Rightnowish

Last year, renowned writer and San Francisco Poet Laureate, Tongo Eisen-Martin, told us that it's not enough to simply be a poet. "The poet needs to just come on down to the trenches," he said, explaining that quality writing comes from the lived experience of participating in community activism.

In direct application of his own philosophy, Tongo has been involved with the occupation of Parker Elementary School, where organizers are fighting against the latest round of school closures in Oakland Unified School District — schools that are located in communities that are largely populated by Black and brown students.

Tongo has been a part of the group's Freedom Friday events, where artists of all sorts are invited to show up and perform. As the fight against the school closures continue, we're going into the archives this week to share Tongo's poem, "A Sketch of Genocide."

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This week on Rightnowish, we're passing the microphone to the team at The Stoop podcast.

In this episode, hosts Leila Day and Hana Baba introduce us to folks practicing healthy alternatives to monogamy, including author and educator Kevin Patterson, who describes his polyamory as "relationship anarchy."

"Every person that I meet, our relationship just sort of forms naturally," he says. "I don't try to put anybody in one box or another if that's not what suits this person."  

Writer Crystal Byrd Farmer identifies as being solo polyamorous. 

"Solo poly means that I'm not entwined with another person, so I'm not living with them, I'm not sharing finances with somebody, I'm not doing child care responsibilities with somebody else. I'm kind of my own person. I still have romantic and sexual relationships with multiple people, but it's really like I'm in my own house and do my own thing," she says. 

And Intro, Ambi and Ex — the triad from the podcast Bloc'd — share their perspectives on polyamory, sexual identity and impending parenthood.

"I just had a feeling that if we got together, we would be able to figure out the rest," says Ex.

What you're going to hear originally aired on The Stoop in 2021 but it's always a good time to talk about the many manifestations of love.

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San Francisco lyricist and graffiti writer Dregs One is making sure Bay Area hip-hop culture is properly documented, and at the same time he's becoming a recognized historian.

In a series of videos he simply calls "History of The Bay," Dregs is using TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube to highlight aspects of Bay Area culture that are often overlooked. In one video he dives into the use of local slang, noting that music "slaps" and food doesn't. Dregs has multiple videos honoring the work of legendary aerosol artist Mike "Dream" Francisco of the TDK crew, among numerous posts he's done in dedication to local graff writers.

Dregs' videos are short, often sprinkled with a touch of wry humor, and always laced with game straight from the soil. I talked to him about what it means to have thousands of views on his videos and how the work of documenting a culture that is often word of mouth inherently brings forth differing opinions. Dregs, who is still deep in the rap game and enmeshed in the world of visual arts, says it's not easy to continuously make videos and do the heavy lifting of keeping the "Frisco-ism" alive, but he loves seeing how many people his work is influencing — and that's what matters the most.

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In Indigenous protocol, we're beginning this week's episode honoring the original stewards of this land that many of us in Frisco now occupy — the ancestral homeland of the Ramaytush Ohlone.

Now, let's take a trip down Valencia Street to La Misión.

The neighborhood is home to not one, but two rich cultural districts. Calle 24 Latino Cultural District was first established in 1999. More recently, in 2020, it was joined by the American Indian Cultural District — a home base for the Urban Native community. Its aim is to uplift the culture, history, and continuing contributions of American Indians in San Francisco and beyond.

On this week's Rightnowish, we introduce you to some of the people behind this cultural district that's the first of its kind in the Golden State.

Mary Travis-Allen (Mayagna, Chortega, Seneca) is the President of the District's Advisory Board and recalls memories of "Little Rez" along 16th Street. Debbie Santiago (Washoe, Osage) and her mother, Alberta Snyder (Washoe) share their memories about the SFUSD's Indian Education Program that ran out of the American Indian Cultural Center on Valencia Street in the 70s and 80s. Karen Waukazoo (Lakota) remembers her late mother and local hero, Helen Waukazoo, who co-founded Friendship House, the oldest social service organization in the United States run by and for American Indians. Last but not least, we venture to the waterfront at Fort Mason to talk with Sharaya Souza (Taos Pueblo, Ute, Kiowa), the Executive Director of the American Indian Cultural District about the legacy of the Alcatraz occupation. 

