"Oakland: Entrepreneur gives feminist
bookstore a whimsical makeover" from The San Francisco Chronicle, Friday June 11th, 2004 |
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But it is the same spot on Oakland's Telegraph Avenue that for 20 years housed Mama Bears, the venerable feminist bookstore/resource center that shut its doors last year. As Mama Bears moved out, Sarah EJ Cohen, 27, moved in and opened Change Makers with the hope of infusing the business with a young, hip ambiance and giving it a Third Wave feminist twist. Change Makers offers a bright and playful atmosphere for buying books ranging from "The Creation of Patriarchy'' (Oxford University Press) by Gerda Lerner to Susan Jane Gilman's "Kiss My Tiara: How to Rule the World as a SmartMouth Goddess,'' magazines spanning Ms. to Surf Girl, music including Chris Williamson and Ani DiFranco, and paintings, ceramics, jewelry and silk screens. And over a display of cloth menstrual pads in turquoise, purple or with red or brown swirls, a sign reads: "Don't put it in your pants if it's not pretty.''
"Mama Bears was great," says Oakland resident Karen Broder, "but it was there for a long time. It was like the closet you never get around to cleaning out. Now it's bright, cheerful and fun. Not that Mama Bears wasn't fun, but it's fun and whimsical now. That's different." Broder recently organized her ninth monthly open mike at the store, drawing a crowd of 20. Performances included a poetry reading about "the vagaries of love," a rendition of Paul McCartney's "Here, There and Everywhere, " a parody of President Bush, and an improv routine based on four words the audience chose -- bumblebee, juicy, fiddlehead and pigtail. "It's marvelous," enthused Pamela Spevack, who was in the audience. "I like the variety. It's very entertaining, unpredictable." "Every open mike is different," said Oakland resident Jeanne Lupton. "I really enjoy them. I go to several other open mikes, but this is my favorite one." Both Lupton and Spevack had been customers at Mama Bears, and both were pleased with the space's new incarnation. "It's
gotten more light," Lupton said. "It seems more spacious
and open." Berkeley resident Margaret Cole is happy with the store's continuity but misses several aspects of Mama Bears. "(Cohen) doesn't know the lesbian literature the way they did at Mama Bears," Cole said. "It's different than Mama Bears was -- they had more books, and they had a cafe and tables where you could hang out." Cohen agrees she has improvements to make in the queer studies section.
One section that recently blossomed, she said, is spirituality, which is also the topic of the store's book club. The Sacred Feminine book club started because of "The Da Vinci Code," Cohen said. "Everyone wanted to get together and talk about how exciting it was that there is a mainstream book being read by people in Kansas -- a book making people realize there was the sacred feminine before there was the patriarchy," Cohen said. "So that's why we started it, and we liked it so much, we made it a club discussing the sacred feminine. The club widely interprets that, and we try to be as multicultural as possible." Learn more: Change Makers, books and more for women, is at 6536 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. (510) 655-2405 or www.changemakersforwomen.com. E-mail comments to eastbaylife@sfchronicle.com. |
With
sparkling chimes, colorful macramé bags, naturally scented
candles, and bikini underwear that says "eat organic" on
the front, this isn't your Mama Bears bookstore.
Beyond
retail, Cohen aims to make the store a community resource for women
offering talks, forums, author readings, musical performances and
other events, such as the lesbian pride celebration held Thursday.
The store hosts workshops and classes during the week, interspersed
with women's circles and rituals according to the waxing and waning
of the moon. Each program facilitator decides whether to make her
event women-only or welcome to everyone; the result is half and half.
"I
am learning about queer literature, just like other sections I believed
in before but hadn't read about," she said. "There are lots
of sections growing in that way."