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Modern Times is now investing 10% of the total sales on all events books to community organizations... Read more »
See a list of archived events... Read more »
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Dave Zirin in conversation with Elizabeth Terzakis
- Thursday, July 2
- 7:00 PM
Who is the only sports columnist in the United States just as likely to appear on Democracy Now as ESPN? The one and only Dave Zirin – author of A People’s History of Sports in the United States: 250 Years of Politics, Protest, People and Play, and What’s My Name Fool: Sports and Resistance in the United States – of course! Joining Zirin will be editor and scholar Elizabeth Terzakis for a discussion around the connection between women in sports and the fight for a better world. This event is presented as part of the Socialism 2009 Conference.
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Femmes of Power: Exploding Queer Femininities
Ulrika Dahl
- Tuesday, July 7
- 7:00 PM
Featuring femmes and other queerly feminine folks from 12 cities and 7 countries, Femmes of Power: Exploding Queer Femininities is the latest breathtaking book by internationally renowned gendervariant visual artist Del LaGrace Volcano, produced in collaboration with Swedish femme-inist ethnographer Ulrika Dahl. Join Dahl as she discusses the collaborative dimensions of creating this book, international femme activism and community making with Kentucky Fried Woman and other other Bay Area femmes Meliza Banales, Celestina Pearl, Simone de la Ghetto, Tina d'Elia and Amelia Paradise, and Jukie Sunshine who are all featured femmes in the book. (Serpent's Tail Press)
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Blood Passion: The Ludlow Massacre and Class War in the American West
Scott Martelle
- Wednesday, July 8
- 7:00 PM
The Ludlow, Colorado massacre killed 75 miners and their families, exposing the brutality of Rockefeller and the early robber barons who used the national militia and US Army to destroy the power of working people. This massacre also led to open class warfare in Colorado between the state and workers, bringing Mother Jones to the aid of the workers and their families. (Rutgers University Press) This event is part of LaborFest.
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Disaster Suites
Rob Halpern
- Thursday, July 9
- 7:00 PM
Of this new book of poems, Benjamin Friedlander says, “In Rob Halpern’s Disaster Suites, the lyric “I” is a disturbed, disturbing presence in a world we recognize as inadequate but ours, its song a reminder of our dreadful yet beautiful potential.” (Palm Press)
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Tribute to Labor Poet Carol Tarlen
- Friday, July 10
- 7:00 PM
Family and friends of radical labor activist and poet Carol Tarlen (1943-2004) will swap stories, read poems, present a slide show, and sing songs to honor her work and spirit. Poets, writers, filmmakers and
performers include: Derek Dabkoski, Marcus Duskin, Sara Menefee, Louise Nayer, Kristy Rodgers, Leslie Simon, Julie Stein, Alicia Tarlen, and Nellie Wong. This event is part of LaborFest.
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Beyond The Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW, and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century
Randy Shaw
- Monday, July 13
- 7:00 PM
Longtime tenant’s rights activist Randy Shaw’s latest book focuses on the legacy of the thousands who worked for the United Farm Workers in the 1960’s and the roles they went on to play in the broader labor movement. Many UFW activists later became leaders of other unions (in the Bay Area and nationally) and comprise part of the largely unknown legacy of the UFW. (University of California Press) This event is part of LaborFest.
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The Ugly Laws: Disability in Public
Susan Schweik
- Tuesday, July 14
- 7:00 PM
On July 9, 1867 the San Francisco City Council approved the first known ugly law: "Any person who is diseased, maimed, mutilated, or in any way deformed so as to be an unsightly or disgusting object... shall not...expose himself to public view." These ordinances spread throughout the United States. The last known arrest was in 1974. In The Ugly Laws, English professor Susan Schweik, co-director of UC Berkeley's Disabilities Studies Program, discusses the origins and consequences of these nineteenth century unsightly beggar ordinances, showing how their dynamics--harsh policing, systematized suspicion, and structural and institutional repulsion of poor disabled people--persist into the present. (New York University Press)
Following the reading, Schweik will be joined for a panel discussion by “Tiny” Garcia of Poor Magazine and Bob Offer-Westort from the Civil Rights Department of the Coalition On Homelessness to discuss current city policies toward people who are houseless. In addition, The Po Poets will share their scholarship through political poetry around the issue of criminalizing the poor today.
