Citizen and Self in
San Francisco 2016
On August 1-13, 2016, fourteen students from Western Kentucky University traveled to San Francisco, California, as part of Honors 251:
Citizen and Self (the core course in the Honors College at WKU). In
addition to activities such as visiting Angel Island Immigration Station with Dr. Judy Yung of UC Santa Cruz, participants compiled photo essays and wrote public journalism feature stories on social issues
facing San Francisco. This report represents the culmination of our
journey. We hope you enjoy reading about our experiences!
Students/Authors:
Emma Austin
Erin Belcher
Caroline Davis
Chelsea Denhard
Nicole DiMatties
Crystal Hassler
Christy Lester
Ashley Marshall
Kristen Miller
Leah Pendley
Kyla Scanlon
Mariah Southers
Hannah Watkins
Nicole White
Trip Leaders:
Dr. Alex Olson
Dr. Nicolette Bruner
Table of Contents:
Impact of Airbnb on San Francisco (Scanlon & Lester)
4
Redwood Conservation
(Watkins & Southers)
10
History of the AIDS Crisis
(Miller, Belcher, & Davis)
12
Latina/o Heritage in Mission District (DiMatties & Austin)
14
San Francisco’s Overlooked Citizens (Denhard & White)
16
Women & Beat Poetry (Marshall)
18
The Deaf Community and the
AIDS Crisis (Pendley & Hassler)
20
Our Trip in Pictures
Impact of Airbnb on San Francisco
By: Kyla Scanlon and Christy Lester
In today’s climate of wage stagnation, the
“sharing economy” has emerged as a way to
connect freelance workers with short-term
tasks or projects, giving them the ability to
create their own schedule in “part-part time
jobs.” One corporation that exemplifies this
trend, for better or worse, is Airbnb. This webbased app connects travelers in need of a place
to stay with those willing to host. The company flaunts its benefits, claiming to help homeowners monetize their existing resources,
which in turn offers flexibility to incomestrapped households.
But what began as a simple exchange between
two users is now rapidly transforming cities
around the world - and not necessarily in a
good way. In San Francisco, the birthplace of
this company, this phenomenon is running
especially rampant. With almost 10,000 active
listings, San Francisco has the most Airbnb
sites in the entire country, maintaining an
average 9.8 per 1,000 inhabitants. Seattle, the
city with the second most listings, has an average of only 5.6. These rentals are not evenly
scattered over the city, but instead are impacting certain districts more than others. Of the
total housing units available in the Mission
District, for example, more than 40% have
been converted into and listed as Airbnb sites.
San Francisco lawmakers believe that a large
portion of these are commercial operators,
using the internet platform to avoid the taxes
and regulatory stipulations of a hotel. According to a budget analysis done by the city, between 925 and 1,960 residential units are being kept vacant throughout the year so that
they can be rented full-time on Airbnb. Over
one-fifth of Airbnb’s San Francisco revenue
comes from such establishments, which are
illegal because they violate the city’s 90-night
cap on rental properties. In a city faced with a
housing crisis, these illegal vacancies are
prime real estate.
Due to the Silicon Valley boom and a shortage
of available land, San Francisco is already the
most expensive rental market in the country. A
median one-bedroom apartment in the city
typically goes for $3,500 a month. In comparison, a similar apartment in Louisville, Kentucky, rents at about $765. With housing
scarce and outrageously expensive, city officials believe Airbnb is taking a bad situation
and making it exponentially worse. A typical
year sees only 2,000 units added to the market,
so losing a few hundred to “full time vacation
rentals” is creating severe economic repercussions.
While there undoubtedly are Airbnb landlords
who are simply looking for a way to supplement their income – the original purpose of
Airbnb - the number of commercial operators
taking advantage of the platform is having a
negative impact that must be examined. Three
US senators – Brian Schatz (D-HI), Dianne
Feinstein (D-CA), and Elizabeth Warren (DMA) – have asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Airbnb’s impact on affordable housing. In a press release, they cited their
concern due to the company “potentially taking housing inventory off the market, and
driving up the cost of rent.”
The city of San Francisco also recently released a new piece of legislation through a
unanimous vote that would require Airbnb
hosts to register with the city. If they don’t
register – and not many have, due to unwillingness to pay the $50 registration fee Airbnb as a corporation is responsible for a
$1,000 fine each day for each listing. Airbnb
views the proposed law as too stringent and
has sued the city, citing violations primarily
under the Communications Decency Act, in
which internet companies are not responsible
for what users post on platforms.
Caught in the crossfire of city official dealings
and corporate excuses are the local residents
of San Francisco, especially those in disproportionately impacted districts. Our program
argubably contributed to this problem by renting an Airbnb located in the Mission District
during our trip. The converted warehouse is
2,880 square feet, and according to real estate
website Zillow, is estimated to have sold in
April 2010 for $165,000. Today, the same
property is valued at $1.6 million dollars; an
astronomical 900% increase in valuation over
a mere six years.
Valuation increases such as these have a detrimental impact on the whole community. As
housing values increase, rent prices are driven
up because landlords are able to charge more
for the property. The renting price for the
house we stayed in would be around $5,650 a
month, totaling $67,800 a year. Even for those
who work in the Mission District, where the
median income is $73,718 (nearly $6,000
more than the median American income) renting a home is out of reach.
We had the opportunity to speak with the
owner of the property we rented about his
experience as an Airbnb landlord. John was
one of Airbnb’s beta users, signing up when
the company was just beginning in 2008.
When asked about his view on Airbnb’s impact on San Francisco, he replied, “the impact
that Airbnb has had is devastating. It has absolutely crushed and ruined San Francisco, but
they didn’t do it on purpose.”
To be sure, Airbnb does have positive impacts
when utilized appropriately, but currently it is
exacerbating the problem of gentrification;
locals are being pushed aside as the waves of
Figure 1: Mural by Sirron Norris in Balmy Alley
Page 5
tourism and techies flood into the city. As
John notes, “Airbnb spread like wildfire so
quickly that it decimated our rental market
before the city could react.” He, along with
other members of the San Francisco community, have witnessed this process transforming
their city over the past few years. Airbnb has
morphed from a platform wherein users would
rent out extra bedrooms for a few days, to a
site that enables commercial operators to profit off the decimation of entire communities.
For example, in an article from the San Francisco Chronicle, Brian and Sarah Grzybowski
explain how they were evicted from their
home of four years after their landlady
claimed that the apartment was needed for her
daughter. Categorized as an “owner-move-in
eviction”, this is a legal loophole around the
laws set in place to protect renters from
wrongful eviction. However, a few months
later, the Grzybowski’s found their home
listed on Airbnb for $5,550 a month or $185 a
night. For comparison, their monthly rent had
been around $3,000.
Though clearly an abuse of the Airbnb platform, the monetary incentive for landlords to
kick out local, long-time tenants in favor of
temporary rentals is seducing countless landowners and contributing to the gentrification
throughout the city, especially in the Mission
District and Bernal Heights. These illegal
practices of the hosts through Airbnb’s platform risk destroying the unique culture of the
established communities in San Francisco.
The company’s mission statement claims that
“Airbnb is the easiest way for people to monetize their extra space and showcase it to an
audience of millions”, but in order for that to
be true, Airbnb is going to have to address the
regulatory issues surrounding their business.
Regardless of who is responsible for the problem, the fact still stands that people are losing
their homes and communities are being fractured.
