SFBG Blogs

Uproot: An urban homesteading bonanza

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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Uproot: An urban homesteading bonanza

Now that locavorism has been firmly established as a socially acceptable and environmentally positive movement, people are now considering the place of hyperlocal food, which generally refers to edibles cultivated right within the context of urban and suburban communities. Well, that first part is not entirely true.

As highlighted by the recent Chronicle piece on the brouhaha that has some of the agricultural establishment’s panties in a bunch over the “Puritan idealism” and perceived elitism of slow food. Well, in my naïve fantasies, ushering in an era of functional food systems would be a no-duh, universal type of decision.

Anyway, if you haven’t caught the spate of articles lately, like this NYT one or, oh yeah, my own nonrual homesteading guide from our recent FEAST, urban agriculture is at least a bit of the vogue in the Bay Area. And for those of that bent or neophytes wanting to learn more, the Commonwealth Club is hosting a forum with urban farming heroes—Jason Mark of Alemany Farms, Novella Carpenter, the author of Farm City, Christopher Burley of Hayes Valley Farm, and David Gavrich of City Grazing—to discuss their vision of the growing movement within the larger conversation of “organic, local-grown culture.” It’s a great chance to see/ hear the idea-makers behind what could be a viable solution for creating access to healthier, non-corporate foods for everyone in these lean times. Snacks and wine, locally-produced of course, offered.

Location: SF Club Office, 95 Market Street, 2nd Floor
Time: 6 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. program, 7:30 p.m. networking reception
Cost: $12 members, $20 non-members, $7 students (with valid ID)

Buy tickets here

Butch Beat us, Kool-Aid child

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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Some fab new queer hip-hop styley from Hollywood’s Ab Soto. who lifts street-mumu to the cute max. He’ll be giving it up at the wild-wild Big Top party at Club 8 during Memorial Day Weekend, Sat/29.

Street Threads: Look of the Day

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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Street Threads: Look of the Day

Today’s Look: Ali, SF State

Tell us about your look:  “Crazy art school teacher”

Gun nuts gone wild

Zelda Bronstein
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Gun nuts gone wild

It’s no surprise to see the Republican Senate candidates pandering desperately to the right wing, but at a certain point, it becomes a total farce. For example: Both Carly Fiorina and Chuck DeVore actually said during a taped debate that they think people on the federal no-fly list should be allowed to buy guns.


I know, I know — there are people on that list who shouldn’t be, and it’s a pain to get off it, but still: Buying guns?


Even Tom Campbell, who is running far to the right of where he’s always been, was a bit flabbergasted:


“That is not an infringement on anybody’s Second Amendment rights,” said Campbell, a former law professor at Stanford. “It seems somewhat unusual to take that position – except perhaps in a Republican primary.”


 

If Nancy Pelosi’s such a ‘progressive’ ….

Zelda Bronstein
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If Nancy Pelosi’s such a ‘progressive’ ….

… and even though Randy Shaw has become convinced that she is, I’ve never bought it, and I still don’t. A progressive in Congress would never have privatized a national park. A progressive wouldn’t have ducked same-sex marriage. But whatever — here’s my question for the day:


If Pelosi really believes in progressive causes, why doesn’t she do anything about it at home?


Pelosi’s almost never on the progressive side in local races. She never helps local progressive causes, raises money (which she’s really, really good at) for local progressive campaigns or takes visible stands on local progressive issues. Would it kill the Democratic Party if she helped defeat Prop. 16? Would it be the end of the Democratic majority if she went to bat for her own city’s sanctuary policies (and tried to block the horrible new policy on deporting anyone who gets arrested?)


Pelosi helped push health-care reform through, and that’s a fine thing. But unless you want to redefine “progressive,” I don’t think Nancy Pelosi fits the bill. (And I’m still proud I voted for Harry Britt for Congress.)

Knocking on fascism’s door

Mary Magee
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Knocking on fascism’s door

Like many folks in the United States, I’m an immigrant. But unlike many folks who crossed this nation’s borders, I was lucky to come here with a green card. I say “lucky” because getting a green card typically involves having the money and educational skills to make you “desirable” in the eyes of federal immigration authorities, things you are less likely to have if you are born into a dirt-poor country.

Getting my green card involved getting fingerprinted and biometrically assessed. So, I understand the national security argument for wanting every immigrant’s fingerprints. And I hear the feds saying that, thanks to limited resources, their prime objective is to deport undocumented immigrants with criminal records.

The question I have around the Secure Communities program is this: Where are the guarantees that this system won’t be used, now or in the future, to deport long-term or juvenile residents who haven’t actually committed serious crimes?

Imagine that your legal immigrant co-worker is charged with terrorist activity? You’d expect them to get their day in court before being stripped of their citizenship, right? You wouldn’t say “due process’ was never meant to protect criminal behavior, would you? But that’s exactly the slippery slope that folks start sliding down when they say that sanctuary city policies were never meant to protect criminal behavior, while refusing to stand up for the due process rights of immigrants who aren’t guilty as charged.

The point here is that there is a world of difference between being charged with and being guilty of a crime, (which explains why Arizona is trying to make it a crime to be here without paperwork.)  And without guarantees of due process, the potential for abuse of any law becomes immense.So, it’s kinda important that folks who want to be politcal leaders show us that they get that point. Otherwise, how can we trust them to stand up and do what’s right in the future?

The Daily Blurgh: What should I do next, Edith Wharton?

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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The Daily Blurgh: What should I do next, Edith Wharton?

Curiosities, quirks, oddites, and items from around the Bay and beyond

Today in fashion: Oakland lifts century-old ban on cross-dressing, Parisian women can now legally wear pants, and persons of any gender can express their displeasure at the state of Arizona with a t-shirt (American flag shirts, however, can get you into hot water).

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You’re never too young to violate California labor laws.

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Oil-sucking “brooms” made from stray pet hair help save the environment, resemble rotting salami.

 

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Is this MTV original series not child porn-by-proxy because someday its nerdy and extraordinarily hung protagonist will grow up to be a character in a Judd Apatow film? (Thanks WoW Report and Slog)

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This is why “No Substitutions” is totally fair game in a restaurant.

