Muni Diaries

Tanea Lunsford Lynx is Chair of the Spoken Arts Department at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts and one of the artists behind Muni Raised Me, a multimedia exhibition by San Francisco born-and-raised artists exploring a central question: What does Muni mean to the people who grow up riding it? Tanea brought their students to the Muni Raised Me exhibit to perform their own original poetry about Muni in a guerrilla-style spoken word show, and we had the privilege of sitting in to listen and record.

In today's episode, public transit advocate, designer and illustrator Chris Arvin shares the dramatic story of how Muni became the first public transit system in a major US city.  Complaining about the bus might be San Francisco's unofficial favorite past time, but few know about the true origins of our transit system. You can find Chris at @chrisarvinsf on Twitter, and you can also shop their Transit themed merch at transit.supply.

Sheila McElroy has spent her professional life studying, writing about, and talking about place: how our sense of it grounds us in history and provides context for how we see, move around, and make sense of the world. In this story, told at Muni Diaries Live in November 2022, Sheila digs into her own personal sense of place and the role it plays in her journey.

What would make you take off your headphones on the bus to talk to a stranger? In this episode, storyteller Alex Randall shares how he started talking to his fellow riders, and how these "Muni chats" changed the way he looks at our city. Alex takes the 38 Geary often and he likes all things San Francisco: history, sports, art, politics, and public transit. You can find him at @ArtrepreneurSF on both Instagram and Twitter.

How often do you ask yourself, "What would you do if this happened to you on Muni?" Storyteller Keli Dailey explores that very difficult question on stage at Muni Diaries Live, where she shared a tale about an unexpected turn of events on the bus. Keli is an award-winning journalist, performer and educator. ​She teaches media classes at the University of San Francisco, Saint Mary's College of California and Mills College, where she also leads the Communication program. She says that she believes in the power of comedy to communicate news, and that's something we can definitely identify with here at Muni Diaries headquarters. Got a story to tell on the podcast? Email us a short pitch at muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com!  

Storyteller Ilyse Magy has hella Muni bonafides: she was the first paid “staff member” of San Francisco Transit Riders, where she helped pressure city officials to actually ride the bus. But one Halloween evening, when Ilyse found herself evangelizing the value of public transit, the Muni gods had other plans. You can see even more Muni (and SF!) goodies at the Muni Diaries Art Market this Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022, at 80 Albion, from noon to 4pm! 

Many of you might know Mike Delia better as Mr. Boston, an operator on the F-Market and an impressive list of standard lines across town. Hailing from Massachusetts, he got bit by the transit bug when he was just 5 years old, riding the bus with his father, who was also an operator. You can often find him wearing his distinctive operator's cap on the F line, perhaps even on Car No. 1059 -- painted in his hometown Boston livery.  At Muni Diaries Live last month, Mike shared the story of his journey as a transit operator, which brought him to San Francisco, and his battle with a serious illness that brought him closer to so many of his passengers.  

Here at Muni Diaries headquarters, we don't often talk about ourselves because, after all, Muni Diaries is about your stories. But every once in a while, something happens that still makes us go, "I can't believe that went down." So today, cofounders Tara and Eugenia are sharing the story of how, in 2010, they came across a particular Muni shelter that they're still looking for to this day. Oh, and by the way, you DO have tickets to Muni Diaries Live this Thursday (Nov. 3), right? Head to MuniDiaries.com or this Eventbrite link, and use the listeners-only discount code PODCAST to get yours soon!

You might have seen these two awesome people who joined the Muni Diaries crew earlier this year, and in today's episode, you'll get to know more about our new editors, Kat Siegal and Sarah Katz-Hyman.  If you are a part of the local Transit Twitter community, you are probably already familiar with their names (and witty tweets), and today they'll share what makes them so passionate about San Francisco. We’ve always admired Kat and Sarah’s deep knowledge of public transit, their local activism, and their love for this city. You'll meet Kat and Sarah live at our next Muni Diaries Live show on Nov. 3, 2022! Use the code PODCAST to get a listeners-only discount to the show. See you there!

If you live in San Francisco for any length of time, you can't not know Broke-Ass Stuart. Stuart Schuffman (and his team of writers) have been writing about San Francisco for two decades now, and he is celebrating the occasion on Oct. 13 with a big 20th Anniversary Party. We took the opportunity to chat with Stuart to find out what he thinks is going better in San Francisco since he started, how he's grown his Patreon in challenging economic times, and some behind-the-scenes stories from two decades of writing about the city.

