Photo by Chelsea Rowe

They say it takes three weeks to break a habit, and the third annual KUNST-STOFF Arts Fest gives you three-and-a-half to take dance classes, participate in workshops on choreography and creative-intuition, and attend performances loosely centered on the theme "Inhabit," May 15-June 7. Curated by KUNST-STOFF artistic director Yannis Adoniou, events feature local and visiting artists working in dance, new media, technology, film, and more.

More »

In a city that serves as a progressive paragon, it's easy to forget that American women didn't get the right to vote until 1920. And that's just one facet of the tumultuous history and continuing struggle for women's rights -- here and abroad.

The International Museum of Women (IMOW) -- an innovative online museum based in San Francisco -- has been championing female-focused issues since 2006, but its history of fierce feminism has roots stretching back to 1985.

First founded as the Women's Heritage Museum, this nascent organization operated as a museum "without walls" for 10 years, producing exhibits, sponsoring an annual book fair, providing fodder for teachers during Women's History Month, and of course, celebrating the lengthy lineage of women throughout the past, long overlooked for their accomplishments.

Elizabeth Colton, original founder of IMOW

In 1997, a Bay Area woman named Elizabeth Colton was hoping to take her daughter to a museum dedicated to women's contributions to society...but she couldn't find anything. She called up Gloria Steinem, a noted feminist activist, who she didn't know, and asked her if such a place existed.

"Gloria told her 'no, but I think you should [start] one!'" says Catherine King, Vice President of Exhibitions and Programs at IMOW. "Elizabeth took that has a call to arms." Elizabeth soon corralled a group of Bay Area teachers equally disappointed by the current feminist offerings and established the International Museum of Museum.

"She thought, 'lets expand the mission, let's get global.'"

More »

Photo by Kim Anno and Kyung Lee

More than two years have passed since the earthquake and tsunami devastated Fukushima prefecture in Japan, and only last week, The New York Times reported that the radioactive water used to cool the nuclear reactors in Fukushima is accumulating at an alarming rate. The independent writer of Fukushima Diary catalogues phenomena: mutated dandelions, unseasonal cirrocumulus clouds, absent azalea buds.

Jose Navarrete and Debby Kajiyama's Navarrete x Kajiyama Dance Theater, past honorees of Dance Magazine's 25 to Watch, present BAILOUT!, their newest activist interdisciplinary site-specific installation, May 10-12 in and around Dance Mission Theater. BAILOUT! tackles Japan's nuclear disaster from the perspective of our relationship with the oceans. The installation considers what recourse remains to those served by governments that would rather rescue financial institutions than address massive environmental consequences, as well as our complicity in the act of urban living.

Navarrete and Kajiyama have previously created work on genetic modification of crops and diminishing natural resources, as well as the city's transgender and ethnic communities.

More »

Last year, inspired by the timely coming together of what seemed to be countless writing posses via social media, and with Litquake as an inspiration and a model, a handful of writers decided to throw a festival in Uptown Oakland that turned into 125 authors reading in 25 venues in three hours -- all for free. Appropriately, they called it Beast Crawl ("East Bay" being "beast" in pig latin). The gathering's second annual edition is right around the corner, and to raise funds and generate excitement, the organizers are throwing a hat party on Monday that will feature live music from Wreck This Place and Titan Ups, plus a raffle with prizes donated from local businesses. We thought this was a good chance to check in and see what The Beast Crawl Collective has in store for us this year.

More »

A big number

Pi is without question the most elegant of irrational numbers; surpassing all known tests for randomness, it is essential for describing general relativity, the DNA double helix, rainbows, and waves. Given humanity's need to find patterns in the world, it's not surprising that pi has been the subject of obsessive study for nearly 4,000 years and that, in some corners, it is believed to hold the secrets of the universe -- and madness for those who study it too closely. For the majority of San Franciscans, however, "Archimedes' constant" means one thing...

More »

Say what you will about the prevalence of human feces and sky-rocketing rents -- the Bay Area is still an indisputably beautiful place. These videos by Shia Productions capture some of the natural and man-made wonders of San Francisco and Oakland that are rife for exploration, cheap dates, or just to gawk at the sheer loveliness of our hilly homes.

See Also: Hundreds of Starlings Fly through Downtown San Francisco (Video)
What Gay Men Think About Vaginas (Video)

More »

Meredith Heuer

Lemony Snicket

At author readings, young fiction writers often leave disenchanted, because people are always going on about the book. Who has time to read? You want to know about the writing process, about the physical act of getting the words on the page, specifically that magical quality or thing or bit of advice that will put you the fast-track to Zyzzyva sending you an e-mail for once. Sure, you could go to writing school -- so go there. Tonight, at a bona fide writing class (CW 520, according to the syllabus) taught by an esteemed professor (Robert Glück) at an esteemed school (the S.F. State Creative Writing Department), which is open to the public one night a week. All that's needed is a big-shot author you can machine gun questions at. How about Daniel Handler?

See also:

Novel Gazing - Self-consciousness steals the show in an adaptation of Daniel Handler's writing

Appearing at Litquake Starting this Weekend: Practically Everyone

More »

courtesy of Michael Bush

Growing up among the cornfields of Ohio, Michael Bush never dreamed of becoming a fashion designer. He learned to sew from his mother and grandmother, but it was a chore then, not a passion. "It was getting the Butterick pattern and following the instruction sheet," he says. Yet Bush went on to create some of the most iconic clothing in the world -- pearl-frosted military jackets, glittering armbands, and rhinestone-encrusted socks.

See also:

Art Beat: Dita Von Teese's Corset Maker on Sculpting the Body and Ethical Underwear

Jean Paul Gaultier Talks Couture, Tattoos, Vintage Shopping in S.F.

More »

Maggie Preston

Come out and show some love for the youngest and brightest up-and-coming artists and performers at the Second Annual San Francisco Youth Arts Summit. Youth leaders from prominent San Francisco advocacy groups have joined forces to showcase young artists' works which spans all realms of artistic expression.

See also:

Video of the Day: Laser Mazes, Giant Robots, and SMS-Driven Cops and Robbers

The Art of Macworld

More »

Hanna Quevedo

The election is over, Black Friday is behind us, and the holiday season is in full swing. Shoppers are out and about, we're all frantically trying to get caught up on work before our vacations, Macy's Holiday Tree is lit and brightening up Union Square and -- wait a minute -- Macy's tree is lit? Yep, it's true. Once again, we have missed the holiday tree lighting in Union Square. But don't despair if you're reading this with a similar panicked reaction; we've found a couple more tree lightings to round out the holidays for all you procrastinators.

See also:

Maya Kabat Exhibit in SFMOMA Cafe Distracts from Downtown Holiday Madness

Black Friday: SF Weekly Takes Masochism to a New Level, Spends 24 Hours at Walmart

More »