Coffeeshop Collective Inspires Creative Conversations
Dan Clore
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
http://tinyurl.com/mde26m
Coffeeshop collective inspires creative conversations
By Amanda DiGiondomenico
Contributing Writer
Walking into Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse on the corner of St. Paul
and Madison, one can expect to see someone jamming on an ancient
classical instrument, overhear a conversation about Putin, or get
suspicious glares from the communist collective. Regardless, Red Emma's
is the place to be to discuss radical or alternative culture.
On a typical Friday afternoon, one can find odd, but nonetheless
fascinating, characters sitting at one of the three shiny, black 50's
diner style tables. In my singular experience, one had an overgrown
goatee, thick, black frame glasses, and a black fedora. He was typing
away furiously at a laptop, occasionally glancing over to a book that
sat next to the computer entitled The Ideal Communist City. Another guy
at the same table had slicked back hair, wire frame glasses, and a
Burberry scarf tied jauntily around his neck. He played a very large
mandolin-type instrument.
An older, balding, rotund man wearing a U.S. Army tee shirt sat down
next to Burberry and across from Fedora, pulled out a book of Sudoku and
said, "Why did the lute fall out of favor?"
A lute. Mystery solved.
Fedora chimed in before Burberry could answer, "They came out with 'Lute
Hero' and everyone forgot how to play?"
At Red Emma's, in the back corner, one can browse the bookshelves
divided into sections labeled "Marxism," "Communism," "Anarchy,"
"Organizing & Activism," "Israel/Palestine," "Vegan Cooking," and "Emma
Goldman," the woman for whom the bookstore is named.
According to redemmas.org, Emma Goldman was a "Feminist, Anarchist,
Labor Organizer & Rabble-Rouser." Obviously, Ms. Goldman was a woman
deserving of her own section of shelf.
Among the bookshelves, one can find titles such as: The Wages of
Whiteness, Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since WWII,
and Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media.
Red Emma's also sells buttons proclaiming "Industrial Collapse!" and tee
shirts emblazoned with "Resist!" all displayed in front of posters
denouncing the military saying, "Death to Death" and "You can't be all
you can be if you're dead."
A woman in a purple jacket and a fox fur hat propped open the door so
she could catch a breeze while perusing the flyers for Charm City Yoga
and the Indypendent Reader newspapers. A man in a green military cap
with the prerequisite beard and black frame glasses leaped out from
behind the counter and closed the door, saying, "Last time the health
inspector was here, having the door open was the first thing she pointed
out."
Surely, the only violation.
Red Emma's classifies itself as a "collective," meaning that it is owned
exclusively by its workers. It operates on a hierarchy-free basis
through worker self-management. The website explains, "Worker ownership
and control, at least to some extent, subvert the logic of capitalism
(based on domination, hierarchy, and exploitation) and it's for this
reason that the Red Emma's 'business model' works the way it does." This
particular "business model" appears to be working for Red Emma's even in
the current situation of the turbulent economy. As opposed to having to
find a smaller location like so many businesses today, they were doing
the opposite. Their website stated, "we've quickly outgrown our current
space, both in terms of size and in terms of ideas, and we're hoping to
expand into a larger space at the end of the year." But apparently the
need for a larger space is no longer a problem since, according to
frontpagemagazine.com, they bailed out the struggling St. Paul's
Methodist Church and now work with them to run "2640," an events space
and alternative culture community center located at 2640 St. Paul
Street. With such a need for expansion, it seems that more and more
people are losing faith in capitalism.
If one wishes to land a job at this establishment, the first step is not
to ask for an application, but to attend one of the weekly collective
meetings held on Sundays and introduce yourself. Then shifts are
assigned based on need and perhaps enthusiasm for alternative culture.
The threat of being laid off, which is on the mind of so many workers
today, is nonexistent. However, the idea of a steady paycheck is
questionable.
In light of the crumbling economy, one might believe that Red Emma's
knows what they're doing.