Comedian Becca Henry say she is San Francisco born, raised by wolves, and got her start on stage performing comedic burlesque before buying new bras and making her way into standup. In today's episode, she recounts one wild evening on BART on New Year's Eve before she was heading to a performance. You can find Becca on Instagram @beehenry. Or, if you're in New York City, she's on the schedule doing comedy at The Grisly Pear in Greenwich Village.

San Francisco native and San Francisco Standard journalist Meaghan Mitchell takes the stage, sharing this life-changing experience from her youth at a 22-Fillmore stop.  A reminder that stories on Muni Diaries can range from sweet and quirky, to weird and funny, to powerful, at times uncomfortable, and personal. tw: violence against women

When BART Board Director Janice Li saw a fight break out on the bus, she took matters into her own hands. But what she saw after making a public information request for the bus footage (which anyone can do, BTW) was something else entirely.

The world’s biggest Boat Tram fan Katie Haverkamp (mom of Muni-riding cat LeBron James) returned to the Muni Diaries Live stage to explain why she can't quit San Francisco. Spoiler alert: this lady has got zero commitment phobia when it comes to her love for this city.

Safe streets advocate Hayden Miller joined the Muni Diaries Live stage for the first time in April 2022. He might be in high school, but his expertise was known to a n00b Muni operator, who leaned on that knowhow for driving directions (seriously). All ended up in some...uncharted territory.

We're thrilled to bring you a live taping from our return to the stage at Muni Diaries Live on April 7, 2022! In this episode, Muni operator MC Allen explains how he went from transit fan, San Francisco devotee, to a Muni operator who went absolutely viral on Twitter.  This is a story that we want every San Franciscan to hear. You can follow MC on Twitter @that_mc. And subscribe and share this story with your podcast-listening friends. 

If you’ve been to Muni Diaries Live, you know we end every show with a Muni themed poetry throw down called the Muni Haiku Battle. After taking a two year break from the stage during the pandemic, Muni Diaries Live is back at Rickshaw Stop on Thursday, April 7, 2022! We are so excited to be back and today’s episode is a little preview of what you can expect. In today's episode, poet and transit enthusiast Mc Allen throws down with challenger Wonder Dave in a battle for his crown. Mc Allen and Wonder Dave will both be back on April 7 at Rickshaw Stop. Get your tickets here to see them live!

We are back! And in more ways than one. We've been busy cooking up a little something for you, and we're ready to let the cat out of the bag! Muni Diaries Live is returning to the stage on April 7, 2022!  It's been almost exactly two years since our pandemic-induced hiatus, and we can't wait to see you.  In celebration, we're bringing you a story from our live show by Meaghan Mitchell. She's a native San Franciscan and a journalist at the San Francisco Standard. You'll be able to see her return to the stage at our come-back show. 

Educator Kelly Gregor Hartlaub had been a librarian for some time until the pandemic hit, and she was suddenly called to become a teacher on Zoom for distance learning. Her first task as a Zoom teacher? Sex education.  And that wasn't even the hardest part. Kelly shares the challenges of teaching on Zoom, how she and fellow teachers kept going, and how she reached out to a student who was an English learner having a hard time during this all. We’re always looking for stories about how San Francisco has changed and transformed you, whether it happened on Muni or off.  If you’ve ever been inspired by a story on our podcast or gone to one of our storytelling shows and imagined yourself on stage, we are here to help! Please email us your story idea at munidiaries.sf@gmail.com, or tag us @munidiaries on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.

We're bringing you a blast from the recent past from the stage of Muni Diaries Live in 2019. Storyteller Chris Arvin is a product designer who is passionate about cities and public transit. You might know Chris from the the adorable pins, stickers, Clipper card covers that they’ve designed at their store called Transit.supply. But what you might not know is that Chris is also a big part of what made Boat Tram - that famous open top tram on Market Street -  such a part of San Francisco culture. Chris shares how the life of Boat Boi started on Twitter, and you can follow Chris on Twitter @chrisarvinsf and Boat Tram @boattramsf for the latest going-on's of this beloved SF icon.