have Addendum, Money as Debt, and Story of Stuff. So we should be set on DVD's

The next meeting will be on August 21. It will again be at the MSU Union in the Main Lounge at 1 PM. This will be one week prior to the MSU event. I've been getting lots of emails from more people who want to get involved. If you are one of them, please make it to the next meeting.

We especially need people who are attending MSU to create a Registered Student Organization. To what I understand we need at least on student and a professor or grad student to qualify. By doing this we can set up lectures, screenings of related videos, and a possible place for next years Z-Day.

If you want to get involved, don't wait, just send a email to zeitmidmich@gmail.com and attend the bi-weekly meetngs.

Peace,

C.B.

July 24th Meeting / NEXT MEETING August 7th

Friends,

     I am very pleased to say that the July 24th meeting was an outstanding success. We have our first main initiative planned and even a new meeting place has been found!
     The weekend of August 21 is the students first weekend in East Lansing. We are going to use this event to our advantage. We will pass out flyers and DVDs to all the new students as a means of upping our numbers. Some things that will need to be done prior to that weekend will be:

      -  We need DVD's made. It'll be good to have plenty of copies of Addendum on hand. Now since Addendum can be a little dry to someone watching it for the first time, it has been suggested to put a trailer to the movie or even the movement before the movie starts. If this is a task you can contribute to, please let me know ASAP at zeitmidmich@gmail.com.
      -  We need flyer designs. We have some committed individuals willing to work on poster ideas, but we still need help on brainstorming phrases to be put on the flyer. Something that will catch the eye will be ideal. Maybe even something that crosses the line a little. An idea I have is something along the lines of "What do you get when you cross Communism, Fascism, and Socialism? America." A statement like this will definitely hit certain people different than others. It can make one of us laugh, but someone ingrained into the system will probably be offended. But sometimes that's all it takes. So any ideas for this area will be appreciated as well.
      -  We need T-Shirts. We need to make a t-shirt design that raise questions to people and if there are a group of us wearing them together, we will stand out more and get more attention this way. Something simple like "Ask me about the Zeitgeist Movement [or Venus Project]" But were still open to new ideas as well. But the biggest thing is that we need someone who can make them. Even if its the iron on sheets you get at Staples, it'll do.

       I think this will be an easy task to take on so I have no worries. We have more than enough time, we just need people who wanna make this thing happen to step up and get with it.
 
       The next meeting will be on Saturday, August 7th at the MSU Union. Its located on the corner of Grand River and Abbot on campus. Its the building on the left. It says 'MSU Union' right on the back of the building. Its a really great place. There are a bunch of couches in a big open space so we should have no problem using this for our meetings from now on.
      We are really starting to build some momentum and I'm looking forward to the next meeting and the students first weekend. Leave any questions, comments or concerns at zeitmidmich@gmail.com.

Peace,

C.B.
    

July 24th Meeting

Friends,

      This is just a reminder that the July 24th meeting is still on. It will start at 1:00 PM at the East Lansing Library and will run for two hours. Hope to see you there.

Peace,

C.B.

July 17th Meeting CANCELLED

Friends,

 

     It is to my utter disappointment to announce that this Saturday's meeting is cancelled. My car had broke down today and there is no telling at this point how long it will take to transport is and repair it. But all is well because the meeting room at the Library is still booked for the 24th. This is our freebie meeting since the Library cancelled unexpectantly before the July 3rd Library. I must apologize deeply for this second cancellation.

    I am still working on plans and initiatives for the Teams Projects. I've reworded one of them to Activism and Organization. Basically just managing the Chapter, booking meeting rooms, events, etc. While I follow in this category, I need someone familiar with the Lansing/East Lansing area. I am from Howell and don't know the area very well. Each of these people would have to be capable of organizing and running a meeting if need be, such as the case of this weekend. I very strongly feel that keeping meetings to every two weeks will ensure a decent momentum of activities within the movement. Honestly, the meetings are incredibly easy to set up. You put on the website when it is, and you show up. Its that easy.

     But anyways, I hope to have another update before the meeting on the 24th at 1:00 PM.

 

Peace,

July 3rd Meeting / NEXT MEETING July 17th

Friends,

       The July 3rd meeting was pretty much canceled. But there will be an update for Teams projects soon. The next meeting will be July 17th outside the East Lansing Library at 1:00 PM. There is a picnic table to the right of the building. Hopefully the weather will be nice and we can have a great outdoor meeting.
       We are still trying to locate a new meeting place. If you are familiar with the Lansing area, PLEASE send an email to zeitmidmich@gmail.com with a suggestion for a new meeting place.
       Also if you are still new to the movement please send an email to the address above. I'll be more than happy to answer any and all questions. A new website is in development that will aim to make the site more friendly to new comers.

Peace,

C.B.

July 3rd Meeting Relocation

Friends,

       I got some bad news today. The East Lansing Library will be closed this Saturday. They informed me of this at the last minute. So what I'm thinking is that we meet at the library at 1:00 PM, and at about 1:20-1:30 we go together to a coffee shop or a park. I'm sorry if this inconveniences anyone. But some good news, we still have the 24th booked and the library will let us use if for free for the trouble. If you make it to the library, and no one is there, give me a call at 517-304-3104 and I'll direct you to where we are at.

