Newsletter No. 60: WINTER 2012

Paved Paradise.

This month, Come As You Are has the distinct honour of speaking at the annual Canadian Worker Co-operative Federation conference in Ancaster, Ontario. While we’re thrilled just to be nominated, we’re also a little apprehensive about speaking to this year’s theme “Surviving and Thriving” as a worker-owned co-operative. Mostly, we just fear we’ll disappoint.

Our speech will be awesome (no doubt), but as much as we’re often held up as a ‘success story’ in the co-op world, we’re still very much on the ‘survival’ end of the spectrum. For us, being a co-operative is a radical, anti-capitalist act that specifically excludes ‘thriving’ as a goal in any conven- tional sense of the word.

In fact, we were founded as a co-operative to ensure that we would never be corrupted by the desire for profit or personal gain. Well, we’ve certainly managed that! In Toronto, we have seen so many politically and social- ly important small businesses close of late – This Ain’t the Rosedale Library, the Toronto Women’s Bookstore, MissBehavin’.

These weren’t just stores – they were com- munities, and they closed because the people in these communities opted to buy from Amazon or Indigo or su- per-duper-discount-sex-toys.com. All we want (for the holidays) is to keep on surviving. We just want to be here for you when you need us, and we re- ally hope you feel the same because you just don’t know what you‘ve got until it’s gone.  

Switch Dynamics workshop with Dana Shaw 
Saturday, November 17, 2012. 7:30-9:30PM 
Discover the joys and challenges of the fluid nature of switching and being a switch. For many, the assumption is that someone will pick a side: top or bottom, dominant or submissive, master or slave, giver or receiver. Switches don’t always draw such clear distinctions. Come and learn more about blurring the lines between roles and activities in kink. $25

Tit Torture workshop with Dana Shaw Sunday, November 18, 2012. 5:30-7:30PM Breast play with all genders offer opportunities for intense- ly powerful and deliberate play. After we cover safety and risks, participants will learn how to play with breasts and nipples using careful measures of sensuality and intensity. Many options will be demonstrated, then you’ll be invited to try things out! BYOB - Bring Your Own Breasts! $25

Winter 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 sexual- ity, Midori has travelled the world presenting to universities, groups and media. Midori is known for her humanistic, humorous and warm classes that help people to spice up their sex lives and encourage self discovery and personal growth.