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Edith Wharton meets Choose Your Own Adventure

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Boob tube still bringing folks together, one couch potato at a time: “Like all social activities, television-watching demands compromise. People may have strong ideas about what they want to watch, but what they really want to do is watch together.”

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Scopitone Week continues! Click here to learn more about Scopitones. Continuing with our survey of the ladies of Scopitone, today’s clip returns us to France. Here’s the boysih Stella, with “Le Vampire,” one of her send-ups of the ye-ye style popularized by such other Scopitone cuties as France Gall. You know MJ totally bit this for the Thriller video. (Just like he bit another French classic.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5in8MdBTgI

Chiu moves to reject Muni budget

Sasha Cuttler And Mary Magee
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At the May 4 Board of Supervisors meeting, Board President David Chiu introduced a motion to reject the Municipal Transportation Agency budget, approved by the MTA Board on April 20.

Noting the deep service cuts that are scheduled to inflict the city’s public transportation system on Saturday, May 8, Chiu said riders could expect “longer wait times, more crowding, and people being passed up by full trains.”

Chiu has signaled his frustration with the MTA before and called for reform. “We will be having many conversations with the MTA and with the Mayor’s Office, but I do think at this time we can do better than the budget that we have in front of us,” he said.

Chiu also referenced a recently issued City Controller’s review of SFMTA work orders, conducted to find out if various city departments contracted to provide services for Muni are fairly and accurately billing the agency. The report indicated that MTA work order expenditures have been on the rise, while various city departments “did not often provide sufficient reporting documentation in their billings, and we don’t have a strong sense of whether these bills were paid appropriately for services rendered,” Chiu noted.

Accordingly, he introduced accompanying legislation requesting that the City Attorney draft legislation to implement key recommendations in the controllers’ review.

“It’s just not responsible,” said Tony Winnicker, press secretary to Mayor Gavin Newsom, when asked for a comment on the proposal to reject the Muni budget. “If they’ve got specific solutions … then that’s different. But for now it’s just political grandstanding of the worst kind, and it’s really irresponsible.”

According to section of the City Charter that deals with the public-transit system, however, the board doesn’t have the power to modify the MTA’s budget — it can only accept it or give it a thumbs down. According to Section VIII A 106 (c): “the Board of Supervisors may allow the Agency’s budget to take effect without any action on its part or it may reject but not modify the Agency’s budget by a seven-elevenths’ vote.”

Is ICE planning to destroy sanctuary city?

Mary Magee
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Virginia Kice, spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), sounded hopping mad at the way that ICE’s Secure Communities initiative is being represented as undermining San Francisco’s sanctuary policy and possibly creating an even worse federal immigration system.

“It’s just an information sharing system,” Kice told the Guardian. “Any time someone is electronically booked by local or state law enforcement agencies, their fingerprints will be compared up against biometrics in U.S. Department of Justice, the F.B.I. and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) databases. “


If a match is found, then ICE will do the follow-up investigation, Kice said.

“Not everyone in the system has violated the law,” Kice explained. “They may have applied for an immigration benefit or they could already be naturalized [have become a U.S. citizen]. It just means that they have had an encounter with DHS.”

Alluding to the ongoing debate about immigration law and racial profiling, Kice stressed that this new system doesn’t selectively finger print.

“It finger prints everybody, and because this system uses biometrics, it’s going to be accurate in terms of i.d.ing people who have had prior encounters with D.H.S,” she said.
“Some people use multiple aliases and give misinformation about their history. We know people have escaped deportation this way in the past, but fingerprints don’t lie.”

Local law enforcement officials are concerned that though the new policy is supposed to target folks charged with serious crimes, including murder, rape, sex crimes, serious assault, and resisting arrest, it will also sweep up folks charged with minor infractions, such as being drunk in public, who could now fall into ICE’s hands for deportation, especially if they resist arrest at the time, which happens to be defined as a serious crime.

“Not everybody who is in the country illegally has ever been encountered by D.H.S. and because we don’t have their biometrics, the system would not detect a match,” Kice continued. “But that does not mean they won’t be referred for a follow-up investigation. And it ensures that we get their information shortly after an encounter occurs.”

But despite Kice’s rosy assessment of the federal government’s Secure Communities program which she says has already been set up in 15 other California communities, 20 states and about 160 municipalities nationwide, the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office continued to express unease at how the new program will shift the local landscape.

 “The ground rules in the jails have changed, but not due to any decision on our part,” Eileen Hirst, spokesperson for the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department told the Guardian.

The interlinking automated database will remove the firewall that used to protect folks booked with low-level crimes from being referred to federal immigration authorities.

“The firewall was the discretion of local law enforcement,” Hirst explained.

In San Francisco, the Sheriff’s Department developed laws that were consistent with federal laws, as well as San Francisco’s sanctuary ordinance, which was enacted in 1989.

Under San Francisco’s current “City of Refuge” ordinance, local law enforcement officials refer individuals who are booked on felony charges, or have a history of felony charges, and are foreign born and have previous deportation orders or ICE holds.

But now everyone who gets arrested will be fingerprinted and referred to ICE, not through human intervention, but through a fingerprint database that connects to similar databases in Canada, Mexico and within Interpol.

“DHS, of which ICE is part, has interoperability agreements with California’s Department of Justice, which maintains a fingerprint database for state,” Hirst said.” ICE now has complete access to the DOJ databases and vice versa.”

This fundamental change in policy means that any time anyone is booked in San Francisco, they will be fingerprinted and automatically reported, including folks charged with misdemeanors, such as minor drug possession, low level financial crimes and misdemeanor battery.

“What happens next will depend on DOJ’s response,” Hirst said. “We are putting the word out because it was clear that the immediate community did not know about this.”

Local law enforcement officials say they were verbally informed of the new initiative at a recent meeting at ICE’ office at 630 Sansome Street in San Francisco. Asked if the system will go into effect June, Kice said the agency doesn’t typically inform communities when the program will be deployed, but promised to get back to us.

David Venturella, who has been involved with ICE for years and is currently the head of ICE’s Secure Communities initiative was not available for comment, but Kice sent a fact sheet, which claims the program “is leading ICE’s efforts to modernize and transform its criminal alien enforcement model, through technology, integration and information sharing.”

