Talks and events in San Francisco

A week-long series of talks, workshops, and hackathons exploring open-source artificial intelligence. The event brings together researchers, engineers, and developers to discuss advances in open-source AI models, tools, and methodologies, with hands-on sessions designed for participants at all experience levels.

A weekend hackathon tackling real-world challenges in climate, mental health, justice reform, and art & design in partnership with the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and four Bay Area nonprofits. Developers and non-technical innovators form teams to build solutions including a satellite-based land-planning game for community engagement, mental health support tools for formerly incarcerated people, impact-tracking systems for rehabilitation programs, and scalable design-justice practices. Past winners have presented at UN conferences and launched YC-backed startups. $5,000 in total prizes. Hosted by Value Economy Network.

A guided history walk of Lands End's wild northwest corner led by historian and retired National Park Ranger John Martini. Participants will follow the route of the historic Ferries & Cliff House steam train, view the remains of two shipwrecks (weather permitting), and visit the USS San Francisco Memorial to learn about the warship's 1942 Battle of Guadalcanal. The two-hour walk covers uneven terrain; easy grade. Limited to 30 people.

A curator walkthrough of 'Drawn Together,' a group exhibition celebrating human connection through diverse artistic media. Curator Auriel Garza leads visitors through works exploring gatherings of figures—friends, families, teams, dancers—and the expressive power of line work as both structural and emotional force. The exhibition examines how artists depict shared joy, camaraderie, and belonging across varied settings from supermarkets to dance floors to family dining tables, offering a heartfelt tribute to the ties that bring us together.

Two hands-on artmaking workshops led by Osher Fellows in the East Garden. 'Marigold and Frames: Make a Frame, Hold a Memory' with Dev Heyrana explores memory and craft, while 'Día de los Muertos: Claude Forever' with Josué Rojas engages the Day of the Dead tradition. All ages welcome, no experience necessary.

Build and take home a custom LED art panel in this hands-on workshop inspired by San Francisco artist Jim Campbell's work. Learn soldering, microcontroller programming with the ESP32, and upload your own images, GIFs, and light patterns to a 32x32 LED matrix display. No experience needed. All proceeds support TIAT's ongoing workshops and teaching community.

Explore the Mediterranean diet and regional Italian culinary traditions with Bernadette Festa, MS, RD. Learn the health principles behind this way of eating—its emphasis on fresh, seasonal ingredients and how food traditions vary across Italy—alongside selections of regional recipes from everyday dishes to traditional favorites. Discover how to bring the Mediterranean approach into your own kitchen.

A walking tour through San Francisco's Civic Center, Mid-Market, and SoMa exploring murals, monuments, and public art shaped by collective action and community collaboration. Led by art historian, writer, and skateboarder Ted Barrow, the tour begins at the San Francisco Public Library Main Branch at the Maya Angelou monument by Lava Thomas, traces Market Street to Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and the exhibition *Dread Scott: The Body Politic*, and highlights works celebrating the people and communities that shape San Francisco. The program considers how public art creates spaces for connection, visibility, and collective expression, and examines art as a platform for protest and social justice.

Filmmakers will be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A. A screening of Comparsa, a documentary following sisters Lesli and Lupe in Ciudad Peonia, Guatemala, who use art and performance to heal community trauma and confront violence against women after 41 girls are killed in a state-run facility. The film explores how they organize a youth movement featuring exuberant street performances, towering puppets, and fire-breathing stilt walkers to reclaim public space and challenge corruption. Built on a 15-year relationship between filmmakers and subjects, it is a portrait of sisterhood, peacebuilding, and art's transformational power.

A tatreez circle — a gathering of Palestinian embroidery artists stitching together while sharing stories and learning from each other. Tatreez is the centuries-old art of Palestinian hand embroidery, historically stitched onto thobes to represent social status, village identity, and individuality, and practiced today as cultural preservation and resistance. All experience levels welcome; bring your own projects and supplies. Open to Palestinians and non-Palestinians who share a love of tatreez.

A curator-led walkthrough of OBJECTS: USA, the landmark 1969 Smithsonian exhibition of American studio craft, now reimagined at the Museum of Craft and Design. Chief Curator Ariel Zaccheo shares curatorial insights and stories behind select works in clay, fiber, glass, metal, and wood, exploring the materials, techniques, and ideas connecting makers across generations. The exhibition features over 70 historic and contemporary works by leading artists and designers, reflecting the Bay Area's central role in developing American studio craft and challenging postwar art hierarchies.

ACX Everywhere is a community gathering hosted by Rationality, AI, and forecasting enthusiasts. Attendees will break into conversation groups by topic—Work after AI, Elections, Book review reviews, Prediction markets & forecasting, The All Souls fishbowl (reading the world's hardest exam questions), and ACX articles that changed your mind—or mingle freely. Organized by Nate Sternberg, Andrew Gaul, and ACX SF, with hosts Austin Chen and Jen Baik.