There are so many Native stories alive in La Misión — we hope this is just the start to more of us hearing about them.

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Joshua Neal is a viral sensation, using social media platforms to share his acting talents and social commentary with the world, and simultaneously launching his career.

Multiple times a week, Neal posts short comedic videos where he plays all the roles, writes all the scripts, and produces all the stories. He can be seen smoking fake cigarettes as a bad guy or wearing a towel on his head as he takes on the role of an angry girlfriend—all in service of telling humorous stories that resonate with people's real-life experiences.

His posts have been shared widely, and have reached the digital doorsteps of Hollywood luminaries like Ava DuVernay.

Neal, a writer and creator who grew up in Union City and currently lives in Hayward, now has a foot in the door of major production circles, and he did it by simply creating content from the confines of his parents' crib.

This week Joshua Neal shares a little bit of his own story, as well as what it takes to consistently make viral videos.

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Maya Cueva makes documentary films that cover the heavy topics: immigration, reproductive justice and xenophobia. Her latest, On The Divide, follows the stories of three Latinx people whose lives interconnect through the last abortion clinic on the U.S./Mexico border. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2021, and is available to stream free of charge through July 18, 2022 at POV.

Cueva says her journey into professional storytelling began after covering current events at Youth Radio (now YR Media) as a teen. While attending Ithaca College in New York, she began work on her first film, The Provider, which follows Dr. Shannon Carr as she performs abortions in Texas in the midst of a heated battle for reproductive rights. She's also made Ale Libre, which follows reproductive rights organizer and undocumented activist Alejandra Pablos in her fight against deportation, and Only the Moon/ Solamente La Luna, an animated film about her father’s immigration experience to the U.S. from Peru.

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Nenna Joiner owns Feelmore, a queer-friendly sex toy shop with locations in Berkeley and Oakland. Noticing the lack of Black queer spaces beyond the monthly “RnB nights” at many local clubs, they decided to open the Feelmore Social Club in Downtown Oakland, a bar slated to open in 2022. “This energy that they feel in Feelmore is akin to the energy that they're going to feel here,” Joiner assures, “We want to be open a long time.” Joiner speaks about re-imagining the Black queer space, and the role of the Black queer dollar in the community.

This series was produced and reported by Corey Antonio Rose.

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The rich LGBT history of the Tenderloin goes back farther than any bricks thrown at Stonewall, and Transgender Cultural District President and Chief Strategist Aria Sa’id makes it her job to preserve that history. Her work in securing tenant protections, workforce development, arts and cultural heritage preservation, and cultural competency for the residents of the historic Tenderloin neighborhood has taken the idea of ‘safe space’ beyond the bars and into our daily lives. Sa’id speaks with us about what makes a space ‘safe,’ and the effect that empowering the most vulnerable within a community has on the rest of us.

This series was produced and reported by Corey Antonio Rose.

For more information, visit Rightnowish.

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When Rodney Barnette first moved to San Francisco in 1969, he noticed that “it wasn’t all rah rah gay capital of the world.” His experiences with racism in San Francisco’s historic gay community led him to open the New Eagle Creek Saloon, the city’s first Black-owned gay bar, in 1990. Over 30 years later, Barnette speaks about why Black-affirming queer spaces are still needed, and what he took away from his experience operating one.

This series was produced and reported by Corey Antonio Rose.

For more information, visit Rightnowish.

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Friendships can be hard for anyone.

As an adult you need to navigate staying in contact with old friends, getting past the awkward early stage of new friends, and deciding if certain friendships are healthy or unhealthy. This doesn't even touch on time constraints, and the difficulty of hangs since the beginning of the pandemic.

But maybe we make friendships harder than they have to be?

This week on Rightnowish, we're making new friends! This is a special crossover episode with YR Media's Adult ISH podcast.

After spending a day riding around with Adult ISH host Nyge Turner's hometown of Richmond, we jump into a conversation about how some friendships are as old as our collection of basketball shorts, while new friendships are hidden behind different social barriers of adulthood.

We hope you enjoy, friend.

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