Mission Mission

My sister makes cute little felt turntable slipmats, and she just made them available via her new Etsy shop. So even though she almost never comes to visit, and even though she thinks blogging is dumb, please click here to view her inventory

SF Print Collective is having some kind of gallery opening next week, so I was perusing their site and came across a whole series of posters produced years ago for something called the Mission Anti-Displacement Coalition. This beauty stirs up varying sets of emotions for me. Was anybody around when this campaign was in full swing? Link.

Previously on Mission Mission:

Gentrification Implications of Sidewalk Stencils

Tonight at 10pm, Doc’s Clock hosts a screening of Last Call, a short thriller about life, love and dive bars by filmmaker Kurt Weitzmann:

Last Call is the story of a “regular” who is trying to hang on as the last threads of his life unravel. A pathetic and desperate man is kicked out of his neighborhood bar at last call. He then pulls a gun and holds the young and ineffectual bartender hostage with the threat of his own suicide.

Link (funcheapSF).

Previously on Mission Mission:

Doc’s Clock Smells Like Bathroom

When we found out Friday’s Critical Mass was all peaceful, we went off in search of one that wasn’t. Over at milkyboots, our favorite Louisville-based webcomic, Virginia (an avid cyclist) tells us about a pal of hers named Pat who had a bad experience in the aftermath of Friday’s ride. Virginia believes Critical Mass is about fun and community rather than messing with motorists, so:

It goes without saying then that I strongly disagree with the Critical Massers who looked up Pat’s address and then went out and SPRAYPAINTED HIS FUCKING CAR. How are we supposed to get anything accomplished if we repeatedly prove to this city what assholes bike riders are? Yes, I know we are better because we ride all the time. So start acting like it. Don’t let your anger control you. If you want to spraypaint something, spraypaint the fucking slaughterhouse. Or McDonald’s or something. People in cars aren’t the enemy.

They’re just cyclists who don’t know it yet.

But wait, couldn’t the slaughterhouse just be a petting zoo that doesn’t know it yet? And the McDonald’s a Gratitude? Read the whole story (titled “Critical Massholes”) here.

“Mr. Seahorse knows that no one is illegal,” reads this sidewalk stencil found by Mission Mission reader JimBeam.

Okay, not an Ocelot. Meet Xena. She’s a Savannah (which makes her part Serval — yikes!), she loves Dolores Park and she’s very talkative (“mraaaar, mraaaaaaaaaaaar, mraar”). Yesterday she drew quite a crowd just sitting there looking pretty. Click photos to see photo page.

Update: Michael Pieracci says maybe Xena ain’t so happy.

Previously on Mission Mission:

I Lost Meow to Meth

Who loooves coffee!? Coffee Like Wine does, and they’ve just reviewed some of the best Four Barrel Coffee has to offer:

[T]he Kocherie was a dead ringer for Darjeeling tea, with a lithe mouthfeel and astringent and spicy flavors in the mouth. On the nose I got that black tea scent as well as a candied fruit, something like those chewy, sugar coated orange slices candy that you pick up from a convenience store, two for $1.

Wow! Read a lot more here.

Photo by .chickpea.

It’s time for the 9th Annual Expo for Independent Arts, and for the first time it’s being held outdoors, in our favorite place in the world, Dolores Park:

The 2008 Expo is an all-day extravaganza in Dolores Park featuring more than 100 Bay Area arts organization exhibitors, a couple dozen D.I.Y. workshop and education events, delicious food, a children’s activity area, and two stages for live music, performances, circus acts and hundreds of local artists and musicians. Attendees can browse tables staffed by local galleries, nonprofits, collectives and small businesses; present their portfolios; and join in workshops on grant proposals, censorship, arts marketing, underground art history, making a demo tape and more.

We’re looking forward to performances by Ralph Carney, SFC Double Dutch and Uni and Her Ukulele. See you there? (via funcheapSF)

Flickr user H 3D snapped this shot (and this shot, and this shot) down in San Jose. Bon voyage, Ribity!

The Chronicle‘s C.W. Nevius just filed a report called Worrisome changes roil the Mission District. In it, he takes a look at homelessness and gentrification, in part through the eyes of a longtime Missionite called Pergola. At the end, they come across some of those sidewalk stencils we all love so dear:

“Sanctuary city for the rich,” one reads. Another said, “Gentrification, better than crack.”

It leaves residents like Pergola wondering how he got on the wrong side of this.

“I was going to make one up that said, ‘Poop on my driveway and I will run over you with my stroller.’ “

In the Mission, people might not think that was funny.

I think it’s funny! But seriously, it’s nice that our paper of record is taking an interest, yeah? Read the whole thing for some startling facts and figures, and insights from city officials and others in the neighborhood.

Previously on Mission Mission:

Sanctuary City for the Rich