One powerful way that local residents have
voiced their opposition to these changes is by
painting murals. Though not the only method
of community response, the artwork is highly
visible to visitors, like our class. All across the
Mission District, murals and posters with clear
narrative elements eloquently explain the locals’ frustrations and fears with the current
housing trend. This is their home, their neighborhood, their family, and they are watching
all that slowly be taken away.
One particular street in the Mission known as
Balmy Alley is plastered with powerful pieces. These represent a collective outcry against
the eviction trend, poignantly conveying how
personal this invasion is for the families of the
area. One mural, by Sirron Norris, displays a
Transformer built of houses, squashing someone under foot, with a “For Rent” sign in one
of the windows [Figure 1]. By contrast, the
Airbnb rental where we stayed had a mural
advertising the owner’s book on the side of the
building, with no connection to the neighborhood’s cultural heritage [Figure 2].
These examples are just two of the numerous
murals displayed all over the district. Most,
like the Norris mural, speak for the locals with
a voice that can’t easily be ignored. Fury,
helplessness, fear, and sorrow are given shape
on these ten, twenty, even thirty foot high
canvases of blank wall. While the local residents may not be able to stop the housing
crisis, they most certainly can proclaim their
perspective on the matter so that the city as a
whole, which possibly can turn this trend
around, will be aware.
Airbnb alone cannot be blamed for the cultural
fracturing occurring in San Francisco, but its
contribution to the problem is undeniable.
This phenomenon is not going to disappear on
its own. A balance must be found between
capitalism and culture, between tourism and
tenants, between the individual and the community, in this city and all others.
Works Cited
“About Us.” Airbnb. https://www.airbnb.com/
about/about-us
Carson, Biz. “The fight between Airbnb and
San Francisco just got nastier.” Business Insider. May 15, 2015. http://
www.businessinsider.com/san-franciscoreport-blames-airbnb-for-housing-shortageairbnb-strikes-back-2015-5
“Correct Home Facts.” Zillow. Accessed August 2, 2016. http://www.zillow.com/
homes/3359-Cesar-Chavez-San-Francisco-CA
-94110_rb
“How Much Do Americans Earn?” MyBudget360. http://www.mybudget360.com/howmuch-do-americans-earn-what-is-the-averageus-income/
Kieler, Ashlee. “Senators Call for Inquiry into
Impact of Airbnb and Other Short-Term Rentals on Affordable Housing.” Consumerist.
July 14, 2016. https://
consumerist.com/2016/07/14/senators-call-for
-inquiry-into-impact-of-airbnb-other-shortterm-rentals-on-affordable-housing/
Morse, Jack. “Study: Airbnb Makes Over A
Fifth Of Its SF Revenue From Illegal Units.”
sfist. January 21, 2016. http://
sfist.com/2016/01/21/
study_airbnb_makes_illegal.php
“Rent trend data in Louisville, Kentucky.”
Rent Jungle. https://www.rentjungle.com/
average-rent-in-louisville-rent-trends/
“Rent trend data in San Francisco, California.”
Rent Jungle. https://www.rentjungle.com/
average-rent-in-san-francisco-rent-trends
Richter, Felix. “The Role of Airbnb in U.S.
Cities”. Statista. June 28, 2016. https://
www.statista.com/chart/5127/airbnb-listingsper-capita/
Said, Carolyn. “Is Airbnb to blame for high
housing prices in SF?” San Francisco Chronicle. July 22, 2016. http://
projects.sfchronicle.com/2016/airbnb/
economics/
Said, Carolyn. “The Airbnb Effect.” San
Francisco Chronicle. July 12, 2015. http://
www.sfchronicle.com/airbnb-impact-sanfrancisco-2015/#1
Zanotti, Emily. “Sen. Elizabeth Warren Really
Hates Airbnb.” Heat Street. July 19, 2016.
https://heatst.com/uncategorized/sen-elizabeth
-warren-really-hates-airbnb/
Figure 2: Advertisement on the side of the Airbnb rental where we stayed.
Our Trip in Pictures
Our Trip in Memes
“The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.”
-Mark Twain
Redwood Conservation
By: Hannah Watkins and Mariah Southers
As soon as you enter the forest, you can't help
but catch your breath. The trees are so majestic, standing tall and proud for centuries. Compared to these huge trees, our worries and
struggles seem so small; our lives are truly put
into perspective. Their beauty truly speaks for
themselves. Everyone needs to see these beautiful trees at least once in their life.
As a kid, Deborah Zierten would go camping
in Redwood State Parks with her family as a
vacation; as Zierten grew older, she would go
to the forest as a place of sanctuary. Zierten is
a Biology major in Environmental Education,
and the Redwoods were a major inspiration in
this field of choice, as she wants to preserve
her “spiritual place”. Working at Save the
Redwoods League, she educates those that
come to the forest, as well as the people in San
Francisco, so that they can find their own
sanctuary in the forest and feel compelled to
protect the forest.
During the Gold Rush, timber was in high
demand, and at the end of 1853, nine sawmills
were operating in the Eureka valley. In 1879,
an attempt to establish a Redwood National
Park fails, but in 1918, Thomas Mathers and
conservationists John C. Merriam, Madison
Grant and Henry Fairfield, founded Save the
Redwoods League (SRL). SRL then began to
buy as much land from private owners and
from existing lumbering companies, using the
founders’ personal donations.
At the same time John Muir, often called the
“Father of Our National Park System”, worked
with the Century’s associate editor to remedy
destruction to mountain meadows and forests.
By shedding light on deforestation through the
media, Muir was a driving force behind Congress’s decision in 1890 to create Yosemite
National Park. Muir and other colleagues
suggested that an association be formed to
protect these parks and in 1892, the Sierra
Club was formed. Muir was fundamental in
the creation of national parks around the coun-
try and in 1908, his work was commemorated
and honored with the creation of Muir Woods
National Monument.
Another major player in the conservation of
the Redwoods was Senator William Kent.
Passionate about saving the Redwoods, Kent
was set on bringing tourists to Muir Woods,
by making the Redwood Highway as curvy as
possible. In the biography written by his
daughter, is the statement made by the newly
appointed California State Park Commission
Chairman, Mr. McDuffie: “A dramatic and
touching part in the creation of the Park was
taken by the late Congressman William Kent,
who (added to its acreage) only a few hours
before his death (by giving) a deed of 204
acres in Steep Ravine. Mr. Kent also aided
greatly with inspiration and counsel.”
December 22, 1932, construction access sites
for the Golden Gate Bridge were placed, and
in January 1933, construction was under way.
Even though at this point, Save the Redwoods
On a year-long sabbatical in 2006, Dr. Emily
Sheffield of CSU Chico, traveled to the Redwood State Parks, where she felt the need to
share her experience with her students. At
CSU Chico, Dr. Sheffield feels like she is able
to connect with the younger generations, finding ways to connect the bigger issues that her
generation faced and still does, to the passion
of her students. Dr. Sheffield has been a part
of a service-learning volunteerism program
that helps connect these students to the Redwoods that she feels so passionate about saving.
History
200 million years ago, Sequoias dominated
wherever the fog touched in the Northern
Hemisphere. Researchers have verified that
there are fossils that show Sequoias to once be
quite commonplace throughout the world. As
the fog has decreased in most of the Northern
Hemisphere, Sequoias, and their relatives, the
Redwoods, have all but been left to dominate
the West Coast, in a belt averaging about 20
miles wide and about 450 miles long.
Throughout history, people - especially lumbering companies - have known the redwood
by its many incredible uses. The wood is
naturally durable and strong, resistant to insects and diseases that are known to affect
trees, and take hundreds of years to decay, due
to the tannic acids found in the wood. The
redwood was used commercially as early as
1776 by Franciscan missionaries to build mission houses in San Jose and San Francisco.
