![San Francisco Has [No] Culture](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hMuY!,w_80,h_80,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F134d0298-cfa2-4012-b9cf-70fa3e39d4bb_590x590.png)
![San Francisco Has [No] Culture](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hMuY!,w_36,h_36,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F134d0298-cfa2-4012-b9cf-70fa3e39d4bb_590x590.png)
The [Revolution] Will Not Be Televised
Let creative spaces help you process and find joy in this world, starting tonight with First Thursdays
Watching Argo was an out of body experience. The film was released in 2012, roughly 18 months after I’d joined protestors in Tahrir Square during the Egyptian Arab Spring. As demonstrations heated up, I remember calling home to advise my dear (poor) parents that a government shutdown of phone and internet access was imminent but also to reassure them that everything would be okay. Watching Argo brought me back to those intense weeks and delivered a gut punch of reality: Free Americans could find themselves as hostages, whether in Iran or elsewhere, when a government long perceived as stable quickly falls apart.
Learn about art as resistance in Iran, screenprinting from Xicanx artists, and allow yourself to find joy in cake & croquembouche.
Film Screening and Tour: A Revolution on Canvas
Category: Film + Art
Date: Thursday, November 7th @ 5pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (SF)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: Modern artist Nicky Nodjoumi escaped his home country of Iran in 1980 after his activism painted a governmental target on his back. A Revolution on Canvas is directed by Nodjoumi’s daughter Sara as an ode to his practice and his 120 artworks that have gone missing in Iran. What makes the evening particularly special is that the screening will be followed by curator Amy Kisch’s tour of Nodjoumi’s work currently on exhibition at YBCA.
So consider spending this evening appreciating the story and canvases of an artist willing to express his politics in the face of oppression.
Centennial Weekend Celebration
Category: Art + Music + Dance + Culinary
Date: Saturday, November 9th @ 9:30am (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Legion of Honor (SF)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: Stefon would agree; this party has everything. The Legion of Honor’s centennial celebration will include a Cake Picnic redo, professional portraits, DJs, a mobile art bike, and an SF Ballet performance in the galleries for an actually family-friendly affair. And while the conversation on Rodin and deep dive into the painting collection are compelling intellectual offerings, let’s just say I’m embarrassingly motivated by the complimentary croquembouche that Oakland-based French / Filipino bakery Tarts de Feybesse will be providing.
Need more SF Ballet in your life? Join me at Shack15 to hear principal dancers Dores André and Max Cauthorn speak about the upcoming season.
Celebrating Maize Through Screenprinting and Xicanx Artists
Category: Art
Date: Sunday, November 17th @ 1pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Oakland Museum of California (East Bay)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: As a wise child once said about corn: “I can’t imagine a more beautiful thing.” Artists Melanie Cervantes and Elizabeth Blancas will hold an informal discussion on the symbiotic relationship between maize (corn) and Indigenous Xicanx heritage. Visitors can break the fourth wall and become artists through a screenprinting workshop where they will delve deeper into this historical and contemporary dependency.
Need more participatory creative outlets in your life? Consider MoAD’s Writing Workshop: Sanctuaries of the Self on the 9th.
Opening Reception: Deadheading
Category: Art
Date: Friday, November 8th @ 6pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: COL Gallery (SF)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: Artist Corrine Slade transforms flowers into “symbols of feminine resilience, care, and reinvention.” And we could all use a bit of feminine resilience. Her acrylic dreamscapes depict spaces of warmth and comfort for the female body through both the abstract and figurative, making the intimacy of COL Gallery the perfect space for this exhibition.
Body comforts will also be available in the form of complimentary wine and NA beverages.
SF Transgender Film Festival: Locally Brewed
Category: Film
Date: Wednesday, November 13th @ 7pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Roxie Theater (SF)
Price Range: $15 (suggested donation; tickets on a sliding scale)
Why I Care: The San Francisco Transgender Film Festival is the world’s longest running transgender film festival with over a quarter century under its belt. Christopher Lee and Alex Austin founded the festival (fka ‘Tranny Fest’) to bring visibility to, and facilitate authentic representation of, the transgender community. Lee himself was a Bay Area filmmaker and the first transgender male to grand marshal the SF Pride Parade. Lee’s struggle with and ultimate loss in his battle with depression further highlights the need for a festival that brings the issues, joy, and love within the trans community to the forefront.
Book Release: The Memory of Taste with Chef Tu David Phu
Category: Literary + Culinary
Date: Saturday, November 9th @ 2pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Oakland Asian Cultural Center (East Bay)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: Our Red Lobsters may be dead lobsters, but the culinary impact of diasporas is here to stay. Chef Tu David Phu’s Oakland (re)homecoming will discuss the impact of immigrant communities alongside the release of his cookbook The Memory of Taste: Vietnamese American Recipes from Phú Quoc, Oakland, and the Spaces Between. Co-author and SF Chronicle cultural critic Soleil Ho will be joining Phu along with a slate of local panelists with support from the Oakland Public Library and event host Oakland Asian Cultural Center. Make sure to grab a raffle ticket!
Don’t want to go hangry? Pre-game at Oakland Yard Wine Shop's Anniversary Party, where local food vendors will be whipping up all kinds of tasty treats.
ICA SF’s First Thursdays Curatorial Tour
Category: Art
Date: Thursday, November 7th @ 6pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: ICA SF (SF)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: The ICA has relocated to the heart of FiDi due to an offer they couldn’t refuse: free rent. As part of their mission to revive downtown, the building’s developers realized that the ICA’s free galleries would be a boon to foot traffic and downtown vibrancy. While the museum is free every day due to the gracious support of local Bay Area collectors, Thursday’s curatorial tour is an opportunity to see the works through the eyes of a team that knows the collection inside and out. What personally made the tour even more fun is having visited exhibiting artist Maryam Yousif’s studio during a previous ICA event.
My only gripe: the space wasn’t open back when my office was literally across the street. So please take your walking 1:1s and coffee chats at the ICA SF in my honor.
Next Drop: Monday, November 18th