Don’t you hate it when you’re at a party and someone mentions their love for the doctor? ‘The doctor?’ you think ‘what kind of person loves their doctor? Is it a Haight Asbury type doctor? Or one of those sexy ones that gets handsy with the novacane? And who is this doctor, who?’ Doctor Who, the question, and the answer. “Doctor Who” is a British science fiction television show that features a time traveling alien. It’s also frightfully popular in nerd culture on both sides of the pond. This means that nerds at a party may have more to talk about than you do, and you don’t want to be socially outgunned by a nerd do you? What follows is enough about Doctor Who and his cohorts to make you look cool at a party. Suck it, nerds!

Things not to say to Doctor Who fans:

The Doctor

1) “I like that actor who plays Doctor Who.”

Why it’s dumb: There have been eleven actors who have assumed the role since the show’s inception. This is not a Darren from Bewitched situation (actor quit, substituted with worse actor), or a Richard Harris from the Harry Potter movies situation (inconsiderately died of old age) but is instead a major plot point. The Doctor is a member of an alien race called the Time Lords. Time Lords have the ability to regenerate and to change their physical form and personality. Thus the doctor can be millions of years old and still look like a 30-year-old bloke in converse sneakers. There is even some buzz that the next incarnation of The Doctor might be a woman. Let’s just hope they wouldn’t start calling her The Nurse.

Say instead: “Who is your favorite Doctor? They’re all so different!”

2) “Doctor Who? Oh is that the medical drama where everyone is boning in the supply closet?

Why it’s dumb: First of all, the show you’re thinking of is Downton Abbey. Second of all the name “The Doctor” seems to be an arbitrary title. After sifting through heated message board arguments I came to the conclusion that the title may refer to the way he tends to fix problems in time and space. As a fledgling Whovian myself I’d like to put forth the theory that the title could also refer to his vast knowledge of our world and others, similar to someone with a doctorate degree. But I dare not share this on tumblr, for fear of being torn new one by fifteen year old fan girls. Also the “Doctor? Doctor Who?” joke is one that is played out literally five times each season.

Say instead: “Gee the British make good television. That Doctor Who show just gets better with age!” (Except don’t say “gee”. Only losers say “gee”.)

3) “Sonic Screwdriver? That’s my favorite drink!”

Why it’s dumb: The Sonic Screwdriver is actually The Doctor’s go-to bit of alien technology. The screwdriver can pick locks, mend broken wires, and “in a pinch you could put up some shelves,” The Doctor boasts in one episode. This tool is not without its limitations and substances such as wood, deadlock doors, and hairdryers are impervious to the screwdriver. Lushes of the world need not despair; it is also a fancy cocktail.

Say instead: “That dress you’re wearing must not be a sonic screwdriver because it definitely works on wood. On the serious though, would you rather have a sonic screwdriver or a wand from Harry Potter?”

Cyber Man

4) “I love that new show, Doctor Who!”

Why it’s dumb: Calling Doctor Who a new show is like saying a blonde girl has no leg hair: outwardly accurate but on closer inspection untrue. Yes the show, as fans know it today started up in 2005. However that shows is a modern reboot of a show that ran on the BBC from 1963-1996. The show was intended to be a family show about a man exploring iconic moments in history by way of scientific elements. This went well until the final series in 1995 received low ratings and shark -jumpy plotlines. Then there was a movie made (very Arrested Development) with a new Doctor and was barely a blip at the box office. At that point it looked like the series, which had run twenty six seasons would be no more. Then in 2005 the series itself regenerated, now incorporating more stand alone episodes, and has done well ever since.

Say instead: “Girl, you must be David Tennant because you are a ten! No seriously isn’t it cool that the series has such longevity? Wish Star Trek would come back to TV”(You don’t have to say that last bit. That last bit is for me.)

5) “So what are you guys? Whosiers? Whoovers? Trekkies?”

Why it’s dumb: It’s not, really. Batshit , meaningless distinctions are part of any mega fandom. Just as contentious and equally silly as the heated “Trekker versus Trekkie” debate, the Whovian v. Wholigan conflict has been going on for years. Urban dictionary makes the distinction that a Whovian is “specifically and old fan” of Doctor Who and a Wholigan is “specifically a new fan, Doctor 9 and up.” Then again urban dictionary may not be the most reliable source, as they seem to define my name as a pure form of MDMA. Which is crazy, right guys? Guys?

Say instead: “Whovian, Wholigan, Who-freaking-cares! Lets just drink and be nice to eachother, ok?”

Dalek

SIDEBAR
Here are some more things to add to your Who knowledge tool belt.

Companions
The Doctor, like P Diddy, likes to travel with an entourage. This entourage usually comes in the form of an earth girl he whisks away from her boring life, Peter Pan style, to join him in his adventures. This girl is called a companion and she represents the viewing audience of the show in that she is being lead by the doctor into fantastical worlds. There have been roughly forty companions ( even the occasional male companion) and all of them have ranged in appearance, ages, and time spent snogging the Doctor. Snogging, it’s a fun word. Try to use it sometime.

Daleks
The main adversaries of any Doctor are the Daleks. Daleks are octopus-like mutants who live inside metal shells equipped with an eyestalk and heavy artillery. They are protected by a bullet repelling force field and speak with a robot voice. Daleks live to exterminate the human race.

The Tardis

The Tardis
The Tardis is the Doctor’s main mode of intergalactic transportation. The time machine appears to be a blue police box on the outside and is famously much larger on the inside. The Tardis can only be controlled by Doctor Who and can be uses to travel through time and space. It also translates languages, both alien and domestic for anyone standing within a few feet of it. The Doctor and the Tardis have a loving relationship and at times they share a telepathic link.

Cyber men
Cyber men are human beings whose brains and organs have been put into scary robotic bodies. When humans are put in these bodies their emotions are mechanically suppressed so that they can become lean, mean, remorseless killing machines.

Weeping Angels
Weeping angels are easily the scariest monster in the Who universe and considering the series has featured faceless people, zombies, and more than one possessed child, that’s saying something. The angels look like stone statues but are actually ancient and powerful beings. They derive energy from sending people back in time but are strong enough to kill a human should the need arise. The trick is, the angels cannot hurt you as long as you are looking at them, but the space of a single blink is all the time they need to attack.

Why does everyone on Facebook have tally marks on their face?

April 23rd was a special day for Who fans and many of them celebrated by drawing on their hands. This isn’t the mark of some weird Sci Fi drinking game  (though such a game does exist). It is instead homage to an episode that took place on that same date called “The Impossible Astronaut” which aired last year and featured and alien group called “The Silence.” Freshman cinema major and tally mark wearer, Collin Searles had this to say “The marks are a way the Doctor deals with an alien species called The Silence. Their sort of power is that you forget their presence when you look away from them. The Doctor tallies his arm when he sees one so that he can remember that he”s seen one of the silence.” Searles and others marked their bodies that day and took pictures on facebook and instagram (#thesilence), some bearing the ominous caption “what are these marks on my arm?”

Wednesday Night Comedy at The Flying Pig brings crowds in to see 2 minutes speed rounds for 2 hours offering a plethera of the bay areas finest comedians such as Ken Townsend. Photo on Wednesday, April 3, 2013.

By Molly Sanchez
Photos by Frank Leal

By day I am a journalist. I sit in classes, carry a voice recorder in my purse, and find clever ways to mock my superiors within the confines of the Chicago style. But by night I am a standup comic. I sit in bars, carry a voice recorder in my purse, and find clever ways to mock my superiors within the confines of three-minute long sets. Open mics are a right of passage for entry-level comics, and the best way to get stage time. Richard Dreyling, comic and Marine corps veteran says, “Open mics are important because they provide a venue for comics to get good though trying material, figuring out what works, and getting more comfortable on stage. Most good shows won’t let comics on until they progress past that level, so open mics are a bit of a crucible. Everyone sucks at the start, its just that some people stick with it and with that consistency, get better. I look at it as a shitty boot camp that never ends, but you have to go down there to work those skills, like hitting the bag or running. You have to do it.” What follows is a guide to doing it every night of the work week. Even if you’re not a comedian these are events worth attending because nothing makes a good night great like a dark bar and hours of quality dick jokes.

Monday
Portals Tavern
179 W Portal Ave,
21+
Sign up:8
Get there: 7
Set length: 5 minutes

I’m a firm believer that good things can be found behind even the dingiest of exteriors, old wardrobes, faded Mission taco shops etc. The open mic at Portals Tavern is no exception. Behind the unremarkable wooden door that most people mosey past en route to West Portal’s other attractions (RIP Squat and Gobble) is a bar lit by Christmas lights and warmed by a fireplace. The ratio of comedians to civilians is a decent five-to-one here on a good night and the audience tends to be respectful of sets. The mic is hosted by loveable stoner, Justin Alan, and by the more coherent Scott Simpson. Both hosts insist on a strict code of conduct for the comedians ascending the makeshift stage, a microphone that abuts a jukebox. “Shake my hand when you get on,” Alan says. “Shake my god damned hand. Don’t make me look like an asshole!” The bar is usually filled with laughter either from bartender Randy’s weekly sets (ask him to tell the one about the Lone Ranger and the whores) or from the antics of comedians offstage. “Did anyone else hear that fart?” asks comic, Mean Dave, mid set. “This guy puked outside, what kind of place is this, someone take a dump right now!” The back patio area of Portals is also a great place to network with fellow comedians. Just watch out for the puke.

The last Tuesday of every month offers The Break Room hosted by Rajeev Dhar at Amnesia on 20th and Valencia. Combing through the bay areas finest comedians with 2 minutes rapid fire shorts. Photo on Tuesday March 26, 2013. Photo by Frank Leal/Xpress

Tuesday
Amnesia
853 Valencia St
21+
Sign up: 6:30
Get There: 6
Set length: 3-4 minutes

Amnesia is a dark bar. I’m talking bat cave, basement apartment, and “future for graduates with a humanities degree.” The bar, featured prominently in my other article, is lit by glowing red candles on the high tables that line the wall and the pink-gelled theatre lights that blast on thestage. Climbing the stairs to the stage, the brightest spot in the whole bar, I always feel like Indy in Raiders of the Lost Ark and worry that I haven’t brought a heavy enough sand bag to displace the totem safely. The mic, called “The Break Room,” is run by comedian and producer, Rajeev Dhar, though sometimes it is run by his sun glassed alter ego “Prince Rajeev The Everlasting.” The room is populated completely by comics with only a few civilians who trickle in around nine to witness the bar’s nightly transition into a music venue. What no one tells civilians about comics watching other comics is that no one laughs. One comic, William Lushbough astutely labels this issue “the comic’s room chuckle” and describes the usual slight groans to the quiet intonations of “funny” as comic’s way of saying “ah yes, we agree with what you say there.” This relative silence is tough on later comedians, sometimes embittering the material. “I think a lot about guns,” one comic says. “Especially at open mics.” Amnesia is a good spot for networking or trying new material on peers. Beer lovers can avail themselves of the secret happy hour (dollar off taps from 6-7p.m.) and music lovers can show up at 8 p.m. and dodge the cover for the music act that comes
in at 9:30 p.m.