While at the SF Public Library, we learned about the Redwoods being used in
the catwalk of the Golden Gate Bridge when it was first built in 1935. This was a
souvenir of the wood that was pulled from the archives to help with our research.
Page 11
League has been established, as well as Muir Woods National Monument, 70% of the Redwoods forest was owned by private parties
or lumbering companies. In August 1935, Redwoods from the Bay
Area were cut down to make the first catwalk for the bridge. Today, however, Redwoods are no longer being used as it became
costly to maintain.
During WWII, both the Navy and Army relied on the lumber industry for construction and heavy duty storage units. As Americans
flocked to the West coast over the 20th century, more homes needed to be built to accommodate these people and their families. Just
one of the towering giants alone could build twenty, five-roomed
homes. In the 1940s the redwood was seen as the premiere choice
for industry, agriculture, housing and building. Food processing
tanks, towers, and storage tanks are just a few examples of what the
redwood was used to create; the redwood imparts no taste or odor to
food products, and is very time efficient in regards to construction.
All of these factors made the redwood the perfect material during a
time of war.
Congress created the Redwood National Park in 1968, which included most of the already owned land protected by the SRL. However, for the next decade, most of the Redwood forest remains unprotected from the lumbering companies until Congress expands the
national park in 1978. In an interview with Deborah Zierten, a
member of the Education Department of SRL, she conveyed that in the
mid-1990’s, the foundation worked with the National Park system to
create a California State park system.
In 2005, Congress expanded the Redwood National Park, so that it
would then contain 131,983 acres, and in 2006, the world’s tallest tree
was discovered to be 329-feet, along with two others more than the 320foot mark. Even though these trees are protected, rangers in the parks
have seen an increase over the past several years in poaching of the trees.
What Californians Are Doing
The most prominent organization dealing with these forests is SRL,
where they buy land to restore and protect the trees, and then turn over to
the Parks systems. As a member of the organization, Zierten works to
educate the people of California as to why the trees serve a greater purpose to the planet. One of these purposes is that the trees serve as a major carbon sink to the North, meaning that the trees take in carbon and
hold the carbon, even hundreds of years after the trees have fallen, due to
the tannic acids found within them. Zierten also made it clear that the
MASTER Program of SRL is not only restoring the Redwoods, but is
also restoring the homes of many endangered species by making the
forest a liveable place again.
Sheffield stresses the importance of making the Redwoods accessible to
all people and gets her students involved with a program called, Redwood Rescue. This program consists of weekend surface learning trips
where students do anything from habitat work and trail restoration, to
environmental education efforts to enhance visitor experience. It is all
about removing barriers to participation. This generation must search for
what is keeping people from getting involved in conservation efforts, and
combat them.
The next step in conservation in this generation and looking towards the
future is all about bridging the gaps between generations. We must use
the strengths of each generation for the common good of the forests. It is
all about connecting people to the trees by relating their passions and
interests to the conservation. We must keep parks open and continue to
push for people to experience the parks for themselves.
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Deborah Zierten (member of the Education Department in the Save the
Redwoods League) in discussion with the authors, August 09, 2016.
Dr. Emily Sheffield (professor at CSU Chico) in discussion with the
authors, August 09, 2016.
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Reynolds, Christopher. “Postcards From the West California’s redwoods: In the land of the giants.” LA Times. Last modified May 18, 2014,
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Taken from the Muir Woods National Forest, this picture depicts
the scorch marks of the two trees present in the picture.
Stepping up War Production with Redwood. California Redwood Association, March 1942.
History of the AIDS Crisis
By: Caroline Davis, Kristen Miller, and
Erin Belcher
In our experience of growing up in the South,
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
(AIDS) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus
(HIV) were rarely talked about outside of
health class or the doctor’s office. However,
walking down the streets of the Mission District in San Francisco you’ll often see advertisement after advertisement for different medicine cocktails or HIV test kits. In 1981, the
Centers for Disease Control declared a worldwide epidemic of AIDS after several cases
were reported in San Francisco and New York
City. Although AIDS was a worldwide epidemic, the AIDS crisis in the 1980’s disproportionately impacted the San Francisco community due to its large gay community.
San Francisco was the epicenter of the AIDS
crisis in the United States in the 1980’s. Even
today, San Francisco has the largest population of HIV positive individuals with an estimated 16,000 individuals living with HIV in
2014, and an estimated 9,567 individuals living with AIDS. A 1986 survey published in
the A merican Journal of Public Health revealed that 41.8 percent of teens living in the
Bay Area reported that where they live increases their chances of contracting the disease. This underscores the fear and lack of
knowledge surrounding HIV/AIDS during the
time of the crisis, particularly in a community
like San Francisco where the epidemic was so
prevalent.
The AIDS epidemic struck fear across America as AIDS was medically inexplicable, and a
sure death sentence in the late 1970’s and
early 1980’s. It became common for otherwise healthy individuals to turn up with rare
illnesses and cancers; the media even described it as “a mysterious outbreak of a sometimes fatal pneumonia among gay men.” It
was not until 1982, the term AIDS was first
used by the CDC defined as “a disease at least
moderately predictive of a defect in cellmediated immunity, occurring in a person with
no known case for diminished resistance to
that disease.” It was later determined in 1983
by Dr. Francoise Barre-Sinoussi at the Pasteur
Institute in France that HIV was the precursor
for AIDS and that the retrovirus attacked the
body’s CD4 cells causing a diminished immune system. Because AIDS was making the
body’s immune system was so weak, otherwise healthy individuals were more susceptible to contracting rare illnesses and cancers,
such as Kaposi sarcoma and Pneumocystis
carinii pneumonia.
The Circle of Friends memorializes over 2,200 San Francisco citizens who have been affected by
HIV and AIDS, allowing their memory to never be forgotten. Photo by authors.
While there were large efforts being put forth
to battle the disease, news media sensationalized the AIDS epidemic and disproportionately linked AIDS to homosexuality. Newspaper
headlines from the early 1980’s inaccurately
framed AIDS as a disease that singularly affected homosexual males. Headlines include,
“Swinging Gays Put Amebiasis on the U.S.
Map,” “Cancer Outbreak in Homosexuals,”
and “A Pneumonia that Strikes Gay Males.”
Not only do these headlines indicate the confusion surrounding the AIDS crisis in the medical world, but they also indicate prejudiced
and biased media reporting against members
of the LGBT community in the 80’s. Media
magnified the AIDS crisis in headlines like
these, and news outlets struck fear in the people of the United States.
AIDS and survived long enough to tell the tale
decades later, survivor’s guilt plagues many of
them. They lost loved ones and friends left and
right. They wonder, “Why me? Why was I the
one who got to survive when my friends didn’t?” They never expected to survive, so many
of them spent all the money they had in order
to enjoy what they thought would be their last
days. After losing his partner, a man named
Peter, also diagnosed with AIDS, expected to
die soon after, so he cashed out his share of a
business he owned to travel and enjoy what
time he had left. He’s still alive today. “If I’d
died when they told me, I would have died a
wealthy man and successful businessman,”
quoted Peter in a San Francisco Chronicle
article. Instead, he struggled to keep living in
San Francisco with no money or savings.
HIV and AIDS killed thousands of people
within only a few years. The crisis started in
1981, and by 1983, there were 2,118 documented deaths; that’s 40 deaths a week on
average. By the peak of the crisis in 1990,
there were over 120,000 total deaths. A survivor of the crisis named Jerry said, “One by
one, my friends were taken by AIDS until one
day, walking down Market Street, it seemed as
if someone had played a cruel joke on me…
But then seemingly overnight all the friends,
all the people I knew… were suddenly gone.”
