This originally appeared in my Broke-Ass City column for the SF Examiner. There’s a scene in the movie “Empire Records,” where all the record store employees hold a funeral for Deb, even though she’s still alive. Earlier in the movie, Deb had tried to kill herself. So her friends and

As an impressionable young person growing up in the suburbs with a younger sister and two totally squaresville parents, figuring out what adolescence was supposed to look required that I look elsewhere for guidance. My best friend had two older sisters, the eldest of whom used to babysit for me.

As 2024 winds down, we’re reflecting on another incredible year of sharing the stories, art, culture, and nightlife that make the Bay Area so unique. BrokeAssStuart.com wouldn’t be what it is without you—our community of readers, supporters, and believers in independent media. This year, instead of asking you to join Patreon

It wasn’t until about 2005 or so, deep in the throes of the SECOND Bush  administrations warmongering and muckery that “The 90s” began to have a discernible feel and quality.  We had gotten enough of a distance away from living in them that we could see them from a subjectively