{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Sad Francisco\u2019s Toshio Meronek, Part 2 (S8E12)","description":"In Part 2, we pick up where we left off in Part 1. Toshio talks about those chess players at Powell and Market and other early impressions of The City before they moved here. Having grown up in Orange County, with its underfunded public transit system, Toshio always wanted to live somewhere that had a subway. Being able to walk was important, too, in contrast with SoCal, where you pretty much need a vehicle to get anywhere. SF and The Bay checked those boxes. Like Part 1, this episode is rife with sidebars. I guess that\u2019s just what happens when you get two people together who both like to talk. The first one in Part 2 is about running any sort of independent media within the larger framework of late-stage capitalism, especially when the content you create is inherently anti-capitalist. You know, light stuff. I try to get us back to Toshio\u2019s story of moving to San Francisco, then I can\u2019t help myself\u2014another sidebar, this time about Craigslist, which of course Toshio used to help find a place to live in San Francisco. They were able to get work, as we\u2019ve mentioned, but finding housing was much harder. Their first two places were in the Mission. They left the first one after only one month, thanks to a fire. Their next spot was at 24th and Bartlett, close to BART. Toshio splinters off to talk about some of the other spots they looked at and open houses they went to. \u201cOof,\u201d they say. In 2013, they were able to move into a below-market-rate apartment near Civic Center (the very home where we recorded this episode, in fact). Toshio is their own landlord, something I congratulate them on. Sometime after they moved in, they met their boyfriend. They also got exposed to more and more leftist politics in SF during this time. They talk about coming to terms with the fact that the world they want to see will probably not come about in their lifetime. That\u2019s a hard pill to swallow, but it\u2019s probably best to accept that and then fight like hell to overcome it. Toshio\u2019s light-green living magazine job afforded them the opportunity to write for further left-leaning publications like Truthout. When Al Jazeera opened its US office in The City, they got work there. They\u2019ve also written for Them and Vice. It all served as background for Toshio to launch their own outlet\u2014Sad Francisco. We go on a sidebar about the corporate takeover of the news, and how local outlets and indie operations like our own have stepped in to try to fill that void. Toshio mentions some newer publications that they\u2019re excited about, including Bay Area Current, The Phoenix Project, and Coyote Media. (Ed. note: Look for an upcoming episode with Coyote Collective founding member Soleil Ho.) Sad Francisco started (and continues) as an effort to fill the massive gaps left by said corporate media in the Bay Area. Toshio was curious about the podcast medium, and kicked things off reading and riffing on versions of 2,000-word pieces they had already written for traditional media. They mention that we\u2019re at a point now where every journalist, no matter the medium or the employer, should probably be diversifying the distribution of their work. I couldn\u2019t agree more. Sidenote: I\u2019ve been witnessing Toshio\u2019s move to self-facing camera reels, with them laying out whatever issue is on their mind, then expounding on it. It\u2019s a delivery mechanism I see more and more of, in my limited social media consumption. My wife, Erin (of Bitch Talk Podcast), has begun doing more of these as well, and they seem to resonate with folks. I haven\u2019t yet decided whether or when to do them myself for Storied. But I digress \u2026 Toshio feels that in 2026, people are looking for authenticity. They don\u2019t care so much if your media product is polished. They\u2019re more interested in substance, which would be a gain for society, if true. When I ask them how folks can find, follow, and support Sad Francisco, Toshio mentions the podcast\u2019s Patreon page. Follow them on Instagram @sadfrancis.co. And check out their website, sadfrancis.co. They\u2019re also available on most podcast apps and YouTube. Another sidebar here about how much I used to love Twitter (RIP). We end the episode with my asking Toshio how they do it, how they report so well and so relentlessly on the vast amounts of sketchy shit going down in San Francisco and The Bay. Their answer involves their various journalistic jobs and gigs over the years, and how that work trained them to package up complex ideas and explain incredibly complicated scenarios in a simple, easy-to-understand way. Then Toshio and I indulge in a lovefest for 48Hills.org before wrapping. ","author_name":"Storied: San Francisco","author_url":"http:\/\/www.storiedsf.com\/","html":"