Meanwhile, back among the black oversized coffee mugs, conversation
ensued between Fedora and Sudoku, but took a turn from the popularity of
lutes to Iraq and communism, of all topics.
Sudoku shared his opinion on the situation in Iraq saying, "People
couldn't give a rat's ass what kind of government they have. They only
care that the trains run on time."
One couldn't help but wonder if his opinion applied to the general
ignorant public of the United States, as well as the people of Iraq.
Taking his present surroundings into account, the answer is most likely yes.
He continued, "They don't want Jeffersonian democracy, they want
theocracy, and the only way to make theocracy work is to get a tyrant."
Fedora changed the subject, explaining why he hadn't worn his USSR tee
shirt in awhile.
"It's like 'I support communism,' but it's got that Soviet stigma, you
know? I mean, Soviet Russia was bad, even I know that."
Sudoku retorted, "Yeah, even Gorbachev was like 'it's time to dismantle
this shit.'"
--
Dan Clore
My collected fiction: _The Unspeakable and Others_
(Wait for the new edition: http://hplmythos.com/ )
Lord We�rdgliffe & Necronomicon Page:
http://tinyurl.com/292yz9
News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
Skipper: Professor, will you tell these people who is
in charge on this island?
Professor: Why, no one.
Skipper: No one?
Thurston Howell III: No one? Good heavens, this is anarchy!
-- _Gilligan's Island_, episode #6, "President Gilligan"
VFW
Dan Clore <cl...@columbia-center.org> wrote:
> News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
>
> http://tinyurl.com/mde26m
> Coffeeshop collective inspires creative conversations
how 'bout this new cafe?
In article <hdms9u$ipe$1...@news.albasani.net>,
"NYFD" <poor george bu...@tsniffsniff.net> wrote:
> First U.S. marijuana cafe
>
> The United States' first marijuana cafe opened on Friday, posing an early
> test of the Obama administration's move to relax policing of medical use of
> the drug.
>
> The Cannabis Cafe in Portland, Oregon, is the first to give certified
> medical marijuana users a place to get hold of the drug and smoke it -- as
> long as they are out of public view -- despite a federal ban.
>
> "This club represents personal freedom, finally, for our members," said
> Madeline Martinez, Oregon's executive director of NORML, a group pushing for
> marijuana legalization. "Our plans go beyond serving food and marijuana,"
> said Martinez. "We hope to have classes, seminars, even a Cannabis Community
> College, based here to help people learn about growing and other uses for
> cannabis."
>
> The cafe -- in a two-story building which formerly housed a speak-easy and
> adult erotic club Rumpspankers -- is technically a private club, but is open
> to any Oregon residents who are NORML members and hold an official medical
> marijuana card. Members pay $25 per month to use the 100-person capacity
> cafe. They don't buy marijuana, but get it free over the counter from
> "budtenders". Open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., it serves food but has no liquor
> license.
>
> Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091114/ts_nm/us_oregon_potcafe
>
> The weed is free ... the doritos are $50 for an eighth for republicans.
> $1000 each for Fox viewers.
but don't the repugs need it the most. I would subsidize them.
wouldn't you?
--
money; what a concept!
Dan Clore
It's great news. I live just thirty miles from Portland. To me what was
even better news than this cafe opening was that the story about it in
the Portland Oregonian was wholly positive. No "but critics say that
people using phony medical excuses as a pretext will stock up on pot and
run outside to sell it to three-year-olds who all become junkies" crap
or anything.
--
Dan Clore
New book: _Weird Words: A Lovecraftian Lexicon_:
http://tinyurl.com/yd3bxkw
My collected fiction, _The Unspeakable and Others_:
(Wait for the new edition: http://hplmythos.com/ )
Lord We�rdgliffe & Necronomicon Page:
http://tinyurl.com/292yz9
News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
Strange pleasures are known to him who flaunts the
immarcescible purple of poetry before the color-blind.
-- Clark Ashton Smith, "Epigrams and Apothegms"