Casey Grim is the hostess for The Flying Pig’s Wednesday night comedy show, aiding the audience to watch with a crowd wide beer game, screaming for visitors to drink when ever comedians utter the phrases she had picked through out the night. Photo on Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Wednesday
Flying Pig
433 S Van Ness Ave
All ages
Sign up: 7:30
Get there: 7
Set length: 5 minutes

Wednesdays at the Flying Pig are the brainchild of comedy power couple, Casey Grim and Adam McLaughlin. After meeting via sessions at the infamous Comedy College, McLaughlin and Grim devoted their married life to raising several cats and the bar set for open mics in their neighborhood. The Pig, as it is affectionately referred to, is bright and homey that serves delicious sandwiches, local beers, and salads the size of a grown man’s head. There is also free Wi-Fi so comics can tweet their jokes that didn’t make it into their sets. Because this venue is a restaurant rather than a straight up bar, the civilian-to-comic ratio is a healthy four-to-two. Audience members keen to be featured in everyone’s set tend to sit at the very edge of the bar, giving them a front row seat to the keg surrounded stage. Grim, twitter fight instigator and main emcee, has high energy and a loud laugh that gives comics new and old an onstage boost. “Comics aren’t funny, open mics help comics understand that. Or at least that’s the goal,” says Grim who takes pride in the organization of her mic.” The unfortunate thing is our lack of quality open mics has really trained poor habits into people. We need stricter open mics & showcases with higher expectations. That would really do the comedy scene a WORLD of favors.” The beauty of baby open mics like The Pig, baby here referring both to the event’s recent inception and the age of potential comics, is that they are often more generous with stage time than more established and thus more crowded mics and usually pull a wider audience. Sooie!

Thursday
Brainwash
1122 Folsom St
All ages
Sign up: 6:30
Get there:5
Set length: 4 minutes

Brainwash is by far the best venue for new comics. Bar freaking none. First time comics are given a warm welcome by host Tony Sparks, a prestigious fixture of the bay area comedy scene. “Baby,” “Human” and “Sugar –nasty” are among the many terms of endearments Sparks applies to comics and audience members and he rallies the crowd to greet new comics with a boisterous call of “GIVE THEM A LOT OF LOVE!” That love can be seen in the sign up priority new comics get on a list that sometimes reaches over thirty comics a night. The same priority is given to women comics (I’d be mad about my vagina being seen as a handicap if I wasn’t so busy getting on stage early). Because of the supportive atmosphere of this venue it is often packed past capacity with comics and civilians and their combined laughter can be heard even over the rumblings of the adjacent laundromat. Because of the sprawling sign up list this mic lasts well past 11 p.m. but civilians tend to stay and laugh for the majority of the time. Comic Drew Harmon, a veteran of the Brainwash scene says “open mics are where that guy who everybody in the office says “is SO funny, you should do comedy!” finds out that he would rather just be the funniest guy in the office and not spend the next seven to ten years hanging out in bar basements and laundromats. Those that are left are sad, disturbed narcissists who will never know peace.” This spot is a great place to be seen by producers in charge of showcases and many a new comic lands their first gig at Brainwash. If you’re a comic looking for inspiration, the back bathroom is covered floor to ceiling with sharpied jokes and quotes from literature, history, and pop culture. Patty Hearst was right, Brainwash is a great thing.

Friday
Mutiny Radio
21st and Florida St
All ages
Sign ups: 7:45
Get There: 7:30
Set Length: 5 minutes

To say Pam Benjamin, comedian and host of Pamtastic’s Comedy Clubhouse, is enthusiastic is to say chocolate is just ok, or the BP oil spill was just a little messy. At the beginning of every open mic Pam, a former cheerleader, leads the crowd in a loud rendition of the Comedy Clubhouse theme song. The song is the Mickey Mouse Club theme …if the Mickey Mouse Club theme was sung by middle aged stoners. “M-U-T-I-N-Y Comedy Clubhouse/ Forever we will all get high, high, high( audience pretends to take a toke, all cough exaggeratedly).” The mutiny radio feels like that song, something wholesome and familiar with a little twist around the edges. The studio is small and the walls are bedecked with local art. The stage is teeny and abuts the bathroom. Sometimes, if the station’s djs have been negligent, the bathroom smell permeates the small space. “We called it Pam’s Comedy Outhouse last week,” Benjamin confides with a wink. Friday nights are fueled by her enthusiasm and sheer bouncing presence. She smiles and laughs so uproariously that a child seeing a bike under the Christmas tree would look at Benjamin and think “ Sheesh woman, get a hold of yourself!” Called affectionately “a grown up Rainbow Brite” Benjamin’s childlike glee can be seen when she introduces one comic as “a fireball inside the mouth of an angel from space”.The mic, which is every Friday (save for the first of the month) draws a mostly comics crowd with very few in-studio civilians. Still the show, which is converted into a podcast weekly, draws a crowd. Longtime intern and comedienne, Lalique D’Bruzzi, says that the listenership has reached “eighteen thousand or so”.

Side bar
Top five tips for Open Mics

1) Come early: SF is a city full of hungry comics aching for stage time. Since most of them are unemployed they arrive at mics an hour to two hours early and position on the list is normally decided on a first come first served basis.

2) Don’t run the light: When you have one minute remaining in your set,
the emcee will flash a light. This means it’s time to wrap up. Very few places penalize for going over time but doing so cuts into the stage time of your fellow comics. Think of it this way, you wouldn’t bring a book into a crowded bathroom stall; you’d do your business and get the heck out. Yes, comedy is like one giant toilet.

3) Drink…a little: If you are of drinking age and the mic you attend is at a bar you should buy one drink. This serves the dual purpose of being polite and patronizing the venue and taking the edge off before your set. Be warned though, too many pre-set drinks can be detrimental to your material and your ability to avoid being a jerk offstage.

4) Try new things: Nothing is more annoying than a comedy that does the
exact same material at the exact same open mic week after week. It’s ok to try different iterations of the same joke to see if a slight change of wording unlocks the elusive comic’s room laugh but doing the same material verbatim week after week is asking comedians to do the same job your bathroom mirror or shower walls could do, and I don’t mean help you practice kissing. If you must repeat a set to work out serious kinks take it to a different mic another day that week and challenge yourself to generate new material for the old mic.

5) Keep Freaking Going: Open mics get old. Sometimes people don’t laugh,
sometimes the set feels too short, sometimes you have cramps and would
rather go home and use your computer as a heating pad on your aching uterus than schlep out to a mic (so I hear anyway). If you’re serious about the business of being funny you need to ignore all these excuses and just freaking go. Going to mics is like running on a treadmill, it may seem like you’re going nowhere, but you’re conditioning yourself to live differently (shoot Sanchez, is comedy a treadmill or a toilet?? Make up your damn mind!) But don’t take my word for it; Patton Oswalt said it best when he said, “Go onstage a lot. Go onstage as much as you can. Don’t read books on comedy. Don’t take comedy classes. Don’t ask anyone how you should write material, or what they think of your material. Develop on your own. Go onstage. A lot. Every night. If there isn’t an open mike in your town, start one. And then go onstage. A lot. That’s it.”

The Juice Shop offers juices made only with ingredients from local organic farmers.

By Nicole Ellis
Photos by Samantha Benedict

The word juice means different things to different people. The “juice-heads” in Jersey aren’t the same juicers who work with Barry Bonds or Lance Armstrong. And those juicers are completely different than the juicers shopping at Whole Foods. The more common and accepted juicer is the kind that extracts nutrients from raw fruits and veggies. Not everyone who juices is a rawist, but juicing is a huge aspect to eating raw.

Beans, fruits, seaweed, sprouts, nuts, whole grains, and vegetables are among the types of foods rawist eat. Rawism, or eating raw, leaves food in its environmental state. The fruits, veggies, and grains are considered raw if they’re cooked under 115 degrees. Most people who practice eating raw stick to a vegan diet, but there’s also rawists who eat animal products. A sashimi dinner is the perfect example. Raw foodists, who eat animal products believe that eating foods above this temperature makes the food lose its nutritional value and can harm the body.

“I started this [raw food] diet because I feel like it is the only thing that makes sense in this world,” Novalee Truesdell, a raw foodist of six years, explains. “Plants grow naturally as a pure food source and yet we turn to all this processed, chemically altered nonsense that confuses and screws our poor bodies up!”

Truesdell stuck with her raw diet because she saw her body change. Her depression went away, her energy level rose and her body remains slender and lean. “People saw there is a certain glow about me that they can’t quite put their finger on,” Truesdell says.

Some commonly known benefits to eating raw include: weight management, clear skin and hair, decreased food cravings, increased energy, and mental clarity.

David Hinkle went raw for one hundred days to lose weight. “Honestly, it just seemed kind of easy to me,” Hinkle says about making the decision to swap processed food for a clean diet. “I did a raw juice fast for seventy days, then a break, then another thirty [days] for a total of one hundred and six pounds lost.”

During his fast, Hinkle consumed nothing but raw juice, regular water, and coconut water. “A key component of the success of juice fasting, and not eating, is hydration,”

Hinkle explains. He recommends drinking lots of water, up to two gallons a day, to help suppress the hunger and accelerate the weight loss process.

Hinkle and Truesdell found that juicing is the key to staying trim. “I love juicing and make a green juice every single day which I crave until I have [it],” Truesdell shared about her secret to keeping her body lean. “You can just feel the fresh, raw, liquid fruits and vegetables, seeping into your body.” She eats almost any fruit and vegetable she can get her hands on.

Page Gausman sells juices at the Juice Shop on Thursday, April 11, 2012. The Juice Shop serves juice made only with ingredients from local organic farmers.

The two things rawist need to keep an eye out for are contaminated food and low levels of certain vitamins. Food poisoning doesn’t only occur in meat, it can affect raw produce like lettuce, melon, spouts, and berries. The American Dietetic Association advises checking iron, vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids, calcium, iodine, vitamin B-12, and protein levels to ensure they’re not too low.

The positives definitely outweigh the negatives in terms of potential benefits, according to rawists. Some people believe eating raw can cure chronic illnesses like cancer. Others think the lifestyle change can help aid problems like asthma. Truesdell has a friend who cured her own asthma, chronic fatigue, and sinusitis, just by eating raw.

