Story by Julian Espinoza and David Rodriguez. Photos by David Rodriguez.
As a child, Eugene Riley, now twenty-five, frequently visited San Francisco State University. His mother studied there and he had, owing to several years of playing the violin, even performed at a seminar in the Creative Arts building. But before he could actually attend classes there, he was shuffled around high schools in four different states, was homeless for months, and spent four nights in jail.Continue reading Down, but Not Out→
For many people, commuting in a train filled with characters such as those who wear crazy colored wigs and trash bags around their head, may not be out of the ordinary, and often times can be expected as the doors open before departing a station. But for riders on Bay Area Rapid Transit, the acceptance of everyone has created fear and betrayal within the system. Commuting, for many, is the only way of getting to work, school, and events. One’s commute may differ to someone else’s as the system has ridership from four a.m. to eleven p.m. at most stations. Continue reading The Unavoidable Commute→
For two decades, from the mid 1950s to 1970s, a dozen missiles sat, primed and ready, just a few miles North of San Francisco’s city limits. They lay in wait in a highly secure military base, armed with enough power to blow a plane and its potential nuclear payload out of the sky. Today, U.S. Army site SF-88, which once housed the fearsome weapons, now belongs to the National Park Service. The site is open to visitors who want to see, hear, and feel the vestiges of military technology meant to keep San Francisco protected from an atomic attack. Continue reading Cold War, Close to Home→
“The very fact that you have chosen to teach your own class is political—it’s radical—and it’s an idea that can spread like wildfire,” Kathy Emery, 63, says to a room of some twenty students. The students are of all ages. They are listening attentively to Emery’s words, which seem to command the respect of a seasoned professor, but they are not here only as students. Continue reading Radical Education: Experimental Education at SFSU→
The nocturnal cityscape used to be dominated by glowing tubes of every shape and color. Neon lighting, exposed glass turned vibrant when the gas inside is bombarded with electrodes, was the main form of outdoor lighting in the country from the 1930s to the 70s. It has declined since then, replaced by cheaper and cleaner alternatives. Though, while neon may be a dying industry, it still has a passionate following.Continue reading Neon: Still Glowing→
Congratulations! Thanks to your recent ability to get over your staggering fear of direct eye contact, your clever one-liner that only works 15% of the time, and your well-versed knowledge on the band you both love, you got their number and secured a second chance to see them! Now what? Continue reading Dating Success: A Romantic SFSU Guide→
The work-space formally known as a garage, is a mix of motorcycles and flowers. One side of the dimly lit space is filled with tools and motorcycle parts while the other half has tables filled with freshly cut flowers. The two sides couldn’t be more different. They’re polar opposites.
Dried flowers hang from beach wood near Vanessa Diaz’s work-space in her Sunset District home, in San Francisco, CA.
Vanessa Diaz’s work area in her garage in the Sunset District of San Francisco, CA.
Vanessa Diaz trims flowers before carefully placing them in ceramic vases in the Sunset District in San Francisco, CA.
A flower agargent created by Vanessa Diaz sits on her work table in the Sunset District of San Francisco, CA.
With graduation season looming around the corner, many that are graduating this May are eagerly anticipating the day. The day they walk that stage and can finally let out the sigh of relief and say they did it. Surely, this will be a very joyous and emotional time for the graduates, their friends, and family.
Everyone seems to talk about the lead up to graduation day and the happiness surrounding the occasion. But what happens when the long awaited day is over? What happens after that diploma is received?Continue reading I Got the Post-Grad Blues→
It is understood that in the world of fashion there tends to be a standard whose existence is not a true reflection of all types of bodies and people. This standard earns a living of off excluding and making others who don’t quite ‘fit the bill’ feel like they are lesser and not important. Most have gotten used to not being represented and just accept it as a norm or accepted the inevitable struggle of not finding clothes that are actually made for all types of people. This lack of representation causes society to adopt this sort of implicit bias when it comes to what is normal fashion and San Francisco State’s very own Apparel Design and Merchandising department is breaking that barrier with full force.
Last March, inside a warehouse on Pier 28 in San Francisco, a rift in space-time shattered the very fabric of reality, challenged every law of modern science, and catapulted the future of the world in strange new directions. Sort of.
It was Worlds Fair Nano, a biannual expo in which the focus is on emerging technology and not-so-far-fetched visions of the future. It was about fifty percent product demos, forty percent forward-thinking talks led by influential innovators, and ten percent food trucks. Inside the packed warehouse there were drone races, virtual reality, motor-unicycles, liquid meals, bionic enhancements, and augmented art displays.Continue reading Downloading the Future→
The fresh spring air brings life to the dead world winter brought. Along with it comes graduation caps, prom dresses, floral-prints galore, and yes – marriage proposals. Something about the blooming flowers or the transition from one part of life to another catches the spirit of young boys in love; urging them to get down on one knee. It is the season, some say, for a ring by spring.
Getting married young has been around since ancient times – the Greeks are said to have married once girls started their period and boys grew pubic hair. Various reasons called for this: shorter life expectancy, agreement between two households, staying a virgin until wedded (usually for religious reasons), etc. As consent laws came to form, life expectancies grew longer, and sex out of wedlock became less of a taboo, younger marriages obviously saw a decline. So why in this day-and-age are some couples still deciding to tie the knot before they’re twenty-five? Continue reading Grad Caps and Wedding Gowns→