“This is the first time that the Federal government has used biometric identification technology to enforce immigration laws at the state and local law enforcement level,” the fact sheet states. “This enables ICE to accurately identify dangerous criminal aliens much more efficiently, and in significantly greater numbers. This also helps local law enforcement officials get dangerous criminals off their streets, at little or no additional cost. If an individual’s fingerprints match those of a person in DHS’s biometric system, the new automated process will notify ICE and the participating agency submitting the fingerprints. ICE will evaluate each case to determine the individual’s immigration status and take appropriate enforcement action. Top priority will be given to offenders who pose a threat to the public safety, such as aliens with prior convictions for major drug offenses, murder, rape, robbery, and kidnapping.”

The ICE fact sheet notes that, “Deployment of this interoperable technology across the nation is now underway as is expected to be complete by 2012.”

“Congress has allocated $350 million for Secure Communities in FY 2008 and FY 2009,” the fact sheet continues.  “As of March 2009, Secure Communities has been deployed to 48 sites in seven states – Arizona, Florida, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia.”

And clearly, it’s already expanded beyond those boundaries and is about to kick in, right here in San Francisco and other Bay Area municipalities.

Thanks, Go Girl! Ladies love super citimax!

Andrew Lam
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I went to Gamin’s (1335 18th St., SF), seeking a veggie burger and fries to pierce my Seis de Mayo nausea fog — I hardly expected to find a beauty cure. Yet there it was in the refrigerator case. And it was just for me! Behold, the energy drink… for the ladies.

Yes, it’s Go Girl energy drink, available in Go Girl Bliss (yerba mate and peach tea), Go Girl Glo (aloe vera), and Go Girl Sugar Free (uh, sucralose). They max out at 35 calories, are high in taurine and “super citrimax” — and what’s this? The can tells me it’s “good for healthy skin!” Score!

Finally, an energy drink that women can drink. See, other energy drinks just made me feel all manly, and stuff. Like Sparks — who wants to have to carry around their energy drink in a paper bag? And Red Bull. C’mon, bull? It, like, doesn’t get much less dainty than that.

But I have no worries with Go Girl, no testosterone-y mid afternoon pickups for me! I tried the aloe vera one because it’s “refreshing combination of pomegranate and star fruit” sounded like just the ticket out of booze-ache land, but I’m definitely aiming to go back for Go Girl Sugar Free because a. the can is pink, and b. it’s got an extra bump of appetite suppressant in it — your friend and mine, super citrimax!

Of course, now I’m on their website and they raise money for breast and ovarian cancer, and I feel like a total dick for writing this. But whatever! Energy and appetite suppressant, just for the ladies! Wait, their website says guys can drink it too. I feel had. But in a peppy, not hungry kind of way.

More fun with political ads

Zelda Bronstein
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More fun with political ads

You don’t have to look far to find creative parodies of the famous Carly Fiorina demon sheep ad. But now the Democratic Party — finally stepping up — has released it’s own weirdo ad, called Demon Sheep II. It attacks both Fiorina and Tom Campbell, and has a toss-off at the end about Chuck DeVore, but it’s clearly aimed first and foremost at Carly — which suggests, no surprise, that the Dems (that is, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee) is getting out of the box, now, with attacks on Barbara Boxer’s likely November foe. Carla Marinucci calls the ad “hysterical,” and while I wasn’t laughing that hard, you have to admit: The goofiness level of big-time California campaign ads is on the rise.


The ad hints at what Boxer’s camp is going to focus on this fall — and it’s similar to what Jerry Brown needs to do to defeat Meg Whitman. The ad is all about Carly Fiorini, rich business excutive who owns two yachts, flew around in corporate jets and moved 28,000 jobs offshore — then got fired. That works pretty well for Boxer, who can contrast her progressive stands on economic issues to the GOP’s pro-rich agenda. Now Brown needs to start taking a more populist stand (on Prop. 13 reform, for example) if he wants to make his attacks on Whitman stick.


Check out Demon Sheep II:


 


 

Moyers: Plutocracy and democracy can’t co-exist

Sasha Cuttler
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Moyers: Plutocracy and democracy can’t co-exist

The great public-interest journalist Bill Moyers, 75, ended his long-running Journal program on Friday with a warning: Plutocracy and democracy don’t mix. And these days, it appears that the former has all but destroyed the latter, turning American democracy into a cruel and deceptive farce. The fact that many readers will need to scramble to their dictionaries or computers to look up “plutocracy” is a good sign of how unaware the average citizen is of what ails this country and keeps them down. So let me save y’all the trouble, it means rule by the rich, and it’s what we now have in this country.

I got a lot of criticism last week when I raised the issue of how Meg Whitman, Goldman Sachs, and the other scions of our plutocracy have fatally undermined our democratic values, which used to involve taxing the rich adequately enough to fund our infrastructure, alleviate poverty, and protect the planet. So rather than repeating that point, I thought I’d just let Moyers carry the argument, as he did so effectively on his final Journal broadcast, calling for a kind of public-interest journalism, biased in favor of the people and the planet, that I firmly believe in. He’ll be missed, and we would all be wise to heed his words and his warning.

Moyers said: 

You’ve no doubt figured out my bias by now. I’ve hardly kept it a secret. In this regard, I take my cue from the late Edward R. Murrow, the Moses of broadcast news.

Ed Murrow told his generation of journalists bias is okay as long as you don’t try to hide it. So here, one more time, is mine: plutocracy and democracy don’t mix. Plutocracy, the rule of the rich, political power controlled by the wealthy.

Plutocracy is not an American word but it’s become an American phenomenon. Back in the fall of 2005, the Wall Street giant Citigroup even coined a variation on it, plutonomy, an economic system where the privileged few make sure the rich get richer with government on their side. By the next spring, Citigroup decided the time had come to publicly “bang the drum on plutonomy.”