For those who were diagnosed with HIV and
The AIDS crisis spearheaded efforts within
San Francisco to improve the aspects of the
community affected by the disease. Eventually, a better understanding of the disease
caused efforts to help AIDS patients to catch
on. In 1981, the Bay Area Reporter, a San
Francisco newspaper, reported that an AIDS
residence effort called the Shanti Program
began in order to price rent based on one’s
ability to pay. The article makes it very clear
that this program was not intended to be a
hospice program as “the Shanti help[ed] people live.”
Page 13
The efforts didn’t stop there. Multiple organizations were
created throughout the city to help the citizens of San Francisco affected by the disease, like the LGBT Center. Located in the Castro District of San Francisco, the Center is
celebrating its fifteenth anniversary in the upcoming year. It
was founded to fill in assistance gaps where other programs
fell short, such as with homeless youth and in professional
development. Felipe Flores, the Community Programs Coordinator at the LGBT Center, spoke to us about the impact
of the HIV and AIDS Crisis. “One of the really great things
that has come out of the AIDS epidemic, in terms of San
Francisco, is that we’ve really spearheaded the nation in
care for people living with HIV and prevention for people
who are HIV negative,” says Flores.
Fortunately, the number of people being diagnosed with
HIV and AIDS is dropping. In 2014, 44,073 people were
diagnosed with HIV in the United States, a 19% drop in
numbers since 2005. In San Francisco, the state of the epidemic has seen tremendous progress. After seeing continuous drops nearly every year, there were only 302 new reported cases in the city in 2014. “With new medications
out, it’s not a moot point, but it’s a different level of conversation that’s happening now. It’s a weird balance of
knowing where you come from but not staying pigeonholed
in this fear of HIV. It’s not a death sentence anymore,” says
Flores. “It hasn’t been for a long time.” A major reason for
this is the city’s plan of action regarding treatment. As it
strives to be an AIDS-free city, San Francisco implemented
a program called RAPID (Rapid Antiretroviral Program
Initiative for new Diagnoses) in 2013 to assist HIV/AIDS
patients in their diagnosis and treatment both financially
and logistically. This means that whenever someone receives a positive HIV test, they’ll see a doctor and receive
medication to start taking that same day; no matter what
time or place you take the test, you have access to the medical care you need. Flores said, “The cost of treatment if you
are living in San Francisco is $0.”This paired with the fact
that treatment doesn’t cost you anything if you live within
the city has definitely played a part in lowering the numbers of new HIV cases.
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Folder AIDS ‘83.
The AIDS Crisis helped shape San Francisco in a way
nothing else could. A physical example of this is the Circle
of Friends AIDS Memorial in Golden Gate Park, constructed 25 years ago. Today, there are over 2,200 names carved
into the stone – names of the friends, family, and loved
ones of San Francisco citizens who have been impacted by
the disease. For some, the memorial is a place of support
and community. During World AIDS Day celebrations at
the memorial, a man named Rivera Hart was quoted, saying, “I feel supported seeing so many people here. When I
pass on … at least I know I won’t be forgotten.” For a city
so impacted by the disease, this sense of community is
important. Felipe Flores calls the city a “sanctuary.”
“There’s this intersection of a lot of different people coming here and still being seen.” The Circle of Friends is one
such sanctuary. It acts as a place where people can go to
remember and to be remembered as well. It provides a
physical example of how the city uses its resources to make
sure everyone feels taken care of, and it all started with the
HIV and AIDS epidemic.
Bibliography
“A Pneumonia That Strikes Gay Males,” SF Public Library,
Shilts AIDS Research, Box 102, Folder 1981 Clips.
This flag flies high over the Castro District in San Francisco to honor the memory of
the first openly gay man elected into political office, Harvey Milk. It represents a
sense of togetherness and pride for the gay community in the city. Photo by authors.
Latina/o Heritage in the Mission District
By: Emma Austin and Nicole DiMatties
America earned the nickname “melting pot”
because throughout its history, people came
from different cultures and backgrounds to
make this country their home. Immigrants
from the same regions have often formed communities within America to imitate the culture
from which they came.
When immigration from Central and South
America to San Francisco increased during the
20th century, these Latino immigrants moved
into the Mission District, creating a vibrant
Latino culture in the middle of San Francisco.
Issues within the Mission have existed since
its birth, including a lack of opportunities for
the first wave of immigrants, or more recent
gang violence. However, gentrification has
found its way into the Mission, and threatens
to wipe the neighborhood of the Latino life
and heritage that staked its claim there over
100 years ago.
In the early 20th century, San Francisco began
to establish its role as the “preeminent economic gateway for the western states.” As
financial networking matured within the city,
economic connections also grew between San
Francisco and neighboring Latin American
regions. San Francisco soon became the primary California destination for immigrants
from these Central and South American regions, particularly Chile and Northern Mexico,
thus beginning the formation of the predominantly Latino culture seen in the Mission District today. Migration to the city increased
during and after World War II, where immigrants found jobs in shipyards, canneries, and
other factories.
the past 30 years, the majority of San Francisco’s Spanish-speaking citizens still reside in
this area. The Mission functions as the cultural
center for the Spanish-speaking population of
San Francisco, offering taquerias, bakeries,
and other Latino restaurants and services.
Many immigrants faced difficulty finding
work because of language barriers. Some responded to the lack of opportunities by building businesses of their own. When a woman
named Guadalupe González migrated with her
family, she went to beauty school and learned
English, but was only able to get a job as a
shampoo girl. Unwilling to accept this, González opened up her own beauty shop in the
Outer Mission. González and others like her
played a valuable role in the development of
Latino culture within the Mission neighborhood.
However, after the Latinos had been in the
Mission District for some time, the neighborhood’s social status began to decline. As cited
in a pamphlet from the Mission Neighborhood
Centers, Inc., the Mission District was in danger of becoming a slum. The pamphlet addressed the possibility of the Mission District
becoming a slum in the following years. The
writers of this piece were concerned that programs were not being developed to counter
this problem. Their goal was to discover in
which manner it would be most effective to
plan for the district’s rehabilitation.
Throughout its history, the Mission has
“housed a community marked by cultural
adaptation and change.” As the flow of Latino
immigrants into the Mission District continued, more affluent occupants of the area
moved to the suburbs and “better” parts of the
city. Many of the Latin Americans migrants
who move into these vacated neighborhoods
were poor and remained so because of language barriers and discrimination.
An untitled article addresses the issue of community development, stating the need for a
girls’ program within the Mission District,
specifically, “The need for group activities
exists for girls as it does for boys.” The writer
was concerned because young girls were more
sheltered and kept closer to home. These
young women needed a place to call their
own, and a plan was to be drawn in favor of
this proposition
Although the Mission District has seen a significant growth of commercial business within
Despite these setbacks, the Latino community
deserves credit for building the Mission into
the culturally vibrant neighborhood it is today.
Immigrants moved their roots to San Francisco, and created a community where they could
support each other and build successful lives.
The vibrant mix of various Latino cultures is
still visible on the Mission streets today, the
striking mural artwork being one exceptional
example. However, the Mission could be facing huge destruction because of gentrification’s growing impact.
The gentrification process may be viewed by
some as countering the “slum” issue that was
facing the Mission District. However, the
residents of the community view this process
as detrimental to their neighborhood. Gentrification occurs when individuals come into an
area, renovate houses and buildings, and put
them on the market for large sums of money.
