ONGOING 3/9-20
A Very Brave Teen: Elizabeth Eckford.
Shoshana Berger had to live with her parents for two
years during ReadyMade's launch.
Aaron Farmer
Learn to beat out Brazilian rhythms at "Drumming Out
Hunger."
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The photo remains shocking, 48 years later: Elizabeth Eckford, one of the "Little Rock Nine," a group of African-American students who desegregated Central High in Little Rock, Ark., in the late 1950s, walks ahead of a jeering mob of whites. A teenage girl stands directly behind her, obviously molten with hatred. You can see what she's yelling, and it's not a word people use much anymore.
At the "Choosing to Participate: Facing History and Ourselves" exhibit, anyone can contemplate this photo. The organizers hope that in doing so, viewers -- particularly students -- will put themselves into the image and ask, "What would I have done?" For the record, the angry girl in the photo, Hazel Bryan, apologized to Eckford some years later.
This picture is but one small part of an enormous project. Other features include the documentary film Not in Our Town, which chronicles one community's response to hate crimes, and Little Things Are Big, a short video about one man's thought-provoking examination of his decision not to help someone in a subway late at night. The exhibition continues through March 20 at the Main Library, 100 Larkin (at Grove), S.F. Admission is free; call 557-4277 or visit www.facinghistory.org.
-- Hiya Swanhuyser
Going Under
The world beneath our feet
THURS 3/10
Looking a little like the subterranean lair of the frogmen in the movie Delicatessen, the images of abandoned subway stations, drippy canals, and ancient tunnels in Julia Solis' book New York Underground: The Anatomy of a City are an invitation into the author's fascinating hobby: crawling into unused city spaces to see what's there. Solis and her fellow trespassers make it look fun to get all mucked up and freeze your tits off just to learn, for example, how many stories are under Grand Central (reports range from six to 15). The resulting photos exude a weird greenish light, watery gloom, and general intrigue.
A friend to (or co-conspirator of) groups such as San Francisco's Suicide Club and L.A.'s Cacophony Society, Solis is practically a professional in her field, so grab the chance to hear her hold forth on the hows and whys of urban exploration at 7 p.m. at City Lights, 261 Columbus (at Broadway), S.F. Admission is free; call 362-8193 or visit www.citylights.com.
-- Hiya Swanhuyser
Publishing Without Perishing
Inside the local media scene
THURS 3/10
Despite a brief flurry of editorial fruitfulness in the '90s -- when every writer we knew suddenly landed a high-paying job producing "content" -- San Francisco's no media mecca. But in the last few years a number of publications have managed to stake out a local toehold. How'd they manage it? Join editors Shoshana Berger (ReadyMade), Lara Hedberg Deam (Dwell), Josh Quittner (Business 2.0), and Jane Goldman (Chow), along with moderator/Chronicle columnist Dan Fost, as they discuss the perils and benefits of publishing far from Manhattan's bright lights at the "Media Innovators" panel at 6:30 p.m. at the Commonwealth Club, 595 Market (at Second Street), S.F. Admission is $7-20; call 597-6701 or visit www.commonwealthclub.org.
-- Joyce Slaton
They've Got the Beat
SUN 3/13
Brazilian percussion's stirring polyrhythms are so complex that learning how to reproduce them requires years of costly lessons. But interested neophytes can get a jump on the basics at bargain-basement prices at "Drumming Out Hunger." This benefit for the Brazilian nonprofit Fome Zero features hands-on instruction from Bat Makumba's Emiliano Benevides and other local musicians at 2 p.m. at Fort Mason, Building C, Marina & Buchanan, S.F. Suggested donation is $25; call 385-1826 or visit www.emiliano.com.
-- Joyce Slaton
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