Your weekend podcast list, Muni Diaries edition

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Finishing off week two of sheltering in place, we’ve gathered some fun stories from Muni Diaries Live alums for this weekend. The weather forecast predicts rain, and we hope these podcasts give you a little reprieve, and if you are able, please do support these storytellers and projects.

Learn more about San Francisco history with Shaping San Francisco. The good folks behind Shaping San Francisco are putting their walking and biking tours on pause, but you can enjoy being an armchair historian by listening to their free public talks at home. Topics range from “hidden San Francisco” to “Valencia Street as a Lesbian Corridor: Living Memories” and more.

How to support: Become a patron at Shaping San Francisco’s Patreon page.

Enjoy comedic podcasts hosted by reigning Muni Haiku champion Wonder Dave: Mental Health Comedy Hour and Nerd Rage: the Great Debate. Wonder Dave has reigned supreme with his 5-7-5 rhymes, but when he’s not writing public transit poems (which he really just does twice a year), he’s hosting some very funny, and very nerdy podcasts. Tune in to those podcasts to debate timeless topics like, “Which female superhero reigns supreme in the world of DC comics?”

How to support: Become a patron on Wonder Dave’s Patreon page.

An ode to Muni and BART operators who are working every day to get people from one essential task to another: listen to Kurt Schwartzmann’s story at Muni Diaries Live. Kurt told this story last summer about how Muni drivers provided him the only refuge when he was living on the street.

We’ll keep the stories coming here on MuniDiaries.com and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Photo by @mwichary.

Category: Funny: Muni LOLs

Three mood-improving Muni storytellers to help you shelter in place

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In these shelter-in-place times, don’t you almost kind of almost miss the gallows humor of our commute? We’ve got a fix for that.

Follow three Muni Diaries Live alums whose stories and music will temporarily transport you back to the old normal. As many of our storytellers and favorite venues are severely impacted by COVID-19, we’ve also included how you can support them during these tough times.

So first, put on your earbuds for Rachel Lark, the singer/songwriter who says her music is “weird, disruptive to the patriarchy, and sexually explicit.” Sign us up! The music videos are NSFW gems: Warm, Bloody, and Tender (featuring current Muni Haiku champ Wonder Dave!), and my personal favorite, It’s Hard to be a Feminist and Still Want Dick (featuring Muni Diaries alum Kate Willet).

How to support: Rachel has a Patreon! You can find her on Bandcamp or Spotify.

San Francisco-raised Nato Green is a comedian, union organizer, dad, and, per The East Bay Express, a “political spark plug.” On our San Francisco Diaries podcast series, he shared a tale of how high school students figured out how to be an ally before the word became a regular part of our vernacular.

Listen to Nato’s stories: Nato Green on San Francisco Diaries podcast. You can also follow him on @natogreen.

How to support: Buy his comedy albums: The Nato Green Party and The Whiteness Album.

And lastly, let us take you back to 2011 when Muni Diaries Live was at its first home at the Make-Out Room. Storyteller and poet Joyce Lee shared the story of taking Muni with her mom, who gave the kids on the bus an earful.

Listen to Joyce’s stories: Joyce Lee at Muni Diaries Live. Also check out her story called Mad Love from Tourettes Without Regrets (highly recommend!)

How to support: Joyce has a new book of poetry called Dancing in the Presence of Men: a book of Love & Lovers, and you can get the book on Amazon here.

And, we are still collecting your stories daily about our lovely city. Our inbox is always open for you at muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com.

Photo by Right Angle Images.

Category: San Francisco Diaries

Predicted time for Muni Diaries Live is a little longer than we thought

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Aw man. We’re sad to say that we’re postponing Muni Diaries Live, scheduled for April 4. We don’t have a new date in mind yet, but we’ll be watching the advisories closely to make sure we’ve cleared any danger zones.  As battle-hardened as we all feel by riding public transit in San Francisco, a pandemic is something else entirely. We’ll announce our new date as soon as we can, whenever we can safely celebrate life in this weird, wonderful city over anxiety-free drinks and stories.

Originally:

Twice a year we celebrate the surprising stories that happen between strangers on Muni and BART, and we are returning to Rickshaw Stop on April 4th to celebrate 12 years of documenting commuter life in San Francisco. Tickets to Muni Diaries Live are on sale now, and we can’t wait to see you there!

Our stellar lineup:

Dushka Zapata is a Quora superstar and author of Amateur: An Inexpert, Inexperienced, Unauthoritative, Enamored View of Life and Love Yourself and Other Insurgent Acts That Recast Everything, and more. Having worked in the communications industry for more than 20 years, she helps companies and people put into simple terms who they are, what they do, and where to go next.