The people of the area cannot afford the retail/
rent of the updated property, and are often
forced to move.
This photo is from a collection on the history of the Mission District from the San Francisco
Public Library. Taken at St. Anthony’s Church on Cesar Chavez Street, this photo features a
first communion and represents the historical Latino presence in the area.
Gentrification also contributes to homelessness in the area. If citizens are unable to afford
housing elsewhere, many have no choice but
to live on the streets. The New York Times
pointed out that luxury condominiums and
Page 15
organic ice cream stores are rapidly replacing
the 99-cent stores and rent-controlled apartments in the Mission District. With the growing popularity of Airbnb, gentrification is
taking over the area at an accelerated pace.
However, there are developments that have
been instrumental in promoting the well-being
of the Mission District’s Latino residents.
Since the Mission District is a primarily Latino community, many of the organizations
based in the neighborhood focus on the needs
of that culture group. One example of an organization that has assisted to development of
the neighborhood is Mission Girls. Director of
the organization, Susana Rojas, described the
program and its purpose, saying “we want to
empower young women to achieve academically and within their community.” This program is for school aged girls to get involved in
something worthwhile. Mission Girls offers
assistance with homework and tutoring programs to ensure academic success. The girls
may also participate in sports, recreational
activities, arts and crafts, and dance lessons.
Another goal of Mission Girls is community
activism. Rojas said the girls are encouraged
to participate in volunteer programs and community service events around the neighborhood. After they leave the organization, the
girls are more likely to return to their community and continue to serve through volunteer
work. Not only are the girls enriched during
their time at Mission Girls, but are also able to
share what they have learned with the younger
generation. Mission Girls saw a problem within the Mission, and addressed it directly by
giving the girls in the community a safe place
of their own.
El Tecolote, a bilingual newspaper in the Mission, is another prime example of how people
coming together to address the same issue can
have a strong impact on the search for a solution. Acción Latina began as a project in a
class at San Francisco State University in
1970. Professor Juan Gonzales saw how Latinos and other minorities were invisible in the
major newsroom, so he created a class to bring
more Latinos into journalism. El Tecolote was
the product of this class. Not long after it first
hit the streets, the newspaper moved to the
Mission District and has spent the past 45
years growing its impact on the community
through advocacy journalism.
These developments all express a similar goal:
to empower the Latino community with
knowledge and skills, inspiring change in the
neighborhood. El Tecelote provides information about issues directly relevant to the
lives of people in the Mission, keeping the
Latino community connected with the rest of
the San Francisco Bay Area. The Mission
The words “Nuestra Mission” in this mural mean “Our Mission.” This image was taken on Balmy Alley. This street is famous for its collection of murals that tell the story of Latina/o heritage of the Mission District.
Cultural Center has a vision to “promote, preserve, and develop the Latino cultural arts.”
The Center claims making the arts accessible
is an essential element to the community’s
development and well-being. Rojas said Mission Girls strives to teach their girls how to
better themselves so they can give back to
help their community.
It’s often easy to brush off problems with
homelessness or legal protection of immigrants, and believe nothing can be done on the
individual level to help the issue. This is untrue, especially with cases of gentrification
similar to the one in the Mission. Steps can be
taken to resist the removal of the Mission’s
residents and the culture they have established
there, including refraining from renting with
companies like Airbnb that drive up prices.
The Mission has organizations working to
assist Latinos within the community, but individuals can make a difference as well
Bibliography
Carol Pogash, “Gentrification Spreads an Upheaval in San Francisco’s Mission District,”
The New York Times, (2015).
“El Tecelote History,” Acción Latina, http://
accionlatina.org/en/el-tecolote-history/.
“Girls’ Program” – Extended Priority. Untitled
article in Mission History Vertical Files Collection, Mission Branch, San Francisco Public
Library. N.d.
Mission Neighborhood Centers, Inc. Why?
Unpublished pamphlet in Mission History
Vertical Files Collection, Mission Branch, San
Francisco Public Library. N.d.
Shone Martinez, “History of San Francisco’s
Spanish Speaking People,” (1972). Unpublished paper in Mission History Vertical
Files Collection, Mission Branch, San Francisco Public Library.
Susana Rojas (Director of Mission Girls) in
discussion about the organization. August 9,
2016.
Summers Sandoval Jr., Tomás F. Latinos at
the Golden Gate: Creating Community &
Identity in San Francisco. Chapel Hill: The
University of North Carolina Press, 2013.
“The Birth of a Dream,” Mission Cultural
Center for Latino Arts. http://
www.missionculturalcenter.org.
San Francisco’s Overlooked Citizens
By: Chelsea Denhard and Nicole White
As we walked along the streets of San Francisco, we saw out of the corners of our eyes
many people standing or lying on the sidewalks. In the Mission District, there were
tents where people had banded together. In
the bathroom of the main branch of the San
Francisco Public Library, many used the free
facilities to clean themselves and
change. Why were all these people sitting on
rather than walking along the streets? What is
it that plagues this often disregarded population of San Francisco and the Bay Area at
large? Homelessness.
Homelessness is at a crisis point in San Francisco. In the 2015 Point-in-Time Survey, over
7,500 people here were experiencing homelessness, and over half of those people were
unsheltered. Homelessness has been a problem here for decades, especially among minorities. Poverty among these minorities can
clearly be traced back to the practice of redlining, which allowed for discrimination against
minorities in obtaining FHA loans. These
minorities were denied the right to purchase
houses, forcing them to rent. As gentrification
sweeps through San Francisco and the Bay
Area, house owners are basking in their new
riches while renters struggle to keep up with
the skyrocketing prices—often ending up on
the streets.
San Francisco is the second highest rated city
in the United States in terms of homelessness
per capita, counting 795 homeless for every
100,000 people. This is a shocking amount
compared to the national rate of 177 for every
100,000. Despite more focus in recent years
on decreasing San Francisco’s homelessness,
the numbers in fact have not decreased and
“the percentage of older and severely troubled
homeless people has grown, meaning that
those on the street are more difficult to help
and, with the wear and tear of living outside,
look more ragged.”
tion. Jennifer “Yeah Yeah” Cowles, an outreach counselor for the program focused on
helping San Francisco’s homeless youth population, stated that the “Drop-In Center” that
provided a safe zone for youth was denied the
renewal of their lease after a decade of renting
their location in the Lower Haight. The owners wanted to take advantage of tourists and
gentrification by opening up a retail shop in
the space; however, the space has simply sat
there unused since the closure of the Drop-In
Center in 2013. According to Cowles, although HYA has offered higher rates to rent
that location again, their offers have been
refused. The fact that these offers, well above
the prior rate, were denied is a sign not only of
gentrification, but also of the negative stigma
towards individuals experiencing homelessness, for the owners would rather have an
empty building than what is perceived as a
high-risk group.
Public attention to the homelessness crisis has
increased in recent years. Call-ins to the police complaining about homeless individuals
have increased one thousand percent over the
past three years. In an attempt to raise awareness about the plights of those experiencing
homelessness, many media sources in the San
Francisco Bay Area recently banded together
for a day and focused on the issue in effort to
“create a ‘wave’ of coverage that [would]
force politicians to come up with solutions,”
according to Audrey Cooper, the editor in
chief of the San Francisco Chronicle.