Ethel M.H. Reddy discusses her memoir *I, Ethel*, sharing career advice, beauty guidance, personal stories, and wisdom from close friends and colleagues. The book offers insight into her entrepreneurial spirit and lifelong commitment to excellence.

Filmmakers will participate in a post-screening Q&A. A screening of eight short films from the SF Latino Film Festival's Community Voices program, featuring works by local filmmakers including James Hall, Alma Amancay Herrera-Pazmiño, Naomi Garcia Pasmanick, Noemi Ochoa, Xander R. Trejo, and Nicolas Jara. The program includes narratives ranging from cultural documentation and community art to speculative fiction, with runtimes from 4 to 15 minutes.

Post-screening Q&A with director Jack MacInnes and film subject Israa, moderated by Carrie Lozano. A screening of One in a Million, a ten-year documentary following Israa from age 11 as she and her family flee Syria across the Aegean Sea to Germany, navigating adolescence, identity, and belonging in exile. Co-directed by Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes, the film chronicles war, displacement, and the tension between new freedoms and Syrian traditions.

Colin Jost, Emmy-winning writer and co-anchor of Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update," discusses his career in comedy and media. Jost has been a writer on SNL since 2005 and published the New York Times bestseller "A Very Punchable Face: A Memoir" in 2020. He also hosted "Pop Culture Jeopardy!" on Prime Video in 2024, earning an Emmy nomination. Part of the Silk Speaker Series during CelebrateUSF at the University of San Francisco.

A guided walking tour through San Francisco's Castro neighborhood exploring LGBTQIA+ resistance history, created by Shawn Sprockett, a former senior adjunct professor and practicing designer. The tour traces queer activism from the White Night riots through the AIDS crisis and subsequent police violence, introducing figures including trans doctors, lesbian healthcare workers, and community organizers. Approximately 90 minutes of walking on city sidewalks with one moderate hill, ending at the Lookout bar with a complimentary drink. The tour closes Sprockett's three-part history of queer San Francisco (following North Beach and Tenderloin tours). Runs monthly; ages 21+.

Litquake's closing-night poetry crawl hosted across three simultaneous events at Medicine for Nightmares. 'Grandmas are Griots' (5–6pm, hosted by Allie Jones) honors oral storytelling traditions and matriarchal resistance through readings by Ashia Ajani, Liftawiya, mel, Sara Borjas, and Jones. 'In the Spirit of Kapwa' (6:30–7:30pm, hosted by Tiffani Patton) is presented by Mesa Refuge. 'Pochx Deluxe: An Ode to the California Lengua' (9–10pm, hosted by Lourdes Figueroa) concludes the evening. Each program centers embodied practice, cultural memory, and collective commitment.

Chef and food writer Fuchsia Dunlop celebrates the launch of her cookbook *Five Tastes* with a banquet-style dinner at Mister Jiu's. The evening features dishes from the book prepared by Mister Jiu's kitchen, and each ticket includes a signed copy of *Five Tastes* to take home. Dunlop is the author of *The Sichuan Cookbook* and *Every Grain of Rice*, and her work explores the depth and regional diversity of Chinese cuisine.

A screening of the documentary Steal This Story, Please! with journalist Amy Goodman and director Tia Lessin for a post-screening Q&A. Oscar-nominated filmmakers Carl Deal and Tia Lessin examine three decades of Amy Goodman's career as a trailblazing investigative journalist at Democracy Now!, covering global conflicts and stories silenced by commercial media. The film explores how Goodman navigates a news landscape reshaped by corporate consolidation and political assaults on truth, offering both a portrait of resistance and a meditation on democracy when the press surrenders to power.

A hands-on poetry translation workshop where participants aged 12–18 (all ages welcome) unlock creativity by translating poems from around the world. Guided by 2025–2027 Poetry Inside Out Teaching Fellows and local translators, attendees work with glossaries and collaborate to dismantle and reassemble poems in new languages. No prior poetry or language skills required. The workshop celebrates translation's multiple possibilities, encouraging participants to share and defend their language choices, followed by spontaneous performance by youth writers.

The final graduating class of California College of the Arts' MFA in Writing program reads from their work at this Litquake event. The emerging writers—working in fiction, memoir, poetry, and hybrid forms—present pieces that move across borders, histories, families, and imagined futures with wit, ambition, and emotional precision. This reading marks both a farewell to a decades-long program and an introduction to the writers who will carry its legacy forward, affirming that literature remains one of our most powerful ways of attending to one another, to history, and to ourselves.

