The Modern Times Collective

Modern Times Bookstore is a worker-run organization and has been ever since we opened our doors in 1971. We sincerely believe that Modern Times' collective management structure is what has allowed us to survive for so long. It is a structure that allows our staff to pour their creativity into a store that truly reflects the personalities of everybody who works here. We're also proud to be a part of NoBAWC (Network of Bay Area Worker Cooperatives). NoBAWC is a network of independent businesses just like ours striving to create dynamic, worker friendly, conscientious, alternative models of business.

Annie Danger — Annie has been with Modern Times Bookstore for two years and a few months. She started as a sub and in August of 2006 was hired as the new Financial Manager. She takes care of our finances, our window displays, our signs and our general aesthetic functioning.

Annie was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She is a desert rat at heart and a transsexual rights and water activist in her daily life. She spends her non-book time performing at clubs, shows, and cabarets; designing costumes; working with the Greywater Guerrillas to spread the word about DIY water activism and home plumbing; doing freelance illustration work, and doing her best to keep things messy (in the good way).

Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasina — Leah is a queer Sri Lankan writer, performer and teacher who brings ten years of badass skills at creating gorgeous events and a passion for creating and nurturing community-based institutions to her work as Modern Times' Community Events Coordinator. When she isn't at Modern Times, she's the 2009–2010 Artist in Residence and part time professor at UC Berkeley's June Jordan's Poetry for the People and co-founder and co-Artistic Director of Mangos With Chili, North America's only floating cabaret of queer and trans people of color performing artists. She is published in a lot of books in MT's feminist, queer and POC sections. She looks forward to marshalling the power of her Facebook friends list, cleavage and encyclopedic knowledge of indie and feminist/queer/people of color publishing to pump up the jams of the Modern Times events calendar. If you want to book an event/book launch/workshop/performance/book club/ meeting or shenanigan at Modern Times, email her at brownstargirl@gmail.com

Ruth Mahaney — Ruth is our children's book buyer and bill payer. She has been involved with the LGBT community for many years and has taught women's and queer studies at San Francisco State University, City College of San Francisco and New College of California. She is currently our oldest collective member, having joined the store in 1973.

C. Kermit Playfoot — Hey, my name is Kermit and I'm the new operations coordinator at Modern Times. That basically means I chase down books and make sure that our inventory stays accurate.  
 
I'm originally from Massachusetts and have been working at bookstores in the bay area for the past two and a half years. I volunteer with the Slingshot Collective and am excited to be working at a bookstore with radical roots and a collective structure. I love thoughtful well-made books, whatever shelf they end up on. Favorite authors include James Baldwin, Ursula K. LeGuin and Hermann Hesse.

Peta Pottinger — Bio not available

Graciela Trevisan — Spanish-language book buyer. Bio coming soon.