Arts and Culture

This Hacker is Fighting Big Pharma with Open Source Medicine
As our insurance systems seem to swing farther and farther from any kind of sane healthcare reality, it’s old and depressing news that people on the low-end of the income spectrum have little to no recourse. If our government is going to stick it to the majority, maybe the answer

Ai Weiwei Talks Global Refugee Crisis & New Film in San Francisco
Arguably the most famous artist in the world, Ai has been tireless in promoting his new documentary, Human Flow. Publicity might not be his favorite thing, but he feels so strongly about the forced migration of 65 million refugees around the world, that he is doing what he can to get out the word out.

Everybody Gets a Tom Petty Shirt!
WANNA STAY UP ON ALL THE FREE SHIRTS WE GIVE OUT? MAKE SURE TO FOLLOW ON INSTAGRAM AND SUBSCRIBE TO THE EMAIL LIST! It’s been a tough week in a hard year. Among all the horrors of Donny’s presidency, the terrorism in Las Vegas, and the devastation in Puerto Rico,

Let’s Throw Memorials for Friends While They’re Still Alive
This originally appeared in my Broke-Ass City column for the SF Examiner. There’s a scene in the movie “Empire Records,” where all the record store employees hold a funeral for Deb, even though she’s still alive. Earlier in the movie, Deb had tried to kill herself. So her friends and

This Bitter Earth: New Play Grapples With Love, Race & Black Lives Matter
Now playing at New Conservatory Theater Center through October 22, Harrison David Rivers’ new play This Bitter Earth touches upon many hot button issues, albeit with a depth and sensitivity which might inspire audiences to engage in thoughtful dialogues about the Black Lives Matter movement. The play follows the brief, intense

When Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera Created in San Francisco
San Francisco is an old, iron safe filled with gold, glory, disaster, and secrets. SFCentric History is a column, by SF writer V. Alexandra de F. Szoenyi, that digs in the vaults of local history and shares the sensational people, places, and things that rocked San Francisco. Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera

Good Bye Tom Petty
You’d think that writing this piece on Tom Petty would be easy. An homage to a man who created so many years of fantastic music. An impossible dreamer who refused to subscribe himself to the conventional narratives of giving up on what he wanted to do. A voice conveyed

We wanna send you plus one to hear Alice Waters in conversation!
Alice Waters is a chef, author, food activist, and the founder and owner of Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley, California. She has promoted local sustainable agriculture for over four decades, and in 1995 she founded the Edible Schoolyard Project, which promotes free school lunches and sustainable food curriculum in public schools.