University of Orange

UofO Jan Term: Tiny Town
2022-01-26 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | NJ
Join UofO’s urbanists in residence, Kay Liang and Maria Gerdyman, for a free 10-week course: “Tiny Town”. Register at this link.

Wednesdays, January 26th – April 6th, 2022 (except March 9th)
12PM-1PM EST on Zoom
Open to all ages.
Join UofO’s urbanists in residence, Kay Liang and Maria Gerdyman, for a free 10-week course: “Tiny Town”
Tiny Town is an interactive storytelling universe for adventurers of all ages. Participants interact with and contribute to a digital world by embodying their own avatars and submitting drawings, sounds, and found objects.
This course will take place in the malleable world of Tiny Town, where participants can playtest their wildest dreams for the city of Orange. Participants will be invited to heal their inner child and creative anxiety through playful drawing, storytelling and role-playing prompts. By illustrating our difficult experiences as characters and immersive neighborhoods, we can collectively build a city that is centered around love.
Grace Lee Boggs said, “It’s up to us to reimagine the alternatives and not just protest against them and expect them to do better.” What will emerge from a digital fantasyland where not even material reality, let alone slow-moving bureaucracy holds us back?
The invitation is that all participants will commit to make every effort to attend all classes. An additional smaller group co-creation session will be scheduled during the course. The last week will include a finale celebration, date to be decided.
Kay Liang is a ladybug lover and aspiring storyteller who is passionate about building worlds that can honor our full selves and collective imaginations.
Maria Gerdyman is a garbage enthusiast and amateur masseuse who cares about making everybody feel heard, non-humans included.

Homeboy Came to Orange Reading Group
2022-01-31 18:00 - 19:00, 2022-02-07 18:00 - 19:00, 2022-02-14 18:00 - 19:00
Four week virtual reading group of “Homeboy Came to Orange” by Ernest Thompson and Mindy Thompson Fullilove

Join UofOrange for a four week, free, virtual reading group, Monday’s, 6-7PM, from January 24th until February 14th. We will read “Homeboy Came to Orange”, the memoirs of Ernest Thompson, co-written by his daughter and UofOrange co-founder Dr. Mindy Thompson Fullilove.
Homeboy Came to Orange is the story of a union organizer who found a second career in community organizing and helped a Jim Crow city become a better place.
Ernest Thompson dedicated his life to organizing the powerless. This lively, illustrated personal narrative of his work shows the great contribution that people’s coalitions can make to the struggle for equality and freedom. Thompson cut his teeth organizing one of the great industrial unions, the United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America, and brought his organizing skills and commitment to coalition building to Orange, New Jersey. He built a strong organization and skillfully led fights for school desegregation, black political representation, and strong government in a city he initially thought of as a “dirty Jim Crow town going nowhere.” Thompson came to love the City of Orange and its caring citizens, seeing in its struggles a microcosm of America. This story of people’s power is meant for all who struggle for human rights, economic opportunity, decent housing, effective education, and a chance for children to have a better life.
Ernest Thompson (1906-1971) grew up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, on a farm that had been given to his family at the end of the Civil War. The family was very poor and oppressed by racist practices. Thompson was determined to get away and to obtain power. He migrated to Jersey City, where he became part of the union organizing movement that built the Congress of Industrial Unions (CIO). He became the first African American to hold a fulltime organizing position with his union, the United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE). He eventually headed UE’s innovative Fair Employment Practices program and fought for equal rights and pay for women and minority workers. Thompson also helped build the National Negro Labor Council, 1951-1956, and served as its director of organizing. In 1956, under the onslaught of the McCarthy era, UE was split in two, and Thompson lost his job. His wife, Margaret Thompson, brought the local school segregation to his attention. Ernie “Home” Thompson organized to desegregate the regional schools, building strong coalitions and political power for the black community that ultimately served all the people of Orange.
You can purchase a copy of the book online here. If you are local to Orange NJ and would like a free copy, please contact info@universityoforange.org (free copies available while supplies last).

UofO Jan Term: Tiny Town
2022-02-02 12:00 - 13:00, 2022-02-09 12:00 - 13:00, 2022-02-16 12:00 - 13:00, 2022-02-23 12:00 - 13:00, 2022-03-02 12:00 - 13:00, 2022-03-16 12:00 - 13:00, 2022-03-23 12:00 - 13:00, 2022-03-30 12:00 - 13:00 and 1 more date
Join UofO’s urbanists in residence, Kay Liang and Maria Gerdyman, for a free 10-week course: “Tiny Town”

Wednesdays, January 26th – April 6th, 2022 (except March 9th)
12PM-1PM EST on Zoom
Open to all ages.
Join UofO’s urbanists in residence, Kay Liang and Maria Gerdyman, for a free 10-week course: “Tiny Town”
Tiny Town is an interactive storytelling universe for adventurers of all ages. Participants interact with and contribute to a digital world by embodying their own avatars and submitting drawings, sounds, and found objects.
This course will take place in the malleable world of Tiny Town, where participants can playtest their wildest dreams for the city of Orange. Participants will be invited to heal their inner child and creative anxiety through playful drawing, storytelling and role-playing prompts. By illustrating our difficult experiences as characters and immersive neighborhoods, we can collectively build a city that is centered around love.
Grace Lee Boggs said, “It’s up to us to reimagine the alternatives and not just protest against them and expect them to do better.” What will emerge from a digital fantasyland where not even material reality, let alone slow-moving bureaucracy holds us back?
The invitation is that all participants will commit to make every effort to attend all classes. An additional smaller group co-creation session will be scheduled during the course. The last week will include a finale celebration, date to be decided.
Kay Liang is a ladybug lover and aspiring storyteller who is passionate about building worlds that can honor our full selves and collective imaginations.
Maria Gerdyman is a garbage enthusiast and amateur masseuse who cares about making everybody feel heard, non-humans included.

What's the Story? Memoir Class Reading
2022-02-11 18:00 - 19:30
Join UofO’s inaugural “What’s the Story” Memoir Writing Class to hear readings of memoir’s written last Fall.

Join UofO’s inaugural “What’s the Story” Memoir Writing Class to hear readings of memoir’s written last Fall. Taught by conceptual editor, Susan Hasho, we will hear readings from t. jahan, Margaux Simmons, Nazeefa Hossain, Nitika, Dominic Moulden, and Nupur Chaudhury.

What's the story? A memoir writing class
2022-03-18 11:00 - 12:00, 2022-03-25 11:00 - 12:00, 2022-04-01 11:00 - 12:00, 2022-04-08 11:00 - 12:00, 2022-04-15 11:00 - 12:00, 2022-04-22 11:00 - 12:00, 2022-04-29 11:00 - 12:00
10-week virtual memoir class offered by UofO, taught by developmental editor Susan Hasho

Placemaking 14: Conversations on Cooperatives and Community Land
2022-04-11 19:00 - 20:00, 2022-04-18 18:00 - 19:00, 2022-04-25 18:00 - 19:00
Join us for Placemaking 14!
