Muni Diaries Live is back on Nov. 2!

Our fall show is back! We’re bringing Muni Diaries Live back to the Rickshaw Stop in Hayes Valley, where you’ll hear true and hilarious only-in-SF stories and experience the Muni Haiku Battle. Champion MC Allen steps back into the spotlight to defend his (inflatable) crown. Join us in celebrating all the hilarity, delight, and weirdness that happens on public transit in San Francisco.

Our stellar lineup:

Annette Mullaney is a standup comic based in San Francisco. She was named a “comic to catch” by The San Francisco Chronicle and has performed at the Portland Comedy Festival, Detroit Women of Comedy Festival, and the Out of Bounds Festival. Her comedy is self-deprecating, feminist, existentialist, smart, vulgar, and full of big words to prove she’s been to grad school.

Chris Arvin is a product designer who is passionate about cities and public transit. He is on the design team at Remix, designed http://streetcar.liveand created http://sfstreetcars.co. He is also the designer of awesome transit pins and stickers at http://transit.supply.

George McCalman is an artist and creative director based in San Francisco. Trained as a philosophy-focused fine artist at St John’s University, the Caribbean-born designer had a 14-year editorial magazine career before opening the doors of his creative branding studio, McCalman.Co, in 2011. In 2016, he resuscitated a dormant fine-art calling and began obsessively illustrating, dreaming ,and painting everything he saw. The monthly “Observed” column, which he writes, designs and illustrates, debuted the same year. Additionally, George teaches graphic design and illustration at California College of the Arts.

Jefferson Bergey is professional musician in Oakland. He is a regular performer in San Francisco’s Bawdy Storytelling for which he writes custom songs for creator and host—and beloved Muni Diaries Live alum—Dixie De La Tour. He’s performed at Punchline SF for SF Sketchfest and even some unlikely venues, such as the JCC of San Francisco. His music is regularly featured on the award-winning Bawdy Storytelling Podcast and has appeared on Kevin Allison’s wildly popular RISK! podcast.

Maureen Bogues is a writer, editor, speaker, dog nerd and Beethoven obsessive. She loves helping people find their creative voice and writing plays. Her stories have been featured in Beyond Borders Storytelling.

MC Allen, alongside his two children, has ridden every Muni route end to end in a single summer. His next Muni endeavor is writing a poem for every route. As our reigning haiku champion, he is well on his way. You can find these every week in the Bay City Beacon.

Molly Martin is a longtime activist and Bernal Heights resident. She was an organizer of Occupy Bernal, which saved many homes in the neighborhood from foreclosure. Molly is also an activist for women in the trades, and is working on a book about the history of women construction workers in the Bay Area.

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.

Muni Diaries Live

Tickets on sale now

Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019

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.

Photo credit: Right Angle Images

This Thursday 9/12: Muni Diaries at Exploratorium After Dark

Sometimes the only thing you can really do about Muni is laugh about it. This Thursday, Sept. 12, The Exploratorium is exploring the “science of humor,” and we are bringing a mini version of Muni Diaries to the big museum. This show—the Muni Diaries Express, if you will—features Dhaya LakshminarayananWonder Dave, and Muni haikus by Jesús U. BettaWork

Come join the fun and vote for the next contender in the Muni Haiku Battle!

The museum admission on Thursday night (adults only, by the way!) gives you access to everything in The Exploratorium so you can let your nerd flag fly all evening. Just make sure you come and see us at 7 p.m. at the Kanbar Forum in the museum. Follow the signs and listen up for the announcement.

Muni Diaries Express at Exploratorium After Dark: Humor Me
7p Thursday, Sept. 12

Osher Gallery 1, Kanbar Forum at the Exploratorium
Pier 15 Embarcadero at Green Street


Tickets

Take Muni or BART there: BART to Embarcadero Station, or take the 2, 6, 14, 21, 31, J, K, L, M, T, N. Within walking distance: 1, 10, 12, 41, and 38.

Photo by Right Angle Images

Need a place to find yourself? Try Muni (really).

Muni is the through line in this week’s podcast story from Simone Herko Felton, a senior at Lowell High School in San Francisco. Simone has lived here all her life and takes the 23-Monterey to go to school daily. She explains what it’s like to be a high school student in San Francisco taking this cross town bus, and why this particular line is symbolic of her multi-ethnic identity.

Listeners who went to high school in the city will especially appreciate Simone’s call out to how to pronounce “Lowell” in the appropriate San Francisco accent.

Listen to her story here:

We’re always looking for great stories from San Franciscans! If you have a story to share on the podcast, pitch your story to us at muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com, and as always, add your own diary entry by tagging us @munidiaries on TwitterFacebook, and Instagram.

Read more

San Francisco Diaries: Check your assumptions in the checkout line

I can’t think of how many times I’ve thought of a witty comeback too late, especially when someone behaves badly in public. But have you ever imagined what it would be like if you actually said what you wanted to say in that moment? Storyteller Justina Wu shares a story of an encounter when she spoke her mind in the moment, with some surprising results.

Listen to her story:

Justina is a writer, storyteller, and producer of Beyond Borders Storytelling, a series of travel-themed workshops and story jams. Justina was on stage at Muni Diaries Live a few years ago (check out her first story in episode 12 on Apple Podcast or Google Play.) And mark your calendars for the next show on August 14 at PianoFight in the Tenderloin.

Featured photo by @saintsimonanu. Post photo by @roopisonfire.

If you have your own San Francisco story to share, email us your pitch at muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com! And please share this podcast with your friends and rate is on Apple Podcast!

A Muni streetcar cat’s secrets to life

To help get us over the hump of hump day, let’s take a page out of streetcar cat’s book, shall we?

Firstly, seize any opportunity to mix and mingle with nice people. Oh, and remain anchored for safety on a moving vehicle, especially if that vehicle is Muni.

Secondly, lean in to life’s simple pleasures. You deserve it.

Thirdly, pay your fair share. Streetcar cat sees you trying to sneak in the back.

h/t friscolala on Instagram; thanks for sharing!

We’ve had a punk cat, a cat that brought their own damn cat tree and snacks on the Metro—shoot, even the bus itself turned into a cat once (kind of). Got important news (CATS COUNT) for your fellow riders? Tag us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Our email inbox, muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com, is always open!

San Francisco Diaries: Listeners sound off on the city’s existential crisis

sunset sky 10th and Market San Francisco

Our previous episode featured Smiley Poswolsky, a self-described Millennial workplace expert who quit his stuffy Washington, D.C. job to become a writer in San Francisco. His story about personal growth and change, with NOPA/Western Addition in a prominent guest-starring role, really got our listeners talking more broadly about the state of our city—a hot topic lately.

For this episode, we invited Peter Hartlaub and Heather Knight from The San Francisco Chronicle, and Bernalwood blog founder Todd Lappin, to give us their take on San Francisco’s oft-discussed existential crisis, and to share their own experiences with this town we call home.

Got something to say about Smiley’s story or the state of our city? Email us your thoughts at muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com, or tag us #sanfranciscodiaries on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Pic by roopisonfire
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