Becca Henry is San Francisco born, raised by wolves, and got her start on stage performing comedic burlesque before buying new bras and making her way into standup. Known for her distinctive voice and commanding presence, Becca brings her brand of fierce, awkward humor and tales of personal chaos to take audiences through her debased thoughts, unique perspectives and impressive range of octaves.

Lia Smith has been published in Ms., Seventeen, and literary magazines Bamboo Ridge and Other Voices. She’s been riding Muni since she first arrived in San Francisco at age seven. She is currently collaborating with her artist husband, Keith Ferris, on an art book about Muni, a collection of portraits and interviews of operators and drawings of passengers. Muni has always been a lifeline for her: No matter how long or inconvenient the wait, once the bus arrives, all my cares drop away.

Rachel Swan covers transportation for the San Francisco Chronicle. She was born in Berkeley and grew up riding BART, Muni, and AC Transit. Now she takes mass transit with her two daughters.

Jesús U. BettaWork is a local comedian who has performed throughout the Bay Area and beyond. He hosts the “You Betta Work Comedy ¡Fiesta!” at the San Mateo County Pride Center every third Friday.

Wonder Dave is a writer, comedian and performer from Minneapolis, MN, now living in California. He has toured the country performing at poetry venues, schools, cabarets, science fiction conventions, burlesque shows, bowling alleys, and independent wrestling shows. He has been a featured storyteller on the Risk podcast. Dave’s poetry has been published in anthologies by Write Bloody, Lethe Press, and Sibling Rivalry Press.

Grab a ticket today and see you at the show!

Muni Diaries Live

Saturday, April 4, 2020

Doors: 5:30 p.m. Show: 6:30 p.m.

The Rickshaw Stop

155 Fell Street, San Francisco

Take Muni there: 21, 47, 49, F, J, K, L, M, N, T. Or take BART: Civic Center Station.

Special thanks to Secession Art and Design for generously sharing their wonderful Bernal store space for our show rehearsal. Photo by Right Angle Images.

Category: Muni Diaries Live Tags:

To eat or not to eat the burrito on Muni?

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I’ve gotten happy hour at Phone Booth -> El Farolito -> hopping the 14-Mission or 49-Van Ness/Mission right outside down to a science. I am still working on tamping down the wild-animal desire to tipsily horse into a burrito around innocent people during the ride home.

I’m not the only one who gets comfortable on the bus with tummy fuel: there was a full-on food fight on the J-Church a while back, an errant drumstick, and a forward-thinking passenger using time wisely to prep dinner on the bus. But I suppose it is rude to subject riders to my food smells and napkin-less abandon.

I showed admirable (ADMIRABLE) restraint this time around, but have definitely been guilty of destroying these bad boys on a BART platform (and then in the train) between 24th/Mission and Civic Center. That’s not a long ride, folks, and it was not that late.

What say ye, folks: Throw proper etiquette to the wind (you’ll take our bus burritos from our cold dead hands!) or keep it together until you get home?

Category: Funny: Muni LOLs

Of ‘ladyspreading’ and leggings on BART with Annette Mullaney

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Storyteller Annette Mullaney is a standup comic based in San Francisco. The San Francisco Chronicle named her one of six “comics to catch” in the Bay Area. She describes her comedy as self-deprecating, feminist, existentialist, smart, vulgar, and full of big words to prove she’s been to grad school (fair, I’d do it, too). In this episode, she shares an emotional rollercoaster of a BART story that took a long time to see the light of day. But we’re so glad she worked up the courage to share.

This recording is from Muni Diaries Live in November 2019, when Annette regaled the crowd with this tale. We promise you’ll never think of feminism, laundry day, or leggings the same way. Here’s Annette:

Photo by Amanda Roosa

Category: BART, Muni Diaries Live, Muni Diaries Live Shows Tags:

A reminder of rainy day dos and don’ts on Muni

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The weather forecast calls for three more days of rain, which could mean 72 more hours of improper umbrella use on Muni. Let’s review some important rainy-day etiquette: umbrellas are still best used outdoors rather than deployed inside the bus to deter people from sitting next to you, as in the above photo from Aaron on Twitter.

Fewer people than we thought got the memo…

Photo by @cyclones01

Once you do board with your brolly, remember to keep it folded up, no matter how outdoorsy it might be.

patio_brella
Photo by EC

There is, however, one acceptable circumstance for an indoor umbrella on Muni…

An occasional necessity around here, umbrellas are such a hassle—see this compelling case against them. My recommendation? Forgo those pesky nylon menaces and just wear a proper raincoat instead.

pug
Photo by @dearamerican

Got other rainy day pet peeves or tips? Our inbox is open for your suggestions! Email us at muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com or tag us @munidiaries on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Category: Funny: Muni LOLs
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