An aspiring YouTube creator named Tom Dehnel has just put out a new video called “What San Francisco is Really Like”. Considering the dude has only lived here for a year, my first reaction was…well, I didn’t actually react. He messaged me on twitter and I forgot about it. But

Living in San Francisco means being torn apart. It means having people you love get evicted. Seeing cultural institutions replaced by trendy cocktail bars. Moving to this city for a job in technology and getting vilified for being the reason for higher rents, even though you can barely afford your own.

I’ve got some awesome news! We received a grant from the Civic Joy Fund to put out a literary magazine celebrating SF and acting to counter the stupid “Doom Loop” narrative. It’s a gift to the people of San Francisco. And after months of working on this project it’s now available

This piece was the first thing I did that ever went viral. I originally wrote it for The Bold Italic. SF has changed a lot since I first put this out. Illustrations by the incredible Wendy MacNaughton, Design by the brilliant Wes Mitchell. This originally appeared in May, 2011 LIVING IN SAN