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A Tribute to Archie Green
- Wednesday, July 15
- 7:00 PM
Labor Archives Director, Katherine Powell and others will discuss the work, life and rich legacy of the labor historian and archivist Archie Green. Special focus will be placed on the two final books he contributed to, The San Francisco Labor Landmarks (2008) and The Big Red Songbook: 250-Plus IWW Songs (2007). This event is part of LaborFest.
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Burning at the Stake: Labor and Writing
- Thursday, July 16
- 6:30 - 8:00 PM
How can the perspective of a story change the perspective of its readers? How has this been important in the labor movement? What are the personal and public stakes in your own writing? In this free, hands-on workshop, professional writing instructor Elizabeth Stark will guide participants in discovering what is at stake for characters in fiction or narrative non-fiction. Participants will also discuss how to seize the means of production and use narrative to foment revolution. Or at least write unforgettable stories that move people.
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Dust Bowl Okie Workers
- Monday, July 20
- 7:00 PM
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz reads Woody Guthrie, Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel and from her own memoir Red Dirt. This event is part of LaborFest.
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Solidarity Stories: An Oral History Of The ILWU
Harvey Schwartz
- Tuesday, July 21
- 7:00 PM
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union has been known from the start for its strong commitment to democracy, solidarity, and social justice. This title presents a collection of narratives that talk about the lives at work, on the picket line, and in the union of union leaders and rank-and-file workers. This event is part of LaborFest.
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The Creamsickle
Rhiannon Argo
- Wednesday, July 22
- 7:00 PM
The Creamsickle is Sister Spitter Rhiannon Argo's first novel. It is a queer tour-de-force about a lopsided San Francisco Victorian, home to a rascally crew of charming young skater bois and girls who hop from one bed to another in pursuit of sex, love or just the next new thrill. Argo's both gritty and gorgeous prose will take you through an eclectic landscape of dyke clubs and havens, including the exotic Minxy, a wonderland where baby butch Georgie enters the femme-centric world of strippers for the most comical gender-bending education of all. (Spinsters Ink/Attitude Books)
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The Sharing Solution: How to Save Money, Simplify Your Life & Build Community
Janelle Orsi and Emily Doskow
- Thursday, July 23
- 7:00 PM
Bay Area attorneys Janelle Orsi and Emily Doskow have put together a lively, practical guide to help anyone and everyone create sharing arrangements. The latest book in the NOLO Guide series is chock-full of tools, instructions, tips, resources, and sample agreements to allow anyone to share a car with a neighbor, form a childcare co-op, join a co-housing community, start a tool-sharing group, and integrate sharing into a host of other areas of life. Janelle and Emily will share a wealth of stories, information, and guidance on how to share all manner of things in furtherance of the sharing revolution they see society moving toward! (NOLO Press)
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Queer Open Mic
- Friday, July 24
- 7:00 PM sign-up for performers
- 7:30 PM start time
The Queer Open Mic features poetry, creative writing, music and more. $3-5 optional
donation. All kinds of queers welcome. For more info, visit http://queeropenmic.com.
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The Burger Queen Social
- Saturday, July 25
- 5:30 PM
From the minds that brought about Gay Shame and Ships in the Night comes the Burger Queen Social—a fun and exciting opportunity to meet other radical queer, trans, and genderqueer folks to hook up with for political witchery and discussion. With free vegan eats and a wildly engaging DJ!
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Left Turn Magazine presents: Popcorn for the People free monthly film screening!
- Monday, July 27
- 7:00 PM
Takeover! On May 1st, 1990, homeless people in eight cities around the country seized empty (HUD) federal housing simultaneously. It was the first national coordinated homeless housing takeover ever. Skylight Pictures followed the takeovers with 12 crews in the eight cities, documenting the secret planning, the illegal occupations, and the hopeful aftermath of this bold endeavor. Takeover! was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival and was broadcast on PBS as part of the P.O.V. series.
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Spanish Book Group / Círculo de Lectores de Literatura en Español
- Tuesday, July 28
- 7:00 PM
Join us for our Spanish language book group on the fourth Tuesday of each month. A mix of native speakers and advanced level hablantes, the group has been meeting in the Mission District on a monthly basis for more than nine years. In July the group will discuss Palacio Quemado by Edmundo Paz Soldán and is available at a 10% discount for all book group participants.
