Sane Francisco Achievements
What did two years of staying Sane get us?
For over two years now, here in the Belly of the Beast, Sane Francisco (the initial iteration of which was known as Team Sanity) compelled me with the mission to find and connect with any rational, sincere, truth-seeking person in SF.
I so badly wanted all of us to know that we were far from alone.
Due to our being surrounded by a throng of myopics who unhesitatingly put stock in logical fallacies and ludicrous assertions, the critical thinkers of our city — basically anyone who drew attention to the inconsistencies — were left bereft.
(Betrayal or isolation, I don’t know which caused the hardest pain.)
Today, in early 2023, and going by our current numbers, I’m happy to say that the primary mission of Sane has been accomplished. By now I am certain that, compared to the beginning of 2021, the average Sane Franciscan has a greater amount of friends in their immediate entourage, allowing them to feel less lonely, more empowered.
For me, it’s been amazing to witness the size of the community grow, after having sent the very first email (to about 10 people that I knew from the Navy Blue Venn Diagram) in January two years ago, suggesting that we now have regular, in-person contact.
I also know that the creation of Sane Francisco led to the formation of many other sub-groups and countless collaborations — political, artistic, and business — as it rightly should have; closer connections would inevitably lead us in that consolidation direction, especially in a city that automatically ostracizes those with basic common sense.
Whew! I stop here to think about the insanity we have
had to endure in two years, and I cannot even…
It took me a long while to collate, but I’ve listed below the achievements that I’ve personally been able to count, just from looking at what was logged on my calendar, or from flyers I’ve made.
Human beings make the world go round Stay Sane!
However, before I get to those, there’s a bunch of people that I want to give a personal shout out to:
Susie & Doug: who have been consistently at my side since the inception of Sane Francisco, with sensible suggestions and objective reviews of any plans or big decisions I couldn’t make alone. Their unwavering presence meant they were not only always there for physical help at Analogue Saturdays but their intelligent hearts lent me much-needed emotional support through some tricky times (honestly, part of my staying sane journey has been to ride through the insane parts of Sane…)
Maya: for being such a dear and wise sister, gracefully reminding me on a daily basis that movement, laughter and creativity were key. (MDA+MPX = BT/BI)
Rob MyJob: for becoming such a fantastic collaborator on umpteen artistic projects and for singing the truth so clearly (and often very wittily).
GiGi and Leeza: for lending sound assistance and so many other types of crucial in-person support with many of the small-, mid- & large-scale events that went down. (And also to each: for being moderators, for a time there…).
Robin: for being a tireless activist-educator, loaded with information she is able to drop without hesitation on anyone, anytime, anywhere. (Ask her about mask holes and note that she is a size queen as she speaks).
The Sane Moderators’ Team: Arjun, Chris, Damien, Jonathan and Robin who all provide a range of perspectives.
Chris: for being enthusiastic and who also got me to create some superb Sane merch (see below).
Farmer Rick: who lent us his bucolic locale for some of those larger events.
My lovely and unexpected bf/partner: who showed up one day at Analogue and over the course of many months proved himself to be a solid human being — a veritable rock of support — keeping me grounded and laughing with me and at me.
[Oh em gee, this sounds like I just won a flippin’ Oscar. And no, my boyfriend’s name is not Oscar!]
And finally a huge thank you to everybody who has participated in all the many ways it takes to build the Sane community. I trust you know how much I appreciate your contributions.
Let’s count the successes!
OK, on to listing all our achievements:
In real life (IRL)
49 x Analogue Saturdays: The main Sane gathering which also served as a sidewalk sale, putting cash in the pockets of many Sane vendors and sometimes neighbours who just liked hanging with the Sane gang. (I can count 20-25 vendors in this time). With our smiling and oft-singing open faces, we couldn’t help but attract curious passers-by who would ask why we had such a happy vibe. When we told ‘em what we were about, sometimes they’d say “ugh!” in disgust, and sometimes we’d recruit new Sane Franciscans! Only rain, very cold weather, or a more pressing appointment stopped play. Thank you to all the many Saners who, over the course of the magic SF number — 49! — of Analogues, helped with the set-up and takedown of tables, chairs and wares. Not to mention bringing food to share, giving a talk or just plain hanging…
18 x Song Francisco rallies: In late 2021, all us anti-mandate chanteurs started to meet up at noon on Tuesdays on the steps of City Hall to sing songs of freedom, not to mention ditties about the city we love. A photo of some Song Franciscans was even featured in the New York Times and apparently even Steve Kirsch took a pic and posted it on his Substack (although I can’t find that post, maybe someone can help?)… Thank you to Leeza, RMJ, Robin, Kathy, Carol, Cora and others for consistently being there.