An evening of poetry and prose centered on resistance and radical dreaming, featuring queer, immigrant, and trans writers speaking to justice and imagining alternatives. Curated and hosted by Baruch Porras Hernandez, the program features poets Preeti Vangani and Gio!, with musical guest Mobby Rosas.

A free family day at SFMOMA featuring K-pop, art, and creative activities for all ages. Two adults accompanied by a child 18 or younger receive free museum admission; children are always free to RM x SFMOMA: Between You and Me (adults require a separate timed ticket). Activities run 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Early RSVP encouraged due to capacity limits.

A full-day family event exploring AI's impact on child development, education, and human connection. The program features research presentations and founder conversations on how generative AI is reshaping childhood learning; panels on skills children need for an AI-driven world; workshops including a philosophy discussion ('Can a robot be a friend?') led by The Paradox Lab; an exhibition on brain development co-created with illustrator Linda Liukas; and a startup showcase where families can try emerging AI products for children. Speakers and workshop leaders include researchers, educators, and builders from leading institutions and startups.

Join the Asian Art Museum's Kasama Festival celebrating Filipino American History Month. Michelle Sterling, children's book author, discusses *When Lola Visits*, her story of a young girl spending a summer with her grandmother from the Philippines. The book weaves Tagalog songs and mango jam into an evocative tale of familial love spanning oceans and generations.

Nebula and Hugo Award–winning author Charlie Jane Anders celebrates the launch of her new Star Trek comic series, Star Trek Zero Point, set a few years after Star Trek: Picard season 3. Anders will discuss the inspiration behind the series, Trek's message of fighting intolerance in 2026, and why it resonates now. The story follows Captain Raffi Musiker commanding a starship tasked with preventing future disasters, guided by a powerful A.I. wearing the face of a familiar ally. Meet-and-greet and signing follow. Special guests include the USS Golden Gate fan club, formed in 1993, which celebrates Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations across the Bay Area.

Post-screening Q&A with the filmmaker. A screening of Libertad, a documentary about Alejandra, an Indigenous transgender woman from Oaxaca, Mexico who fled violence 30 years ago and now seeks reunion with her elderly mother while advocating for immigrant, LGBTQ+, and indigenous rights in California. The film explores family, identity, and the transnational challenges of survival and solidarity across borders. Part of the 18th annual SF Latino Film Festival at the Roxie Theater.

Introduction by directors Stephens and Sprinkle with Q&A moderated by Madison Young. A screening of Playing with Fire: An Ecosexual Emergency, a documentary by Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle about ecological grief, resilience, and transformation in the aftermath of California's wildfires. When lightning forces the longtime lovers to evacuate their Boulder Creek home, they channel loss into ecosexual art and environmental activism, weaving stories from formerly incarcerated firefighters, Indigenous scholars, fire artists, and community members. The film explores fire as destructive, regenerative, and erotic force while centering queer resilience amid climate crisis.

Adam Wilson discusses his darkly comic novel *Fail Sons*, about two estranged brothers who drive their father's cryonically frozen body across a divided America to its final resting place. A 21st-century story exploring masculinity and grief. In conversation with Nina Schloesser Tárano.

A writing workshop on Filipina/x poetry and poetics hosted by Barbara Jane Reyes, Bay Area author and educator. Participants will read and discuss poems by Filipina/x poets from the Philippines and diaspora, examining language, form, and themes of power, patriarchy, and subversion. The workshop concludes with participants writing their own poems. Reyes has published six books including Gravities of Center, Diwata, and Letters to a Young Brown Girl, with Daughtersong Diaspore forthcoming from Black Lawrence Press in 2027.

A hands-on ceramics workshop where participants hand-build a personalized set of Shabbat candlesticks. Learn fundamentals of hand-building, shape and refine your pieces, choose from three glaze options, and the venue will fire them for pickup later in the week. No prior ceramics experience needed; ages 14 and up welcome.

An intimate, facilitated philosophical dialogue on how AI is changing everyday life. Resonance Salons bring together people across tech, art, care, and community for Socratic-style conversation on rotating monthly themes. Each session includes guided group discussion and a creative share—music, writing, poetry, or other forms of expression. Dinner and drinks provided.

Launch event for the new Center for Global Maternal and Child Health, a collaborative initiative between the UCSF Institute for Global Health Sciences and the UCSF Bixby Center for Reproductive Health. The symposium showcases maternal and child health research and programs across UCSF with lightning round presentations, roundtable discussions, and opportunities for cross-campus collaboration. Lunch provided.

Kapil Ramachandran of Columbia University's Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease presents recent findings on neuroproteasomes and spatial control of neuronal proteostasis. Hosted by Lennart Mucke, MD, at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease.

John Briscoe, SF poet, lawyer, and restaurateur, discusses the plagiarism of women's writing in the Western canon—examining how female authors have been erased, misattributed, or had their work appropriated within literary history.

