Sheila McElroy left her heart in San Francisco (among other lovely places)

IYKYK: San Francisco doesn’t leave us that easily, even when we leave it. Katie Havercamp and LeBron James the cat (yep) learned it bigtime firsthand, and I’d bet that many people you know have strong feelings on the topic.

Sheila McElroy has spent her professional life studying, writing about, and talking about place: how our sense of it grounds us in history and provides context for how we see, move around, and make sense of the world. In this story, told at Muni Diaries Live in November 2022, Sheila takes us through her personal sense of place and the role it, especially San Francisco, plays in her journey.

Listen up:

If you didn’t even know we had a podcast until you saw this post, or until an obviously excellent friend with great taste sent it your way, don’t forget to subscribe to the Muni Diaries podcast so you don’t miss another minute of these real-life tales from on and around the bus. We’re on all your favorite podcast-listening apps.

Photo: Emily Huston

When small talk pays off on Muni

What would make you take off your headphones on the bus to talk to a stranger? In this episode, storyteller Alex Randall shares how he started talking to his fellow riders, and how these “Muni chats” changed the way he looks at our city. This episode was recorded at Muni Diaries Live at Rickshaw Stop in November, 2022.

Listen to his story:

By day, Alex manages a support team at Atlassian, and by evening and weekend, he serves on the board at Z Space, leads walking tours of his favorite San Francisco neighborhoods. He says he takes the 38 Geary often and likes all things San Francisco: history, sports, art, politics, and of course, public transit. You can find him at @ArtrepreneurSF on both Instagram and Twitter.

And don’t forget to subscribe to the Muni Diaries podcast so you don’t miss a minute of these great stories! You can find us on any of your podcast-listening apps.

Photo: Emily Huston