Upcoming Events
Bookseller Holiday Book Preview
We made up an event to get Brad Johnson from East Bay Booksellers and Stephen Sparks from Pt. Reyes Books to tell us what books coming out in the fourth quarter are actually interesting. Perhaps it is an excuse and a vehicle for the two of them to put together a good holiday catalog, as opposed to the dull, commodified one that the book industry trade folk try to make them sell on.
Max attendance: 50
Vibes: Discerning, occasionally dyspeptic, helpful
Cost: Free
Works-in-Progress x MIPSLIP
For our second round of the Works-in-Progress series, we’re partnering with MIPSLIP, an ongoing gathering for sharing recent creative work. You bring a recent or unfinished creative work and come prepared to share why it is meaningful to you. All media and themes welcome.
MIPLSIP aims for greater aliveness through consistent practice, self-expression, and collective inspiration. They have some guidelines. Part of being seen in your creative process is seeing others in theirs. Please come prepared to witness others and disclose how their works impact you.
Max attendance: 15
Vibes: Participatory, open, supportive,
Cost: Free
Writing Place, with Alexis Madrigal
Alexis says: I love writing about place… This place. In my work over the years, I’ve found different ways to immerse myself in Oakland and other parts of the Bay. We’ll play with some examples from my book The Pacific Circuit and forthcoming work. Then, we’ll jump off of them for live writing exercises. This is the first session, the other two will be at the same time on November 17 and 24. The price includes all three sessions.
Over these weeks, we’ll look at three different methods of exploration: historical, spatial, bodily.
Oakland Garden Club: Introduction to Liberation Ecology with Sue Pierre
In this session, we'll meet Suzanne Pierre, a soil microbial ecologist and biogeochemist, and founder of Oakland's Critical Ecology Lab. Their mission is "to create novel processes and spaces for communities of people with scientific and generational knowledge to destabilize oppressive systems and fight back against escalating social and planetary disaster." Suzanne is a dynamic and fascinating scientist who is trying to change the infrastructure through which research is done.
Doors at 6
Session will run at 6:30-7:15ish
Hang til 8, if you want
Vibes: Insight, loose, meetup-y
Storytime for Caregivers with Ruth Whippman
Story time is great, no matter how it works. BUT, Patricia Zaballos brings you a literary series that’s for the caregivers, not the cared for. Each month a writer of fiction or nonfiction with a caregiving theme shares their work, chats about their reading, and ends with a book for the baby/toddler crowd. This month Patricia will be talking with Ruth Whippman, author of Boy Mom: Reimagining Boyhood in the Age of Impossible Masculinity.
Babies & toddlers welcome, but not required.
One-hour event; stay after for IRL connection!
Vibes: Warm, relaxing, communal
Thread Therapy: Lap Loom Weaving Workshop
That Art Party's Naomi Peña brings you this special class. In a world obsessed with productivity, weaving asks us to be patient. In a culture of instant everything, it invites us to create slowly. Thread by thread, row by row, there's something deeply therapeutic about watching something beautiful emerge beneath your hands.
Heyday's Colors of California
For years now, I've been trying to imagine the right format to talk about the colors of our landscape. Poppy orange, dry grass gold, mid-summer blue, oak dark green. Who better to help us see and feel and write these colors than Heyday, the local publisher started by Malcolm Margolin, which has been putting out work about our bioregion for decades.
For this event, Heyday associate publisher (and poet and LE member) Marthine Satris is bringing together three Heyday folks to discuss color. Sara Calvosa Olson is a member of the Karuk tribe, photographer, food writer, and plant friend based in Marin. Obi Kaufmann is the author and illustrator of the wonderful and strange California Field Atlas, among other guides. And Sophie Wood Brinker is a young star, who wrote and illustrated Heyday's forthcoming Birds of Santa Cruz.
We'll talk color and then we'll make some interactive explorations into color and art and writing.
Vibes: Unusual, interactive, bioregional
Sunday Coffee, hosted by Jeff Wright, vol. 2
Jeff Wright of Edith’s Pie and 50 Minutes has been hosting a regular event on Sunday mornings at his house for months. It’s a low-stakes morning of chatting, coffee, and pastries, and he’s bringing it to Local Economy on a Sunday morning each month. The October edition was a dream, and it's back.
