Presently, the plan is to be open once a month in their newhome in the basement of People's Books, located at 2122 E. Locust Street, with the goal ofincreasing hours as things come together. "It's not just that we're openfor business, but give people a reason to come hang out with us and maybe buysome books on the side, says board member Stephanie Schneider, "but oncewe get a volunteer base, hopefully that will increase."
Having changed from a privately owned business into a co-opin November of 2008, when A Broader Vocabulary Co-op purchased the storeinventory from the owners at the time, is one huge adjustment the organizationhas gone through. "It costs $25 to become a co-op member, whichessentially means that you're a co-owner in the organization and have the rightto come to all member meetings and make decisions about what's going to happenwith, essentially, your company," according to Kate Jesse, a member of thecoop board that steers the store and its events.
While the location and ownership are different, theimpressive array of books has remained the same. "We have something like30 categories of books, everything from LGBT and feminist studies, which youwould expect to find, all the way to books like outdoor activities," saidJesse.
They're staying open to suggestion, also. "We've got alist on the wall where people can write down titles of books they'd like to seein the store," according to Schneider. "We've also got an opendiscussion on our Facebook page where people can tell us what they think weshould bring in," she said.
Not just in the business of selling books, ABV plays host toevents, as well. "Our feminist forums are spearheaded by Erin Stoekl. Erin chooses a reading or a few readings and kind ofencourages discussion on any topic at all relating to feminist thought orsomething," said Schneider. Author presentations are also a favorite eventof the Broad Vocabularians.
"We're not promoting a particular definition offeminism, because that can vary a lotit's a discussion of learning and people.We're partnering with other groups in the community that are like-minded. We'renot here with a particular ideological agenda, but more as a place for peopleto kind of figure out their own," according to board member Annie Weidert.
The next big event planned after getting the store on itsfeet is a performance by Sister Spit, a spoken word troupe from San Francisco whosepresentation deals issues facing women and the LGBT community. The eventtakes place April 21 at UWM's Bolton Hall, Room 150.
