Interrupting the normalization of anti-Islamic rhetoric and actions, Bay Area Art Queers Unleashing Power (BAAQUP) and Street Cred continue to alter the latest anti-Islamic ads posted by Pamela Geller's "American Freedom Defense Initiative" on San Francisco MUNI buses. In these remakes, Geller acknowledges that her struggle (jihad) is overcoming her virulent Islamophobia and racism. Geller's original ad was modified to read: "I'm Pamela Geller and I spread Islamophobia. I don't know why, but it's a struggle for me not to."

BAAQUP and Street Cred write: "Our work addresses an evolving series of campaigns aimed at disrupting the status quo by awakening people's consciousness. We are Advertising for the People. We believe that all public spaces including public transit and should be welcoming and safe for all members of our community. The hate-filled messages purchased by Pamela Geller’s AFDI defame and vilify Muslims and are harmful and offensive to residents and visitors in San Francisco, both Muslim and non-Muslim.
 Since the City will not take action against these ads on City buses, we have.... As long as these advertising outrages continue to appear on our streets, we will continue to reconstitute them to reflect something more truthful, just, and ideally fabulous."

Queer Artists Strike Back at Anti-Gay and Anti-Islamic Ads (April 13) | Why are Bay Area artists editing Pamela Geller's hate graphics? (Mar 26) | Bay Area Activists Remake Hate Ads on SF Buses (Mar 17) | BAAQUP

Previous Related Indybay Feature: The People Speak: "Free Speech Not Hate Speech on SF Transit" (Aug 2012)

On Friday, September 7th, members from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 1021 blocked the entrance to the de Young art museum in San Francisco. Nineteen people were arrested, and the attendees at the museum's “Friday Nights at the Museum” event were greeted with loud chants, singing, and civil disobedience.

According to Anna Bakalis from SEIU 1021, the management at the museum is intimidating and using “anti-worker tactics” to make cuts to the salaries of the “least paid workers” employed there.

In response, members of the Service Employees International Union marched in on the Friday night event, and chanted and sang while blocking the museum entrance. SEIU members and supporters are urging management to stop withholding information used in collective bargaining, to stop lowering wages of the lowest paid workers, and to stop giving the managers raises.

Read More and View Photos | SEIU1021 Supporters & SF Museum Workers Occupy de Young To Get Contract Without Concessions | SEIU 1021 activists arrested barricading de Young Museum entrance

The third annual Festival del Nopal took place in downtown Santa Cruz on Sunday July 22. The festival featured many local food vendors using nopal, or prickly pear cactus, in a variety of cuisine such as pupusas, huraches, salad, tlayudas, baked potatoes, fries, and tacos. The event, founded and coordinated by City Councilmember Tony Madrigal, celebrates the significance of the nopal in Mexican cuisine and showcases the plant's versatility and healing properties.

The well-attended daytime celebration included a recipe contest, a nopal cooking demonstration, the selection of a festival queen, performances by clowns and live music as well as free nopales for festivalgoers to take home.

Nopales are high in vitamins, minerals and fiber. Consumption of nopales has been shown to improve one's metabolism, balance the digestive system, and lower blood sugar and levels of triglycerides and cholesterol, two of the most common fats in the human body.

Read More and View Photos | En Español

Lorin Ashton / Bassnectar writes: "Santa Cruz, California is one of my favorite places in the world. It is special to me for countless reasons, and it is one of my favorite places to play music. I am stunned, and saddened that the City of Santa Cruz decided last minute to not allow our show to happen tomorrow [Thursday, May 3rd].

"Basically, there is a very vague city ordinance #9.36.010... Now had they told us this 6 months ago when we booked the show, that would have been understandable (it still would have been weird, because we already did one successful show at the Civic Center, and are not going to play music any louder than last time) but having this happen so last minute is basically putting us in a very difficult situation. Now they have told us we will be shut down if we play at our normal volume (the same volume we played at last time, and the same volume we play at in cities all across the country), forcing the show to be cancelled. We offered to start way earlier than normal, and to have music end by 10pm, and they had zero interest in finding a solution."

Lorin Ashton grew up in San Jose, and moved to Santa Cruz in 1996 to attend UC Santa Cruz. In the Fan Bass section of the Bassnectar website, Lorin writes about the Origins Of Bassnectar, "Years of drumming had prepared me and I thought that since I was already throwing ill parties, why not play at them as well? Until that time I had never considered being a DJ (although I was taking the Electronic Music minor at UCSC and playing with tons of amazing gear). I was mostly focused on making events happen, and making music, in addition to going to school (I majored in “Community Studies” at UCSC, and also minored in Education)..."

In 2010, Bassnectar wrote to the Santa Cruz Independent Media Center, and invited us to table at their concert, which we did, on February 14th, 2010 at The Catalyst. "Bassnectar envisions a community space for non profit outreach at concerts, filled with organizations such as yours."

