Muni Diaries

This San Francisco teacher survived cancer, taught hundreds of middle school kids, so you bet she wasn't going to let a creeper on the bus get off easy. Gwen Carmen told this story at Muni Diaries Live's 10th anniversary show and our jaws were on the ground. Gwen is an activist, actress, educator, and writer whose work has appeared in Essence magazine, Plexus feminist news paper, Haight Ashbury li...

Some of you may remember Silly Pink Bunny , a sculpture by local artist Jeremy Fish, which held court in the Lower Haight until 2013. Jeremy joins us on the podcast today to tell the story, in his own words, of the bunny's evolution from a goofy pink (and occasionally peed-on) neighborhood fixture to the revered  bronze bunny sculpture  it is today. Buckle up for a story that connects art, taggers...

Nato Green is  an organizer, writer, and comedian in the Bay Area. The East Bay Express sums him up as, "a San Francisco-raised father, union organizer, gastronome, bibliophile, and political sparkplug." Nato wrote for Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell on FX.  Nato's story takes us back in time to 1990s San Francisco, which was still finding its progressiveness. In this episode, he recalls an act...

No one's can-do spirit (and tolerance for municipal mishaps) is stronger than that of tenacious journalists. Enter San Francisco Chronicle reporters Heather Knight and Peter Hartlaub with a not-so-simple goal: riding all of the Muni lines in one day. They called it, appropriately, #TotalMuni2018. In this episode, the intrepid pair walks us through the who, what, why, and how of this very ambitious...

Reporter Vivian Ho  has worked for the San Francisco Chronicle since 2011, covering criminal justice and breaking news. She reported on the Mario Woods shooting, the San Francisco Police Department, wild fires, and she's just published an incredible investigative piece called "A Life on the Line."  She's seen a lot of San Francisco, from the incredibly serious and life-and-death moments to the mor...

Storyteller Senait Hailemariam uses her time on the K/T train to tell her mom about her life as a twenty-something: it's the only form of therapy she can afford, she says. One day, she encounters a kind stranger who had a surprising reaction upon hearing Senait's phone conversation.   Senait is a San Francisco transplant who studied Digital Communication at San Francisco State University.  Senait...

Matt Gonzalez , chief attorney at the San Francisco Public Defender's Office, has a packed schedule these days, which is why we were even more delighted to have him as a part of Muni Diaries Live in 2017. Matt took us back to the 2003 mayoral election—in which he was neck and neck with current Lt. Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, and why riding the bus as a politician in a highly contested ra...

Andrea Carla Michaels says that she has never done something two days in a row, but a commitment to her neighborhood led to her new identity. Two years ago she found her calling as "Pizza Lady" and you can find her daily in the alleys off lower Polk Street. Andrea just celebrated her 25th anniversary in San Francisco. Originally a standup comic, game show writer and briefly a writer for "Designing...

What do you do when you meet a smug pickup artist on public transit? Storyteller  Dominique Gelin is a comedian in Oakland, and she says she offers strong opinions on stupid things, -isms, and assholes. She has performed at SF Sketchfest, Boston's Women in Comedy Festival, the All Jane Comedy Festival, and was a finalist for the Ultimate Miami Comedian.  She's here with a lesson in transit etiquet...

In this episode, architect and long-time SF resident Bob Collins recalls transforming his super tiny apartment and how, in the process, he discovers the real reasons why he calls San Francisco home. Bob has lived in the Bay for 30 years, with stints in the Mission, Nob Hill, Russian Hill, and the Richmond. He has a blog about walking around San Francisco called Urban Ambles , told from the dual pe...

Alexandria Love  is a stand-up comedian, podcaster, and writer from Oakland. She's performed at some of the best venues in California, including Tommy T's, The San Jose Improv, and Cobb's Comedy Club. She is the current reigning champion of Tourettes Without Regrets' Dirty Haiku battle with 5 victories under her belt. She was also the sleeper hit at the Muni Haiku Battle at Lit Crawl in 2017. This...

Love comes in all forms, and in San Francisco, you'll encounter love and relationship rituals you never imagined possible. Today's episode comes from writer Anna Pulley. She is the  author  of  The Lesbian Sex Haiku Book (with Cats!) , which Cheryl Strayed called a "must-read," Tegan and Sara said was "an adorable and hilarious way to start the day," and Jennifer Tilly said was "thoroughly charmin...

