Always Here Bookstore

Join us for an evening where learn how to break cycles that police normalcy and control information in society. From the creator of the Bedlam Book Club podcast comes a workshop about how to identify and disrupt the ableist social dynamics that often cloud discussions of truth and power. Attendees will have the opportunity to learn about how definitions of madness have been used to direct power throughout history, and how to avoid replicating these cycles in our personal lives. The first half will focus on the basics of mad studies and the history of madness in the West. After a break, the workshop will detail how these ideas show up in daily life, how to interrupt them, and healthier ways of building knowledge and trust together. Workshop will be very hands-on and will contain lots of opportunities for discussion and questions. Zines, reading lists, and other resources will be available. RSVP required! Sliding scale suggested donation $5-$25 (No one turned away for lack of funds!)

Join us as we host an evening with Mia Schachter, an author, philosopher, consent educator, multi-media artist, and an Intimacy Coordinator for TV, Film, and Theater. Their new book How to Do Consent (without Sounding Like a Robot)! Mia is also the creator of consent.wizardry, Unsolicited Advice from Mia Schachter. Mia will be in-conversation with Elle Stanger, an AASECT Certified Sex Educator, podcast host, adult media producer, and president of Oregon Safer Workers Committee, a sworker-led committee doing public education, policy, and direct action for human rights and safety. They are found online at @stripperwriter. Essential, up-to-date guidance on consent and sex for anyone who’s having it—and everyone who wants to do it better. Empowered practices, embodied skills, and frame-changing advice for navigating consent, pursuing pleasure, and building connection in the real world. Part practical guide, part cultural critique, this book offers braver, more creative, and more empowered visions of what sex can (and should) be. Essential reading for anyone having sex in the 21st century, How to Do Consent moves the conversation past stale and rigid assumptions toward one rooted in connection, fulfillment, and self-discovery. Timely, provocative, real-world, and affirming, Schachter’s work dispels misconceptions like: “Consent can be done perfectly”: When in practice, it’s relative, subjective, fluid, and interpersonal—there’s no one right way to do it. “If you can’t talk about sex, you shouldn’t be having it”: Abstinence lite is unrealistic; talking about sex requires experience, trial, and error. “Consent will save us”: Consent is a harm-reduction strategy, not a panacea. “Enthusiasm is a requirement for consensual sex”: Utterly unenthusiastic but totally consensual sex happens all the time. It’s fine! “Consent is something that men do for women”: It’s a shared, communal responsibility—and anyone of any gender can violate another’s’ boundaries. “Sexuality is always innate and unchangeable”: While honoring the reality that many are “born this way,” Schachter shares how their own desires and sexuality have been both fluid and actively sculpted. Grounded in Schachter’s work as an intimacy coordinator and consent educator—and informed by insights from sex workers, therapists, kink practitioners, and community leaders—How to Do Consent (Without Sounding Like a Robot) offers a provocative and bitingly funny alternative to the myths and practices that keep us silent, confused, anxious, and disconnected—and that hold us back from asking for (and discovering) what we really want.