Cecilia Kinzie changed her eating habits when she was twenty-two. Her health problems were causing her to become depressed, but after a conversation about raw food with a friend, Kinzie went out and bought a raw cookbook and never turned back. She’s been raw for over ten years and has never felt better. Kinzie has her own website and has written her own book, Raw Food Starter Guide, that’s downloadable for free online.

Jumpstarting a raw diet might be as easy as visiting The Juice Shop. Located on Union Street and Buchanan, The Juice Shop started out as a delivery service, but its popularity grew, allowing them to open a store in 2009 where people can visit them face-to-face. “We have a lot of people who come on a regular basis,” said Lina Gulick, co-owner of Juice Shop, “but we also have people stopping by who never experienced juicing before.”

Their juices are made on a hydraulic press, which “gently and completely extracts all of the vital nutrients in the most optimal method possible,” Gulick explains. The pure nutrients are one hundred percent organic and start at $9.

Is juicing a trend or has it always been an “in” thing? “We have definitely seen an increase in the general interest in juicing since we started,” said Gulick. Juicing has been around for over a century, but its popularity and accessibility has made it a phenomenon. “When it comes down to the basics, the benefits of juicing are so profound that people tend to stick with it.”

Some people use the raw diet as a way to lose weight, others use it as a way to rid medical problems, and some people just want to make a lifestyle change. Eating raw provides many benefits, but not all carnivores will want to dabble in the semi-strict diet. Although, it seems that once people go raw, they don’t go back.

Sidebar: 

Novalee’s Morning Pick-me-up Smoothie

Fresh or frozen fruits blended with fresh leafy greens like kale, chard, parsley or dandelion, and chia seed powder

David’s Go-to Juice

Half bunch of kale, half a cucumber, one granny smith apple, two carrots, half a lemon, and a small hunk of ginger

Photo illustration by Jessica Worthington.

By Rhys Alvarado
Photos by Jessica Worthington

People say I’m old fashioned.

And I don’t blame them.

I listen to old soul cuts of Sam Cooke and The Nat King Cole Trio religiously. I drink old fashioneds when I go to the bar (a good measure of a good bartender). And I’m still searching for the thief who’s been snagging my weekday subscription to The New York Times.

Maybe the last one’s just me getting old. Regardless, I’d say my peers are right.

Even when it comes to finding love, I’ve always relied on chance or meeting people through friends. But living in a “get-it-or-get-out” kind of city like San Francisco, where I’m attending class four days a week, interning for a social media startup and waiting tables on the weekends — I find myself too busy to find love. Having been single for almost a year while trying to keep up with a to-do list that just never seems to end, the idea of creating an online dating profile has only sounded sweeter as the gap between me and my last girlfriend has grown.

I was timid about putting myself out into the digital spectrum of finding love —and sometimes lust— over the internet because I didn’t think I knew anyone involved in a successful relationship that began online. I thought wrong. One of my aunts met her husband in an online chatroom. My current roommate met his girlfriend on Match.com. My old construction boss met his fiancee online too, with plans to marry in the spring.

Hindu astrologers would pick mates based on the stars back in a time when matchmakers were once a staple in all cultures. But in today’s fidgety gadget-grasping age, the internet is the way 40 million out of 54 million singles in the United States are trying to date. A 2010 study by Match.com reveals that one in five committed relationships have begun online. There are websites that help users find a compatible partner based on personality tests. Phone apps like Tinder that use the GPS in your phone to meet people nearby, NOW. Today, matchmaking websites are tailored to everything from women looking for a sugar daddy to sea captains seeking a first mate.

Bay Area dating coach Jessica Engel is in the business of helping people find successful relationships in person and online. Most of her clients are males in the tech industry who don’t have the skills to put themselves out in an attractive way and busy professional women who aren’t satisfied with the men that they’re meeting. Engel promotes to her clients that online dating is one of many avenues for people to connect. Engel says that the negative stigma of online dating mostly lies with older generations while younger ones that grew up with social media seem to be more accepting.

“A lot of people have this inculturated view of love that says we have to wait for fate for it to happen, but we don’t have the same structures we were used to. We’re no longer being matched by our parents or through church groups,” Engel says.

Matchmaking in the 90s

Robby Robbins has worked in the advertising department for alternative weekly publications for more than 20 years. In the glory days of personal ads and the classified section, weeklies like the Indy Week in Durham, North Carolina, capitalized on $40,000 in revenue each month. Following Craigslist’s spread to cities across the nation in 2000— and its widely accepted use— advertising revenues in the personal and classified sections immediately shrunk.

“Still to this day, this was the ugliest web fight. We went from $40,000 to $5,000 overnight,” Robbins says.

Each day, Robbins would assist people in placing personal ads in the newspaper who were in search of anything from a fling to a full-fledged relationship.

“It was a phenomena going on across the country, and in Durham we had a massive audience of busy professionals approaching 30 who weren’t married yet,” Robbins says. “It was a ripe opportunity for this system to work.”

The system catered to mostly single men, who Robbins says were not in tuned and did not have the social meeting skills to introduce themselves and say “hi.”

“I used to tell folks that the answer is going to be ‘no’ until you put yourself out there,” Robbins says. “If you’re direct about what you want, you may be surprised about what you’ll find.”

Robbins managed what were called Blind Boxes, where customers could establish pen pal relationships by paying $10 a week to have mail forwarded to them. Robbins was also in charge of promoting the 900-number services, where people created a voicemail for others to leave a message on at $1.99 per minute.

“We promoted it as a safe way to meet people,” Robbins says.

In order to know what he was promoting, he created a voicemail for himself.

“I did, because as a gay man in the south, meeting a real person was difficult. In the south, you’d get your ass beat if you hit on the wrong guy,” Robbins says.

Having just left a serious relationship, Robbins wasn’t looking for anything serious. Neither was caller No. 4, Bryan O’Quinn.

“He just sounded nice. You can tell a good bit from someone’s voice,” Robbins says.

Four months later, Robby and Bryan moved in together. In 2000, the couple drove to Vermont during a massive snowstorm to engage in a civil union. In 2006, they moved to California and were legally married in 2008.

“All the hoops that we jumped through—14 years and we’re finally legal,” Robbins says.

Dating in the online era

Kathy Sepulveda and her boyfriend Phil Van Stockum have become online dating evangelists.

The couple, who have been dating for two and a half years, take every opportunity they can to tell friends about how online dating is THE way to date.

“Online is really like a large bar where the options are endless,” Sepulveda says. “You already know going in that you’re seeing someone you’re already compatible with.”

Sepulveda was able to convince her high school friend to try online dating. He’s now expecting a child with his computer love. Whenever and wherever they can, the couple is trying to remove the negative stigma against online dating.

“People ask me how we met, and after I tell them we met on OkCupid, they say ‘that’s okay,’” Sepulveda says. “Like I need reassurance that it’s okay. I know it’s okay.”

Sepulveda says that she knows of couples who have met online, but are ashamed to admit they did. Instead, they say that they met elsewhere.

“Some think people who use online dating need it to meet people,” Sepulveda says. “I feel like it’s a smart way to meet people.”

What started out as an obsession of taking online personality quizzes, turned into a way of making friends while attending college in San Diego. It wasn’t until Sepulveda moved to San Francisco in 2009 when she used OkCupid to find dates. Kathy and Phil began chatting with each other a year before dating. At the time, Kathy had started to date another guy exclusively and backed out of a date with Phil last minute.

“A year later when that didn’t work out, I messaged him again and we’ve been dating ever since,” Sepulveda says.

For their one-year anniversary, Sepulveda put together a book that pieces together their earliest online conversations.

Before meeting his girlfriend on campus in September, SF State BECA major Ryan Johnston used online dating for four years to find one-night stands, friends with benefits and casual dates. For Johnston, this was an extra avenue aside from meeting people at parties or shows. His roommates swore by it. Soon after, so did he.

“I liked it for the fling aspect,” Johnston says.

Kathy Sepulveda and her boyfriend Phil Van Stockum met through an Internet dating site called OkCupid two and a half years ago.

Nightmares in online dating

Deborah Berk, whose real name was kept on the condition of anonymity, is a personal trainer in San Francisco who struck a cold streak of bad luck when she used dating sites like Fitness Singles, Match.com, OKCupid, Let’s Date and Tinder.

Berk admits she’s a freak and former online serial dater who went on more than 40 dates, sometimes as many as four per week.

Berk used the speedier dating sites like OKCupid, Let’s Date and Tinder for quick hookups and/or adventures where she’d do anything from dinner, hiking and camping. But after ringing in the New Year, Berk decided to start searching for a serious relationship on Match.com. The first couple of dates were dreamy. But once she gave into having sex, Berk said that the guys she thought would be her next boyfriend would disappear for good.

“They led me on to the point where you think you’re going to be included in someone’s life, then you’re not,” Berk says.

Berk says that some guys who sign up for determined matchmaking websites can’t handle the weight of a serious relationship.

“There’s so much pressure to commit and get into something serious that they freak out once they find someone who wants that,” Berk says. “It hurt me enough to say ‘I hate online dating’. It’s because of the ones who went into it seriously initially.”

Apps like Tinder and Grindr use the GPS in your phone to find other users who may be looking to chat and meet up. Users can quickly flip through small profiles with short one-liners where people can either be liked or discarded. Messaging between two people on Tinder is only possible after both users like each others profiles. On Grindr, an app targeted toward gay men, users can be tracked within feet of you. And anyone can message another user anything unless they are blocked. According to the company website, Grindr’s mission is to get you “0 feet away.” Michael Villanueva, a 26-year old San Francisco native, has used Grindr as a way to pass time or hook up on late nights when “in heat.” He’s also met one of his best friends through the app.

“How fast do you wanna go?” Villanueva says. “It’s another way to help you with whatever you’re looking for.”

But on one late night meet-up, Villanueva visited a man who was a completely different person than his profile had shown. After bolting, Villanueva has taken a more cautious approach to using the app. He now asks for a phone number, to see more pictures and whether or not they have a Skype account so that he can confirm their identity before actually meeting up.

“As far as I can go, I’ll play Colombo,” Villanueva says.

He says that there were even a few instances when people lied about their age. Villanueva says that the speedy hook-ups that quick-firing apps like Grindr and Tinder can lead to, could be risky to underage people who can access these conversations.

“Technology is moving so fast, I’m scared for the youth to have physical contact. It’s so easy for the youth to have this access—it can be dangerous,” Villanueva says.

My Date

What better way to pass the time on Muni than to sweep through random women’s profiles, x’ing them out or giving them the green light? After a few weeks of chatting on OkCupid and Tinder, I was able to line up a date for a few drinks in the Tenderloin.