Cost: Free for members, sliding scale $10 for the public
Vibes: Chill, chatty, cozy
Sex Change and the City with Tuck Woodstock & Soleil Ho
Coyote Media co-founder Soleil Ho interviews Tuck Woodstock, creator of the Gender Reveal podcast, about the new book he co-edited, Sex Change & the City, an anthology featuring 45 trans and queer perspectives on “Sex and the City.” (And if you like that, check out his excellent 2 Trans 2 Furious zine.)
Max attendance: 60
Vibes: Fun, 2 Trans 2 Furious, Literary
Bay Aerial exhibition with East Bay Yesterday's Liam O'Donoghue
What does looking at half a century of aerial photographs reveal about the Bay Area’s ongoing transformation? East Bay Yesterday host Liam O’Donoghue will explore this question with Alexis Madrigal by closely examining a mysterious archive of images he rescued from destruction. These photos show much more than changing landscapes – they illustrate the values, circuitry, and impact of our civilization, for better or worse.
Come see stuff starting at 6. We'll start the actual program at more like 6:30.
Cost: Free for members, sliding scale $10 for the public
Vibes: History but make it Friday night, interactive, not stuck in the past
How to Make a Zine with Rena Tom
On the one hand, a zine is just a tiny magazine, cheaply produced, often handmade. On the other hand, THE ZINE is a way of life, an approach to the world of letters. Visit any zine fest and you can see that making zines isn't just about copying and pasting. People are drawn to the ideas inside these tiny publications and to the collaborative, DIY philosophy that leads people to make them.
Artist (and LE member) Rena Tom shares her zinemaking techniques and knowledge of the culture of zines in this hands-on session.
We'll have some things, but bring materials and ideas!
Cost: Free for members, sliding scale $10 for the public
Vibes: Hands-on, DIY, skillsharey
Mahjong Night with The Mahjong Project's Nicole Wong
In what may well be the first in a series of Mahjong Nights, we've got a special one to start. Nicole Wong, author of The Mahjong Project: House Rules from Across the Asian Diaspora joins us for a little how-to and history. We'll talk, and then we'll play.
Cost: Free for members, sliding scale $10 for the public
Vibes: game-y, table-y, auntie
The Present Moment Game
Alli Magidsohn’s leads an hour-long social meditation experience that offers a simple yet powerful technique to help people drop into full presence. We call it a game, but it’s really just a framework to deepen present-moment consciousness in community.
Max attendance: 11
Vibes: Immersive, present, playful
Cost: $25 for members, $35 for non-members
Poets Emilie Lygren, Deema Shehabi, and Marilyn Hacker
These writers celebrate the release of their new books. Emilie Lygren’s second book is Once I was a stone. Deema Shehabi and Marilyn Hacker co-authored Water to Water: Gaza Renga.
Lygen's Once I was a stone is an intimate portrait of gender nonconformity rooted in the context of childhood and the natural world.
Water to Water is a poetic correspondence between Palestinian American poet Deema Shehabi and Jewish American poet Marilyn Hacker. Their project involved an alternating call and response between them in the tradition of the Japanese renga form, each poet picking up a word, phrase, or image from the poem preceding.
Max attendance: 60
Vibes: Profound, lyrical, intimate
Cost: Free
Communal Collage
Rachel Rosen leads a communal collage session. Collage is the most democratic art form, she argues. Everyone can have success and fun. And it's a great way to use up materials that would otherwise be recycled.
Max attendance: 40
Vibes: Easygoing, heartening, ziney
Cost: Free
Artist Legal Cafe
A cross-sector collaboration between Movement Law, the Sustainable Economies Law Center and Vital Arts, the Artist Legal Cafe is an artist-led initiative that offers direct services and capacity-building support to individual artists, artist collectives, and arts organizations.
Each Artist Legal Cafe provides 1:1 support with licensed attorneys, solidarity economy experts, and cultural workers on a wide range of topics.