And bang they did, with an “equity strategy” for their investors, entitled, “Revisiting Plutonomy: The Rich Getting Richer.” Here are some excerpts:

“Asset booms, a rising profit share and favorable treatment by market-friendly governments have allowed the rich to prosper…[and] take an increasing share of income and wealth over the last 20 years…”

“…the top 10%, particularly the top 1% of the US– the plutonomists in our parlance– have benefited disproportionately from the recent productivity surge in the US…[and] from globalization and the productivity boom, at the relative expense of labor.”

“…[and they] are likely to get even wealthier in the coming years. [Because] the dynamics of plutonomy are still intact.”

And so they were, before the great collapse of 2008. And so they are, today, after the fall. While millions of people have lost their jobs, their homes, and their savings, the plutonomists are doing just fine. In some cases, even better, thanks to our bailout of the big banks which meant record profits and record bonuses for Wall Street.

Now why is this? Because over the past 30 years the plutocrats, or plutonomists — choose your poison — have used their vastly increased wealth to capture the flag and assure the government does their bidding. Remember that Citigroup reference to “market-friendly governments” on their side? It hasn’t mattered which party has been in power — government has done Wall Street’s bidding.

Don’t blame the lobbyists, by the way; they are simply the mules of politics, delivering the drug of choice to a political class addicted to cash — what polite circles call “campaign contributions” and Tony Soprano would call “protection.”

This marriage of money and politics has produced an America of gross inequality at the top and low social mobility at the bottom, with little but anxiety and dread in between, as middle class Americans feel the ground falling out from under their feet. According to a study from the Pew Research Center last month, nine out of ten Americans give our national economy a negative rating. Eight out of ten report difficulty finding jobs in their communities, and seven out of ten say they experienced job-related or financial problems over the past year.

So it is that like those populists of that earlier era, millions of Americans have awakened to a sobering reality: they live in a plutocracy, where they are disposable. Then, the remedy was a popular insurgency that ignited the spark of democracy.

Now we have come to another parting of the ways, and once again the fate and character of our country are up for grabs.

So along with Jim Hightower and Iowa’s concerned citizens, and many of you, I am biased: democracy only works when we claim it as our own.

SFBG radio: Tom Ammiano on Prop. 13 reform

Zelda Bronstein
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SFBG radio: Tom Ammiano on Prop. 13 reform

Today on SFBG Radio: Johnny Angel Wendell talks to Assemblymember Tom Ammiano about his plans to reform Prop. 13 and add a little fairness to a law that is giving big commercial property owners a huge windfall at the expense of homeowners — and state services. Listen after the jump


sfbgradioammiano by SFBG

Street Threads: Look of the Day

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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Street Threads: Look of the Day

Today’s Look: Page, 24th and Noe

Tell us about your look: “This skirt used to be my dance pants.”

Benefits: May 5-May 11

David Talbot
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Benefits: May 5-May 11

Ways to have fun while giving back this week

Thursday, May 6

Art Changes Lives 2010: Celebrating Color
Attend this benefit auction for Creativity Explored programs, that positively impact the lives of artists with developmental disabilities and the community that is connected to them. Featuring mistress of ceremonies Peaches Christ, cuisine by Foreign Cinema, cocktails, live music, and more. Auction features original art by Creativity Explored artists. Guests are encouraged to wear chromatic attire.
6:30 p.m., $125
Foreign Cinema
2534 Mission, SF
www.creativityexplored.org

Hysteria
Attend this benefit for the Women’s Community Clinic, a non-profit health care provider for women in San Francisco, featuring a silent auction and a comedy performance by Maria Bamford.
6 p.m., $100
Jewish Community Center
3200 California, SF
hysteria.womenscommunityclinic.org

Kestral Sound Review
Enjoy this benefit project from a local collaborative of music lovers, where curators will showcase up and coming talent through a series of mini festivals they call “Volumes.” Proceeds from the first installment will go to help fight breast cancer. The festival to feature live performances by Bye Bye Blackbirds, Grand Lake, Misirlou, and more, art by Ted Folstand and KC Skinner, photography by Christine Zona, and more.
8 p.m., $5 donation
The Tempest
431 Natoma, SF
www.kestral.org

SF AIDS Foundation Leadership Recognition Dinner
Join other community members and allies in commending vanguards in the community’s efforts to end HIV and AIDS by honoring Dr. Grant Colfax, Director of the HIV Prevention and Research Section in the SF Department of Public Health AIDS Office, Lonnie Payne-Clark, California AIDS Hotline volunteer, fundraiser, and former board member of San Francisco AIDS Foundation and Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation, and Sports Basement, a sponsor and community partner of AIDS/LifeCycle and the Greater Than One training program.
6 p.m., $200
InterContinental Hotel
Grand Ballroom, 888 Howard, SF
(415) 487-3013

Friday, May 7

First Graduate
Attend this Cap and Gown celebration and help support First Graduate, an organization that helps local youth finish high school and become the first in their families to graduate from college. Featuring live jazz, food, dancing, and dessert.
6 p.m., $175
San Francisco City Hall
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, SF
www.firstgraduate.org

Saturday, May 8

National Kidney Walk
Take part in this fundraising walk to help provide resources and raise awareness for the 20 million people with kidney disease in the U.S.
9 a.m.; free to walk, walkers encouraged to raise $200
One Maritime Plaza
300 Clay, SF
www.kidneywalk.org

Peralta Elementary School Community Festival
Help support Peralta Elementary, an Oakland public school for kindergarten through fifth grades, at this spring festival featuring carnival games, sing a song and pot a plant, climbing wall, music, and edible carnival treats.
Noon – 4 p.m., free
Peralta Elementary School
460 63rd St., Oak.
(510) 658-8161

Sunday, May 9

Space Odyssey
Attend Southern Exposure’s annual fundraiser and art auction featuring live and silent art auction, creative projects, food and drink, and music. Proceeds help SoEx continue to be an independent local hub for the Bay Area visual arts community.
7:30 p.m., $35-$65
Southern Exposure
3030 20th St., SF
www.soex.org

Walk to Empower
Join over 1, 000 walkers participating in this Mother’s Day Breast Cancer Walk with a goal of raising $190,000 for those affected by breast cancer.
9 a.m., minimum group purchase of $50.00
Justin Herman Plaza
Market at Embarcadero, SF
www.networkofstrength.org

Quick Lit: May 5-May 11

David Talbot
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Literary readings, book tours, and talks this week

Jillian Lauren, Anna Quindlen, Bookswap, ghost photos, how to enjoy food and stay slim, New Yorker cartoonists, an author who claims she can revolutionize youir spending habits, and more.