Waiting at the end of the bar at the Owl Tree my palms were sweaty, my pulse uneasy as if I was interrupting life’s flow and forcing fate. I waited 20 minutes, gulping away at a pint of Lagunitas faster than usual, my buzz not coming quick enough.

Would her profile look anything like her? What if I choke up and can’t find anything to say? Am I about to find the girl that I’m going to spend my whole life with right now?

Then there she was, standing at the doorway, black hair and back facing me. I stepped up from my barstool and made my way toward her. As if my move had cued hers, she turned around. She looked nothing like she did in her profile pic. One word: sideburns. My sources warned me about this.

But that was okay.

Although I wasn’t physically attracted, we chatted over a couple beers during happy hour and made our way to another joint for a farewell cocktail. We laughed. Related. I walked her to BART and said goodbye.

Phew. What a relief. Online dating might be right for some, but a little much for me. Who knows? Maybe we’ll all look back 50 years from now and find that online methods of matchmaking lead to the most successful relationships.

But what’s a good journalist without a good story?

I think I’ll stop looking so hard for love and let it find me.

I’d like to hold on the romantic idea that I’ll find someone doing what I love, lost on my travels, coming around a street corner the same time as she. We’ll bump into each other and she’ll drop a copy of Hemingway’s “Old Man and The Sea.” We’ll agree that it’s our favorite book and spend the rest of the evening on a blanket near the ocean talking about the trials and triumph of the old man’s noble catch. Or something along those lines.

That sounds like a better story to me.

Bartender, you know what I’m having.

The section 139 bleacher bums watch a fly ball during the Giants vs Rockies game on Tuesday April 9, 2013.

By Jessica Mendoza
Photos by Gabriella Gamboa

It’s a cloudy morning in San Francisco. Crowds of people gather towards China Basin. The World Champs, San Francisco Giants, have come back to AT&T ballpark.

The blue, red, and white Major League Baseball banners, annually displayed on every Opening Day, line the entrance to the ballpark. The smell of garlic fries and hot dogs cooking intoxicate the ballpark air. Enthusiastic Giants fans prepare themselves as they wait outside for the gates to open.

Out the four main gates, a couple of Giants fans anxiously wait outside of the Marina gate. The Miranda family, Marc, Jeanne and their son Marc Jr. along with fellow “Bleacher Bums” Alex Patino and Easley Wong, stand in line as they wait for the gates to open. Marc opens his bag and takes his glove out. Easley, also known as Eaz, already has his on. The security guards open the gates.

Marc Jr. and Eaz dash to the bleachers. They’re on a mission to catch as many fly balls as possible during batting practice. Marc stands on top of the bleachers and Eaz is close by.
While they’re trying to catch fly balls, the ballpark ushers greet them. They’re laughing and high-fiving each other like they’re friends.

Marc Jr. and Eaz, along with Marc Jr. parents, Jeanne and Marc Sr., and Alex are all part of an infamous group known as the Bleacher Bums. The Bleacher Bums are a group of twenty Giants fans that live and breathe black and orange all day.

They’re not your typical Giants fans. They’re loud and heckle the visiting team.They have their own Facebook page. On the page, their motto is “FUCK THE DODGERS AND EVERY OTHER TEAM EXCEPT THE GIANTS! LET’SS GOOOO”. Their religious views are bleachers. Their occupation is catching homerun baseballs. They shared some camera time on television when they catch home-run balls. But underneath the black and orange, the Bleacher Bums has grown as a family throughout the years at the ballpark.

From the Stick to China Basin
Before they formed the Bleacher Bums and took over section 139 at AT&T Park, they supported the Giants during the good old days back at Candlestick Park (referred to by locals as “The Stick”).

Marc Jr. Miranda waits for the Marina entrance gates to open at the Giants opening game on Friday April 5, 2013. He and the rest of Section 139 bleacher bums have custom made sweatshirts for the group.

“I’ll be freezing my butt off at the Stick,” says Eaz describing what it was like sitting at the Stick. The old park is known as a wind tunnel. Before the game, most of them would bundle up with layers of jackets to keep themselves warm during the games.

When Marc Jr. was a child, his parents, Marc and Jeanne would take him to games at the Stick. They weren’t season ticket holders at the time.

“You don’t need season tickets at the Stick!” jokes Marc about attending games over there, commenting on how low ticket prices used to be.

They didn’t know each other until the Giants made the move to China Basin in 2000. The group began to form over at AT&T Park.

“Some of us met at the ballpark,” says Marc Jr. “As the season went on we gradually met and sat around each other in the bleachers.”

They sat in section 138 and 139 located in the left field. After getting to know each other and bonding together over their shared love for the two-time World Champs, they decided to come together and agreed to call themselves the Bleacher Bums.

“We all came up with the name,” say Marc Jr. about coming up with the game for the group.
They go to almost every game in the season. Some of the members, Marc Jr. has even skip school to go to the ballpark.

They travel from other parts of the Bay Area, like the East Bay, to come see the Giants games.

High up in the air and it is…GONE!!!
The sun is out and the clouds drifts away to make a clear blue sky. The Giants are done with batting practice, so it the visiting team comes out on to the field to practice. Marc Sr. stands on the bleachers as he looks up for any fly balls coming towards his direction. He raises his arm and covers his eye from the glare of the sunlight. He’s wearing sunglasses. Someone from the crowd yells “Here it comes” a group of people looks up at the sky. They hurdle into a pile. Marc jumps in the crowd. He stares up and lifts up his glove in the air. SMACK! The ball lands inside in his glove. The crowd cheers and gives him high-fives for his astonishing catch.

Before the game, the pre-game ritual is trying to catch baseballs during batting practice. The Bleacher Bums love to catch the fly balls during batting practice. In way it’s like a game, where they stand in the bleachers and their goal is to catch as many authentic baseballs. They usually stand up on top of the bleachers waiting for a fly ball to come toward them. As they wait for a ball to come to their direction, some of them socialize with each other and other Giants fans. Marc talks to random people and shakes hands with one the ballpark employees. They don’t like to talk much during the batting practice as they focus all their attention is on grabbing a souvenir.

“Its competition with other fans.” say Marc Jr. about the batting practice.

The Bleacher Bums main competition is the Giants fans in section 138. However, they don’t see it as competition.

Fellow Bleacher Bum Jeanne is the only female with baseball glove during the batting practice. She says they other fans in section 138 try to make it in contest but it’s all for fun.

When it comes to catching fly ball, some like Marc Jr and Eaz, use baseball gloves to get hold of a baseball.

“My glove is my contraption,” says Eaz when it comes to catching fly balls.
However, some, like Alex, are creative ways seize a baseball. Alex create “ball catchers”, instead of using the traditional glove. Alex made his with a helmet-shaped medal with orange jump straps. He has a glove but he uses his ball catcher to grasp balls lying on the “warning track”. He chases after a fly ball outside their bleacher, in section 140. He dashes to the area where a ball crashed. Sadly, he didn’t get a hold of it. It’s a trill activity, but a dangerous one.

“I got hit on the mouth with a ball,” says Jeanne. She has a small scar on her upper lip. She still participates, despite being smacked by the ball. She had to get thirty stitches on her mouth.

Batting practice isn’t the only time the Bleacher Bums go after fly balls. They also collect home-run baseballs. When someone hits one out of the ballpark, the balls either fly over the right field and hit the water, or go to the left field toward the bleachers, where they can be caught.

Between the fly balls and home-runs, it’s hard for them to keep track on how many baseballs they’ve collected over the years.

“I have a ton of shoe boxes filled with the baseballs,” says Eaz about his collection. Between home-runs balls and fly balls, it’s hard to keep track of how many baseballs that they’ve collected over the years.

There so many they can’t remember the total of baseballs.

Section 139 bleacher bum, Alex Patino, shouts for a baseball during the Athletics batting practice before playing the Giants at an exhibition game at AT&T Park on March 28, 2013.

No Bandwagon Fans Allowed!!
The Bleacher Bums are welcoming to fellow Giants fans. During the batting practice, they’re friendly and joke around, as long as you’re not a bandwagoner.

According to the Urban dictionary, a bandwagoner is someone “who claims to be a fan of a particular sports team even though they had no prior support/ interest in the team until the team starting winning.” So, if someone who claims to be a Giants fan and they followed them since 2010, they’re a band wagoner.

“I hate bandwagoners,” says Marc Jr. about bandwagoners, he goes on and says you tell who is a bandwagoner by the way they dress and expressions during the game. According to Marc Jr., a perfect example of bandwagoner is the games, like Opening Day and Dodgers, are the only ones.

“They don’t know anything about the Giants,” says Eaz, “They act like Giants fans but they’re not.”

The Bleacher Bums have stuck by the Giants through the ups and downs.

Section 139 bleacher bum Marc Jr. Miranda attempts to catch a fly ball during the Giants vs Rockies game on Tuesday April 9, 2013.

Time to hit the road with the Giants
When the Giants are on the road, the Bleacher Bums will follow them. Last year, the Bleacher Bums travel to the Windy City, Chicago, when the Giants played against the Chicago Cubs in the summer.

“It was great experience, says Marc Jr, “It was a nice stadium.”

They shared a few moments on the television when they’re spotted by the Giants broadcasters.
Besides Chicago, they took a trip to Anaheim when the Giants were up against the other LA team, the Angels.

Most of the time, they travel to southern California when the Giants play against the San Diego Padres and their rivals the Dodgers.

At Petco ballpark, there are more Giants fans than Padres fans as you watch on TV when the Giants are there, the seats are fill with people dress in orange and black. You may spot a group of Giants fans and about three Padres sitting next to each other.

“Petco pack is a poor man’s AT&T ballpark,” says Eaz as he describes the Padres ballpark. When they go to the games in San Diego, they tried to find seats so they can sit together.
The next huge trip for the Bleacher Bums is hitting the Big Apple. In September, they’re planning to go see the Giants as they face against the Mets and the most-anticipation game of the season, the Yankees.

Don’t diss the Home-Run King
Despite being accused of steroid use and battling in the courts, Barry Bonds is still the most beloved player who ever wore the black and orange uniform…to the Bleacher Bums.

“I love Barry Bonds,” says Marc Jr, who still wears his white jersey with the number 25 on the back. Marc Jr. loves the home-run slugger and follows him throughout his career. He has Bonds posses 746 home-run ball.

“I’ve been following him since I was a kid” Marc Jr. goes on about his favorite baseball of all time, “He use to sign autographs for me all the time.”

