Category: Muni Diaries Live

A leather jockstrap and a dream—how a Mission barbershop kept on keeping on

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Blond woman with tattoos tells a story on stage into a microphone

Jill Sutherlin didn’t set out to become the guardian of a beloved Mission safe space, but the pandemic and a few other twists and turns led her to become one of its fiercest protectors. She takes us through some of those twists and turns in this story, which she told on stage at Muni Diaries Live in April 2023.

Jill proudly hails from Oakland. She is the co-owner of The Refinery Grooming Club: an independently owned, upscale barbershop and the backdrop of this story. She is also a DJ at Bff.fm: an internet-based, community-run radio station in San Francisco, and founder of United Streets Direct Care, a nonprofit donating on-site hair-care services to unhoused communities in the Bay Area and Modesto.

Here’s Jill:

Did you super-tuned in listeners catch the mention of our ongoing 15th birthday celebration? We’re keeping the party going at Muni Diaries Live on November 2! We have some anniversary surprises cooked up and tickets are available now on Eventbrite.

Photo by Emily Huston

Category: diaries, Muni Diaries Live, Muni Diaries Live Shows, San Francisco Diaries Tags: ,

Muni Diaries Live returns on Nov. 2, 2023 to celebrate our 15th birthday

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We’ve seen paper FastPasses and late night transfers come and go, but one thing stays the same: Muni riders are in it together! We’re celebrating 15 years of sharing your experiences on the bus, and we want you to help us mark the occasion.

We’ve invited some stellar storytellers and we’ll be unveiling our commemorative Muni Diary* — gorgeous notebooks handmade by Enon Avital (Dapper Notebooks) featuring cover art by Chris Arvin (Transit Supply). Check out photos of the journal below. It’s perfect for your transit journaling needs.

Join us for an evening of storytelling, hilarious tales and music, and, of course, our Muni Haiku Battle. We’ll toast (bubbly included while supplies last!) to 15 years of transit rider solidarity. All together now: back door!

Muni Diaries Live! Tickets on sale now.

Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023

Doors: 6 p.m. Show: 7 p.m.

Rickshaw Stop

155 Fell Street, San Francisco

Photo by Emily Huston

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

How a life lived (well) on Muni evolved into a life of civic duty

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Muni is San Francisco’s deep end: immediate and immersive exposure to strangers, testing our tolerance for other people’s music, aromas, food, volume, attitude, or public habits. Sometimes all of them at the same time.

This concept is what brought Muni Diaries to life. It’s also what makes Muni interesting and representative of the city it cuts through. We can still celebrate and rally around that idea thanks to folks like Meymey Lee.

Meymey is an organizer, artist, and outdoor educator, who joined us on stage at Muni Diaries Live. They touched on one of my favorite things about Muni: it can not only highlight our shared humanity, but inspire civic duty and a sense of community. We first connected with Meymey through their multimedia exhibit, Muni Raised Me, a showcase of San Francisco born-and-raised artists exploring what Muni means to the folks who grew up on it.

Say hi to your neighbors, San Francisco! It might just be Meymey. Listen to the podcast on all your favorite platforms:

We are proud to have had not just one, but two of the talented artists from Muni Raised Me at our spring show. Stay tuned for the lyrical stylings of Tanea Lunsford Lynx, an artist and educator, in an upcoming podcast episode. In the meantime, prepare to be impressed—Tanea brought their students to the exhibit to perform original poetry about life on the school bus (Muni, obvs), and we captured some of the audio in an earlier podcast ep.

Photo: Emily Huston

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

ISO: One special Muni driver for Kurt Schwartzmann

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Profile of a man with an eyepatch and colorful jacket telling a story into a microphone on a stage

In 2019, storyteller Kurt Schwartzmann told what is still one of my favorite Muni Diaries Live stories about being unhoused and reliant on the kindness of strangers, namely Muni drivers, for temporary warm shelter. In the thick of the pandemic, when we needed it most, he repaid the city with love. That is, he collaborated with artist Deirdre Weinberg on one of the famed Hearts of San Francisco. We had him back at Muni Diaries Live in April, as he is still looking for one Muni operator in particular. Maybe you can help him?

Here’s Kurt:

Check out his work at www.YellowLineArt.com and follow him on Instagram @yellow_line_art.

Photo: Emily Huston

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

When small talk pays off on Muni

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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

Category: Featured, Funny: Muni LOLs, Muni Diaries Live Tags: , ,

Searching for one long lost Muni shelter

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We don’t often talk about the behind-the-scenes stuff at Muni Diaries because we are really about your stories. But occasionally something happens at Muni Diaries headquarters that just makes us go, “I can’t believe that happened.” 

One of the great things about running Muni Diaries is that we get to try any and all ideas, and along the way we met really great people who also have fun and wacky ideas. Sometimes those fun and wacky ideas turn into a whole another thing altogether. And in this case, one idea to incorporate a Muni shelter into our art show with photographer Julie Michelle turned into a battle for the heart and soul of San Francisco.

In today’s podcast, Tara and I dive into our archives to share the backstory of how we came to briefly own a Muni shelter, and why we are still searching for it today.

Listen to our story:

Speaking of fun, we’re super excited to bring you the fall Muni Diaries Live show to the stage at Rickshaw Stop this Thursday, Nov. 3! You have tickets, right?

Category: Funny: Muni LOLs, Muni Diaries Live Tags: , ,
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