Max participation: 30
Vibes: Helpful, smart, profesh
Cost: Free
Local Economy x East Bay Booksellers: Jeff Chang
In the second of many collaborations with our next-door neighbors, East Bay Booksellers, Jeff Chang visits Local Economy. Chang’s new book is Water Mirror Echo: Bruce Lee and the Making of Asian America. Bruce Lee, if you don’t know, spent a crucial period of his early years in Oakland. Chang is also the author of several other celebrated books including Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop and We Gon’ Be Alright. Chang will be in conversation with Alexis Madrigal. They’ll range across the Pacific economic and cultural circuits from the 60s to now, from Lee and the Panthers to today.
Doors at 6. Conversation from 6:30-7:30. Chang will sign after the conversation, next door at EBB.
RSVP pls
Max attendance: 75 people
Vibes: Revelatory, conversational, immaculate
Cost: Free for members, $10 for the public
Tuesdays Together freelancer meetup
Cherlyn Wagner hosts a monthly daytime potluck for creatives to get help with their work, next up: creative ruts and how to get out of them.
RSVP
Max attendance: 30 people
Vibes: Participatory, supportive, dishy
Cost: Free
Cookbook Club: Nite Yun’s My Cambodia
Cookbook Club! With help from East Bay Booksellers’ Thu Doan, we’re going to select, and then parcel out recipes from a cookbook to participants, who will then gather for a potluck at the space to share their efforts. Our first experiment in this format will draw on My Cambodia by Nite Yun, who created Nyum Bai and now Lunette in the Ferry Building. And Nite has even promised to join us on the 26th to roast our valiant attempts at making Khmer food.
RSVP pls
Max attendance: 15 people
Vibes: Delicious, participatory, delightful
Cost: Free for members, $10 for the public (optional wine pairing)
Local Economy x East Bay Booksellers: Julian Brave Noisecat and Tommy Orange
In the first of our collaborations with our next-door neighbors, East Bay Booksellers, Tommy Orange will be in conversation with Julian Brave Noisecat about the latter’s new book, We Survived the Night. Noisecat is a filmmaker and journalist. His first documentary, Sugarcane, was nominated for an Oscar. This is his first book. Orange is the best-selling author of the era-defining book, There There, as well as Wandering Stars. Both writers grew up in Oakland .
Doors at 6:30. Conversation from 7-8. Julian Brave Noisecat will sign after the conversation, next door at EBB.
SOLD OUT!
Max attendance: 75 people
Vibes: Deep, unexpected, Oaklandy,
Cost: Free for members, $10 for the public
Mending Workshop with Carrie Sloane
Artist Carrie Sloane helps you learn about different mending techniques and how to patch, darn, hem, fix buttons, and make other small common repairs (not zippers, tho!). Workshop will focus on hand-mending techniques, but machine-mending will also be briefly covered and there will be one sewing machine available for use with supervision.
RSVP pls
Max attendance: 25 people
Vibes: Practical, hands-on, skillshare-y
Cost: Free to members
A SPUR conversation with Oakland’s Director of Transportation Planning
At a time when transit funding is deeply unstable, Local Economy will host a conversation between Oakland's Director of Transportation, Josh Rowan, and SPUR's Director of Transportation, Laura Tolkhoff. How does Oakland's situation stack up with those of other cities? What needs to be done to increase access to and use of transit in our city?
Vibes: Informative, deep, civic
Cost: $0, as in free
Quiet Noisy Night with Mac Barnett
Margaret Wise Brown is, of course, the author of Goodnight, Moon, among other children’s classics. Mac Barnett is a neighbor, a best-selling author, and a deep advocate for children’s books. In this special event, Mac will read Wise Brown’s trippy, beautiful work, The Quiet Noisy Book, and some special guests will chime in, reflecting on the elements of this strange little book.
RSVP pls
Max attendance: 60 people
Vibes: Inventive, fascinating, hilarious
Cost: Free to members, $10 for the public
Works-in-Progress with Thao Nguyen
In this series, a special guest will share work from a work-in-progress and then you can too. Not a crit or a seminar, but a place to try stuff out and have people clap for you. Up first, musician Thao Nguyen, reads from her forthcoming book of essays from Greywolf Press, and then you go. Bring about 3-5 minutes worth of material to try out.