Despite Barry Bonds setbacks after he broke the record, including Bonds legal woes about the use of steroids, they still believe Bonds is one of the greatest players of all times.
“He’s one of the best players,” expresses Eaz about the home-run king who didn’t voted in this year’s Hall-Of-Fame ballots.

It’s been about five years since Barry Bonds broke the homerun record and was crowned the Home-Run King, Marc and the rest of the group still support the slugger.

Baseball bring people together
Since the Bleacher Bums have occupiedok section 139, it’s no surprise the ballpark employees know them. As the years pass, The Bleacher Bums has developed relationships with a few of the ballpark employees. As they talk to the Bleacher Bums before, during and after the game. The Bleacher Bums and ballpark employees are on a first name basis. During the batting practice, a few ballpark employees have come up to them and chat for while.

One former Giants employee says he meet the Bleacher Bums for a few years. The former employees “I saw them often at games,” says the former usher about meeting the group. He goes on and says, “along with the rest of the Bleacher Bums.”

While, there of the Bleacher Bums get along with the employees, some of the Bleacher Bums have got in trouble in the past. According to some of the Bleacher Bums, Alex was suspended for a few months after an altercation with an usher. But Alex says, in his defense, he kicked out for “being buff.”

What happens during the off season?
Hall-of-Famer Rodgers Hornsby said, “People ask me what I do in the winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.”
However for the Bleacher Bums when it comes to the offseason, they stare at the TV and watch ESPN or MLB Network.

During thelong winter season, they keep track of what happen to their beloved Giants.

“We’ll post stuff on Facebook and talk about it,” say Eaz about the Giants made a huge trades or signs from a popular free agent.

As for the other teams, including the Dodgers, they could care less about “those bums” (referring to the Dodgers money making deals during the offseason) .

When baseball season ends, most of them hang out, but not as often. Most of the members live in different parts of the Bay Area. Sometimes the younger Bleacher Bums, like Marc and Alex go to Forty-Niners and Warriors games. Sometimes they play basketball together.

Some like Jeanne and Marc Sr. stay busy with their jobs during the off season. They work in a real estate business in the Bay Area.

Since the Giants open the new stadium in 2000, the Bleacher Bums have become more than a group, they become more like fun. Their love baseball and Giants has brought them together. They poke fun of each other.

The Bleacher Bums aren’t like other Giants fans. They’re passion for the Giants runs deep in their core. They take games serious like the Giants do. They stand by and support the Giants.

“We’ve been there so long as a group we just became great friends I think that’s what seperates us from other fans were a group of true fans” explains Marc Jr.

As times has change, players come and go, but the Bleacher Bums are here to stay.

For Luu, skating was essential for Sublet SF. Skating across each district requires a keen eye for every nook and cranny and connected her with the city even more // GIF created by Kenny Redublo

By Kenny Redublo
Photos by Virginia Tieman

Valencia street is alive as usual. Cyclists ride next to cars and trucks zooming by while couples walk their dogs on the sidewalks as they window shop at the local boutiques before stopping into a cafe for a coffee. It’s a typical Mission day, except for the lack of sunshine. Valerie Luu sits on the patio at Four Barrel Coffee, taking a break from work. She holds a poetry book in one hand and adjusts her hair with the other. The wind is making the day colder than it looks.

This spot is familiar for Luu. Not just Four Barrel, but the Mission itself. It’s her two blocks of comfort in the city, but they’re not her home. It’s been over a year that she’s been on the search for a place to call her home, since a breakup.

“I felt like I had two choices after the breakup: find a Craigslist situation to fall into, which was probably going to be shitty, or go on an adventure,” says Valerie Luu with a skateboard next to her.

“I chose to go on an adventure.”

Luu started Sublet SF in March 2012 after the breakup. Sublet SF is her blog and personal project, where she subleases a room in eight different neighborhoods in the course of one year. She chronicles her different experiences with the residents of the neighborhood, showcasing conversations, photos, or achievements. Her idea came about when she visited Paris a couple years ago. The city of Paris is divided into twenty different administrative districts, or arrondissements. Luu thought it would be a great idea to live in a different arrondissement for a year, but as she was driving around San Francisco after her breakup, she realized she can do that in San Francisco. She just had to do it.

“Whenever I have a creative idea, it becomes implanted in my head and I can’t get it out and I just have to do it,” says Luu.

“I’m at a point where I’m able to [move]. I’m young, I don’t have children, I don’t have an apartment, and I need a reason for adventure.”

Luu skates down Steiner Street in front of her Marina sublet // Photo: Kenny Redublo

An Educated Escape

Luu started her sublet obsession while she was in college at UC Santa Cruz. Between her junior and senior year, she didn’t want to be stuck at a job or in school. She just wanted to experience living in San Francisco. She subleased a room in a house on Scott and Fulton Street. Out the window was a view of City Hall, she was in walking distance to the parks of Lower Haight, and she fell in love with the city.

“Every chance I got, every winter break or summer break, I would come and sublet in San Francisco,” says Luu. “And that’s when I became a chronic subletter.”

When she finished college and moved out of Santa Cruz, subletting was already a part of her life and packing up and moving was commonplace.

The First Sublet

When she moved out of her ex-boyfriend’s apartment in March 2012, she asked her friend Scott to move in with her for the inaugural Sublet SF move. She dreamed of living with her friend and working on art projects together and Scott felt the same.

“We’re both dreamers,” says Luu.

The first sublet of the project was a one bedroom apartment in the Panhandle on Baker and Hayes Street. Luu’s place before the breakup was already in the Panhandle, the neighborhood that made her fall in love with the city. It’s her foundation for San Francisco.

After the Panhandle, she moved to the Marina.

When In Rome

One of Luu’s goals with Sublet SF is to absorb a neighborhood’s culture. Each neighborhood has its own type of people, landmarks, ways of life, and to Luu, it’s a way to find inspiration in the city she lives in.

“There’s studying abroad, right? Well, this is studying domestic,” says Luu.

When she moved to the Marina, a neighborhood of big houses, big boats, and big views, she ran with the culture of the neighborhood, literally.

Marina Green

“Everyone’s running [in the Marina]! Everyone is in running pants!” says Luu. “So I went home, put some on, and ran six miles in the rain. It was so epic.”

She made the goal of running 100 miles during her time in the Marina. Setting this goal one week into living in the neighborhood, she had three weeks to achieve this feat, in which she did, complete with a celebratory donut.

“I’m not a runner by any means,” says Luu.

“Exercise makes me a little sad.”

Urban Inspiration

According to Luu, people living in San Francisco have their “two blocks of comfort.” As she sits on Valencia, she knows this is her comfort zone.

“My life is here, but it gets monotonous and I lose inspiration,” says Luu.

In Chinatown, Luu found inspiration, and the flu.

She shared a bed with a friend and her friend’s cat for two months while having the flu. She might be allergic to cats now.

Maybe it was the neighborhood seen through a fever dream but Luu saw Chinatown as this different entity and hub for urban living.

Chinatown has a grittier, more New York like, visual with more urban commercial streets, grocery stores, and merchants, all with apartments stacked right on top.

“That’s living in Chinatown! Stacks on stacks!” says Luu.

She experienced different people, lifestyles, aesthetics all in one place since Chinatown borders the neighborhoods of North Beach, Russian Hill, and the Financial District.

“Being around so many lifestyles reminded me that I’m in a fantastic city with a lot of different people because it’s easy to get stuck in the same two blocks in the city,” says Luu.

“One of the main goals of this project is to have myself leave my ‘two blocks of comfort’ and see what other people’s ‘two blocks’ are like and hopefully inspire other people to go check out Chinatown and North Beach.”

Subletter’s Rules of the Road

Luu’s parameter for a new place is the monthly price has to be less than $800.

“That’s the goal,” says Luu.

According to the San Francisco Tenants Union, the annual allowable rent increase is 1.9% as of March 1, 2012 compared to last year’s 0.5%. Rental prices from Padmapper.com show properties in Bayview cost more than SoMa. The rental landscape has changed.

Bernal Heights Park

“People say rent is expensive in San Francisco and it is. It’s super scary and I think about it all the time because I’m constantly moving,” says Luu.

“Everyone is afraid of leaving their rent controlled apartments, but there are still cheap rooms [out there] and my hope is that [they] will still exist in some way. Friends will pass it along to friends and friends of friends.”

As a chronic Craigslist subletter, Luu’s tip to find a room in San Francisco is to stand out among the hundreds applying.

“Sell yourself.”

Luu looks for rooms in houses since finding a one bedroom sublet is out of her budget. The sublet in the Marina was the only place to break the $800 rule, with the minimum rent of the neighborhood being at least $1200.

With each move, she is heading toward her ideal amount of possessions. She still has more stuff than she wants. One item includes a box of her journals ranging from the third grade. Paper things are hard to tear away from.

“The ideal is to have a backpack, a suitcase, a bag, my bike, and my skateboard,” says Luu.

“I would love to move on a MUNI!”

Barely Bernal

Luu’s current neighborhood is Bernal Heights. Her experience so far: being domestic.

She calls her room the “Hobbit room.” It’s an attic room with two camping sleeping pads and a comforter on top, decorated with Christmas lights, with some company from the house dog.

Being domestic for Luu in Bernal Heights includes buying groceries at the Farmer’s Market on the weekend, cooking at home, and going home at proper hours (before 2 A.M,). The lack of bars around the neighborhood help reduce her late nights.

Her Bernal room is also her first room by herself, which is a much needed break.

“I didn’t realize there was going to be some unexpected psychological consequences to this project. Displacement, no feeling of home or security… no privacy, which I thought I was fine with.”

Never Stay Stagnant

There are two neighborhoods left in the project: Tenderloin and North Beach. Though Luu set out to live in eight neighborhoods throughout the year, there’s no telling if she’ll stop there.

“There’s a part of me that could continue this, like go to Bayview or Laurel Heights, whatever that means, Ingleside, Glen Park. What are these neighborhoods? I have no idea!” says Luu, laughing.

“But who knows? Who knows how I’ll feel after I finish these last two neighborhoods?”

Luu’s home is Bernal Heights for now, but with this project, San Francisco is becoming her home more and more. She skates around the city, learning its literal nooks and crannies, and reminisces on the places she’s lived in. Bernal Heights is the “neighborhood where you can see all neighborhoods” and she sees the different chapters of her life from the hill.

“I have faith that by the last sublet, I will find the ‘pot of gold at the end of the rainbow’ and maybe I’ll know what neighborhood I want to settle in,” says Luu.

“Maybe I’ll know who I am.”

The changes to the neighborhood she sees during this personal journey reminds her of what her ex-boyfriend’s teacher told him: “Life is all about having homes or creating homes, and then getting kicked out of them, repeatedly.”

