The student-run magazine of San Francisco State University

Xpress Magazine

The student-run magazine of San Francisco State University

Xpress Magazine

The student-run magazine of San Francisco State University

Xpress Magazine

Oliver Michelsen

Oliver Michelsen, Multimedia Editor

Oliver Michelsen is a fourth-year journalism student with a minor in history. Born in Virginia, he moved around frequently throughout his childhood, living everywhere from Northern Florida to Okinawa, Japan. He got his first camera in middle school and hasn't been able to put it down since, focusing mainly on nature photography and video. In his free time he likes to go camping, explore the Bay Area, and read unhealthy amounts of One Piece in one sitting.

All content by Oliver Michelsen
A Cruise vehicle driving through Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California. The company is the only one that has approved by the CPUC for rides carrying passengers without a test driver . (Oliver Michelsen / Xpress Magazine)

Self-Driving City

Oliver Michelsen, Multimedia Editor
May 15, 2023

A Cruise vehicle with its hazards flashing slows and then comes to a stop, blocking the right lane as cars head east down Fulton. It’s dark, about 10 p.m. It’s hard to see too far ahead, but there...

Between the Issues: Back in Session

Oliver Michelsen and Myron Caringal
February 27, 2023

Two newspaper-plastered classrooms filled with tired, yet eager reporters sit side by side on the third floor of SF State’s Humanities Building. These are the magazine and newspaper production rooms,...

Presidio forester Chris Stark Weather (left) helps to offload a wheelbarrow full of invasive plant life into the back of a truck in the Presidio on Friday, Feb. 18, 2023. (Oliver Michelsen / Xpress Magazine)

Rebounding from the Rain

Oliver Michelsen, Multimedia Editor
February 27, 2023

Eucalyptus trees surrounding SF State’s outdoor track swayed back and forth in the rain and wind for days before they finally came crashing down. As one tree “failed,” it was uprooted by intense...

Devon Chulick, game master for “Total Party Chill,” behind his DM screen recounting the party’s previous battle on November 29th, 2022. One player was polymorphed into a dinosaur while another was downed fighting in a dragon’s lair. (Oliver Michelsen / Xpress Magazine)

Delving into the Dungeon

Oliver Michelsen, Multimedia Editor
December 9, 2022

It was in a booth at a Round Table Pizza where Devon Chulick discovered his love for roleplaying games. His mother had purchased him a “choose your own adventure” book. Chulick — a toddler at the...

Fits of SFSU co-founders Breanna Miller (left) and Esperanza Vaquiz (right) pose in the Quad, Sept. 15, 2022. (Oliver Michelsen / Xpress Magazine)

Turning the Quad into a Runway

Oliver Michelsen, Multimedia Editor
October 14, 2022

SF State’s quad is filled with the sounds of students greeting friends on their way to and from class, landscapers maintaining the plant life and music playing from any one of the speakers positioned...

[Video] Shooting the Stars – Video

May 14, 2022

This video was created to accompany "Shooting the Stars" by Oliver Michelson. Video created by Oliver Michelson and Rene Ramirez.

Lick Observatory’s 40-inch lens telescope building on April 29, 2022. Though 20 miles away from the closest source of light pollution, photos taken from atop Mt. Hamilton still must deal with the weather and the faint glow of distant San Jose. (Oliver Michelsen / Xpress Magazine)

[Video] Shooting the Stars

Oliver Michelsen, Multimedia Editor
May 13, 2022

  Andy Macica caught his first picture of a supernova by accident. He shot Messier 51, what he refers to as either M51 or “the Whirlpool Galaxy,” 23 million lightyears away on his home telescope....

A John Deere utility vehicle sits outside of the groundworks facility on March 29, 2022. The groundsworkers use this to travel around campus early in the morning to conduct their routine maintenance. (Rene Ramirez / Xpress Magazine)

[Video] They Speak for the Trees

Oliver Michelsen, Multimedia Editor
April 15, 2022

When SF State grounds manager Robert Murphy and the rest of the grounds team arrive on campus at 6 a.m., it is eerily quiet. The sun won’t rise for another hour, and students and faculty won’t begin...

They Speak for the Trees – The Bleed Podcast

Oliver Michelsen, Multimedia Editor
April 15, 2022

This podcast was created to accompany the story They Speak for the Trees by Oliver Michelsen.

SF State’s Complicated Relationship with Free Speech – Video

Oliver Michelsen, Multimedia Editor
March 18, 2022

  This video was created to accompany the story "SF State’s Complicated Relationship with Free Speech" by Oliver Michelsen, published on March 18, 2022. 

A photo illustration of the outside of SF State’s HSS building, 2022, and a photo taken by Nacio Jan Brown, a photographer for the San Francisco Express Times, of Black Student Union member John Cleveland in a physical conflict with police outside of SF State’s HSS building during the Third World Liberation Front strikes of 1968. (Rene Ramirez / Xpress Magazine)

[Video] SF State’s Complicated Relationship with Free Speech

Oliver Michelsen, Multimedia Editor
March 17, 2022

In November of 1968, thousands filled San Francisco State University’s campus in a revolutionary strike to protest racial inequities in the school’s curriculum and admissions. For five months, Ronald...

K’Zhane McGill uses her iPad at her desk in San Francisco on Feb. 7, 2022. (Rene Ramirez / Xpress Magazine)

[Video] Crucial SF State Mental Health Services Struggle to Meet Demand

Oliver Michelsen, Multimedia Editor
February 18, 2022

It was another cold San Francisco afternoon in February as Lizzie sat on the bench outside SF State’s student services building. It wasn’t until about half an hour before closing that she mustered...

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The student-run magazine of San Francisco State University
Oliver Michelsen