San Francisco Blog

I came to the Bay Area in 1989 for reasons that probably sound familiar: Love, education and killer bud. What I loved about the Bay Area most was that being smart and weird were seen as virtues instead of liabilities (unlike San Diego, where I spent my teen years). I graduated from SF State in 1992 as an art major; I sucked at art, so I became a reporter. I’ve spent the past 15 years a journalist, mostly in the alt-press because weeklies, unlike the dailies, value unconventional thinking. In other words, no daily newspaper ever offered me a job.

Résumé: Berkeley Voice (reporter from 1993 to 1996); San Jose Metro (staff writer and political columnist, 1996-2001); East Bay Express (staff writer and columnist from 2001-2007); SF Weekly (managing editor).

News philosophy: No sacred cows! Anyone violating the public trust—whether their politics are liberal or conservative—should be exposed as the scum they are. The news media should keep everyone accountable, not serve as apologists for public officials who share their politics.

Pet Peeves: Hypocrites, snobs, know-it-alls, people who take themselves too seriously, and jerks who do the New York Times’ Sunday crossword puzzle in pen.

Hobbies: Basketball, poker, fantasy football, doing the Monday crossword in the Chron in pen, and being totally awesome.

Read What Others Say About Me:

"My compliments on how much better the Express has seemed since Will Harper got, uh, promoted to your San Francisco sister paper. ... The writing seems to be fueled less by impulsive adrenaline bingeing, and more by real analysis." -- Marcia Lau

"[N]ow along comes some frigtard named Will Harper writing this basically negative review in the highly esteemed SF Weekly. I mean come on. SF fucking Weekly? That's the one with the really dirty personal ads in back, right? ." -- Fake Steve Jobs

"I don't want to spend too much time on what was an obviously poor attempt at an REM concert review and/or pop culture as related by Will Harper. First, the Weekly sends someone who admittedly doesn't really know REM to the show. Second, his remark about Stipe's beanie cap — "cancer cap"? Are you kidding me? ... The writer is pathetic." -- James Kar

Contact Will here.