“The universe will always kick you in the ass so you can grow,” says Luu. “Never stay stagnant.”

Melissa Tan works on a dress for her brand “With Love” in her victorian home in the Mission District on Wednesday April 3, 2013.

By Kayla McIntosh
Photos by Gabriella Gamboa

The name SCRAP says it all.

Tucked away in SF’s Bayview neighborhood, a junkyard/teacher’s donation center/starving artist’s paradise is waiting to be sifted through. Melissa Tan is completely at home. Carrying two frumpy shopping bags, she rushes past the metal gate and scurries up the mini-flight of stairs into her personal nirvana.

“It’s a good thing I’m not alone otherwise I could spend hours here,” she says nonchalantly.

Her cat-lined eyes are set on the fabric section placed dead center of the cluttered store.

Tan glides past the store’s “free” section, which is stuffed with retro CDs and tattered binders, and walks straight to the recycled fabrics. Most would be immediately overwhelmed. SCRAP is filled with thousands upon thousands of art-related knick knacks.

A plethora of bright and dull fabrics are rolled up and tucked away in dozens of shelves along the aisle. From brown leather to fuchsia jersey to neon lycra, myriad textures are present. Some textiles are new and shiny while others are pungent and dowdy.

Tan starts grabbing.

Dressed in all black, her half shaved red hair makes her stand out. She is rambunctious, humorous and a self-proclaimed hippie who adores designing sustainable clothing. She relentlessly picks up and puts down fabrics that she finds interesting, random or just plain ugly.

It’s a game of the senses.

She unrolls many of the fabrics and chuckles to herself when amused.

“Look! It’s elastic bands for guy’s underwear,” she says with a huge grin as she dangles dozens of the grey and black bands.

Barrels of worn leather are positioned in the middle of the cramped aisle. Grass green velvet is carefully spun around a metal contraption.

Tan sifts through the boxes on the other side of the aisle and finds a small bag of black fringe. She quickly shoves it in her bag. She may feel like using it for her next Burning Man costume.

SCRAP is a non-profit reusable art center but most importantly, it is where Tan purchases most of the fabrics for her recyclable clothing line, With Love. Her label consists of whimsical circle skirts in mesh, velour and jersey. She also has draped tees made of two separate tops. A standout piece is  her black mini skirt made of mesh and fringe. Perfect to wear as a swimsuit cover up.

Every fabric used was either salvaged from SCRAP or from an piece of clothing that was never going to be worn again.

“The most sustainable thing to do is to not buy anything new,” Tan proclaims. Her ideology is that sustainable fashion is only sustainable when in fact, no new material is being used.

The green movement in fashion has been around for decades. This movement refers to the notion of not using fabrics that have been sprayed with harsh pesticides and synthetic fertilizers for the sake of growing cotton. Repurposed and recycled fashion shows off a softer side to an industry notorious for consumerism and self-indulgence. Eco-conscious designers are popping up and creating successful names for themselves in the Bay Area community.

Designers like Tan are producing garments that are either from organic textiles or recycled materials. In pursuit of protecting the environment, designers are putting Mother Earth before the apparel.

Another brand following the eco-conscious trend is Clary Sage.

Environmental lover Patti Cozzato founded the line in 2008. Her store is located on the upscale Fillmore Street in Pacific Heights.

Out front, a small sign with the words “Clary Sage Organics” hangs above the door of the store.

Inside, the interior reflects the aesthetic of the brand. Repurposed pieces furnish the space. The countertops are weathered pieces of wood sanded down to give off a rustic vibe to an otherwise cold space. The concrete floors are polished with grey scraps floating throughout. The walls are covered in metal beams and reach high into the ceiling.

Melissa Tan sews a dress seam at her victorian house in the Mission District on Wednesday April 3, 2013.

“It’s all her vision,” Catherine Kwei, head of the Clary Sage stores, says about the modern interior design of the comfortably sized storefront. The “her” being Cazzato, who has manifested a yoga and lifestyle label featuring textiles like organic cotton and bamboo.

Clary Sage initially launched as a yoga brand that sold leggings and tanks but has since expanded to fashion pieces like tees, tunics and wraps. Like the label, With Love, designers of this eco-friendly brand use repurposed materials as well.

Their most famous duds include a pair of knee-hitting yoga pants that come in both organic cotton and recycled water bottle fabric. That’s right. Water bottles can also be used to create chic workout gear.

Designed, manufactured and sold exclusively in San Francisco, Clary Sage has been a staple in the community for the past five years.

Their main clients are eco-conscious shoppers and small business supporters.

Kwei wants consumers to know that living an organic life does not stop at what you put into your body but what you put on the outside as well.

To her, Clary Sage centers on “teaching a lifestyle about living well [and] being well, including what you wear.”

Protecting the environment is the focus of all designers that aim to create eco-friendly articles of clothing.

It’s not just local designers either. Back in 1988, the out-of-the-box, Parisian based Maison Martin Margiela sent models down the runway in a gown constructed of repurposed leather from a butcher’s apron. More recently, fashion model Elettra Wiedemann wore a Prabal Gurung dress made of recyclable materials to the annual fashion prom known as the Metropolitan Gala held in New York City in 2011.

People in the industry have begun to embrace the concepts of sustainable wear. Labels are beginning to let it be known that organic garments don’t have to be dowdy.

The brand, Mina+Olya for example.

Designers and founders, Mina Yazdi and Olya Dzilikhova, teamed up and eventually founded their luxury label in 2011. For the past few years, they produced three collections for the fall and spring seasons.

Some of their favorite fabrics include sustainable wools, organic cottons, silk charmeuse, and hemp.

Their design aesthetics are classic and crisp. Their fall 2013 collection consists of conservatively tailored wool dresses and structured outerwear in muted palettes of grey, camel and plum.

Their collection is sold exclusively at the boutique Curve in the Pacific Heights neighborhood.

Myriad fashion brands have sprouted up throughout the years yet most are difficult to find. Sites like Eco Fashion World serve as guides to all things related to style and sustainability.

Founder and nature enthusiast, Magaly Fuentes-Saga, finds herself now juggling her newborn and her site.

“The issue of sustainability as a whole is important to me,” Fuentes-Saga expresses.

Her love for the outdoors, her personal health and animals catapulted her and three others to create the informative site. A variety of designer brands, articles and guides are available to eco-friendly followers.

After graduating from San Francisco’s Art Institute, Fuentes-Saga immersed herself in the fashion industry for several years until she burnt herself out. Globe trotting was her next move and it was then she discovered the harsh realities of textile manufacturing.

“While traveling, I realized that I did not want to leave the fashion industry but wanted to travel a different road within it,” she explains.

Melissa Tan searches through aisles of recycled fabrics at Scroungers’ Center for Reusable Art Parts (SCRAP) on Wednesday April 3, 2013.

She eventually asked herself what about the fashion industry her so much and came to a solid conclusion.

“The answer came easily and had a lot to do with overconsumption and any abuse to workers and the environment,” she admits.

Back in the Mission, Tan is working away at an intricate fabric on her ironing board. Using fabric wax, she precisely marks up the areas she wants to chop off.

After a recently taking a belly dancing class, Tan’s been playing Turkish music while she sews to keep herself entertained. She stands still for a few seconds, peering at the ornate material and deciding on which steps to take next.

“I got this fabric for free off of Craigslist,” she says gleefully. Some “crazy lady” posted that she needed some materials to be taken off her hands and Tan just couldn’t resist.

Tan’s traditional home was transformed into her in-house studio after she was booted out by her prior landlords.

“They raised the prices so more startup companies could start coming in,” Tan sighs.

All around her home is a touch of Tan’s creativity. On her mannequin rests a black velvet and gold cotton gown. Half the bustier is velvet. If Vivienne Westwood created a dress for a gypsy ball, this would be it.

“I like to look at it and come up with ideas,” she says of her creative process.

In the back of her kitchen rests all of her other recycled fabrics. Some from the Garment District in Los Angeles but the bulk from SCRAP. Three tall black shelves are stacked with numerous textiles. Zippers and buttons are tucked away in boxes for Tan to rifle through if needed.

Tan stands and peers at her wall of reusable textiles and tries to decide her next move.

No matter which direction she chooses, the result will be a stylish garb with a repurposed edge.

MC for Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slams, Talia Taylor, introduces the next poet at the semi-finals on Friday, April 26, 2013 at the Children’s Creativity Museum.

By Vanessa Serpas
Photos by Samantha Benedict

“It’s hard to erase the images of young bodies carpeting the concrete, screen-printing the streets with blood.”

Powerful spoken-word poetry lines such as this one by Stephanie Yun are being heard constantly in art venues, libraries, classrooms, and all throughout countries, states, and cities. They are words that come from a long-standing history of oral poetry.

Words with this much depth and authority have been coming from inspired youth in our society for decades. Young people nationwide have been empowering and supporting each other through their poetry with the guidance of motivating staff members from an organization that focuses on their poetic craft and provides a safe space to express their vulnerabilities through art.

Youth Speaks, founded in San Francisco in 1996 by James Kass is a national non-profit organization that provides workshops, mentoring, in-school poetry programs as well as out-of-school open mics and workshops for youth under the age of twenty-one. Within these programs teenagers are given the necessary tools, support and encouragement to speak about their lives and then perform their art before an audience.

Yun, a participant of Youth Speaks, has greatly benefited from the “support and love” she received since first coming to the organization. “This transformative process that [Youth Speaks] gives to youth is great and I want to provide that same opportunity I was given to other youth,” says Yun.

The kids, who have gone through the workshops and attended the open mics, have the opportunity to join in on the annual Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam. The month-long competition for teens in the Bay Area, between the ages of thirteen to nineteen provides the top six finalists with a trip to Chicago to perform on the infamous stage of Brave New Voices.

Brave New Voices is only one among the many programs run by Youth Speaks. BNV brings together young poets from all over the world, reflecting the diversity in experiences through their poetry. With international attention, this program has been taken from the stage to the television with the support of famous faces like Russell Simmons, Rosario Dawson and hip-hop legends, Common and Talib Kweli.

Maricar Bamba recites her poem for Youth Speaks, Teen Poetry Slams, competition during the semi-finals on Friday, April 26, 2013 at the Children’s Creativity Museum.

Kass founded Youth Speaks because he was disappointed “with the lack of diversity within [his] MFA program at San Francisco State.” He was working on his Masters degree in Creative Writing at the time. He knew he was passionate about his point of view, but soon discovered that the point of view of the youth was more important.

He began with a five-year plan and a hope for at least fifty kids to be interested in the program. What he got: fifty kids in the first month and the program grew to heights he never imagined.