Peace,

C.B. 

June 19th Meeting / NEXT MEETING JULY 3RD!!!

Friends,

     We've had yet another great meeting on June 19th. Here's our current initiatives:

- Remake the Lansing website so that more general information can be found. Blogspot is very limited in what we can do. Its best if someone new to the movement can come right to the Lansing site without having to play scavenger hunt to get information. There will also be a domain for this new site.

- Find a new meeting place. The East Lansing Library has just raised their rates. What used to be $14 for two hours is now $30 for the meeting room. This isn't a problem if there are enough people attending (6 people bring $5 each). But that is still a lot. Especially because:

- Meetings will try to be every other week. This will be hard because there are frequent scheduling conflicts with the Library. This furthers the incentive for a new meeting place. But with meetings being every 2 weeks, we can be more productive on future projects.

- Creation of teams. Everyone has their strong suits, so it would be imperative for everyone to work on something that they are interested in and have time for. Some ideas in mind being:

Communications Team - basically putting together media to help spread awareness.

Research and Development Team- trying to live the goal. This will include, creating low cost self sustainable technologies that we can educate the public about. This will bring more to the cause and at the same time everyone will be saving a few bucks getting off the grid.

Activism Team - This one will be for organizing events for the movement. Whether it'll be passing out DVD's or setting up public screenings of Zeitgeist related media, etc..

    This is a very small list of things, but with your help, we can check these items off the list and have bigger things to focus on. If you have any ideas, questions, concerns, or comments for any of the above listed, DO NOT HESITATE to send an email to zeitmidmich@gmail.com.
    The next meeting will be July 3rd at 1:00 PM, again at the East Lansing Library. For those planning ahead. The meeting after the July 3rd will be July 24. It unfortunately could not be within two weeks of the 3rd, again with scheduling conflicts at the Library. I'm expecting a great turnout. I've been getting lots of emails from people wanting to get involved, so lets put our heads together and get it done.

Peace,

C.B.

May 8th Meeting / NEXT MEETING June 19

Friends,

The first meeting was a complete success. We had a small handful of people attend and there was some great discussion as well. Some of the topics covered were:

-Introductions, including how the movement was found 
-Possible initiatives, including, putting up signs around the Lansing area with attention getting content, starting a Recognized Student Organization at LCC or MSU, possibly getting a spot on MSU radio, and holding public screenings of Zeitgeist related documentaries.

Due to a scheduling conflict, the next meeting will be on June 19th. Eventually we will get set up to where we can have the 2nd Saturday of every month. But this next meeting will be for 2 hours.

Also, I am working on putting together a mailing list for people in the areas to keep everyone up to date on all news related to the local chapter. If you would like your email address added, please send an email to zeitmidmich@gmail.com.

Peace,

CB

MEETING IS MAY 8TH

There was an error in the last post. The first meeting will be on Saturday May 8th. Sorry for the confusion.

CB

FIRST MEETING - MAY 5TH!!!

Its been a little later than expected, but I am pleased to announce that the Mid Michigan Chapter will host its first meeting at the East Lansing Library, on 950 Abbot Road, East Lansing, Michigan 48823, on Saturday, May 5th. The meeting will start at 1:00 PM. The meeting will be one hour long.

The Meeting room in the Library is great! We have use to a blackboard, kitchen, coffee machine...oh and a really big projection screen. I'm thinking of holding screenings of Zeitgeist related videos in the near future. And best of all its quite cheap. Check out the East Lansing Library's website for more details at: http://www.elpl.org/.

With the meeting planned so far in advance, it could be that any questions, comments, or concerns could really help in making the first meeting the best that it possibly can. Please send your thoughts to zeitmidmich@gmail.com.

Also, you can check out the Michigan Chapter page on Facebook Causes. To access this, just open the Causes App and search 'Zeitgeist Michigan' and and the cause to your profile. This is a great way of keeping everyone informed of when meeting will take place or any other activities for the movement.

Peace,

CB

Possible Meeting Place

After a decent amount of hunting around, it seems the most sufficient place for a meeting is likely going to be the East Lansing Library. The first meeting time is still TBD. If anyone has any questions, comments, or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me at zeitmidmich@gmail.com

ZDay 2010 / Meeting Place

Because of the infancy of the Mid Michigan Chapter, we will not hold an event for ZDay in the Lansing area. But it is very highly recommended to check out the SE Michigan Chapter's ZDay. See zday2010.org for more details.

A meeting place is still to be determined. Hopefully the first meeting will run sometime shortly after ZDay.

NEW MICHIGAN CHAPTER

The Mid-Michigan Chapter of the Zeitgeist Movement is finally here! This will be a very pivotal means of spreading awareness of the ideas of the Venus Project through the Lansing area and the surrounding communities.

There will be meetings held at a location that is yet to be determined. East Lansing seems to be a great area because of the college community that exists. If anyone knows of a great meeting place that is climate controlled, private, accessible and possibly free, send an email to me at zeitmidmich@gmail.com.

The first meeting will take place once there are enough subscribers to the site.