Wednesday, May 5

Swinging from My Heels
The colorful, bawdy golfer Christina Kim teams up with author Alan Shipnuck to write a novel about the 2009 Ladies Professional Golf Association tour.
7 p.m., free
Borders
400 Post, SF
(415) 399-1633


Thursday, May 6

Beatrix Farrand: Private Gardens, Public Landscapes
Listen as author Judith B. Tankard discusses her new book about the life and work of Beatrix Farrand, one of the foremost landscape architects of the early 1900s in a time when most women were barred from the professional world. Tankard’s book presents readers with watercolor renderings of Farrand’s designs, archival photos, and design plans.
6 p.m., $12
Mechanics’ Institute
57 Post, SF
(415) 393-0100

The Big Bang Symphony: A novel of Antartica
Author Lucy Jane Bledsoe will discuss and sign her new novel about three women who become involved in each other’s lives after finding themselves transformed by their time on “the Ice.”
7 p.m., free
DIESEL, A Bookstore
5433 College, Oak.
(510) 653-9965

“The Ecopoetics of Water”
Participate in this special presentation by Professor and poet Brenda Hillman and Biodiversity scientist Healy Hamilton at this “Expert’s Mind” discussion, that asks scholars, poets, artists, scientists, and audience members to reexamine and challenge established ideas.
7:30 p.m., $22
Koret Auditorium
de Young Museum
50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive
Golden Gate Park, SF
(415) 354-0437

Picture the Dead
Attend this celebration and launch party for Lisa Brown’s and Adele Griffin’s new mystery book set against the backdrop of the American Civil War. Civil War-era attire encouraged. Featuring raffle prizes, ghost photos taken of all book buyers, refreshments, and special guest host Daniel Handler.
7:30 p.m., free
The Booksmith
1644 Haight, SF
(415) 863-8688
Friday, May 7

Booksmith Bookswap
Bring a book you loved but are prepared to part with and join other smart, creative lit-minded souls of the city for a night of good company, swell atmosphere, delicious Reverie food, free-flowing wine, wise discourse and hilarious anecdotes. Author Lewis Buzbee, of The Yellow Lighted Bookshop and Steinbeck’s Ghost, will be there. You’ll also receive a 20% off discount card.
6:30 p.m., $25
The Booksmith
1644 Haight, SF
(415) 863-8688

Human Rights Zine
Join authors and artists from SFSU for the release of their recently published human rights zine, Survival Rx: Knowledge for Health Equality, that focuses on themes of peace, clean water, food security, indigenous peoples’ and prisoners’ rights.
6 p.m., free
Pegasus Books Downtown
2349 Shattuck, Berk.
(510) 649-1320

Saturday, May 8

Bernal Yoga Literary Series
Enjoy this reading from local writers KM Soehnlein, Maggie Shipstead, Dina Hardy, Karin Cotterman, Francois Luong, Melissa Stein, and Paul Festa. Reception to follow.
7pm, $5 suggested donation
Bernal Yoga
461 Cortland, SF
www.bernalyoga.com

French Women Don’t Get Fat
Hear author Mireille Guiliano discuss her new cookbook organized around her three favorite pastimes, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and learn from the writer of the ultimate non–diet book on how to enjoy food and stay slim.
11:45 a.m., free
CUESA Teaching Kitchen, North Arcade
Ferry Building
101 Embarcadero, SF
(415) 291-3276, ext. 101

I Hotel
Author Karen Tei Yamashita wrote this book consisting of ten novellas after interviewing activists from the Asian American movement, TWLF Strikers, I-Hotel tenants, and community residents to capture the International Hotel tenants fight against eviction in the Bay Area. The book is illustrated by Leland Wong.
3 p.m., free
Eastwind Books of Berkeley
2066 University, Berk.
(510) 548-2350

Sunday, May 9

Anna Quindlen
Bestselling novelist and award-winning journalist Anna Quindlen will discuss her body of work including her new book, Every Last One, a story about a mother, a father, a family, and the explosive, violent consequences of what seem like inconsequential actions.
8 p.m., $20
Herbst Theater
401 Van Ness, SF
www.city boxoffice.com

Monday, May 10

America, War, and Empire: A love-hate relationship
Newsweek editor and author Evan Thomas will explore our nation’s idiosyncratic urge to invade via the context of the Spanish-American war.
6 p.m., $35
Commonwealth Club
595 Market, 2nd floor, SF
(415) 597-6700

Fix It, Make It, Grow It, Bake It
Hear author Billee Sharp shares her freecycling, budgey-savvy, barter-better wisdom that she expounds in her new step-by-step handbook that can revolutionize your spending habits. Learn how to raise organic veggies, , eco-clean your house, cure minor maladies, save money on small repairs, and more.
7:30 p.m., free
Pegasus Books Downtown
2349 Shattuck, Berk.
(510) 649-1320

Sy Montgomery
Hear naturalist, bestselling author, documentary scriptwriter, and radio commentator Sy Montgomery discuss her new book, Birdology: Lessons learned from a pack of hens, a peck of pigeons, cantankerous crows, fierce falcons, hip hop parrots, baby hummingbirds, and one murderously big cassowary. Don’t miss Montgomery revealing seven essential truths about birds at this reading.
7:30 p.m., free
The Booksmith
1644 Haight, SF
(415) 863-8688

Tuesday, May 11

George Booth and Matthew Diffee
Hear these two New Yorker cartoonists discuss Booth’s new book, About Dogs,  and Diffee’s work on the off-Broadway event, The Rejection Show, featuring the rejected work of otherwise successful comedic writers and performers. With special guest Sophie McCall.
8 p.m., $20
Herbst Theater
401 Van Ness, SF
www.cityboxoffice.com