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Introduction to Botanical Medicine Workshop
- Wednesday, July 29
- 7:00 PM
Join Joshua Muscat, practitioner and founder of the San Francisco Botanical Medicine Clinic, for a 90-minute workshop introducing the fundamentals of botanical medicine and a discussion of how medicine derived from whole leaves, roots, stems, and all other parts of plants is created and used to promote health and prevent and treat illness.
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John Ross presents IraqiGirl: Diary of an Iraqi Teenager
- Thursday, July 30
- 7:00 PM
IraqiGirl: Diary of an Iraqi Teenager will be presented by local author John Ross, who helped to conceive and edit this amazing blog of a young girl growing up in Mosul – Iraq's third largest city – under US occupation. Ross, a human shield in Baghdad when the war began, will explain the genesis of the book which has been called “a diary of Anne Frank for our times” and will read passages from Iraqi Girl's diary. (Heymarket Books)
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Hos, Hookers, Call Girls, and Rent Boys: Prostitutes Writing on Life, Love, Work, Sex, and Money
David Henry Sterry and R.J. Martin, Jr.
- Tuesday, August 4
- 7:00 PM
Hos, Hookers, Call Girls, and Rent Boys is a collection of short memoirs, rants, confessions, nightmares, journalism, and poetry covering life, love, work, family, and yes, sex. The editors gathered pieces from the world of industrial sex, including contributions from art-porn priestess Dr. Annie Sprinkle, Tracy Quan (author of Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl), best-selling memoirist David Henry Sterry (Chicken: Self Portrait of a Young Man for Rent), women and men right off the streets, and girls participating in the first ever National Summit of Commercially Sexually Exploited Youth. (Soft Skull Press)
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Cripple Poetics: A Love Story
Petra Kuppers and Neil Marcus
- Wednesday, August 5
- 7:00 PM
A love story for crip culture! By turns playful, unsettling, raw and moving, Cripple Poetics: A Love Story is an immersive and sensual correspondence that builds and heats by accretion—one keystroke at a time. Cripple Poetics is e-mails, IMs and letters between lovers; poetic rumination/invigoration; and disability arts manifesto. (Homofactus Press)
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Jessica Hoffmann, Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, Daria Yudacufski, and other contributors to make/shift magazine
- Thursday, August 6
- 7:00 PM
Make/shift magazine creates, documents, and critiques contemporary feminist culture and action from antiracist, queer, and transnational perspectives. Join us for an evening of readings featuring make/shift coeditors/copublishers Jessica Hoffmann and Daria Yudacufski, columnist Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, and other contributors. www.makeshiftmag.com
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Cerca Del Fuego
Jorge Argueta
- Tuesday, August 11
- 7:00 PM
Composed during the historical elections in El Salvador that took place in April, Cerca del Fuego, Poema de la Victoria/Close to the Fire, Victory Poem, is a celebration of the Salvadoran people. In this epic poem Jorge Argueta sings the joy and endurance of El Salvador. The reading will be accompanied by the music of Enrique Ramirez and the author’s own photographs from recent trips to El Salvador. (Luna’s Press)
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Cook Food: A Manualfesto For Easy, Healthy, Local Eating
Lisa Jervis
- Wednesday, August 12
- 7:00 PM
Founding editor and publisher of Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture Lisa Jervis has created more than just a rousing food manifesto and a nifty set of tools—Cook Food makes preparing tasty, wholesome meals simple and accessible for those hungry for both change and scrumptious fare. If you want to eat healthier but aren't sure where to start, or if you've been reading about food politics but don't know how to bring sustainable eating practices into your everyday life, Cook Food will give you the scoop, while keeping your taste buds satisfied. With a conversational, DIY vibe, a practical approach to everyday cooking on a budget, and a whole bunch of animal-free recipes, Cook Food will have you cooking up a storm, tasting the difference, thinking globally and eating locally. (PM Press)
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Digital Artifact Magazine Presents: A Launch Party and Resource Sharing Rodeo!
