Events - Modern Times Bookstore

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Tede Matthews Initiative Special Events The Tede Matthews Initiative (TMI) is a new project of Modern Times Bookstore. Honoring the fierce cultural legacy of founding collective member Tede Matthews’ queer literary cultural activism, TMI partners with Mission District community cultural organizations, schools, artists, and educators to launch a series of performances, workshops and free to low cost cultural events to support the Bay Area's activist, artistic, and literary communities. To support us or find out more, click here.

Going It Solo: The Basics of Developing a One-Person-Show A 4-week workshop series by Meliza Bañales - Sundays, January 10, 17, 24, and 31 - 2 PM - 5 PM (includes 30-40 minutes of writing/sketching development) - Cost: $40-$60 for the whole month's workshops! Limited sliding-scale spots available. In this four week course, participants will learn how to create their own one-person shows. Going it solo can be scary; most folks have only an bare idea of what they want to do, while others want to do millions of things in their show. This course will help artists develop your story, teach you how to use multimedia-or not – and discuss the logistics of production and promotion. All workshops will include writing and feedback time. Open to writers of all genres and experience levels. WHO IS MELIZA BANALES? Meliza Bañales, aka Missy Fuego, writes books, sews clothes, and makes movies. She has won an ’08-’09 AIRspace Residency for her one-woman show, One Bad Year, a 2008 Creating Queer Community Grant, a 2006 Frameline Completion Grant for the film Do the Math with Mary Guzman, a 2002 People Before Profits Poetry Prize and toured with Sister Spit in 2007. She recently completed another short film with J Aguilar entitled Getting Off which is appearing in Frameline 33 International LGBT Film Festival. She has been accepted into the RADAR Writer’s Lab to complete her second book of poems, 51 Poems About Nothing At All. Come be her friend at: http://www.myspace.com/melizabanales/missyfuego. top of page

Activist Spanish Classes with Francisco Jimenez! - Saturdays, January 9, 16, 23, and 30 - 2 PM - 3:30 PM - $15 - 20, pay what you can Do you have basic Spanish language skills but want to improve and build them? Do you feel like traditional Spanish classes are too expensive, and not focused on the kind of Spanish you want to learn? Instead of institutional classes, come to Francisco Jimenez’ drop-in Spanish classses. Through talking about our lives and experiences, about real conversations and topics, we’ll build Spanish language skills and self confidence. About Francisco: Francisco Jimenez has been teaching Spanish for the past four years in the Bay Area. An immigrant rights activist, he works with homeless people and teaches in after school programs in San Francisco public schools. He believes in creating non-hierarchal educational settings where everyone can feel free to learn. top of page

Announcing the New Modern Times Community Love Fund At Modern Times, we love the communities of resistance that support us- and we want to support them back. So we're kicking off our new Community Love Fund! On the last Friday of each month, Modern Times will give back to our communities by donating 10% of our sales to different Bay Area community organizations working for social justice. By shopping at Modern Times, you support two amazing community institutions- us and our sponsee of the month! Friday, January 29, 2010: CUAV! Founded in 1979, Community United Against Violence (CUAV) works to build the power of LGBTQQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning) communities to create safety. We support the healing and leadership of people impacted by abuse and mobilize our broader communities to build safe, just communities where everyone can thrive. You are not alone! If you're queer or trans and dealing with abuse or violence, call our Safety Line at (415) 333-HELP (4357), and visit us online at www.cuav.org. top of page


	Institute for the Critical Study of Society (ICSS) Talk Marx & Mother Nature Craig Collins, Ph.D. - Monday, January 11 - 7 PM Marx & Engels developed a method of historical investigation with tremendous capacity for revealing the underlying forces at work in history and highlighting the possibilities for human liberation. Yet, for all its potential, some faulty assumptions in their historical materialist theory led them to incorrectly conclude that capitalism would soon collapse and the working class would lead humanity toward a world free of exploitation. With the aid of historical hindsight, an eco-materialist reformulation of Marx’s historical materialism provides some cogent answers to vexing questions like: • What is the source of capitalism’s historic resilience? • Why hasn’t the working class assumed the role of socialist vanguard? • Why haven’t “socialist” revolutions produced enduring alternatives to global capitalism? • What social forces may become the agents of future revolutionary transformations? Come to a Powerpoint presentation and talk where we’ll explore these questions, and more. top of page