The city has, however, been hard at work on
the issue—just maybe not in the best
ways. For instance, the city has thirty-six
quality of life laws; one such example is the
ordinance prohibiting sitting or lying on the
sidewalk from seven a.m. to eleven p.m., commonly referred to as the sit-lie law. Although
enforcement of those laws may seem appealing to those who find the presence of homeless
people on their commute to and from work
disconcerting, the sit-lie law and similar city
ordinances do nothing to provide homeless
people an alternative. As Cowles points out,
not only do these laws increasingly criminalize the state of being homeless instead of addressing the underlying causes, but they also
are “selectively enforced,” especially in the
Haight, a district bustling with tourists. When
questioned about other acts of the city and
whether or not they are beneficial, Cowles
said “people [are] trying to make uninformed
decisions about a giant issue.”
Joe Wilson of Hospitality House has a similar
point of view. Wilson helped to start the Coalition on Homelessness, a group that tries to
alleviate the issue of an uninformed few making decisions that affect many by “providing
platforms for homeless people to tell their own
stories and provide their own solutions.” One
way the coalition gives a voice to the homeless population is through their Street Sheet
publication, written and sold by homeless
citizens; this tactic is also an attempt to remove the stereotype that all homeless people
Although there are many factors that contribute to the problem, the widespread stereotype
that alcohol and drug use directly causes the
majority of homeless people to lose their housing is actually far from the case in San Francisco. Only eighteen percent of individuals
stated that alcohol or drug use was the primary
cause of their homelessness. For many, losing
a job was the main contributor. Eviction,
arguments with family/friends, and divorce/
separation/breakup are other primary causes.
The closure of the Homeless Youth Alliance’s
center on Haight Street illustrates the impact
gentrification has had on the homeless popula-
Shown here is a tent on the sidewalk in the Mission District
across the road from Mission Dolores.
Page 17
are panhandlers, for these people are offering
something in return for money. The publication, as well as the coalition in general, allows
those who are homeless to “not be talked
about, but to do the talking,” in Wilson’s
words.
To address the homelessness crisis, Wilson
believes that the government and public need
to reset their social priorities. He stated that
the United States has more prisons than colleges and that there are more individuals in
prison than in public housing. Wilson said
that the government’s priorities have shifted
from human services to industry and the military; he argued that the government instead
needs to invest more in affordable housing.
With rising housing prices and limited availability, San Francisco’s Homeless Outreach
Team has recently shifted from focusing on
housing to a model solely based on street medicine and providing services in that manner.
Although the street medicine approach provides no solution to the immediate problem of
housing the vast population in need, it is a step
in the right direction, for many people experiencing homelessness need more than a house.
In Cowles’s view, a holistic approach combining physical and mental health services in
addition to housing is required. Well over a
third of San Francisco’s homeless population
suffers from a mental illness, and over a quarter has a physical disability. As San Francisco
is beginning to explore this particular avenue,
time will reveal how successful it is. As one
journalist observed, “San Francisco, like many
other cities that have adopted the housing-with
-counseling strategy, is struggling to find ways
to get significant numbers of people off the
dole altogether.”
The homelessness issue can seem to be such
an unsurmountable problem that individuals
walking down the street may feel like nothing
they do will make a difference. What they
may not realize, though, is that simple acts of
kindness can make a huge impact. Cowles
and Wilson both noted that when they were
previously experiencing homelessness, people
engaging with and treating them as worthy
humans helped immensely. Each went on to
join the organization that helped change their
lives.
With the term “homeless” becoming more of
an identity over recent years, it has become
easier to see those who are experiencing
homelessness as sub-human. Cowles pointed
out that even saying “people experiencing
homelessness” rather than “homeless people”
makes a big difference, since the former puts
people first. If someone’s identity is simply
“homeless,” it strips away all other identities
they may possess, causing them to feel inferior
and powerless by questioning the essence of
who they are.
To everyone, everywhere, Wilson has this to
say: “Practice love in any way that you can,
for as many people as you can, as often as you
can.” He says to simply smile, make eye contact, and acknowledge the existence of this alltoo-often invisible population. Change starts
in small ways, and it starts with love. We, as
people, need to “connect to each other,” extend ourselves to other human beings, tutor
others, join a bowling league, actively engage
with each other, hold one another accountable,
and be there to lend a helping hand when we
see a fellow human in need. We need to be
informed voices for those who are overlooked
in our society.
Bibliography
Connery, Peter. 2015 San Francisco Homeless Point-in-Time Count & Survey Comprehensive Report. San Jose: Applied Survey
Research, 2015. Accessed August 11, 2016.
http://sfmayor.org/sites/default/files/
FileCenter/Documents/455SanFrancisco_HomelessReport_2015_FINAL.PDF
Fagan, Kevin, and Heather Knight. “S.F.
Homeless Population Getting Sicker, Older,
Survey Says.” SFGate. July 15, 2015. http://
www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/S-F-homeless
-population-getting-sicker-older-6387308.php.
Fagan, Kevin. “SF Struggles to Help ExHomeless Thrive off Streets.” SFGate. August
5, 2013. http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/
article/SF-struggles-to-help-ex-homelessthrive-off-4705541.php.
Fuller, Thomas. “A Plan to Flood San Francisco with News on Homelessness,” The New
York Times. May 15, 2016. http://
www.nytimes.com/2016/05/16/us/sanfrancisco-homelessness.html?_r=0
Jennifer Cowles, interview by Chelsea
Denhard and Nicole White, August 4, 2016,
Café International, transcript.
Joe Wilson, interview by Chelsea Denhard
and Nicole White, August 5, 2016, Hospitality
House, transcript.
Knight, Heather. “Homeless Outreach Team
Cuts Back, Regroups to Do Street Medicine.”
SFGate. September 14, 2014. http://
www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/HomelessOutreach-Team-cuts-back-regroups-to-do5754599.php.
Lewis, Sukey. “Homelessness in San Francisco’s Mission: A Neighborhood View,”
KQUED News. July 12, 2016. http://
ww2.kqed.org/news/2016/07/12/homelessness
-in-san-franciscos-mission-a-neighborhoodview/
Sze, Kristen. “Data Shows San Francisco Has
Second Highest Homeless Population in United States.” ABC7 News. June 29, 2016. http://
abc7news.com/news/data-shows-sf-has-2ndhighest-homeless-population-in-us/1407123/.
“The State of Homelessness in America.”
National Alliance to End Homelessness. 2016.
http://www.endhomelessness.org/page/-/
files/2016%20State%20Of%
20Homelessness.pdf.
Pictured here is part of the Chinese Garden Park, which had numerous people experiencing homelessness. In the background, behind the gazebo, there is a tent set up
and clothes along the fence. In other areas of the park, more people had set up camp.
The Female Beat Poets
By: Ashley Marshall
Marshall was the trip assistant for this
program. While in San Francisco, she
carried out archival research in the Alan
Ginsberg Papers at Stanford University.
Her essay, “A (Mostly) Forgotten Group:
The Female Beat Poets and their Importance to the Movement,” is below.
One of the most famous literary groups to
come out of San Francisco is the Beat poets.
These poets, many of whom began their careers on the East Coast before moving to San
Francisco, were described by Anne Charters as
“a wild group with firsthand experience of life
on the fringes of society…They became the
spokesman for people rejected by the mainstream” (Charters, 4). When thinking about
the beats, a couple authors usually come to
mind—Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. If
one continues to think, names such as Neal
Cassady, William Burroughs, and Lawrence
Ferlinghetti might also come to mind. There
is another group however, included in the Beat
poetry movement who are often marginalized
or forgotten altogether—female Beat poets.