You may know storyteller Vivian Ho as the criminal justice reporter at the San Francisco Chronicle since 2011. She's reported on the Mario Woods shooting, the San Francisco Police Department, wildfires, and she's just published an incredible investigative piece called "A Life on the Line." In this episode, Vivian shares a personal story about the challenges of adulthood in San Francisco, and how a...

Steve Pepple is on the board of San Francisco Transit Riders, a rider-supported group for world-class transit in San Francisco. He works as a designer at OpenGov, where his goal is making cities more livable, whether he's working on a budget or a bus. In this episode, he brought us the thoughtful back story behind his passion for world-class urban transit and the BMW (BART, Muni, walking) experien...

In this podcast episode, comedian  Tirumari  Jothi loses his way on Muni, but a stranger's conversation helps him find his way. Tirumari  has been performing comedy for six years, with stand-up as his first love, but he also loves improv and sketch acting . You can find him either performing with the geeky comedy group he co-founded, Komedio Comedy ( facebook.com/komediocomedy ), or acting on stag...

Who gave you your first "San Francisco education"? In this episode, Broke-Ass Stuart shares the story of living in a house on Golden Gate where his housemates were artist, thinkers, and some of Burning Man's original participants. You might know Broke-Ass Stuart from Brokeassstuart.com , where he lists cool things to do if you don't have a lot of money. He is also a travel writer, TV host, a poet....

When a poet lands in San Francisco, even our city may  not be enough to make this love affair last. Today's podcast is from Vietnamese American author Andrew Lam. He was the web editor of New America Media for many years. In 2005, he published his first book, Perfume Dreams . He is also the author of the book Birds of Paradise , about the Vietnamese immigrant community in the Bay Area. He is worki...

Comedian Irene Tu was a Muni celebrity last year and turned her friends into last-minute paparazzo to chase that fame.  Irene Tu is a Chicago-born, San Francisco-based stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. In 2017, the San Francisco Chronicle singled her out as an "artist on the brink of fame," on the heels of being named one of the "Bay Area's 11 Best Stand Up Comedians" (SFist) and one of 20 "Wo...

Dixie De La Tour  is the founder of Bawdy Storytelling ("The Moth for Pervs," per  LA Weekly ), America's Original Sex+Storytelling series featuring Real People & Rockstars sharing their bona fide sexual exploits, live onstage. In this episode, she reaches back in time to those bad old days without Tinder, and you have to call the telepersonals to find Mr. Right/Mr. Right Now.  If you enjoyed the...

This week's story is from our reigning Muni Haiku champion, Baruch Porras-Hernandez! You can see him at Muni Diaries Live on Saturday, Nov. 4 at the Elbo Room. Tickets are at munidiarieslive18.eventbrite.com Baruch tells a story of taking a visiting friend on her first Muni ride, promising that nothing will go wrong. And if you've been on Muni at all, you know that's a hard promise to keep. Baruch...

This episode features Ronn Vigh, whose attitude and wit earned him a comparison to a young Joan Rivers by SF Weekly. A yoga instructor, Ronn puts his teachings of compassion and letting go (and working on your core) to practice on Muni. You can find Ronn on Twitter @ronnronnvigh.

An unmarked door at a SOMA diner turned out to be a portal that led to a mysterious place, as storyteller Steve Pepple discovers one evening. Steve is a designer at OpenGov, where his work aims to make cities more liveable, whether he's working on a budget or a bus.  What's *your* unexpected San Francisco experience? Is there another portal that opened your eyes to something that's quintessentiall...

Na'amen Gobert Tilahun is a writer whose craft spans multiple genres. The follow up to his 2016 novel, The Root, is The tree, which is coming out later this year. You can find him at naamentilahun.com.  In this episode, he shares the magic of the late night metro ride.    

Writer Hiya Swanhuyser is writing a book about a lost piece of San Francisco history, the Montgomery Block building, which stood where the Transamerica Pyramid stands today. It was there for 107 years, and was a crucial gathering place for artists and writers, including Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, and thinkers and political people including Emma Goldman and Sun Yat-Se...

You know Sal Castaneda as your long-time KTVU traffic reporter. We grew up listening to him in the mornings, and here he is at Muni Diaries Live with his tale attempted (and imagined) bravado on the 44.