Chris Hedges, writing for the “Nation of Change” website, concludes his chilling article with these observations: “Obama is not in charge. Romney would not be in charge. Politicians are the public face of corporate power. They are corporate employees. Their personal narratives, their promises, their rhetoric and their idiosyncrasies are meaningless. And that, perhaps, is why the cost of the two presidential campaigns is estimated to reach an obscene $2.5 billion. The corporate state does not produce a product that is different. It produces brands that are different. And brands cost a lot of money to sell. You can dismiss those of us who will in protest vote for a third-party candidate and invest our time and energy in acts of civil disobedience. You can pride yourself on being practical. You can swallow the false argument of the lesser of two evils. But ask yourself, once this nightmare starts kicking…

Sunday, Sept. 23 – 2 p.m. Rabih Alameddine, Laura Goode, Barbara Jane Reyes, hosted by G. Justin Hulog Rabih Alameddine is the author of three novels, The Hakawati, I, the Divine, and Koolaids, as well as The Perv, a book of short stories. He lives in San Francisco and Beirut. Laura Goode is a novelist, essayist, poet, and screenwriter living in San Francisco. Her first novel for young adults, Sister Mischief, was released by Candlewick Press in 2011, and called a “Best Book You Haven’t Read of 2011” by Vanity Fair online, as well as “a provocative, authentic coming-of-age story…full of big ideas, big heart, and big poetry” by Booklist in its starred review. She is the executive producer of the feature film Farah Goes Bang, which she co-wrote with Meera Menon. Her poems and essays have appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books, The Rumpus, The Faster Times,Boston…

Sunday, Oct. 7 – 2 p.m. Elaine Elinson, Hilton Obenzinger, Jonah Raskin, Nina Serrano, Barry Willdorf Elaine Elinson, coauthor of the award-winning Wherever There’s a Fight: How Runaway Slaves, Suffragists, Immigrants, Strikers, and Poets Shaped Civil Liberties in California, worked with the UFW and reported from the Philippines during the Marcos regime. Hilton Obenzinger reads, takes action, and laughs. Critic, poet, novelist, historian, and recipient of the American Book Award, his books include the autobiographical novel Busy Dying. He teaches writing and American studies at Stanford University. Jonah Raskin has written about American radicals and radicalism in Out of the Whale: Growing Up in the American Left, The Radical Jack London and numerous other books. Nina Serrano, poet, media producer, and educator, was voted “Best Local Poet” by Oakland Magazine in 2010. She co-founded the Mission Cultural Center, and produces literature and Latino radio programs for KPFA. Barry Willdorf, a…

Monday, Oct. 1 – 7 p.m. Featured poets plus an open mic 1st & 3rd Monday of each month hosted by Jerry Ferraz. Rebecca Farivar is the author of Correct Animal (Octopus Books, 2011) and chapbook American Lit (Dancing Girl Press, 2011). She holds an MFA in poetry from St. Mary’s College of California and hosts the podcast Break The Line. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Denver Quarterly, 6×6, cold-drill, RealPoetik, The Volta, Word For / Word, The American Poetry Journal, and elsewhere. She currently lives in Oakland. Ben Mirov is the author of Hider Roser (Octopus Books, 2012), Ghost Machine (Caketrain, 2010). He grew up in Northern California and lives in Oakland.