Chinese Immigrant Poetry of Angel Island
Hear author and scholar Marlon Hom discuss the poetry that thousands of Chinese immigrants inscribed on the walls of Angel Island detention centers during their immigration in the early 20th century, and how these poems give us a rare glimpse into these immigrants reasons for leaving China and their thoughts and dreams upon arrival in the United States.
12:30 p.m., free
111 Minna Gallery
111 Minna, SF
(415) 974-1719

Dead in the Family
Hear author Charlaine Harris discuss her new mystery novel about Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic Luisiana barmaid and friend to vampires, werewolves, and other odd creatures. the television series True Blood was based on Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse novels.
7 p.m., free
Borders
233 Winston Drive, SF
(415) 731-0665

Private Life
Author Jane Smiley will discuss her novel about a 27 year old girl who marries a self-absorbed, obsessive man in 1905, when women were expected to live utterly subordinated to their husbands, and how historical disasters like the 1906 San Francisco earthquake helped to shape this woman’s private life and how to come to terms with it.
6 p.m., $12
Mechanics’ Institute
57 Post, SF
(415) 393-0100

Some Girls: My life in a harem
Hear author Jillian Lauren discusss her new book outlineing her coming of age, from a punk rock loving girl in New Jersey, to a stripper that winds up in a prince’s harem in Brunei, to the wife of Weezer bassist Scott Shiner.
7:30 p.m., free
Books Inc.
2251 Chestnut, SF
(415) 931-3633

The Daily Blurgh: MUNI Party! (And punk-rock sad)

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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The Daily Blurgh: MUNI Party! (And punk-rock sad)

Curiosities, quirks, oddites, and items (plus a lot about kitties) from around the Bay and beyond

“Scientists have discovered one of the smallest free-living life forms ever, with a genome that looks like a pamphlet compared to a human’s encyclopedia, living in a poison-soaked mine in Northern California.” Uh oh. Hasn’t anyone remembered the lessons of The Boogens? There will be blood.

*****

Brother can you spare a dime (or a couple thousand) for legendary punk club 924 Gilman?

*****

Deport New Jersey? (OMFG this Congressional candidate from Florida is for real)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgdALsV6AmI

*****

“Among the many contradictions and ironies of Mexican-U.S. relations is the curious case of Cinco de Mayo. It is a holiday in Mexico, yes, but not nearly as important to the national identity as say, Independence Day (Sept. 16). Yet Cinco de Mayo remains a stubbornly prevalent excuse to party in the U.S., perhaps, some argue, because it is more culturally “safe” than honoring Mexico’s independence. The phenomenon is similar to the affection Americans have for St. Patrick’s Day, where just about everyone is invited to don green and get in touch with their inner Irish.” Still, it’s as good an excuse as any to repost this bad-ass trailer-for-a-movie-inspired-by-a-trailer-for-a-movie-that-never-existed.

*****

MUNI, give this driver who threw a party for her unsuspecting passengers, simply out of the kindness of her heart, a raise because a) she is awesome and b) this is the sort of press you should be getting on a more regular basis.

*****

The other Guardian handicaps this year’s Turner Prize shortlist.

*****

Scopitone Week continues! Click here to learn more about Scopitones. Today we begin our focus on the true stars of Scopitones: the ladies. Today’s chanteuse is Kay Starr, who sings her 1952 hit “Wheel of Fortune” in this Scopitone from the early to mid ’60s. Even though this mature diva takes center stage, she has some fierce competition from all the scantily-clad back-up dancers attached to roulette wheels:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_XFqjWjADY

Spotted today at City Hall

Sasha Cuttler And Mary Magee
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1

That’s right, folks, this “Stand Against Sit/ Lie” sticker was slapped onto a fire extinguisher locked inside a glass case in the City Hall corridor just outside the Board of Supervisors’ Chambers. Obviously, the message this totally badass sit/lie critic is trying to get across is that it’s possible to oppose sit/lie and still care about public safety. The proposed law to ban sitting or lying down on the sidewalk, which has triggered a smoldering citywide debate, is slated to go before the Public Safety Committee on Monday, May 10.

Is porn worse than shilling for developers?

Sasha Cuttler
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5
Is porn worse than shilling for developers?

It’s taken us a little while to finally comment on today’s Matier & Ross scoop on four Planning Department employees being recommended for dismissal for surfing porn at work, mostly because we can’t stop laughing about it.

Of all the things that Zoning Administrator Larry Badiner could have gone down for, watching porn at work was pretty low on our long list. A Guardian source that closely watches the Planning Department said many people thought his overly cozy relationship with developers or some revelation of what’s behind it would eventually drag him down, but not this.

Badiner has long been the best friend that big developers have in the Planning Department, someone who not been shy about pushing their interests or lunching at tables with men in expensive suits in pricey restaurants. And to go down for occasionally clicking by Fleshbot is like Al Capone going to prison for tax evasion. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JxcBH_rA2Y

Another Brit pop princess goes rebel (kinda)

Andrew Lam
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Kate Nash’s song “Foundations” was what originally won me over to listen to the poppy British singer. In it, her sweet little girl’s voice and bright piano tunes trill over biting conversation of a relationship gone bummer.

“You said I must eat so many lemons/Cuz I am so bitter/I said I’d rather be with your friends mate/Cuz they’re much fitter.”

You write lyrics like that, I reasoned, it doesn’t matter how precious the sound of the songs are — you had to have some bitch in you. So when I saw she was playing an already sold out show at Bottom of the Hill (Sat/8), I figured I give her new stuff a spin.

And I did — but even after my earlier diagnosis of teeth, I was a little shocked at the Brit School (the public institute over in ‘Ol Blighty that’s also churned out Motown whities Lily Allen and Amy Winehouse) graduate’s newest effort “My Best Friend Is You.” It’s got some spoken word interludes in which Nash turns in an interesting little monologue about cocaine, recovering one’s underwear after a threesome, and getting “fucked like the best of men.” “Best Friend” has some tracks, like “I Just Love You More” and “Mansion Song” that seem to deviate into an almost punk feel. By which I mean she does some shrieking. There’s also some M.I.A.-like electro-marching songs. 

