Nonogirl Radio

Another Loss

J Church: My Favorite Place

Word traveled via the internet. This was in a myspace comment

Oct 21 2007 6:01 PM

the following was posted by a friend of lance's on his personal page. this is very sad:

i'm so sorry to say, Lance Hahn passed away earlier this afternoon. he had been in a coma since collapsing at dialysis on friday, october 12th.

as far as the doctors can tell, this collapse was due to a sudden, drastic drop in blood pressure, which in turn was probably caused by a recurrence of the infection he had had in september combined with the stress of dialysis. he received immediate cpr from medical professionals at the dialysis center, but as it took fifteen or twenty minutes to resuscitate him, he suffered neurological damage from lack of oxygen to the brain, leaving him in a coma from which he never returned.

As for me, I'll remember the "End rockstar idolatry. Worship your girlfriend" sticker on his guitar, how he seemed to cover the streets of the Mission District, and how he wore long shorts no matter what the weather.

When I was new to San Francisco and the music community, he always made me feel welcomed. In fact, I think one of my first interviews EVER was with him for an article I did for Rice Paper when J Church was on tour in Pomona with Unwound.

Once again, I wonder how things might have been different with health insurance...

Another Loss

Word traveled via the internet. This was in a myspace comment

Oct 21 2007 6:01 PM                                     

the following was posted by a friend of lance's on his personal page. this is very sad:

i'm so sorry to say, Lance Hahn passed away earlier this afternoon. he had been in a coma since collapsing at dialysis on friday, october 12th.

as far as the doctors can tell, this collapse was due to a sudden, drastic drop in blood pressure, which in turn was probably caused by a recurrence of the infection he had had in september combined with the stress of dialysis. he received immediate cpr from medical professionals at the dialysis center, but as it took fifteen or twenty minutes to resuscitate him, he suffered neurological damage from lack of oxygen to the brain, leaving him in a coma from which he never returned.

                                                                         As for me, I'll remember the "End rockstar idolatry. Worship your girlfriend" sticker on his guitar, how he seemed to cover the streets of the Mission District, and how he wore long shorts no matter what the weather.

When I was new to San Francisco and the music community, he always made me feel welcomed. In fact, I think one of my first interviews EVER was with him for an article I did for Rice Paper when J Church was on tour in Pomona with Unwound.

Once again, I wonder how things might have been different with health insurance...

Zirin on Writing

Somehow I almost missed that my favorite sports writer (to be truthful, I don't follow sports, so he's really one of my favorite WRITERS, period) David Zirin was coming to town!

He's awesome. He hung out in the crowd before the event started and I learned that his analysis just comes from having good politics!

During the talk, I noted that he repeated some of the same funny ways of conveying his biting analysis. This doesn't take away from his brilliance, but it also pointed out that some smart people have an arsenal of anecdotes to pull from.

He talked about the skill of Barry Bonds, the potential endless use of the asterisk in sports records, and the birth of host country nationalism at the Olympics.

But the most frightening thing he said was this: don't go to journalism school. "Write for a newspaper for a year. You'll learn to write on deadline and that's what you need."

Those words made me, in the midst of practice GREs, vocab flashcards, and solicitations for letters of recommendation throw my hands up! I've been vacilating between "to apply" or  "not to apply" with my latest stance on the APPLY side. His  statement added a decisive vote to the "don't go" side, echoing the exact sentiment of one of my editors.

But I want to do more than learn to write on deadline. I want to build on my multimedia skills, build contacts, and allow myself time to absorb all that makes journalists knowledgeable with a nice, low-interest student loan!

Perhaps you should check in with me in the spring, though. If I don't get in to school, perhaps I'll have sour grapes and say, "David was right. Who needs j-school!"

Day of the Dead

  "A Serving of Love" Fireplace 
  Originally uploaded by nonogirl.

Last year I produced two stories about the annual, multicultural Day of the Dead show that Rene Yañez produces. This year, a piece I produced is a part of it!

Unfortunately, Bill Sorro passed away while our show about him was up at Manilatown Center. The audio installation, "A Serving of Love" Fireplace, moved from Manilatown to Somarts.

Besides the physical change in location, I'm excited because many  more people will be exposed to Bill's life and values. At the opening, I heard from two people who knew Bill but didn't know that he passed on. One person told a story about the parties the Sorros and Robles had at Somarts where they roasted pig and talked story late into the night. Another young person said that her parents were part of the struggle to save the I-Hotel.

Also, this exhibition includes tours from school children who I hope will like to play with the bricks that are movable and have audio.

The show is up until November 3.

Also, YOU can participate in the show by contributing photos of your deceased loved ones or alters from your own culture. Make your contributions of digital photographs by going here.

Jack Davis 1940-2007

Jack Davis wore so many hats in the San Francisco art scene it would put that hat store on Valencia Street to shame. He coordinated the staging for hundreds of festivals, and protests. He was director of Intersection for the Arts. And most recently, he built Somarts into a space open for all kinds of events from APAture’s celebration of emerging Asian American artists to SRL rocket blasting robot attacks to multi-cultural Day of the Dead celebrations.

Most importantly, he created with a can-do attitude. His generosity benefited San Francisco artists and arts organizations. He saved Kearny Street Workshop, creating office space into the already cramped Somarts Cultural Center, when we lost our office in South Park at the height of the dotcom boom.

Rob Hurwitt wrote this obituary.

You are welcome to share an offering at the upcoming Day of the Dead gallery at Soamrts.

SPJ Award

Last summer while I returned to Maui before the AAJA conference in Honolulu, I reported a follow up story to my award winning Maui water story. This segment became part of a special hour long show for Making Contact made possible by a PRX reversioning grant.

PRX should be pleased with their investment as the show just won a Society of Professional Journalists Award for Investigative Journalism, Broadcast!