Newsletter No. 56: WINTER 2011

Goodbye to “The 701”

As some of you already know from the relentless Come As You Are rumour mill (or just the ‘for lease’ sign obnoxiously thrust upon our windows), this month we’re preparing to say goodbye to seven-oh-one Queen Street West. Better known as “The 701” from back-in-the-day when Peaches and Feist lived upstairs, this has been our collective home- away-from-home for over fourteen years, and the upstairs apartment has housed a continuous line of artists and activists from the beginning (we still get their mail...and their royalty cheques!)

We always knew this day would come. Little by little, our neck of the woods has been bought up by property developers large and small as independent property-owning retailers retire and sell. As West Queen West moves on, so must we!

As of November 15th, Come As You Are will have a brand new home where you always thought we were! Now, when you call and ask for directions, we’ll tell you we’re located about a block west of Spadina on the southside of Queen. That is, we’re moving on up to the eastside (of Queen West)! Our new space is bigger, more accessible, and has ample space for our infamous hands-on workshops with Midori coming up in November and December (see the back of this newsletter for details). 

We’re also relocating our offices back to the store-space, so all of our staff and worker-owners will be accessible to answer questions and you will all be able to see just how we work harder to make sex easier! To celebrate, the staff and worker-owners will be launching a full-scale production of Rent, uh, I mean, we’re throwing a huge party on December 3rd at 493 Queen Street West!

Workshops with Midori

Author of The Seductive Art of Japanese Bondage and Wild Side Sex, and her latest erotic science fiction Master Han’s Daughter, educator and columnist on adventurous sexuality, Midori has traveled the world presenting to universities, groups and media. Born in Japan and raised in a feminist intellectual Tokyo household, she served in the US Army while earning her psychology degree from University of California, Berkeley.

Numerous years as a sex educator with San Francisco Sex Information combined with her curiosity and explorations into the sex-positivity movement complete the dynamic blend of experiences that give her such breadth and depth of knowledge in human erotic expression. Midori has also appeared on several television stations including HBO,Playboy, Peep (Germany), and others. She was awarded the Woman of the Year Activist Award in 2000 for Pantheon of Leather and again in 2001 for the Western Region Activist award.

Learn more on Midori’s website at www.fhp-inc.com