“So, what were you listening to when you recorded the album,” I ask Nash. “Oh, a lot of Bikini Kill, Sleater-Kinney,” says the amenable 22-year old vocalist. “I think you should always change and develop as you get older.” She’s been performing with a punk band recently, The Receeders. She talks to me some about regaining control over her own schedule. “The amount of pressure that just never, ever gives up, you know? I learned the first time around that I’m the only person that can say ‘enough.’ ”

So, maturation — which is good, since judging from the album she’s dealt with the slings and arrows better than Brit School classmate Winehouse. Although she does lapse into adorableness by the album’s end. “I hate burning my finger on the toaster/And I hate nits,” she tells us on the laundry list of irritants that heads up “I Hate Seagulls,” a song which eventually turns to things she does like. “I like when your hand is in mine.” Love. Hey, I like that too!

It’s a faintly derivative mix. But it’s nice to see Nash trying to complicate her pop cartoon of an artsy, retiring good girl. Why make it easy on the critics?

Kate Nash feat. Supercute

Sat/8 9 p.m., $20

Bottom of the Hill

1233 17th St., SF

(415) 621-4455

www.bottomofthehill.com

Oil spill secrecy: What’s in the dispersal chemicals?

Zelda Bronstein
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Oil spill secrecy: What’s in the dispersal chemicals?

One the major responses to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has been the use of chemical dispersants, compounds that break up the oil before it gets to shore. But Propublica’s raising an important issue:


Dispersing the oil is considered one of the best ways to protect birds and keep the slick from making landfall. But the dispersants contain harmful toxins of their own and can concentrate leftover oil toxins in the water, where they can kill fish and migrate great distances.


And the sharp-eyed sunshine advocates at the Sunshine in Government blog picked up on another element of this: We don’t really know how dangerous the chemicals are — because even though BP is dumping vast amounts of the stuff into the ocean, the dispersant formulas are secret:


In situations where the public interest in knowing what science can tell us about the chemical product we’re blasting into the Gulf of Mexico in a vast, untested experiment to stop a petroleum hemmorage in deep waters that threatens life in nature and livelihood in the Gulf Coast, the federal government, private companies and the industry they are a part of ought to do the right thing and make public all  the science they’re holding that sheds light on how the government and private sector are responding to this very current environmental and economic crisis.


Now, the sources I have in this clean-up tell me that the dispersant is a lot less toxic than the oil itself — but there are no long-term studies on the damage it might do to deep-sea biota and to the larger ecosystem. Not that they should stop dumping the stuff — it’s probably the best alternative, given a lot of bad alternatives — but since BP is taking responsibility for the spill and cleanup, we ought to know what the impacts of this chemical solution are — because the company ought to be responsible for those, too.

Will Arizona trigger even worse federal immigration laws?

Mary Magee
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Will Arizona trigger even worse federal immigration laws?

During interviews with civil and immigrant rights advocates about the complicated dynamics around immigration, several expressed concern that Arizona won’t be the ultimate game changer. Instead, they worried that it could result in the creation of an even worse federal immigration system.  And President Barack Obama, who has been accused of not doing enough to push ahead with federal immigration reform since he came into office, came under renewed fire last week, when he told reporters that “may not be an appetite” in Congress to deal with immigration, after a tough legislative year.

At the time, Obama had already denounced the Arizona bill as “misguided” and outlined a series of steps that he believes needs to happen to bring millions of undocumented residents out of the shadows.

“We are a nation of immigrants,” Obama said. “But we are also a nation of laws. The truth is that 11 or 12 million folks, we’re gonna have to make them take responsibility for what they did. And the way to do that is to make them register, make them pay a fine, make them learn English, make them take responsibility for the fact that they broke the law.”

But when the president praised as “an important first step” an April 29 framework for reform that Sen. Charles Schumer and a handful of other Democratic senators put together within a week of SB 1070’s passage, civil rights advocates voiced concerns.

The Democratic senators proposal includes efforts to enhance border security and create fraud-resistant social security cards. But some immigrant advocates fear such steps will lead to a less democratic society, without addressing the underpinning causes of undocumented immigration such as international trade agreements and the appetite of U.S. employers for cheap, but legally unprotected and easily disposable, migrant workers.

Latino advocate Robert Lovato, who co-founded presente.org and led the successful “Basta Dobbs!” campaign, isn’t convinced that SB 1070 will be the ultimate game changer.

“SB 1070 gives a national platform to the kind of sinister policies that extremist hate groups like FAIR and the Minute Men have been pushing for some time in Arizona,” he warned. “Those policies that have been in effect at the border are now going statewide and perhaps nationally.”

“The Obama administration has expressed brief and tepid concerns but has not done anything to demolish the legal foundation on which these racist policies are built,” Lovato continued.

Lovato points to the Bush administration’s flawed Section 287(g) program, which authorizes local and state law enforcement officials to be enforcers of federal immigration law, and has led to serious civil rights abuses and public safety concerns.

‘Now Obama and the Democrats are going to try and pin the tail of failure for federal immigration reform on the Republicans, ” Lovato claimed, criticizing, amongst other things, the Democrats’ national I.D. card program proposal.

Lovato believes the immigrant rights community and Latinos will rise to the occasion and face “unprecedented sinister hate.”
But he is less confident in spineless Democratic officials.
‘Immigration is a thorny issue, especially for spineless Democrats,” Lovato said. “That Mayor Gavin Newsom would waffle and water down boycott attempts is no surprise.”

Lovato recalled how national Latino organizations begged and pleaded with Newsom not to require local probation officers to refer youth to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) before they had their day in court, a policy Newsom ordered in July 2008, when he was running for governor.
Lovato said Newsom’s subsequent failure to respond to the community and their concerns “reflects an utter lack of leadership.”

Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union is urging senators to press Department of Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano to terminate the 287(g) programs, and to make sure that lawmakers don’t acquiesce on civil liberties and privacy concerns in their rush to respond to demands for comprehensive immigration reform.

ACLU legislative counsel Joanne Lin told the Guardian that while Northern California does not have any official 287(g) agreements in place, Newsom’s flawed juvenile immigrant policy is part of a bigger and equally worrisome trend.