One of these female Beat poets is Diane di
Prima. Di Prima was born and raised in New
York. In 1956, a friend gave her a copy of
Allen Ginsberg’s Howl. She soon began writing more, and she eventually moved to San
Francisco to be closer to many of the other
Beats. She was a close friend of Ginsberg’s
until his death, writing him many letters that
both ask for his help and show how fond of his
friendship and advice she was. She has published many poems and books, and she was
named Poet Laureate of San Francisco in
2009, yet I had never heard her name before I
began to do this research— unlike Kerouac
and Ginsberg whose names I had heard mentioned many times before. Why was this?
Had the male Beats actively tried to silence
the voices of the female Beat writers, of whom
there were many? Or has this group of writers
just been ignored publicly and critically
through much of the past 60 years? The answer is found through both questions.
In her introduction to The Portable Beat Reader, Anne Charters states, “The Beat Generation did less well for its women. Reflecting
the sexism of the times, the women mostly
stayed on the sidelines as girlfriends and
wives” (Charters, xxxiii). She goes on to describe how Diane di Prima was an exception
to this rule, but that it holds true for the most
part. There is truth in this statement, but it is
also more complicated than this. The judgment of the Beat generation as an exclusive
boy’s club is somewhat valid, but this is not
Founded by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, City Lights bookstore became a meetinghouse and
publisher for many Beat poets. Photo by Ashley Marshall.
completely true, nor is it completely the fault
of the male Beat poets. Part of the blame for
this should also be placed on Beat criticism.
As Amy Friedman describes, “For a while it
seemed that Beat criticism was keen to sustain
the boy-gang preserve of the central Beat coterie of male writers—Jack Kerouac, Allen
Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Gregory
Corso—by denying the contributions of any
women, or casting them as peripheral” (Friedman, 230). It is easy to cast blame
on the male Beat writers as all being sexist and
not wanting females to encroach on their territory, and while this may true for some of
them, it isn’t true for everybody. Allen Ginsberg and Diane di Prima, for example, had a
work relationship that often entailed Ginsberg
reading and proofreading Di Prima’s work or
being a reference for her when she applied for
grants. The women of the Beat generation
were more than just the wives and girlfriends
of the men of the Beat generation. The women of the movement had to work just as hard,
if not harder, than the men to get published
and recognized. They worked against the
sexism inside and out of the movement itself
and “their own words work to dispel the 1950s
‘Beat chick’ stereotype which accrued in the
wake of the intense media attention to the Beat
movement” (Friedman, 230). For some, such
as di Prima, Carol Bergé, and Joyce Johnson,
all of this extra work did lead to their being
published and recognized, but for others, even
after all their hard work, their writings were
pushed aside and their contributions were
silenced.
For the female Beat writers who are becoming
more public as scholarship about them grows,
there are many female writers who are still in
the shadows and may never be read. In the
Beat Museum in San Francisco, there is a
quote from Gregory Corso replying to a question from the audience that was detailed in
Stephen Scobie’s account of the Naropa Institute tribute to Allen Ginsberg in July 1994:
“’There were women, they were there I knew
them, their families put them in institutions,
they were given electric shock. In the ‘50s, if
you were male you could be a rebel, but if you
were female your families had you locked up.
There were cases, I knew them, someday
someone will write about them.” In the case
of Elise Cowen, who spent “years in and out
of institutions” and committed suicide in 1962,
“many of her poems were destroyed by her
parents after her death.” (Peabody, 226).
Many of these women had their voices silenced because their speaking out about the
topics covered in their writings seemed improper or unbecoming of a female voice.
The work of the female Beats was equally as
Page 19
important as that of their male counterparts.
They were being the voice “for people rejected by the mainstream” as the male Beats were,
but they were also adding a feminine identity
to these writings. As Friedman suggests,
“[female Beats’] writing describes the terms of
individual struggles to define artistic identity,
but Beat women writers also helped overthrow
conservative mores in the public realm of
art” (Friedman, 231). They were furthering
the agenda of the Beat movement while also
furthering the ideas of women’s equality and
participation, and they continued to do this
despite everything that was pushing against
them.
plex than it seems and that one answer may
not be the only answer. In this case, we must
continue to look for the voices that may have
been originally silenced and listen to their
stories as well. We must remember that no
matter why their voices may not have been
heard originally, “the progress and survival of
Beat Generation women writers necessitated a
series of successful navigations through social
constraints” (Friedman, 240) and they should
be as recognized for their contributions to the
Beat movement as their more well-known
male counterparts are.
Diane di Prima to Margaret Mills, 20 January
1975, Box 99, Folder 14, Allen Ginsberg Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries.
Works Cited
The originally posed question, therefore, is
quite complicated and cannot be answered
with just one view. It is a combination of
many factors that led the female Beat authors
to be less public and recognized as their male
counterparts. The important thing to remember is that sometimes a question is more com-
Anne Charters, ed., The Portable Beat Reader
(New York: Penguin Books, 1992).
Richard Peabody, ed., A Different Beat: Writings by Women of the Beat Generation
(London: High Risk Books, 1997).
Diane di Prima to Allen Ginsberg, 4 April
1973, Box 99, Folder 12, Allen Ginsberg Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries.
“Diane di Prima,” Poetry Foundation, accessed 16 August 2015, http://
www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/
poets/detail/diane-di-prima.
Amy L. Friedman, “’Being here as hard as I
could’: The Beat Generation Women Writers.”
Discourse, 20 ½ (1998).
Wall Text, quote by Gregory Corso noted by
Stephen Scobie, The Beat Museum, San Francisco, California.
This poster was hanging in the Beat Museum in the area that I dubbed “the corner for the women.” This was a corner of the museum
where there were several pictures of different women who were part of the Beat generation with captions describing their contributions.
There was also this poster that features more of these women. What struck me was the quality of this presentation. To me, this poster
looks like something I would have put together in middle school with pictures I printed off the Internet glued with a glue stick onto a
white poster board. Many of the other parts of the Museum, the parts devoted to Kerouac or Ginsberg for example, look more like what
you would imagine museum exhibits to look like. It made me wonder why it was there. Why something that to me seemed subpar would
be included in this museum. Is it because the women of the Beat generation are deemed subpar by the museum? Or is that too cynical? I
can’t be sure. And I know my project has me skeptical of the treatment of the women of this generation already, but little things like this
are things I have begun to notice as I go through my college career as a gender and women’s studies minor. I know they are not things
everybody, or even most people notice, but I am glad I do. Photo and caption by Ashley Marshall.
The Deaf Community and the AIDS Crisis
By: Leah Pendley and Crystal Hassler
The AIDS crisis that occurred in California
during the 1980s affected thousands of people
from all different walks of life. The virus did
not pick and choose whom it would affect.
Countless people died without proper medical
care or assistance. Efforts were put forth to try
and help those suffering once the severity of
the issue was recognized. While most people
could have some form of access to healthcare
and this information about AIDS, one group
that was continually overlooked was the deaf
community. Not being able to hear important
information about the disease created a whole
other problem entirely. Many of the organizations created to help AIDS victims provided
great resources and medical advice to those
affected, but if the organizations providing
these services did not provide interpreters or
did not have a TTY (teletypewriter), this important information was not easily accessible
by the deaf. The Journal of the Association of
Nurses in AIDS Care states, “In 1992, however, 12 years after the onset of the epidemic in
the United States, experts estimated that the
deaf population was 8 years behind the hearing population in its knowledge and awareness
about HIV/AIDS.”
Since the Deaf community was often inadvertently excluded from this knowledge on the
disease, organizations designed to specifically
help the deaf or hard of hearing began to
emerge. Administrations such as the Deaf
Community AIDS Project from the Rainbow
Deaf Society, the Deaf AIDS Center, and the
AIDS Emergency Fund for the Deaf were
developed in hopes that they could help their
fellow deaf friends and family get well. Deaf
people still supported regular AIDS funds in
the city, such as the San Francisco AIDS
Foundation, but many contributions included
notes that stated the money donated was to be
used in order to help deaf people specifically.
