<
https://www.coyotemedia.org/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-alt-weeklies/>
"When Brontez Purnell first moved from Alabama to Oakland in 2002, at age 19,
his new residence provided a great crash course in Bay Area culture. A
warehouse helmed by the punk band Erase Errata, it was packed with nearly two
dozen other wayward youth.
But he didn’t feel he’d really arrived here until a couple of years later, when
he got his first mention in a local newspaper: a
San Francisco Bay Guardian
write-up following a debauched club night in the city.
“We were outside some donut place, everybody in the scene was there, and I just
remember getting naked and dancing in the middle of Polk Street,” says Purnell,
now a critically acclaimed writer, musician, and performance artist. The next
day, the
Bay Guardian’s Marke Bieschke wrote about it. “I think he said
‘Illegal-minded skate punk Brontez Purnell was there, dancing naked,’” recalls
Purnell with a laugh. “And I was like, ‘Oh, I’m in a real place! There’s
nightlife, there’s gossip columns!’”
Of course, there was also a society column in the
San Francisco Chronicle.
But if you wanted to read a first-person scene report about naked dancing on
Polk Street, you’d have to pick up the
Bay Guardian. A free weekly published
from 1966 to 2014, the paper focused on underground art, culture, and the LGBTQ
community. It covered local politics with a progressive point of view,
published adventurous narrative features, and its writers weren’t afraid to
express opinions. In the space of a few pages, you could read a sex column, a
profile of a local hip-hop crew, and the latest installment in a three-decade
war with PG&E.
It was, in other words, a quintessential alternative weekly."
Via Violet Blue’s
Threat Model - Cybersecurity: September 16, 2025
https://www.patreon.com/posts/cybersecurity-16-138997278
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