RSVP pls
Max attendance: 30 people
Vibes: Playful, supportive, participatory
Cost: Free to members
Caregiver Storytime
Story time is great, no matter how it works. BUT, Patricia Zaballos brings you a storytime series that’s for the caregivers, not the cared for. Up first, she’ll be talking with Elissa Strauss, author of When You Care: The Unexpected Magic of Caring for Others.
Kids are welcome, but not required.
Vibes: Warm, relaxing, communal
Cost: $0, as in free
Attacks on the the Rule of Law in the U.S. and Poland
Melissa Hooper moderates a conversation between Polish Judge Monika Franckowiak and human rights lawyer Maciej Nowicki and recently fired American immigration judges Shira Levine, Kyra Lillian, Elisa Brasil, and Ila Deiss. Hooper led USAID's programming on rule of law and autocratic power grabs in democracies before the dismantling of the agency.
We'll discuss the impact of the firings on the rights of community members and on rule of law. How did the Polish legal community fight back when Polish judges were subjected to investigations, smear campaigns, and threats of criminal charges, and how were they successful at mobilizing people throughout the country to protest in support of the constitution and the judges under attack? What lessons did they learn that might apply within the U.S.?
Sunday Coffee, hosted by Jeff Wright
Jeff Wright of Edith’s Pie and 50 Minutes has been hosting a regular event on Sunday mornings at his house for months. It’s a chill, low-stakes morning of chatting, coffee, and pastries, and he’s bringing it to Local Economy on a Sunday morning each month.
RSVP, plz
Max attendance: 30
Vibes: Chill, chatty, cozy
Cost: $0, as in free
My Life’s Work with Diane Ehrensaft
Diane Ehrensaft has spent decades working with children who express their genders in different ways. Her research, writing, and clinical practice have profoundly improved care for young people in our region and across the country. She’s the author of several books including The Gender Creative Child and Gender Explained, as well as the Director of Mental Health at UCSF’s Child & Adolescent Gender Center. Much of this work is now under attack. In this first of a series, we’ll hear from Ehrensaft at this pivotal moment for gender nonconforming kids about her life’s work.
RSVP, plz
Max attendance: 50
Vibes: Narrative, profound, personal
Cost: $0, as in free
Oakland Garden Club meeting: cactus breeding
Finally, a meeting of the Oakland Garden Club, the newsletter for people who like to think about plants. In this session, we’ll hear about Will Tomlinson’s cactus breeding techniques and we’ll leave with one of his Oakland-bred babies. As he put it, “I thought, ‘Many cactus propagate easily from cuttings, but where’s the novelty in endless cloning? Let’s get weird.’ Sounds great until you’ve been at it for a while and are completely and utterly out of space!”
RSVP, plz
Max attendance: 50
Vibes: Educational, loose, meetup-y
Cost: $0, as in free
Tabletop Worldbuilding and Storytelling for Middle Schoolish Kids
Our middle-school game-lover, Orion, leads a session on the myriad of games that descended from Dungeons and Dragons, like Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast or small zine games like Singularity.
Or as Orion would put it to their gaming friends: "It's hopefully a group of kids near my age who do know or want to know what a tabletop roleplaying game is (TTRPG). And I could teach them the difference between OSR and NSR games and where the terms originated. And you should also note I won't be using Hasbroified games, i.e. Dungeons and Dragons. We may also create games."
Note: this one is just for younger people. Of course, adults can RSVP for their kids.
Max attendance: 10
Vibes: Gentle, playful, inventive
Cost: Free
Botanical Drawing with Hannah Hirsekorn
Hannah Hirsekorn is an artist working in ink on paper and skin. She runs Oology Tattoo, and she specializes in flora and fauna. For her, drawing the more-than-human world is a practice of deep looking and a form of environmental conservation. In this workshop, you’ll bring your own art supplies. Hannah will bring items to draw and do some low-key instruction.
Max attendance: 20.
Vibes: Chill, meditative, participatory
Cost: $0-10, sliding scale
Meet Coyote Media
In the first of a short series introducing you to new local media outfits, we'll meet the team behind Coyote Media, a worker-owned collective of journalists that just launched. Coyote is composed of eleven of the Bay Area's most interesting journalists. This session/party will be a good way to get to know their editorial vision and vibes. What do you want them to cover?
Max attendance: 60
Vibes: Fun, intriguing, trivia-y
Cost: Free