Health Freedom rallies at San Francisco City Hall in August and September 2021: I was honoured to MC at – and, together with a great team of Bay Area-wide medical freedom fighters, help organize and promote — both of these rallies. We had a great turnout with many excellent speakers and a fabulously engaged crowd, despite the controlled — and literal — opposition sent out to disrupt us. (Nice try, George!)
In support of SF City Workers, Sane Francisco also helped promote and attended several rallies at City Hall in 2021-2022:
Showing up to protest outside Mayor Breed’s home with our singing voices and letters taped to the wall of her building:
Co-organization or organization of several large-scale community events at Rick’s Farm: Halloween Extravaganza, Flower Moon, Line Eleven, all with musicians, DJs, children’s activities and vendors. Over the course of these events, we created a budget for all our Sane Musicians, DJs and children’s activity leaders to get paid decently, and provided the space for dozens of vendors from our community to sell their wares.
From the proceeds of these large-scale community events, we were able to donate to the SF City Workers fund (« you should too) and also to the school of our sister org in the East Bay.
Sane Francisco also co-organized or organized community-empowering meet-ups (eg. Buycott Meet-Up and the Identity Theft Garden Party), as well as social gatherings (Potluck Hangout, Nocturnal Concrete Mountaineering, Saturday Night Lounging; these last three were actually the precursor to Analogue Saturdays).
And many other gatherings such as the first official Sane meet-up ever, a house party in Noe Valley (thank you Alex for lending us your garden), regular Saturday nights at our favourite Indian restaurant for post-Analogue hanging or for Special Saners’ Birthdays and The Answer To The Universe (New Year’s Eve Party that took place in 2021-2022).
Online
Creation and moderation of the Telegram group: Sane Francisco (Discussion) which counts over 600 members.
Creation and moderation of specific Telegram sub-groups that are purpose-driven, helping Sane Franciscans in specific domains:
Helping to promote individual members of our community with their business or vision.
And then there’s this here Substack which aims to get the Sane word out in what has now become one of the most inane (sic) cities in the U.S.
Art from our Sane Hearts
Last but not least, Sane Francisco established itself as an arts organization, lending resources and support to the rare artists and musicians in our city who were speaking up for medical freedom. Here’s what was accomplished:
Launched a new video series, Beige Against The Machine, with the second episode interviewing former Bay Area resident, Judea Johnson, who exudes sanity. (More episodes in progress…)
Co-produced an album — To Our World — of provocative medical freedom songs with Sane artist, Rob MyJob (of which four songs have already been featured as Song of the Day on James Evan Pilato’s brilliantly irreverent podcast, Media Monarchy… JEP we love you, you are so flippin’ hilarious!)
Co-produced 2 music videos for Rob MyJob, featuring many members of our community in cameo roles. (I just wrote about the latest, most epic, one here).
Connected in person with our musical friends and allies Jam for Freedom in London (which I posted about here).
Co-hosted or promoted 3 outdoor concerts during Analogue Saturdays for the International Jam for Freedom movement (one of which is documented here).
Weekly Song Francisco rehearsals at Analogue Saturdays, and a group choir concert at Flower Moon.
The Unconscious Broadcasters: a creative action (organized by JJR) with several other artists walking in the Mission and showing projections beamed from hand-held projectors of worldwide protests and using our voices. It was quite the ethereal scene…
Hosted an Open Mic for the musicians and speakers in our community at the Line Eleven event at Rick’s Farm.
Promotion for the shows and music releases of many Sane Artists including GiGi Amos, Rob MyJob and yours truly…
(Stay tuned: more compelling music and art to come!)
I may well be forgetting other things that we achieved,
so please remind me if that’s the case!
Time for a soft reboot
A lot has happened in this time! So much nonsense has come at us from our national, local and (wannabe global) leaders, I cannot even count the ways (at least not today when I’m trying to focus on all the good that was created in the last two years.)
It’s been a huge amount of work building our parallel communities, but despite my exhaustion at times, I don’t regret the hours I put in. However, it’s time for a big change, not just quantitively but qualitatively. For several months now I’ve been trying to figure out what the next stage is in the evolution of Sane Francisco. I’ve consulted with a few essential Saners to try and formulate what that looks like, and I’m now able to share… finally.
See my next post for the big announcement!
So very groovy, this retrospect! The further we go, the Saner we get. 🙃😉 Three cheers!
So great that you are doing your part to fight against this evil takeover that we are facing. I see a huge separation in society in the near future. Wish I were younger so I could do more to fight this righteous fight.