“The diversity was amazing,” Kass said. Not only were the participants diverse in ethnicity, but they also varied in class, neighborhoods, age and gender. It has grown into the leading national poetry organization for youth with variations in programs to embrace all adolescents.

With a foundation of civic engagement, youth development and visionary activism the organization has developed numerous programs within Youth Speaks, as well as partner programs. Outside of the many in-school clubs, residencies and out-of-school open mics and workshops, the organization has developed various national projects that address pressing issues in society. They explore everything from environmental awareness to diabetes awareness, while embracing diverse forms of artistic expression, yet still under the umbrella of literary arts.

While Youth Speaks is open to all young people, the goal is to change the perception of the underprivileged youth and bring them, as their website mission states, “from the margins to the core.”

Embracing at-risk youth

Among the numerous successful programs is the in-school residency program offered for middle school and high school students for ten weeks of the school year. The residency program partners a trained Youth Speaks mentor with a teacher to develop curriculum around themes and topics already being discussed in the classroom. The students, with their mentor, develop a safe haven to perform their art freely without judgment. San Francisco’s current residency program is led by Chinaka Hodge, a participant turned mentor within Youth Speaks.

Hodge, a fourteen-year-old new to the district, joined the organization during Youth Speaks visit to her new stomping grounds – Berkeley High School. “Youth Speaks found me at the exact right moment and put a pen and paper in my hand when I was seriously contemplating holding a knife,” said Hodge, during a dark time in her life when she was tormented with self-destructive tendencies. Hodge has “been writing poems as a way out” ever since and continues perfecting her craft as a spoken-word performer.

Because of her opportunities at Youth Speaks, Hodge has traveled the world sharing her inspirational poetry and has received educational support in the pursuit of her degrees.

It is no wonder she is an ideal residency mentor to the students at Downtown High School, a project-based continuation school for students who have not faired well in a traditional high school setting. The teachers of Downtown High School are tasked with developing a thematic curriculum that requires students to create a final project at the end of the semester. For privacy reasons, students will only be referred to by their first name or nickname.

With the project theme in mind, Hodge sets the tone for the poetry experience for the next ten weeks with two rules for the skeptically inquisitive students. The first rule – the standard is yourself. It is vital to the students’ growth that they do not compare their own work to any other person. The second rule – there are no wrong answers. During the poetry class the students are given the freedom to write whatever comes to mind, therefore it is important they do not feel wrong in expressing their feelings.

One student, Jackie, seventeen, said, “I’m feelin’ this because usually teachers will say this is the topic and this is what you have to write about and there is a right or wrong answer, but here whatever you say can’t be wrong.”

As the program progresses, the demeanor of the students gradually changes. “Once you understand that she is here to help you and understand you it’s the biggest thing,” said Rashad, eighteen, another student in Hodge’s class.

Skepticism turns into trust and suddenly Hodge, once seen as an outsider, becomes “like a big sister,” said her seventeen-year-old student Gre’tu.

Throughout the ten weeks the students are guided through a path of self-discovery. As they are continuously encouraged to express themselves freely, they become more comfortable exposing vulnerability within their poetry. Their work begins to vary from stories of survival, love, loss, politics, dreams and emotional pains. The stories become more real because “a real story is the best story,” says seventeen-year-old ‘Moochie’ another pupil.

The hardships they experience becomes poetry that not only uplifts but also forces an audience to face the realization of the constant adversity at-risk teens are confronted with on a daily basis at such a young age.

The students who connect and find relief through their poetic expression become so enthralled in their work, that after much practice in the classroom, are ready to step up and perform on a larger scale.

The power in performance

Open mic performances in San Francisco are held at 826 Valencia, a pirate-supply store with an interior that exhibits the makings of a ship with exposed raw wood, columns and furniture to match. Every last Friday of the month, Youth Speaks sets up in the back of the store for the under 21 open mic, open to kids from all over the Bay Area.

Once the DJ is set up, he gradually begins to raise the volume of his mixes to signal the beginning of the open mic night slam as the audience begins to lower their voices to whispers that fade to silence.

Val Torio recites his poem for Youth Speaks, Teen Poetry Slams, competition during the semi-finals on Friday, April 26, 2013 at the Children’s Creativity Museum.

The emcee, Jerome, eighteen, with his mic in hand, skips over to the stage hyping up the crowd of anxious, young, soon-to-perform participants and expectant adults with eager looks on their faces. With his charisma and humor, Jerome sets the tone for the night while the audience stares back with smiling faces as he introduces the first poet to the mic.

The crowd erupts with supportive clapping as the first poet makes their way to the stage immediately followed by silence. The poet arrives to the front of the mic, looks down and takes a deep breath. He then raises his head and looks upon the faces of anticipation and he begins.

By the end of the poem the audience is so moved that they can barely wait to cheer feverishly in support of the captivating piece of art he just shared. This is the scene for the rest of the night. Poet after poet stands center-stage, receiving enthusiastic applause and encouraging shout-outs.

The Youth Speaks Youth Advisory Board, a paid internship program that invites a group of thirty young people to be the face of Youth Speaks, hosts open mic nights. The young board members set up and run the event with mentor supervision.

The internship teaches leadership skills, which they seem to have gained throughout the program. “We’re not only speaking for ourselves but for other communities as well,” said Yun who sees the organization as a refuge “where people exchange stories and experiences” without judgment.

The benefit of access to resources for youth

The funding of non-profit organizations such as Youth Speaks is imperative, particularly for at-risk youth within the Bay Area. Many teens within the organization came into the program with a past filled with wrong decisions. Within Youth Speaks, mentors guided them down a different, positive path where they found new ways to express themselves.

Jerome, a participant of Youth Speaks said, “I used to bomb buildings with my graffiti. Youth Speaks redirected me from writing on walls to writing on paper.”

Tatyana, seventeen and a Downtown High School student said, “without poetry I was always getting into stuff and with it I’m always at home doing what I need to do and my mom likes it.”

Through Youth Speaks the students finally feel like they are being heard. Rashad said, “I always felt like I had something to say and nobody listened to me.” He now has access to a resource and the guidance to express his feelings and even has learned to process events in his life through his poetry. He has found that “you can write about an argument and look at it later, then you can know how to avoid the situation or work in the situation and it helps you feel better to know you have the power to do that.”

They feel the empowerment and confidence to accomplish their goals. When asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, the first one to perk up, ready to answer was Jackie. She said, “I want to be a lawyer, a masseuse and a real estate agent.” The students around her snickered, something she’s used to, but according to her nothing will stop her. She will “get there by focusing and putting [her] goals before anything.” The authority and determination in her voice seems convincing enough to quiet the giggles of the other students.

When Kass went on this new venture to create Youth Speaks, he hoped to have a small forum for free expression for the youth in San Francisco. He never imagined that he would be the founder of an organization that not only inspires youth to speak up about pressing issues in society, but is the catalyst for a complete transformation in their lives.

“I can’t really see what my life would be without them, I’ve been with Youth Speaks almost fourteen years you know, half my life. It’s like family,” said Hodge.

Many kids within the program share this sentiment. Because this resource for support and expression has been provided to them, it has become the foundation on which they have built their life upon to become the empowered and inspirational leaders they are now.

A menu displays the beer options of a vendor in the O.co Coliseum.

By Jessica Mendoza
Photos by Gabriella Gamboa

It’s a beautiful Wednesday morning. The skies are crystal clear. The sun rays shine over the empty Oakland Coliseum.

There are still a few hours until the first pitch and only a few cars in the parking lot. A large group of people dressed in green and yellow shirts with “Galleo” written on the back gather around a table, laughing and engaging in casual chit-chat. The table is set with salad, chips and other snacks. Coolers overflow with ice-cold beverages, under the table. The majority of them is wearing green and yellow shirts. The Galleo Winery is having a company party, getting pumped up for the big game.

Several feet away is a couple, Fred and Kristin, sitting in the back of a black pickup truck with their friend Melissa, eating street tacos and drinking beer from a small cooler. Another couple, Salvatore and Lindsay, sit on lawn chairs, waiting for hot dogs to finish cooking on a small, portable barbeque.

Tailgating is a common “pre-game” pass-time for sports fans all over the world who are eager to cheer on their favorite team and enjoy some good grub.

“Tailgating with a group of friends is best way to save money,” says Ritchie.

Bay Area sports teams have been getting more attention this year than ever before, with the Giants winning two World Series’ in the past three years. The A’s defeating a drought and winning last year’s AL West division title, and the 49ers stealing a spot in the Super Bowl. The Raider’s roster may be under construction still, but they even have die-hard fans who will always have their back.

As for basketball, the Golden Gate Warriors are leaving their mark on the NBA, with rising young players like Stephen Curry, and by making an appearance in the playoffs for the first time since 2007. In the hockey world, the Sharks still continue to fight for the Stanley Cup.

As the popularity of these teams continues to rise, so do ticket and food prices, and sporting fans end up spending more money at the game than they did on entrance into the stadium. The average price of a beer is $10, nachos are $8 and even a water bottle costs $5. Are you a diehard Bay Area sports fan who refuses to spend extra cash on snacks? Here are a few pre-gaming tips that are sure to help you save some money.

Tailgate with fellow fans
For those who don’t know who don’t know, a tailgate party is when a group of fans gather together behind a truck or SUV and enjoy potluck style food and drinks before the big game.

“You can tell your friends to buy foods,” says Ritchie as he describes about dividing the food and drinks at the tailgate parties. “You don’t have to worry about buying food for a group of 12 people or more. You can ask people to bring their own food or drinks.”

“Tailgating before Raider games, you can bring a twelve pack of beer for $12 bucks instead of buying a one beer in the stadium,” says Jamey, a regular the SF State Pub, referring to when it comes to attending Raider games.

Salvatore Rancadore (left) and girlfriend Lindsay Dworkin (right) enjoy beers and hot dogs before entering the O.co Coliseum for a game against Lose Angeles Angels.

Bring your own food!
Before you go to the game, stop by your local grocery store and buy your own snacks. This is one of the best ways to save money, but what happens if you go to sporting venue and they don’t allow outside food into the stadium? The best solution is grubbing before the game.

Celebrating before the game
A lot of fans meet up at local eateries around the stadium, before the game. It doesn’t matter if its fast food, a cafe, or a sit-down restaurant- the chances of it still being less expensive than buying food at the game are great.

“When I go to Warriors games, I’ll go eat somewhere before” says Bryn, SFSU student, “I usually go to In-N-Out by the stadium.”

What about the booze? Sports venues make a profit on alcohol. It’s how they make the money. But it’s too expensive. The key is simple purchase a case of beer and split among your friends before the game. A great way to save money instead of buying drinks in the stadium.