	Special Event The Union of Their Dreams: Power, Hope, and Struggle in Cesar Chavez's Farm Worker Movement Miriam Pawel - Wednesday, January 13 - noon - Off-site: the Liberty Ship Jeremy O'Brien at Pier 45 Upon invitation Modern Times is collaborating with Maritime Trades Port Council to sell Miriam Pawel’s recently released book titled The Union of Their Dreams: Power, Hope, and Struggle in Cesar Chavez's Farm Worker Movement. A tour de force of reporting and a spellbinding narrative, The Union of Their Dreams explores an important and untold chapter in the history of labor, civil rights, and immigration in modern America. Miriam Pawel is an award-winning reporter and editor who spent twenty-five years working for Newsday and the Los Angeles Times. She was recently an Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellow and a John Jacobs Fellow at the Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies. top of page

	Reading Capitalism Hits the Fan Rick Wolff - Wednesday, January 13 - 7 PM Capitalism Hits The Fan shows how and why the current global economic crisis is a crisis of the capitalist system. Its critical examination of the history, social costs, and proposed solutions for this crisis lead to the conclusion that system change should be among the solutions considered and debated today. Richard D. Wolff has been an economics professor at Yale University, the City University of New York, and since 1973 at the University of Massachusetts. He is currently a Visiting Professor at the New School University in New York City. After many books and articles, he recently turned to analyzing the buildup to today's economic crisis, its social effects, and the US government's "responses.” top of page

	Reading Mythmakers and Lawbreakers: Anarchist Writers on Fiction Margaret Killjoy - Thursday, January 14 - 7 PM Mythmakers and Lawbreakers is series of 14 original interviews with writers, including Ursula K. Le Guin, Michael Moorcock, Alan Moore, Derrick Jensen, CrimethInc, Cristy Road, Starhawk, and Rick Dakan,, examining at the ways anarchist politics have shaped their writing. Come join editor Margaret Killyjoy (SteamPunk Magazine, Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness) and local authors for a reading and fascinating presentation on the history of anarchism in science fiction and creative writing. top of page

	Film Screening Until The Last Drop: Tales From El Salvador's Agua-Apocalypse - Wednesday, January 20 - 7 PM El Salvador receives 3 times as much water in rainfall as what its 6 million inhabitants consume annually, yet 40% of Salvadorans do not enjoy potable water in their homes. A powerful coalition of environmentalists, faith-based activists, consumer advocates and unionists has stalled water reform legislation that would enable companies to profit from water. These self-proclaimed “water warriors” maintain that it is immoral to profit from water while others cannot pay exorbitant water prices. While the debate over water management rages worldwide, Until the Last Drop examines opposing visions of water management as they clash in El Salvador. *Filmmaker Jason Wallach will attend and take part in a Q and A after the film.* top of page

	Reading The Retail Revolution: How Wal-Mart Created a Brave New World of Business Nelson Lichenstein - Thursday, January 21 - 7 PM Wal-Mart, the world’s largest company, roared out of the rural South to change the way business is done. Deploying computer-age technology, Reagan-era politics, and Protestant evangelism, Sam Walton’s firm became a byword for cheap goods and low-paid workers, famed for the ruthless efficiency of its global network of stores and factories. In this lively, probing investigation, historian Nelson Lichtenstein shows that Wal-Mart’s rise was closely linked to the cultural and religious values of Bible Belt America as well as to the imperial politics, deregulatory economics, and laissez-faire globalization of Ronald Reagan and his heirs. He explains how the company’s success has transformed American politics, and he anticipates a day of reckoning, when challenges to the Wal-Mart way, at home and abroad, are likely to change the far-flung empire. top of page

	Queer Open Mic - Friday, January 22 - 7 PM sign-up for performers - 7:30 PM start time Queer Open Mic is a regular event offering a mixed bag of open mic performances (usually poetry and short stories, sometimes music or comedy) and kick-ass features. Primarily serving the queer community, it’s been running since 2004. All ages and minds of queer writers are welcome- just bring that rough draft or polished gem! Five minutes max, $3-5 donation, no one turned away, and lots of queer literary love. For more information: queeropenmic.com top of page

	Reading Team Sad Zachary Schromburg & Emily Kendal Frey - Saturday, January 23 - 3 PM Zachary Schromburg writer of Scary No Scary, which was listed as one of the Small Press Distributions top ten best selling books of 2009, teams up with Emily Kendal Frey, writer of the chapbook Airport, for a reading at Modern Times. They have collaborated on a yet to be released chapbook called Team Sad coming out soon from Cinematheque Press. Publisher‘s Weekly commented saying-"Zachary Schomburg may be one of the sincerest surrealists around". Come join us for this exciting event! top of page

	The Burger Queen Social - Saturday, January 23 - 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

	Spanish Book Group / Círculo de Lectores de Literatura en Español - Tuesday, January 26 - 7 PM Join us for our Spanish language book group. A mix of native speakers and advanced level hablantes, the group has been meeting in the Mission District on a monthly basis for nine years. top of page

	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. top of page