Summer travel season is here — in fact, almost the whole Slingshot collective is already off on their travels or is about to leave, but that’s another story. Here’s some places you could ramble through and plug into. An updated version of the Radical Contact List we publish in our organizer with tons of spaces to visit all over the globe is at our website: slingshot.tao.ca. Happy trails.
Common Ground – Athens, GA
They are a resource center that has existed for about a year. They have a library, meeting room, office space for local groups, and free internet. They host Food Not Bombs and other events. Open 4-8 pm Monday – Thursday and 12-6 pm Saturday. 157 n Newton St Athens GA 30601, www.commongroundathens.org
Confluence Collective – Grand Junction, CO
A new community center dedicated to providing the tools, space and resources for grassroots organizing. They have free bike work/teaching/playing, a lending library with over 1500 books, a computer lab with internet access, a darkroom with workshops, free store and various weekly events: weekly vegan dinner and radical movies. About ten different groups meet there each month. 1450 Elm Ave Grand Junction, CO 81501 970.245.3720
Olympia Free School – Olympia, WA
They’ve been in existence for 5 years and offer free classes to the community as a local nonhierarchical organization. 610 Columbia St, Olympia, WA 98501, 360.352.4165 www.olympiafreeschool.org
Sisters’ Camelot – Minneapolis, MN
They are a collective with a bus that collects and distributes free organic food from different locations each day. They just got an office — collective meetings are Mondays at 3 pm. Check their website to see where the bus will be on any given day. 3649 Chicago Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55407. 612-746-3051 www.sisterscamelot.org
Clandestinos Collective – Denver, CO
A community space, with tables, chairs, and couches in the front for vegan breakfasts on Saturdays from 10-2, a screening room in the back for movies, a performance space, a kitchen, a lending library, a bike shop, several shelves of zines. They have writing workshops on Fridays and post-Critical Mass meetings on the last Friday of every month, etc. 719 W. 8th Ave. Denver, CO 80204
The Playing in Sand Collective – Santa Cruz, CA
Check out the Werkshop Museum & The Galley a do-it-yourself art space / infoshop / showspace. They host a variety of events and regular freeskool classes: figure drawing, music jam sessions, stencil making, block prints, and yoga. “On the second Sunday of every month we come together to host an event with workshops, food, and performances to represent these concepts and build creative momentum.” They also sell anarchist books and zines. Hours: 2:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. most days. 293 Squid Row, Santa Cruz, CA. playinginsand@gmail.com
Bike Church – Santa Cruz, CA
A community bike shop and tool cooperative. You need not be a mechanic to use the Bike Church’s do-it-yourself repair facility; people of all aptitudes make use of the shop. Church ministers (mechanics) are there to help and get as involved in the repair of your bicycle as necessary. They encourage people to learn by getting their hands dirty – familiarize them-selves with the machine that they rely on to get them from place to place. 703 S. Pacific, Santa Cruz, CA 831-425-2453. www.santacruzhub.org
Places that have closed or ???
The following places have closed since we published the 2006 organizer:
• Red ink books in Dublin, Ireland had to close due to expensive rent.
• We have heard that Sabos in Grand Rapids, MI has closed.
• Laughing Horse books in Portland, OR — a decades old radical bookstore and space — had to close its location on Division street due to rent increases. They are reportedly looking for a new location.
• We heard that the Asheville Community Resource Center in Asheville, NC has closed its location (again) due to heat from the city. Not sure if they’re looking for a new location or not.
• We got mail returned from U-C IMC in Urbana, IL, The Planet Infoshop in Ann Arbor, MI, the Burning River Collective in Cleveland, OH and Soap Box in Bellingham, WA. We suspect they may have closed but can’t be sure. Let us know if you have any info on the fate of any of these spaces.