Inside the tiny house movement
Lissette Vargas
May 15, 2015
Future tiny house builder, Alain Despatie stands on his trailer where his tiny home will be built in West Oakland. Photo by Katie Lewellyn A worn-down barn with chipped white paint serves as the backdrop while Alain Despatie struggles to stay balanced on his tiny two-legged folding chair. He points ...
Shower on Wheels
Lissette Vargas
April 22, 2015
Martin, a homeless man, post-shower, in front the Lava Mae bust at 344 Ellis Street in San Francisco's Tenderloin district. (David Henry) *First names only have been used to protect the identities of the homeless/former homeless individuals interviewed for the story. Staring out the win...
A look into beer making with Method Brewing
Lissette Vargas
March 20, 2015
Paul Tiplady, one out of four guys in Method Brewing, keeps an eye on the water pump and plate chiller as they transfer and cool the beer into buckets right before adding the yeast as they were making a few batches of beer in San Francisco Sunday, Feb. 22. Photos by Daniel Porter By day, they are scientistsâ...
The taste of Method Brewing: Beer Expert Review
Lissette Vargas
March 20, 2015
One of the Method Brewing guys hands a beer to a customer during the SF Beer Week event Wednesday, Feb. 11. Photos by Daniel Porter Jared Funkhouser has been brewing beer and working in the industry for the past 10 years. He is currently enrolled in SF State’s graduate school problem working on...
The man behind The Simpsons, dead
Lissette Vargas
March 9, 2015
After a two-year long battle with cancer, that was said to end his life between three to six months after diagnosis, Simpsons executive producer Sam Simon has died at the age of 59. Fans of the show and his work went on to express their condolences on Twitter, addressing him as an “animal hero”...
An exploration guide for driving down I-5
Lissette Vargas
February 17, 2015
With windows rolled down and the cool California air breezing through your car, you see endless rows of green crops for miles. Car games are initiated to pass the time, and you point out the window guessing what is being grown in the fields of green. You see big tractors carrying heaps of brown ...
“Paw-sing” to de-stress
Lissette Vargas
December 22, 2014
The sidewalks surrounding the corner of 29th and Broadway in Oakland are packed with curious passersby peeping in through large floor-length windows. They peek into a cat’s paradise: scratch pads, various cat trees, teaser cat toys, and shiny frill ball toys are laid out around the room. Nine fri...
Trade-offs for trades
Lissette Vargas
December 12, 2014
SF State students battle the high cost of living and tuition by picking up trades in order to earn high wages in pursuit for higher education. “Welcome to Taco Bell, what will you be having today?” This is the scripted phrase Rachel Prince had to repeat over fifty times on her first day on...
Drinking to get through the holidays
Lissette Vargas
December 3, 2014
The smell of pumpkin spice, peppermint, and pine lingers in the air. Empty red Starbucks cups fill the trash bins, and Christmas carols are blasting from every speaker in town. It’s hard to escape the fact that the holiday season is here, so instead of hiding from it, embrace it. Here is a list of...
Caught in the crossfire of Ferguson Protests
Lissette Vargas
December 2, 2014
On New Year’s Day in 2009, twenty-two-year-old Oscar Grant was shot and killed by a BART police officer at Fruitvale station. On February 26, 2012, just shy of his seventeenth birthday, Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida. On Aug. 6, eighteen-year-old Michael...
San Francisco gives us a reason to feel crabby
Lissette Vargas
December 1, 2014
Eighteen hours before the official start date of San Francisco’s crab season, fisherman on the bay dropped their crab pots in preparation for its launch. The San Francisco Bay is home to the Dungeness crab, one of the largest edible crabs along the Pacific Coast. For many San Franciscans, pulling out t...
Little effort, big flavor: Cooking a Thanksgiving dinner in your microwave
Lissette Vargas
November 17, 2014
Most college students lack the culinary skills and proper equipment to make a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. By following this simple guide you can wow your dorm room friends by cooking an entire Thanksgiving feast in your microwave. For those of you who shrieked at the word microwave, fear not, because...