Readings and performances by Christian Nagler, Matt Roher, Jacob Evans, and others
- Thursday, August 13
- 7:00 PM
Digital Artifact, an online, multimedia publication, invites you to beat the recession blues with a borrowed bounty feast in celebration of Issue Three: We Made This For You Out Of Nothing. Bring blackberries from Bernal Heights, garden grown zucchini bread, wild crafted nettle tea, and what have you! We will also facilitate a brief resource-sharing rodeo to foster culture making in cash strapped times. Bring unused art supplies to donate to Big Brothers/Big Sisters, sign up to swap skills (know web design? need a grant writer?) or just munch on some blackberries and enjoy the readings and performances.
Issue Three contributors Matt Roher and Jacob Evans, some-time editors and co-founders of Small Desk Press, will read funny, weird, sad, beautiful collaborative email poetry and discuss urban radish foraging. Christian Nagler, fiction writer, teacher, and performer with Anna Halprin's Sea Ranch Collective, will present a performance comprised of ephemeral and universally available materials. Find out more at digitalartifactmagazine.com
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In Praise of Falling
Cheryl Dumesnil
- Thursday, August 20
- 7:00 PM
The overarching theme of In Praise of Falling is encapsulated in the Zen proverb, ‘fall down seven times, get up eight.’ The poems address the ways in which we fall—through disillusionment, disappointment, or plain, old-fashioned mistakes. And they address the ways we rise up—out of personal debacles, unfortunate circumstances, family legacies, and collective struggles. (University of Pittsburgh Press)
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Spanish Book Group / Círculo de Lectores de Literatura en Español
- Tuesday, August 25
- 7:00 PM
Join us for our Spanish language book group on the fourth Tuesday of each month. A mix of native speakers and advanced level hablantes, the group has been meeting in the Mission District on a monthly basis for more than nine years. In August the group will discuss Ursúa by William Ospina and is available at a 10% discount for all book group participants.
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Youth Speaks Spoken Word Workshop 6:00 PM
Open Mic and Reading featuring Hammertime author Josh Healey 7:00 PM
- Wednesday, August 26
Founded in San Francisco in 1996, Youth Speaks empowers the next generation of leaders, self-defined artists, and visionary activists through written and oral literacies. They challenge youth to find, develop, publicly present, and apply their voices as creators of social change. Young folks are especially encouraged to attend but all are welcome to take part in the Spoken Word Workshop! (No pre-registration necessary)
When Bertolt Brect meets MC Hammer: it's Hammertime. Josh Healey explores the brutal, beautiful space between party and politics in this searing, humorous poetry collection that will be featured following the workshop. (University of Wisconsin Press)
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For All the People: Uncovering the Hidden History of Cooperation, Cooperative Movements, and Communalism in America
John Curl
- Thursday, August 27
- 7:00 PM
It is the cooperation of working people that has brought the best of the United States to life. Cooperatives have played a vital role throughout the American saga, starting in its formative years. A staggering 120 million Americans belong to cooperatives today -- yet the existence of such a movement, and its dramatic and stirring story, remain all but ignored by most historians. For All the People seeks to reclaim this history. (PM Press)
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Queer Open Mic
- Friday, August 28
- 7:00 PM sign-up for performers
- 7:30 PM start time
The Queer Open Mic features poetry, creative writing, music and more. $3-5 optional
donation. All kinds of queers welcome. For more info, visit http://queeropenmic.com.
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The Burger Queen Social
- Saturday, August 29
- 5:30 PM
From the minds that brought about Gay Shame and Ships in the Night comes the Burger Queen Social—a fun and exciting opportunity to meet other radical queer, trans, and genderqueer folks to hook up with for political witchery and discussion. With free vegan eats and a wildly engaging DJ!
top of page
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Left Turn Magazine presents: Popcorn for the People free monthly film screening!
- Monday, August 31
- 7:00 PM
Slingshot Hip Hop braids together the stories of young Palestinians living in Gaza, the West Bank and inside Israel as they discover Hip Hop and employ it as a tool to surmount divisions imposed by occupation and poverty. From internal checkpoints and Separation Walls to gender norms and generational differences, this is the story of young people crossing the borders that separate them.
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Gay Shame Weekly Meetings
- Saturdays
- 5:30 PM
Gay Shame seeks nothing less than a new queer activism that foregrounds race, class, gender and sexuality, to counter gay consumerism and the increasingly hypocritical left. Come to a general meeting: all are welcome.
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