What could go wrong on your first Muni ride?

So you decide to take a visiting friend on her first Muni ride, promising that nothing will go wrong. And Muni is basically like…”LOL.”

In this week’s podcast, storyteller and reigning Muni Haiku champion Baruch Porras-Hernandez shares his story of what happened after his innocent promise to a friend. You can see him at Muni Diaries Live this Saturday, Nov. 4 at the Elbo Room. Tickets are at munidiarieslive18.eventbrite.com.

Listen to his story here:
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If you like what you’ve heard on the Muni Diaries podcast, please share and rate it on iTunes so other people can find it, too. And we hope to see you this Saturday at the Elbo Room to watch Baruch go head-to-head with new challenger, Alexandria Love!

Muni Haiku Battle returns Saturday Nov. 4

Three poets battled in a dark alley in the Mission for the right to go head-to-head with the current Muni Haiku Battle champion, Baruch Porras-Hernandez. And that battle was fierce! Tirumari Jothi, Chris Collision, and Alexandria Love busted out their best 5-7-5 poetry about public transit, and our audience judges chose Alexandria Love as our next challenger!

You can see Alexandria’s fight for the haiku crown at the next Muni Diaries Live Saturday, Nov. 4, and the Elbo Room. Tickets are on sale now, so grab one before they are all gone.

To tide you over between now and the show, here are some of the best Muni haikus from Tirumari Jothi:

Blowjob in car; that’s
Road head, right? So then, handjob on
MUNI; a track jack

I get on the train
One seat is open, but wait
Is that…human shit?

(May we advice that you issue a friendly warning like this?)

One more:

One time, I threw up
In my mouth, cuz I was hung-
over. I swallowed.

From challenger Chris Collision of I Don’t Even Own a Television:

On my way to work.
Fuck, dude, I’m wearing headphones!
Stop. Talking. To me.

One more from Chris:

I know you feel me.
The problem is, I smell you.
Standing room only.

And one from our Facebook page by Joy Morgenstern:

Manspreader on left
Negligent bather on right
Welcome to Muni

Be there for the Alexandria vs. Baruch showdown, and hear more only-in-SF stories at the show next Saturday.

Muni Diaries Live

Saturday, Nov 4, 2017

Doors: 6 p.m., show: 7 p.m.

Elbo Room (Tickets)

647 Valencia Street, San Francisco

Take Muni there: J-Church, 12, 14, 22, 33, 49, or BART: 16th or 24th St. stations

 

Photo by @hoobyjuice

Making friends on the late-night Metro

What happens on the last train doesn’t always stay on the last train.

In this episode of our podcast, Na’amen Gobert Tilahun shares what happened no one fateful blurry night he jumped on a Metro, and about the importance of good friends who will stand up for one another no matter what.

Na’amen is a writer whose craft spans multiple genres. The followup to his 2016 novel, The Root, is The Tree, which is coming out later this year. Learn more about him at naamentilahun.com.

If you haven’t subscribed to our podcast, we’d love if you lent us your ears! Here’s Na’amen:

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P.S. Bonus late-night train story that might tickle your fancy: an impromptu disco dance party on the last BART train. Join us on Instagram for more only-in-SF goodness.

Photo credit: Right Angle Images

Reer: Catty Muni bus ain’t having none of it

This 47-Van Ness:

a) is taking its Catbus aspirations way too far.

b) finally found a way to react to being San Francisco’s punching bag day in and day out.

Punk rock cat was more punk rock than all y’all, and nothing was cooler than Sunglass cat’s medically necessary duds, but we never quite expected one of our transit chariots to actually become a cat.

Thanks for the tip, @jchrthomas.

Have a favorite story on (or along) the 47? Tag us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter with your favorite tale (or tease to a tale) about SF living.

Birds of a feather…end up on the subway

Subway riders are so hard to impress, especially these New York City folks who happened upon a passenger and his rather exotic bird.

Matthew Hayes (@chayesmatthew) tweets:

Midday on the @NYCTSubway. Guy walks onto a train with this.

A fine peacock in all its majesty, with that unmistakable iridescent tail and looking like it knows it’s prettier than everyone else. But judging from the faces of the fellow passengers, it’s just another Tuesday. What would it take to get their attention? A punk rock cat? Bunny in a bonnet? Yoda? We on the best coast have those and more.

Thanks to Amy Y. at Capp Street Crap for the tip.

Are you a podcast fan? Hear our live stories on the new Muni Diaries podcast! Find us on iTunes and Google Play!

Voting Open Now: Muni Art to culture up your commute

For the third year, Muni will turn its buses into mobile galleries for local artists—and you get to vote for the art you’ll see on your ride. Voting for the third annual Muni Art contest (organized by the nonprofit San Francisco Beautiful and the SFMTA) opens today and runs through the next month. You can cast your vote here.

The 2018 theme is “The Art of Poetry in San Francisco,” and artists are using local poets to inspire their submission.

We loved the variety of styles by last year’s winning artists, and this year’s art selection also reflects a diversity of style and inspiration, like “Drawn to You” by Meli, above.

Only Bay Area artists were eligible to submit applications for the Muni Art contest. Here are the 10 semi-finalists:

Cha Diaz (San Mateo County)
David Carroll (San Francisco County)
Donavon Brutus (San Francisco County)
Janet Rumsey (San Francisco County)
Lam Giang (Alameda County)
Mara Hernandez (Alameda County)
Matthew O’Brien (San Francisco County)
Meli Burgueno (San Francisco County)
Randi Pace (San Francisco County)
Tsungwei Moo (San Francisco County)

SF Beautiful explains how the contest works:

The five artists with the most votes will each have their art displayed on Muni buses this fall alongside five pre-selected
poems from local, Bay Area poets. The new element of poetry is a contribution from Poetry in Motion, a division of the Poetry
Society of America that places poetry on public transit systems across the country. In addition to having their art displayed on
buses, the artist who receives the most votes will be awarded $2,000 and each of the remaining four will be awarded $1,250.

SF Beautiful tells us that there will be a total of 100 buses displaying the art work. Yay for local art and poetry!

Don’t forget to cast your vote here.

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