City of Santa Cruz Forces Bassnectar to Cancel at Civic Center | Bassnectar.net

On April 6th, community members gathered at the Resource Center for Nonviolence in Santa Cruz for the opening reception of "Occupy Art", an exhibition of art from Occupy Santa Cruz. In addition to fine art, photography, and protest relics from the movement, spoken word performances were held, and Brent Adams previewed his OSC documentary. The densely packed exhibition is an attempt at documenting the Occupy movement in Santa Cruz while encapsulating the feeling of the protest experience.

"Occupy Art" is ongoing through the month of April at the Resource Center for Nonviolence, which is located at 612 Ocean Street in Santa Cruz.

View photos

The legendary poet, essayist and feminist Adrienne Rich died on March 27, 2012, at the age of 82 in her Santa Cruz, California home. Rich was one of the most celebrated poets of the last half-century and a lifelong advocate for women, gay and lesbian rights, peace and racial justice. Rich drew widespread acclaim for her many volumes of poetry and prose, which brought the oppression of women and lesbians into the public spotlight.

Adrienne Rich was a key figure in the women’s movement and an uncompromising critic of the powerful. Rich won numerous awards and honors, including the National Book Award for the 1973 collection Diving into the Wreck. Refusing to accept the award alone, she appeared onstage with poets Audre Lorde and Alice Walker, and the three accepted the award on behalf of all women.

Alice Walker & Frances Goldin on the Life of Legendary Poet Adrienne Rich

Hundreds of people participated in the 7th Annual Last Night DIY New Year's Parade on December 31st, 2011 in downtown Santa Cruz. Hundreds more lined Pacific Avenue to watch and document the grassroots New Year's Eve celebration created by the community. The event has become both a homespun, family-friendly alternative celebration and a controversial embarrassment for the city.

Every New Year's since 2005, the DIY celebration has been peaceful, creative, and fun. However, because of its lack of official sanction, civic leaders have opposed the celebration from the beginning. In 2010, police tried to shut down the parade by selectively targeting individuals who participated.

"While the police and civic leaders try to frighten us with the specter of downtown violence, we just want to participate in a communal celebration with our neighbors," said Elizabeth Burchfield. "We are tired of being afraid. It's time to organize together."

Read more and view photos | previous coverage: 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010

This is the twelfth and final chapter of the series “Hidden in Plain Sight: Media Workers for Social Change.” For the last two years Peter M published profiles and photos of people who have taken career paths outside of the media mainstream, at the service of the community around them.

This profile is of Jose Manuel Martinez, whose creative life has been story telling. As a recording artist he has worked in Rock, Latin Rock and Salsa. Now having just completed a Master’s degree in Education at Stanford University, he is an English teacher, relating to young people how stories can empower, and the ways they can bring people together.

Martinez said: “I started writing at a very, very young age. As a matter of fact, I was writing short stories for third and fourth graders when I was in the sixth grade. My principal at P.S. 115 in New York City had me on contract—my mom always brings this up—to produce a few stories a month, and he was really proud, you know. I’ve always had that type of imagination.”

Read Full Story and View Photo

See Blurbs for All 12 Stories in "Hidden in Plain Sight"

On September 8th, 2011, an art exhibit of children's drawings was banned by the Museum of Children's Art in Oakland (MOCHA). Much of the artwork was drawn by children participating in a "Let the Children Play And Heal" project. The Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) organized "Let the Children Play and Heal" to give tens of thousands of children and youth in Gaza opportunities to express themselves though art, dance, music, story-telling, theater and puppetry; to get support from the larger community; and to have fun and just be children. It was developed to address the needs of traumatized children after the 2008/2009 Israeli assault on Gaza. Zionist organizations such as the Jewish Community Relations Council and Jewish Federation are suspected of having intimidated MOCHA into canceling the show, in order to deny an audience for the perspectives of Palestinians, despite the fact that MECA had been working with the museum for months planning the local exhibit. On September 23rd, a demonstration was held in front of MOCHA to protest the censorship.

MOCHA held firm that they would not allow the exhibit. MECA announced that the exhibit would open on the originally scheduled date anyway, outside rather than inside of MOCHA. What MECA kept under wraps until opening day was that they had secured an alternate venue for the exhibit just around the corner from MOCHA. As the exhibit was set to open on September 24th, MECA and supporters first gathered in the courtyard outside of the MOCHA building, displaying reproductions of the Gazan children's artwork. Less than half an hour later, an announcement was made about the new venue and the Brass Liberation Orchestra led supporters out of the courtyard, down the sidewalk, and around the corner to the new home for the exhibit. Hundreds of people attended the opening over the course of the next few hours. The exhibit is set to show at 917 Washington Street in Oakland through November 30th.

September 23rd Censorship Protest: Video & Photos | Photos
September 24th Exhibit Opening: Video & Photos