Muni Diaries

On her way home from a baby shower, storyteller Maureen Bogues encountered what most of us hope we wouldn't on Muni. Fueled by adrenaline, she chases after a mugger who took her phone. What would you do in this situation?

Maureen is a writer, editor, and occasional public speaker who has been featured at Beyond Borders Storytelling. This story was taped at Muni Diaries Live at Rickshaw Stop in November, 2019.

Do you have your own Muni story to share? Pitch us your Muni and San Francisco stories by emailing us at [email protected].

Storyteller Dhaya Lakshminarayana is a stand-up comedian and winner of the Liz Carpenter Political Humor Award. She's also the subject of the documentary "NerdCool." This story was recorded at Exploratorium After Dark in 2019.

If you have your own story to share on our podcast, pitch your stories at [email protected].

Today's story is from Molly Martin, a long-time activist and Bernal Heights resident. She was an organizer of Occupy Bernal, which saved many homes in the neighborhood from foreclosure.

Molly is also a tradeswomen activist and is working on a book about the history of women construction workers in the Bay Area. Her story takes us back to 1973 San Francisco.

Subscribe to the Muni Diaries podcast so you don't miss a minute of our new episodes! Muni Diaries Live is back on Nov. 2, 2019 at Rickshaw Stop. Go to MuniDiaries.com to get tickets.

If you have a San Francisco story to pitch, email us at [email protected].

DJ Steve Fabus literally provided the soundtrack to one of the most tumultuous periods in San Francisco history. He has been a fixture in the underground music scene in San Francisco since he moved here in the '70s—he described it as a calling that brought him to the city. In today's episode, Steve shares the story of how he found himself at the turn table for the farewell party of disco legend Sylvester.

You can hear stories like these live on stage at the next Muni Diaries Live show on Nov. 2, 2019, at Rickshaw Stop. Tickets are on sale at MuniDiaries.com.

Today's podcast episode was recorded live in Clarion Alley as a part of Litquake's LitCrawl in 2017. Storyteller Jesse James shares a story about his days working at the now-closed Nob Hill Theater, the famed all-male adult theater. One evening while working behind the counter, Jesse sees a familiar face walking in, and hilarity ensues.

If you'd like to hear more stories live, we have two events coming up: a live podcast taping at Betabrand Podcast Theater on Oct. 3, and Muni Diaries Live at Rickshaw Stop on Nov. 2, 2019. Tickets are on sale at MuniDiaries.com.

Leef is the owner of Mission Comics and Art on Mission and 18th Street. He's a San Francisco native who is passionate about making an open, inclusive space that celebrated the creative people in San Francisco. The store features lots of mainstream AND indie comic books and a gallery space.

In today's episode, Leef shares the story of the AIDS Memorial Grove from the perspective of the city gardener's family. Leef's father was one of San Francisco's city gardeners, and helped build the the grove before it became the space we know today.

Go to MuniDiaries.com to see photos of the grove with Leef and his family.

If you are looking to hear stories like Leef's and the tales you have heard on this podcast, we are having two events this fall: a live podcast recording at the Betabrand Podcast Theater on Thursday, Oct. 3, and our Muni Diaries Live fall show at Rickshaw Stop on Saturday, Nov. 2, Go to MuniDiaries.com to buy tickets and see more information.

Muni is the through line in this week's podcast story from Simone Herko Felton, a senior at Lowell High School in San Francisco. Simone has lived here all her life and takes the 23-Monterey to go to school daily. She explains what it's like to be a high school student in San Francisco taking this cross town bus, and why this particular line is symbolic of her multi-ethnic identity.

Simone is the President of the literary magazine at Lowell High School called The Junkyard. If you have a story to share, we are all ears! Pitch your story to [email protected].

Do you often wish you said something to someone who was acting inconsiderate or rude, and you spend days thinking about what you should have said? In this episode, our storyteller didn't hold back and called out a rude fellow shopper at the checkout line, and the results would surprise you.

Justina Wu is a writer, storyteller, and producer of Beyond Borders Storytelling, a series of travel-themed workshops and story jams. Check out Beyond Borders online at beyondbordersstorytelling.org, and mark your calendars for the next show on August 14 at PianoFight in the Tenderloin.

Our previous episode featured Smiley Poswolsky, a self-described Millennial workplace expert who quit his stuffy Washington, D.C. job to become a writer in San Francisco. His story about personal growth and change, with NOPA/Western Addition in a prominent guest-starring role, really got our listeners talking more broadly about the state of our city—a hot topic lately.

For this episode, we invited Peter Hartlaub and Heather Knight from The San Francisco Chronicle, and Bernalwood blog founder Todd Lappin, to give us their take on San Francisco's oft-discussed existential crisis, and to share their own experiences with this town we call home.

Got something to say about Smiley's story or the state of our city? Email us your thoughts at [email protected], or tag us #sanfranciscodiaries on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Smiley Poswolsky quit his D.C. government job and left his suit-wearing days behind in order to become a writer in San Francisco. A few years in, he found himself realizing that some of the things he was excited about the city were also perhaps ruining the place he loves. But who has the right to define what this city is about?

Poswolsky is an expert on millennials in the workplace, a topic that he speaks about professionally, and he is the author of the book, The Quarter-Life Breakthrough.

The state of our city has been a hot topic lately. Got something to say about Smiley's story and the current state of our city? Email us your thoughts at [email protected], or tag us #munidiaries on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.