“I usually buy six packs before I go to the games,” says Jamey about drinking before going to Giants games.

If you still think you might spend more money than you think you want to at the game, the best advice I can give you is to bring a set amount of cash with you. Take $40 with you and leave your credit card behind, that way you can’t just keep spending.

Take the train
It’s no surprise that parking in San Francisco or any other Bay Area city is a bitch. In San Francisco, the streets in the city are small and narrow, and jam-packed with pedestrians and other drivers. Paying for parking is another whole pain in the you-know-what. Before the new season of the Giants, the meters have gone up to $7 per hour and the cut off period went from 6p.m. to 10p.m.

The solution to saving money is to take Bart or Muni. The price for a Muni pass will cost $2 for adults, and Bart varies depending on where you are going, but is rarely over $8.

“I live in the Sunset (district) and I hop on the N line”, say Vinnie, when he goes to the Giants games.

Oakland Athletics fans head toward the O.co Coliseum for a game against the Los Angeles Angels after exiting the BART station.

Some Giants fans like, Bryn, take the ferry to the Giants. The ferry boats stop in front of the port walk. Bryn prefer to use the ferry then drive to the city. If you do, however, need to drive to a game, make sure you bring a group of friends with you who can split the parking fee. Ritchie and his friends carpool to Raider’s games and say it is a lot cheaper to split the cost of a spot.

“Carpool and pitch in for parking,” says Ritchie, “it saves us money.”

Go for the Nosebleed Section
It’s always nice to get tickets with a great view, or to have the chance to sit closer to your favorite team when you want to get a closer look at the players, however, these tickets can be very pricey. Most of the good seats, like lower box seats, can cost $60 or more. If you’re just desperate to get to the game, but don’t have a lot of money, try out the nosebleed section! All of the seats are designed for the audience to be able to see the game. Just because you don’t have the “top” seat, doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy the action.

Dave Pinder, Jr. has created the Bad Friends podcast exclusivly D.I.Y, with his bedroom recording set up consisting of two mics, a couple pair of headphones, a Mac book, and a colorful guests for each episode. Photo on Thursday, May 2, 2013.

By Ben Pack
Photos by Frank Leal

It seems like just yesterday when that one really tech-savvy friend of yours was starting his new “web-log,” or as he called it a blog. Flash forward to today. With the advent of Tumblr and microblogging sites like Twitter, blogging is still around in full force. But what’s the next medium?

The idea of podcasts are nothing new. Radio programs with similar topics and production values have existed for decades. With television putting a serious blow in public radios’ numbers, many thought that these types of shows’ life was nearly over. This was true until the mid-to-late 2000s, when what we know today as podcasts began to manifest.

The term podcast was originally used as a term to refer to a type of RSS catcher that would grab audio interview recordings and play them on a computer. Podcasting has grown quite substantially as a medium. According to Pew Research, in 2009 there were 63,000 English podcasts, and a projected 115,000 in 2012.

San Francisco, being a hub for technology, is unsurprisingly home to an astounding number of podcasts, with higher listener numbers than many major American cities, with several of the top podcasts downloaded originating in San Francisco, including the IGN family of podcasts.

More hardcore podcast listeners spend hours a week with their favorite shows, and even enjoy listening to podcasts more than listening to music or watching television. Sean Wu is one of these listeners.

“I listen to podcasts on my hour-long commute to school,” says Sean. “I don’t mind laughing like an asshole because Muni is miserable enough.” Sean listens to podcasts on his iPhone, opting to download several hour-long episodes a week of his favorite shows for free, rather than music which he would have to pay for.

“I get all these podcasts for free, which is a way better deal than movie or cable prices.”

He would not listen to iPhones if not for his iPhone. Listening on-the-go is crucial for Wu. Pew reports that from 2010 to 2011 the growth of people that listen to podcasts on mobile devices increased by nearly one hundred percent. There are also dozens of third-party apps, both free and paid, that offer podcast downloading and listening features that the standard Apple music player do not.

A Podcast Empire

So with thousands and thousands of podcasts out there, what makes one good? One person who knows a bit about the game is Jesse Thorn is a giant in the podcasting circle. A San Francisco native, Jesse started podcasting after graduating from UCSC in 2004. He was already doing the KCSC college radio show, and had heard from some of his more tech-oriented friends about podcasting

“It sounded like a good way to get a few extra listeners,” says Jesse. “It would probably take me an hour and a half of extra time.”

In 2007 after moving to LA, Jesse received a distribution deal from Public Radio International for his show, “The Sound of Young America,” but the revenue projection was only $8,000 dollars for the first year, and $30,000 after five.

Jesse focus was in public radio, but he also decided to host and help produce a few other shows for what he would go on to call the Maximum Fun network of podcasts, including a podcast version of TSYA, a podcast of his sketch group Kasper Hauser, and Jordan, Jesse, Go!, a comedy podcast with Jesse’s college friend Jordan Morris. Today Maximum Fun hosts over a dozen shows, including the popular advice podcast My Brother, My Brother and Me and Judge John Hodgman, featuring author and television personality John Hodgman.

SF state’s Dave Pinder, JR. and childhood friend/ roommate/ podcast brother Ian Saunders, Soph., have created “Bad Friends” a podcast they produce in Dave’s bedroom. Bad Friends is a shot at comedy spontaniously, with a friendly guest for each session, such as Helen Shope, Soph. Photo on Thursday, May 2, 2013.

“All shows from Maximum Fun are funded by listener donations,” Jesse says discussing whether or not he charges for any content. Every year they host a pledge drive, aiming for the goal of 1,000 new donors. They received 1,400 new ones in 2013.

Many people question if radio is the same as podcasting. “At the moment there’s a clear divide, at the moment podcasting is driven by the things that are driven by web media, radio is drove by mass media,” says Jesse.

Jordan, Jesse, Go! is a very personal show. The duo of hosts (usually accompanied by a guest) tell very personal stories. People get to know not only the hosts on a professional level, but also on a very personal level. What Jesse believes one of the key differences that make podcasting stand out from radio are “powerful, personal connections.”

Student Podcasting

The beauty of podcasting lies in the fact that as long as you have a microphone and a computer, you can make a podcast. Take, for example, Joe Fitzgerald. Joe is a reporter for the “Xpress Newspaper,” and host of “Swamp Gas,” an SF State podcast. They have released two episodes and look to release more starting this summer.

“It’s great outlet to release the shackles of journalistic style and have fun, but still be a journalist,” says Joe.

Joe, along with his co-host Brian Rinker, record what it’s like to be an older student at SF State. And by record they mean “be curmudgeonly toward.”

The idea of creating a podcast was just another medium for Joe to explore. He had been the editor on feature length documentary, created short training videos and even teaches in the multimedia department at San Francisco School of Arts

They’ve recorded in many places, including from the back room of the newspaper’s production room, to the campus library. “The intercom would come on in the middle of the best bits, and it ruined everything. Someone suggested we record in a car, but who has a car in San Francisco.”

Joe believes that podcasts do a great job of normalizing people. He’s a fan of podcasts such as Savage Love, Star Talk with Neil DeGrass Tyson (whom Joe refers to as “a total pimp), and This American Life.

It won’t make us rich (but that’s ok)

The question still remains, though, if podcasting is a marketable medium. Aside from a few notable personalities like Jesse, there are few people who make their living from podcasting, and rather treat it as a passion project.

One of the most popular podcast genres is gaming. There are thousands upon thousands of gaming podcasts out there, including the insanely popular Giant Bombcast. The Bombcast started in 2008 (then called the Arrow Pointing Down podcast) after Jeff Gerstmann was fired from his job at Gamespot.com, forming his own blog with former co-worker Ryan Davis. Prior to that, Jeff was on the also super-popular “Hotspott” podcast for Gamespot with Davis as well as several other co-workers who would go onto work at Giantbomb.

Hosted by IGN’S Daemon Hatfield, “Gamescoop!” looks at the ins and outs of videogames from the latest news to the most urgent fan questions to be answered by the highly influential IGN editors and staff writers.

“We had heard about podcasts and wanted to get into it. There wasn’t anyone getting into game podcasting,” Jeff says in reference to starting the Hotspot in 2005. They received some pushback from corporate. “It took convincing that was a good use of time because Gamespot wasn’t a good use of time.”

Jeff had done some radio work in his youth, but really thought that podcasting had a viable future, especially in the realm of video games.

Now the Bombcast is one of the most popular podcasts on iTunes, even snagging the No. 1 one most popular podcast spot briefly in 2013. Jeff shares Jesse’s thoughts on staying connected to the fans.

“There are podcasts out there that are dry fact-based reports. I hate to compare it, but in some ways it’s like morning radio, it has that same sort of stuff,” says Jeff.

While most podcasts range in the hour to 90-minute range, the Bombcast’s weekly show often lasts more than three hours.

“Three hours isn’t right for every podcast or every crew, The number one feedback we get from people is we wish it was longer. The three hour mark lets us say what we need to about games. We don’t think about it, it naturally ends up around that length.”

Jeff said they surprisingly get a lot of feedback from soldiers who cannot access the internet regularly and spend times listening to their show to make up for it.

Still, none of this is directly for profit. “You can’t justify direct monetary results to podcasts. Subscribers sub to support podcasts,” Jeff says. It would be very easy for a man in a suit to walk in and say ‘it’s costing us bandwidth.’”

And the Bombcast certainly does cost bandwidth, with “a few hundred thousand” listeners and three-hour episodes.

Patent Trolls and the Future of Podcasting

Still, someone out there sees the potential value in podcasting, even if they’re doing it in the worst way possible. A Texas-based company called Personal Audio has filed suit against Adam Carolla, as well as sending out several cease-and-desist letters claiming they patented podcasts. The following statement has been issued on their website:

“We invented the technology that enables podcasting back in 1996 as part of an effort to develop a portable and personal audio system that would offer users a customized listening experience using content and data downloaded over the Internet.”

What this means for the podcasting community is unclear. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is working on legislation in favor of the S.H.I.E.L.D. act passed, along with support from Mark Cuban. Jesse believes this could be dire for podcasters.

“Recently a group of LA podcasters have been getting together recently to talk about response options. We’re in a very difficult position. Defending against the lawsuit costs between a million and a few million dollars, which is why patent trolling is so effective,” Jesse says.

“It’s a scary situation, a very scary situation.”

Jesse concerned if it comes to the point of having to defend the suit in courts. “There may come a time when we podcasters have to raise a legal defense fund, and I don’t think we desire going directly to the audience.” His business is audience funded, so money given isn’t money donated to creation of our content.

“I’m an NPR affiliated psudo-journalist so I wouldn’t take a stance, but I recommend that people learn about the situation legislatively and contact their representatives.”