Learning workshops were also started for deaf
people living with AIDS and how they could
be helped. Living with AIDS and being deaf
provided unique challenges that many people
did not know about.
Darol Nance was the founder and director of
the Deaf AIDS Center in San Francisco and
worked in many deaf institutions. In an interview with the San Francisco Independent, she
said, “Hearing people don’t always think
about deaf needs like interpreter services, and
the cultural aspects of deafness. Their needs
are like that of any cultural minority.” Hearing
people often do not realize that deaf people
need specific things in order to be fully informed, such as interpreter services for face-to
This is the bulletin board in the Deaf Services Center in the San Francisco Public Library
showing newsletters and upcoming events that will occur in the San Francisco area.
-face interactions, teletypewriters for phone
calls, or closed captioning for televisions.
Deaf people can get left out of information
simply because someone forgot that there
could be a person in the audience who cannot
hear the speaker. Since many deaf people did
not have easy access to the things they needed
in order to fight against the AIDS virus, such
as medical care and assistance, the Deaf community began to feel ignored and oppressed.
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
prohibited discrimination in all aspects of life
whether it is dealing with schooling, transportation, or simply accessibility. Deaf people
fall under this category of disability, even
though they and many other advocates for the
Deaf community do not consider themselves
disabled. In Deaf culture, deaf people see
themselves just the same as everyone else; the
only difference is that they cannot hear. Being
labeled as disabled, in their minds, makes it
seem as though they are “broken” and need to
be fixed in order to function fully in a hearing
society. Many deaf people would not change
the fact that they are deaf and love the Deaf
community. The word disabled generally
brings about a negative stigma of people who
are different, and deaf people do not want this
stigma attached to them. However, because of
this act that they are allowed by law to have
access to anything a hearing person could.
Employers can no longer legally discriminate
against someone because they are deaf, and
schools have to be able to provide the necessary accommodations for deaf people should
they need it.
In the 1990s, Naz Motayar was the director of
the Santa Clara County HIV and Disabilities
conference. Motayar wanted to bring AIDS
education to disabled people. She said, “It is
the perception of our society that disabled
people don’t have sex, that they shouldn’t
have sex or aren’t active. So they’re not getting educated about HIV.”
In the wake of this AIDS epidemic, the
Ohlone College Sign Theatre put on a performance called Hear No Scream from April 2830, 1995. The performance was designed to
show how deaf people and the Deaf community felt about being excluded from many needed services. The program from the event, located at the San Francisco Public Library,
included this narrative from the director,
Thomas K Holcomb: “It [the play] represents
two perspectives-- 1) the AIDS alert has not
always reached the deaf community in a timely fashion, nor have the services and information been accessible to the deaf community;
and 2) the cries of the deaf community for
services and help have not always been
heard.” This short excerpt demonstrates how a
lot of deaf people felt during the time of the
crisis; they felt as though they were being
ignored or overlooked. Many AIDS organizations, medical professionals, and other resources were either unwilling or unable to
accommodate deaf AIDS patients’ language
needs. Many deaf activists began advocating
for the same access to information and medical care as anyone else.
This issue of deaf feeling oppressed is not an
issue that is local to San Francisco or just the
AIDS crisis. Deaf people and communities all
over the world have dealt with the same issues. Some countries have great programs for
their deaf citizens, while other countries may
see them as disabled and needing to be fixed.
Page 21
Deaf people throughout the centuries have
gone through periods of being treated equally
and then cast to the lowest rung on the social
ladder. Deaf history shows times where ASL
and Deaf Culture have almost been stamped
out by hearing people that thought it would be
best. The only thing that is different about a
deaf person is that they cannot hear, but that
stands to be the community’s uniting factor as
well. Ken Canedo, a minister deeply involved
with the Deaf community, said, “Because of
their impairment, they have their own culture
with special expressions of socialization,
unique brand of humor, even their own concepts of happiness and fulfillment.”
Looking at the Deaf community today, one
can see that they have made use of existing
resources to expand and help the community.
Both the San Francisco Club of the Deaf and
the East Bay Club of the Deaf have regular
meetings to discuss upcoming events. The
Deaf Counseling Advocacy and Referral
Agency (DCARA), which is set up to help
with both counseling and learning independent
living skills, also hosts events such as an annual cook out. New events and activities have
also been introduced that help bring the community closer. The San Francisco Public Library has a whole center dedicated to the Deaf
community and Deaf studies. The Deaf Services Center not only provides books about
Deaf history, culture, and resources for deaf
and hard of hearing people but also has a community board that has recent newsletters and
fliers for upcoming events.
Works Cited
"Darol F. Nance – Class of 1952." Central
Institute for the Deaf Alumni Association.
2012. http://www.cidaa.org/darol-f-nanceclass-of-1952/.
Deaf AIDS Center Collection, 1987-2011 SFH
71 (2 boxes) L65/4B. San Francisco Public
Library. San Francisco, California.
Gaskins S. Special population: HIV/AIDS
among the deaf and hard of hearing. J Assoc
Nurses AIDS Care. 1999;10:75-8.
Herbert, Susan. Ken Canedo – Ministry to the
Deaf. San Francisco Independent, April 3,
1990.
Kristine Weber, "AIDS Awareness Through
Word of Hand," San Francisco Independent,
May 1, 1990.
Nomeland, M. M., & Nomeland, R. E.
(2012). The Deaf Community in America:
History in the Making. Jefferson, N.C.:
MacFarland & Company, Inc.
Pickerrell, Cynthia. "SJSU Hosts Conference
Conference Combines HIV, Disabilities with
Education." Spartan Daily (San Jose), March
4, 1994, 102nd ed., sec. 26.
San Francisco Club for the Deaf 2006-133 (1
Flat OV box), L65/5A. San Francisco Public
Library. San Francisco, California
San Francisco Deaf Club. Accessed August
10, 2016. http://www.sfdeafclub.org/.
While in San Francisco, we had the opportunity to dine at a restaurant that is both owned and staffed by deaf people. Mozzeria is a
modern pizzeria on 16th Street in the Mission District. All of the servers in the restaurant are either deaf or hard of hearing and use
sign language. People come in whether or not they know sign language, and it seemed as though there were no worries about the
language barrier. The staffers were prepared to take orders by pointing, writing, and simple communication between people who do
not know sign. There was no uneasiness between the servers and the customers; many of the people eating in the restaurant were
hearing and carrying on conversations. The restaurant is a great example of how the communication barrier can be easily overcome
and show that deaf people are capable of working any job, including ones that deal with hearing people. Being able to easily and
comfortably coexist in an environment with signers and hearing people alike was a fantastic testament to how the Deaf community
is constantly moving forward and is being more understood. Photo and caption by Leah Pendley and Crystal Hassler.
Honors College at WKU
1906 College Heights Blvd. #31082
Bowling Green, KY 42101-1082
Phone: 270-745-2081
E-mail: [email protected]
Interested in Participating in 2017?
For future study away opportunities in
the Citizen and Self on the Road
program, see: http://www.wku.edu/
honors/education-abroad/
program in Washington DC.
In June 2017, we will be offering an opportunity for satisfying your Honors 251 requirement through a study away
For more information, see: http://www.wku.edu/honors/
education-abroad/citizen_self.php
Washington DC
June 2017
Dr. Olson and Dr. Bruner