“The city’s sanctuary ordinance collapses criminal justice and the law enforcement system into one process,” Lin said. “And if we look at the federal Secure Communities Initiative that is now in over 100 jails, primarily those in southwest border districts, everyone is fingerprinted and run through a DHS and FBI database. It’s basically a way for DHS to i.d. everyone who is booked, whether they are here lawfully or their charges as are subsequently dropped or dismissed, and to fast track deportation.”

Supes continue AZ boycott resolution; Daly calls for boycott of AZ Diamondbacks

Sasha Cuttler And Mary Magee
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Supes continue AZ boycott resolution; Daly calls for boycott of AZ Diamondbacks

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors was scheduled to vote yesterday, May 4, on a resolution introduced by Sup. David Campos for a municipal boycott of Arizona-based businesses as a response to Arizona’s anti-immigration measure, which we report on in this week’s issue.

“I would imagine that if Arizona had passed a law that said if any person is Latino or who looks Latino has an added burden to prove and demonstrate their immigration status, then most of us would say that … action is needed,” Campos said. “Arizona hasn’t done that, explicitly, but … that is the direct result of this piece of legislation.

“At some point,” Campos added, “those of us who are looking at what’s happening in Arizona have to recognize that for us not to do something, or not to say something, in some respects, in an indirect way makes us complicit in that.”

The resolution was continued until May 11 on a motion by Sup. Sean Elsbernd, seconded by Sup. Carmen Chu.

Reached later by phone, Elsbernd said he opposes the boycott, and that he continued the item so he could cast a ‘no’ vote. If an item is introduced and then goes directly to the full board without committee reference, as happened in this case, it requires a unanimous vote to pass, he said — so if he had voted against it on May 4, the whole thing would have died. “I think the boycott is misguided. It’s not hitting the target,” Elsbernd said, adding that he opposes the law but thinks a boycott would have unintended consequences. He said he thought energy and resources should go instead toward fundraising support for Arizona Democrats who oppose the law, or lobbying in D.C. for federal immigration reform. While he said he traveled to D.C. for that purpose in 2007, he doesn’t have any concrete plans to organize a fundraiser or book a trip anytime soon.

Sup. Chris Daly rose from his seat and left the room the moment the item was continued. Earlier in the meeting, Daly introduced a resolution urging a boycott of the Phoenix-based Arizona Diamondbacks, scheduled to play the San Francisco Giants here in the city on May 28, 29, and 30. Daly’s resolution notes that team owner Ken Kendrick has contributed significantly to the Republican Party, although he has claimed to oppose the controversial legislation.

Daly’s resolution encourages “those concerned about immigrant rights to protest the Arizona Diamondbacks in San Francisco on May 28th – 30th,” encourages Giants fans to attend other games to support the team, and “encourages the San Francisco Giants and San Francisco Giants fans to wear Gigantes uniforms during our home stand against the Arizona Diamondbacks to show our support for Latino baseball players and the Latino and immigrant communities.”

Hot sexy events: May 5-11

Andrew Lam
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This week has us reaching back through the mists of time for our sex events — you don’t think you just evented that move from last week’s date yourself, did you? Every moan, every thrust, has been brought to you in part by our ancestors (except for the extensive acronyms on Craig’s List, most of those are today’s originalities). So let’s bring it back, shall we? This week you get the chance at SF Citadel’s Sadie Hawkins to recall those butterflies produced by asking out that alpha dog to the high school dance, or for lovemaking even more steeped in antiquity, head to Good Vibes’ lesbian tantra tell-all. Just don’t expect these traditions to have gone un-improved throughout the years — after all, the Kama Sutra’s only got 64 positions on it’s pages. I think San Francisco’s got it beat by a couple dozen.

Lesbian Tantra
The ancient art of love is just so dreamy, but the thousand year old illustrations in the Kama Sutra can be so heterocentric. Fear not, lady lovers, for sexpert Pamela Madison has you covered — in slick perspiration, creative positioning, and deep luxurious breath. Please note: clothes that allow for a bit of freedom of movement is preferred. Oh yes.
Wed/5 8-10 p.m., $25 single/$45 pair pre registered, $30 single/$50 pair drop-in
Good Vibrations
603 Valencia, SF
(415) 522-5460
www.goodvibes.com

Natural Sexual Health
Get your sexy on with this one-time course on holistic healing for horny hurrah. Nutritionist Bari Mandelbaum shares her learnin’ on non-urban legend aphrodisiacs, physical exercises to help improve the biology of your desire, general healthy body, healthy mind schtuff — and “using food to set a mood”? Hello, George Costanza!
Thurs/6 6:30 p.m., $20-40 sliding scale
Center for Sex and Culture
1519 Mission, SF
(415) 255-1155
www.sexandculture.org

Tubesteak Connection
DJ Bus Station John presides over this slide into hot and sweaty — rock to bath house beats, feel the slightly seedy vibes, and make some new friends down in the Tenderloin gay fun zone of choice.
Aunt Charlie’s
133 Turk, SF
(415) 441-2922
www.auntcharlieslounge.com

Spring Hook-up
Consider Eclipse the monthly Lion’s Club dinner for kinky women and trans-people. The get together fundraises, supports like-minded artists, and demos new toys of interest for their community of pervs — all in the luxe dungeon place space of the SF Citadel. So frolick away, you’re building your networks while you do so.
Fri/7 8 p.m.- 1 a.m., $25 for members (free for volunteers)
SF Citadel
1277 Mission, SF
(415) 626-1746
www.sfcitadel.org

Sadie Hawkins Spring Fling
Has the change in seasons brought out some new proclivities in your BDSM fantasy fold? Try out a new role, a new scene, and a nice new ruffled tuxedo shirt or prom dress at the Citadel’s role-reversing square dance of clamps and corsages.
Sat/8 8 p.m.- 1 a.m., $25 for members (free for volunteers)
SF Citadel
1277 Mission, SF
(415) 626-1746
www.sfcitadel.org

Bear-E-Oke
There’s nothing sexier than a lusciously pelted man singing into the head of a microphone. So whether it’s slow jams, epic ballads, or gruff, furry roars that get you going, head down to Powerhouse for some exhibitionist fun.
Sun/9 7 p.m., free
Powerhouse
1347 Folsom, SF
(415) 552-8689
www.powerhouse-sf.com

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