Tech, in all its iterations and corollaries, tends to drown out most conversation about the current state of San Francisco. Are young tech workers destroying the city’s cultural and demographic core? Is it a bubble? What’s up with those Google buses? A slice of toast costs how much now?


But virtually all of San Francisco’s media outlets — newspaper, magazine, TV, radio, blog — want you to focus on something else, at least for a day. San Francisco is plagued with an epic and persistent homeless problem, and it’s time to start talking about it. For one day, on June 29, media competitors are forgetting all their traditional rivalries to blitz the city with homeless coverage.

“It’s like a proof of principle for the city,” says Jon Steinberg, editor in chief of San Francisco magazine. “If all these independent businesses and individuals can set aside their differences and break down their little fiefdoms, just think of what our government agencies could do if they followed suit.”

In 2016, it’s fair to say that media is fractured — consumers access news in an unprecedented number of formats, from a vast array of outlets. The idea here is to flood the city with coverage from almost all of these news sources, so no one can avoid thinking about the homeless. This project is the brainchild of Audrey Cooper, head editor at the San Francisco Chronicle. “The thought is, there is not anywhere you could turn that day where you aren’t forced to look at this,” says Michael Gray, enterprise and investigations editor at the Chronicle.

Gray is Cooper’s point person in the newsroom. While she builds partnerships and tends to big-picture strategy, he will manage the reporters and stories his paper is devoting to the cause. Though there is one official day for the citywide media event, the Chronicle intends to focus on homeless issues for the entire week of June 29th. It’s a massive project, and there are a host of moving parts to wrangle.

“Instead of just bemoaning the fact that this problem exists,” says Gray, “we want to move the dialogue in another direction.”

At last count, 30 organizations had pledged their involvement. This includes all the local television and radio stations, the San Francisco Examiner (Chronicle’s daily competitor), SF-based Mother Jones magazine, even the local arms of Buzzfeed and Mashable. Every outlet will tackle the problem differently, but the collective effect will be a deluge.

San Francisco’s homeless population approached 6,700 at last count, plus around 850 homeless youth. The problem is very apparent when you walk through many city neighborhoods, with de facto Hoovertowns lining scattered boulevards, pervasive smells of urine and feces, distressed individuals accosting passersby. Cooper told the New York Times a colorful tale of losing her cool when a homeless couple had sex in front of her infant child. It was a formative moment, part of her impetus for the entire project.

It’s not like the residents of San Francisco — or its government agencies — are unaware of the problem. This is common water cooler talk, but the tenor is often anecdotal, lacking in hope or meaningful analysis. (Sometimes it’s downright awful.) But the leaders of this project feel the problem is not endemic to the city — progress can be achieved. “Instead of just bemoaning the fact that this problem exists,” says Gray, “we want to move the dialogue in another direction.”

The Chronicle has devoted much ink to homelessness in the past, but this time will be somewhat different. Instead of the classic journalistic approach of simply shining light on a problem, their reporters intend to present an array of potential solutions. They won’t purport to have all the answers, but they want to at least acknowledge the problem can be tackled.

Some outlets are shying from the Chronicle’s solutions-driven approach. Public radio affiliate KQED, another of the leaders in this project, plans to stick with what they are calling “pure journalism.” San Francisco magazine intends to provide political analysis — “Something we’re good at,” says Steinberg — as well as a huge, data-driven series of profiles of homeless individuals, produced in collaboration with outside partners.

“This is not just some West Coast hippie dippie thing,” says Steinberg. “San Francisco has the same kind of experienced and jaded journalists as you’ll find anywhere. I’ve lived and worked in other cities — including New York — and I think so many places would jump at the chance to embrace this level of real journalism.”

  • Man’s dog suddenly becomes protective of his wife, Internet clocks the reason right away
    Dogs have impressive observational powers.Photo credit: Canva

    Reddit user Girlfriendhatesmefor’s three-year-old pitbull, Otis, had recently become overprotective of his wife. So he asked the online community if they knew what might be wrong with the dog.

    “A week or two ago, my wife got some sort of stomach bug,” the Reddit user wrote under the subreddit /r/dogs. “She was really nauseous and ill for about a week. Otis is very in tune with her emotions (we once got in a fight and she was upset, I swear he was staring daggers at me lol) and during this time didn’t even want to leave her to go on walks. We thought it was adorable!”

    His wife soon felt better, butthe dog’s behavior didn’t change.

    pregnancy signs, dogs and pregnancy, pitbull behavior, pet intuition, dog overprotection, Reddit stories, viral Reddit, dog instincts, canine emotions, dog owner tips
    Otis knew before they did. Canva

    Girlfriendhatesmefor began to fear that Otis’ behavior may be an early sign of an aggression issue or an indication that the dog was hurt or sick.

    So he threw a question out to fellow Reddit users: “Has anyone else’s dog suddenly developed attachment/aggression issues? Any and all advice appreciated, even if it’s that we’re being paranoid!”

    The most popular response to his thread was by ZZBC.

    Any chance your wife is pregnant?

    ZZBC | Reddit

    The potential news hit Girlfriendhatesmefor like a ton of bricks. A few days later, Girlfriendhatesmefor posted an update and ZZBC was right!

    “The wifey is pregnant!” the father-to-be wrote. “Otis is still being overprotective but it all makes sense now! Thanks for all the advice and kind words! Sorry for the delayed reply, I didn’t check back until just now!”

    Redditors responded with similar experiences.

    Anecdotal I know but I swear my dog knew I was pregnant before I was. He was super clingy (more than normal) and was always resting his head on my belly.

    realityisworse | Reddit

    So why do dogs get overprotective when someone is pregnant?

    Jeff Werber, PhD, president and chief veterinarian of the Century Veterinary Group in Los Angeles, told Health.com that “dogs can also smell the hormonal changes going on in a woman’s body at that time.” He added the dog may “not understand that this new scent of your skin and breath is caused by a developing baby, but they will know that something is different with you—which might cause them to be more curious or attentive.”

    The big lesson here is to listen to your pets and to ask questions when their behavior abruptly changes. They may be trying to tell you something, and the news may be life-changing.

    This article originally appeared last year.

  • Throughout history, women have stood up and fought to break down barriers imposed on them from stereotypes and societal expectations. The trailblazers in these photos made history and redefined what a woman could be. In doing so, they paved the way for future generations to stand up and continue to fight for equality.

  • ,

    Why mass shootings spawn conspiracy theories

    Mass shootings and conspiracy theories have a long history.

    While conspiracy theories are not limited to any topic, there is one type of event that seems particularly likely to spark them: mass shootings, typically defined as attacks in which a shooter kills at least four other people.

    When one person kills many others in a single incident, particularly when it seems random, people naturally seek out answers for why the tragedy happened. After all, if a mass shooting is random, anyone can be a target.

    Pointing to some nefarious plan by a powerful group – such as the government – can be more comforting than the idea that the attack was the result of a disturbed or mentally ill individual who obtained a firearm legally.


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