The City That Loves You Back September 13, 2009

I’ve been missing my friends.  So many of them are on the east coast now.  They moved away from San Francisco in three waves this summer, and many of them ended up in and around New York.  In order to ensure that they all come back someday, I thought I’d make them something to remind them of all the love that’s waiting here for them.

Friday’s thing-a-day was this stencil:

I meant it in the way that says “a lot of people in San Francisco love you,” but the more I looked at it, the more I realized, San Francisco really is a city that loves you back. In all the ways that New York tries to keep you out, San Francisco invites you in.  From the weather to housing (rent control!) to the entrepreneurial spirit, San Francisco makes it really easy to live well on your own terms.  New York requires you fight everyone else with sticks to get your own little piece of anything.

So to stick it to New York a little, I decided to change the stencil lettering to look like the “I heart New York” logo.  I used the first stencil to cut out the skyline, and then used this stencil to carve out the letters:

Yesterday I made three stickers for my girls with the Xyron and a security envelope, as well as some stickers from the removed letters, which I put up in my very spare Etsy shop. Doing these San Francisco love projects has given me some great ideas for much larger projects that focus on the Bay Bridge.

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New Crafty Gathering Space: Workshop September 4, 2009

I really respect doers.  As a thinker-planner-worrier-maybe-eventually-doer I admire people who seize opportunities immediately and run with them all the way to the finish line.  Kelly Malone of Indie Mart is one such doer.  Last night I attended an open-house event at her new space called “Workshop,” which is a community art and activity space that holds classes, get-togethers and large-scale craft equipment.  It’s already got furniture, signage, and an awesome room divider made of old windows.  A week ago she didn’t even know about this space!

I think Workshop will be a fantastic addition to the San Francisco creative community, so I really want to see it succeed.  It’s set to officially open on September 19th, but in the meantime they need more stuff to make it fully equipped. If you have any of these items, you can drop them off almost any time in the next two weeks. Workshop needs:

-crafty, sewing & art supplies (scissors, thread, fabrics, yarn, bedazzlers, patterns, machines,
paints, brushes, anything rad you can think of)
-screening supplies (ink, old screens)
-building supplies & tools (hammers, drills, hardware, levels, saws, etc)
-light bulbs…we need hundreds for our light installation
-old saw blades, yard sticks, wooden vintage bobbins….for an installation
-dining room style chairs (that can be spray painted black for seating)
-DIY, how to & design books/ magazines to build up our inspiration library (Martha
Stewarts, ReadyMades, Dominos, you get the idea)
-pillows & cushions we can recover for our movie nights
-patterns
-an office chair
-a computer
-speakers, turntables & stereo goodness
-an ipod for sale:)
-jars for storage (mason, baby food, etc)
-old drawers from small to medium size

To check out Workshop for yourself and to drop off donations/congratulate Kelly/try to steal some of her mojo for yourself, swing by the corner of McAllister and Baker streets during normal store hours.

Event: NWBC’s San Francisco Town Hall Meeting October 24, 2008

Want to have your voice heard by the folks who make the laws?  Register for the (free) San Francisco Town Hall Meeting thrown by the National Women’s Business Council.  This event will function like a short, one-day conference, in which small business women will have the opportunity to learn from experts and one another, as well as share concerns about small business policies.  There will be a general session followed by two break-out sessions, covering a number of topics.  I will be attending the session on “Micro-business,” and I have suggested a session on intellectual property, since that is an issue that many Biz Misses have sopken to me about, particularly in creative or innovative industries.  Barring the creation of that special session I will attend the one on Taxes.

So just who is the NWBC?  According to their web site, they are:

…a bi-partisan federal advisory council created to serve as an independent source of advice and policy recommendations to the President, Congress, and the U.S. Small Business Administration on economic issues of importance to women business owners. The Council’s mission is to promote bold initiatives, policies and programs designed to support women’s business enterprises at all stages of development in the public and private sector marketplaces — from start-up to success to significance.

Cool!  We have advocates!  This Town Hall is happening two days after election day, which means that our concerns as small business owners will be some of the first issues submitted to our newly-(re-)elected officials.  So do your civic double-duty this election season and vote on November 4th, and get your voice heard on November 6th!

Hating on LoveFest October 4, 2008

Maybe it’s really crotchety (and ironic) of me to say, but I hate LoveFest.  It severely impaired my ability to accomplish anything today.  How many times a year does San Francisco have to completely shut down in order for people to walk down Market Street in costumes?  This already happens during Halloween, Bay to Breakers and Gay Pride–all of which are way more inclusive and, in my opinion, worthy events than simply promoting one genre of music.  I don’t want to have to listen to the overlapping, thundering beat of four simultaneous DJs just to get to City Hall, and I definitely don’t want to pay $5 for the privilege.  What municipal leader decided it was a good idea to cordon off our city’s civic center and turn it into a rave with a door charge?

I’m okay with throwing a parade to celebrate a cultural holiday or a civil rights achievement, but to throw a parade just for people who like flourescent wigs and techno?  That’s really pushing it.  When you get right down to it, LoveFest is just a big advertisement for a small subset of DJs, clubs and related businesses.  I don’t think it’s right to spend public money on police and cleaning crews for something so commercial, and I don’t think it’s right to interfere with everyone else’s normal activity just so one group of music fans can throw a party.

Call for Artists: Holiday Wreath Benefit September 25, 2008

This fall, the Hayes Valley Merchants’ Association will be reviving an old tradition: the Holiday Wreath Benefit and Art Walk.  Bay Area artists will be creating wreaths to be displayed in Hayes Valley businesses and sold via silent auction. All proceeds will go to support Opportunity Impact.  Each artist who signs up to participate will receive a wreath wire frame (about one foot diameter), with total freedom to interpret the piece from there.

Verbal commitments from artists are requested by Wednesday, October 1st–that’s less than a week from today.  You will receive your wreath frame 1-2 weeks later, with the actual piece due to the Merchants’ Association by Black Friday, 11/28.

The pieces will go up for display and auction from 11/28 until the following Friday, 12/5, which is the date of the block party.  The auctions will close at 9pm that evening.  Every wreath site will have maps with all of the other wreath sites listed as part of the art walk.

Obviously, this a promotional opportunity, and not a paid one, but it’s a nice way to get another exhibition line on your CV while giving back during the holidays.  You only need to prepare one piece for it, and the merchants’ association goes nuts with publicity.  The last time they did this they even got a five-minute segment on the KRON4 evening news!  The Merchants’ Association is looking for approximately 30 artists and spots are steadily filling up, so if you want to be a part of this benefit, speak up (i.e. post a comment or e-mail me)!