I came cross this great little documentary of San Francisco’s favorite notable icon, Frank Chu. Frank was born in 1960, his father is 98 and is still alive, his mom was murdered by the CIA and 12 Galaxies or maybe there was some natural causes. He’s been in and out of jail, the Oakland cops almost murdered him a few times. He starts his routine at 8am downtown everyday and likes to break for lunch at Jack in the Box.
Screw that Black Friday crap. You really don’t want to be among the sheep. Celebrate Buy Nothing Day instead.
If you live in SF and care about democratizing Internet access, you should attend this free event. Media Alliance is making it happen and Lawrence Lessig is gonna throw down a few words. And check out Awesometown, funny as fuck.
Lawrence Lessig on Wireless in SF: Digital City or Divided City?
When: Monday, October 10 2005 @ 07:00 PM PDT – 10:00PM
Where: 111 Minna Gallery
111 Minna Street
between 2nd and New Montgomery
San Francisco
Description: Join Media Alliance for this dynamic panel discussion on creating universal, affordable Internet access through municipal broadband utilities. Featuring a presentation by Professor Lawrence Lessig and a panel of local community Internet experts, the evening will include Q&A with the audience.
After years of advocacy by MA and other groups, Mayor Newsom announced earlier this year his goal of free wireless Internet access for all San Franciscans. Cities across the country are implementing municipal projects, though with varying degrees of commitment to bridging the digital divide.
This evening will explore the significant opportunities for city-run projects to expand Internet access and usage by under-served communities, and improve cost, service and consumer choice for everyone.
The talk will be followed at 9pm by music from DJ’s Kid Kameleon and Ripley.
Cost: $5, Free for Media Alliance and EFF members
7-9 pm Discussion: Lessig, Panel, Q&A
9-10pm DJ’s Kid Kameleon and Ripley
I hit the desert with MGL and Ted this weekend for the experience that was Simnuke. Simnuke is the culmination of megatons of hard work by conscious fire artists who created a 1/10,000 scale of the infamous Trinity first nuclear test exactly 60 years ago. The simulation was created by the use of large fans fed with 400 gallons of pressurized biodiesel, going up in less than 30 seconds. Simnuke is meant as a reminder of the horror of nuclear weapons, something that many of us don’t really think about anymore in this post-Cold War world, myself included. Considering that the Bush administration spends more on nukes now than we did on average during the Cold War and that we are minting new would-be terrorists daily with western actions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine it is a super important reality to keep in mind. This video is a little something I shot and edited capturing the explosive beauty of what the Simnuke Project was able to illuminate. Length: 01:27 [3MB Quicktime7] [10MB Quicktime MPEG4]
I met Pam Pam around the old Progressive Nerve Center sometime last year while she was working for Dennis Kucinich’s presidential campaign. She’s an amazing human being that brings SF Peacemakers to life. She and friends and neighbors take back the corner of Sunnydale and Hahn every Friday night. It’s the most notorious block in San Francisco where frequent but little known stories of dead black men are made. Pam Pam brings a moment of peace to where much violence and blood have flowed. This 60 minute video (144MB QT) is Pam Pam’s story of what goes on down there. Get ready, it’s damn powerful. Btw, I didn’t create this video. This is a rip of a DVD that Pam Pam asked me to make available on the ‘net. I just ripped it and uploaded it to the Internet Archive.
Reason #74 why San Francisco rules. On the 50th anniversary of the existence of McDonald’s, the Billboard Liberation Front unwrapped a little birthday present across the street from a franchise in the Haight. A billboard graphic was revealed of a pudgy Ronald and slovenly alien created by Ron English whose work was featured in the brilliant movie Super Size Me. Soon after the unveiling of the billboard and accompanying mechanized Ronald McDonald feeding a Big Mac into a grotesque figure, a couple dozen clowns dressed as Ronald as well as a few Hamburglers showed up to pay their respects to the piece. The phrase To Serve Man comes from a disturbing Twilight Zone episode. You just don’t see this kinda shit in Tulsa, and that’s a shame cause Tulsa really needs it. Laughing Squid and SFist has a complete rundown of the craziness.
My good friend Tim has embarked upon a life changing event to well, help save lives after a family friend of his passed away from Lymphoma. He’s running a triathalon this weekend, just like every weekend. To him that’s like going for a stroll, doing the backstroke and peddling a few times. Actually, it’s INSANE. He’s been training for the past 6 months, it’s a major life achievement. Most people never do a uniathalon much less a triathalon. And I can’t think of a more appropriately nice, caring, giving and INSANE person to do it. That’s my way of saying I’m too much of a loser to take on such insanity, which is my burden. In all seriousness, what Tim is doing is incredible and he deserves big ups and support. He’s still looking to close the fundraising gap, 73% of the way there as of now. If you can give, any amount would help. All the details are right here.
I never knew Marla Ruzicka. Reading about the incredible things she’s accomplished in her short 28 years on this planet has to move even the most jaded anti-warrior and war supporter alike. Marla committed her life to bringing some semblance of justice to those civilian causalities (“collateral damage”) caught in the war zones of Afghanistan and Iraq. Doing the job our government refuses to, she went to Iraq going door-to-door to count, take names and hear people’s stories of loss. Armed with this information, she went to Washington and lobbied for repatriations for those civilians. It’s with sad irony that Marla was killed yesterday by a suicide bomb on the road out of Baghdad. She’s a NorCal native and grew her social justice skills at Global Exchange here in San Francisco. From the things I’ve read, her selflessness is rivaled only by her compassion and commitment to making life a little better for others. The organization she birthed, Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC), will no doubt continue Marla’s miracle mission of realizing another world is possible.
This is what San Francisco’s City Hall looks like today. Red for Valentine’s day and I imagine the first anniversary of our mayor’s now world famous action.
UPDATE: I was so wrong. The reason City Hall was really red was the Go Red for Women campaign by the American Heart Association. My bad. Red for Valentine’s just made too much sense.
It’s been just over a year since the runoff mayoral election last year in which Matt Gonzalez almost pulled one off against the machine. I can still recall vividly, the Dems scared at the prospect of losing a major city election to a Green, calling on Bill Clinton AND Al Gore to swoop in and stump for Gavin Newsom. Newsom did win, though mostly due to early absentee voters as Matt rocked the city at the polls on election day. The Progressive Voter Project was born as an answer to the absentee problem.
Two books have been published centering around the Gonzalez campaign. The Political Edge, from City Lights Press, is a collection of essays covering different points of view from volunteers of the campaign, local journalists and long-time activists. I’m interviewed by David Rosen for his piece, “130 Parties in 30 Days:” The Matt Gonzalez Mayoral Campaign & the Restructuring of the Culture Industry. He explores the idea that the culture of the campaign is what brought people together. Matt’s cultural identity is something that resonated with many of us thus driving his unprecedented support manifested in the form of spontaneious house parties, raffles, poetry readings, art auctions, rock shows, and yoga benefits to name a few.
The other book is called Go, Matt, Go edited by Nicole Walter. It’s also a collection of essays, blurbs, poetry, manifestos and interviews from many more volunteers of the campaign. Self published and editorially raw, it’s a good window into feeling of those short couple of months. I have a short essay that describes my experiences and emotions of the campaign. Both books are well worth picking up.