Veena Dubal, Professor of Law at UC Irvine School of Law and General Counsel of the American Association of University Professors, whose research combines legal and ethnographic methods to study gig work and algorithmic wage-setting, presents Data Laws at Work — the closing session of the Future of Workplace Regulation Colloquium, a five-part series on how emerging technologies are reshaping employment law. Held in the Deb Colloquium Room.

A screening of Young China, a documentary retracing Sun Yat-sen's travels across six American cities through historic sites, archival materials, and interviews with descendants and community members. The film explores Sun Yat-sen's deep connections to the United States and the Chinese American communities who supported his revolutionary work over a century ago. Following the screening, a live panel with descendants, scholars, and community members invites reflection on immigration, identity, community involvement, and trans-Pacific history. Part of a special program marking the 160th anniversary of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's birth.

Has the Democratic Party lost its soul? Author and former Democratic operative Evan Barker discusses her inside story of departing from the party, arguing it has been hijacked by out-of-touch activists, coastal elitists, and special interests. She explores her political disillusionment in conversation with Sarah McCammon, National Correspondent for NPR.

A practical guide to eliminating hallucinations, optimizing computational resources, and deploying secure, trustworthy, and compliant AI systems. Rush Shahani discusses concrete steps for building reliable AI in production environments.

Timothy Pakron, cookbook author and food blogger, discusses his latest book *Garden Variety*, a collection of recipes inspired by his garden. Pakron is the creator of Mississippi Vegan, which explores plant and mushroom cooking by merging Southern culinary traditions with veganism. His work has been featured by NPR, Garden & Gun, Food & Wine, and other national outlets. He will be joined by Erica Schneider.

Experimental astrophysicist Dr. Julie Rolla explores how NASA's work extends far beyond space exploration. Drawing on her experience in ultra-high energy neutrinos, dark matter, AI-driven detector design, and climate-focused satellite applications, she discusses how space science drives advances in medicine, climate science, technology, and emergency response. From telemedicine tools to Mars missions that reveal planetary evolution, NASA's breakthroughs quietly benefit everyday life while inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers.

A celebration of Fatimah Asghar's sophomore poetry collection *Daughter of the Mountains*, with writers R.O. Kwon and Ingrid Rojas Contreras. Asghar's collection explores exile, ancestry, spirituality, and belonging through meditative poems that grapple with loss, longing, and love. Kwon is author of the National Book Critics Circle finalist *The Incendiaries* and *Exhibit*. Rojas Contreras is author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist memoir *The Man Who Could Move Clouds* and the novel *Fruit of the Drunken Tree*. Hosted at The Booksmith. Seats available by advance book purchase or $3 sliding-scale donation; general admission on a first-come, first-served basis.

National Book Award finalist Fady Joudah discusses Exhibit G, a collection of poems, essays, and photographs offering a Palestinian representation of Gaza's devastation and resilience. Writing from his perspective as a Palestinian American physician, Joudah explores the paradoxes of witnessing destruction from afar while caring for the sick in the US. The book combines personal reflection with images from Gaza, insisting on Palestinian interiority and the survival of beauty amid genocide. Proceeds benefit Gaza Soup Kitchen.

A gathering for people who want to build deeper connection with their neighbors. Share what drew you to your block, exchange experiments in neighbor-building (wins and failures alike), and leave with one small idea to try on your own street — a dinner, a ritual, a shared project. Inspired by Mitra Martin's research on neighborhoods as designed 'containers' where lasting community emerges through tiny, repeated instances. If there's energy, this becomes a recurring circle documenting what actually works.

A talk with Ken Knabb, translator of Guy Debord and the Situationist International and author of The Joy of Revolution. Knabb's masterwork examines modern revolutionary possibilities through a situationist lens, analyzing radical tactics across ordinary and extraordinary conditions, and envisioning postrevolutionary liberated communities. This new edition includes updates, detourned comics, reviews, analyses of Occupy and Trump-era resistance, and reflections on the coronavirus shutdown.

​Abstract: ​"Bend is a proof language whose programs run as fast as C on one core, and in parallel on GPUs. Its checker verifies proofs in seconds, so you can write large programs that are proven correct and still fast. I'll show how it works, and how its core relates to Lean." ​Speaker: https://x.com/VictorTaelin Bend: https://bend-lang.com ​The SF Lean meetup: Weekly presentations and discussions about formal methods, software verification, AI, and math. Beginners welcome! ​Website: https://sflean.group/ Join our Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/bXNPhQyjfe Host: Adi Baradwaj More info: https://luma.com/0zs5pdkz

A two-day conference on market and consumer research — how insights teams work, and what AI, behavioural science, and UX methods are doing to the discipline. Greenbook runs it across three stages, sixteen hosted roundtables, and some sixty sessions, with live technology demonstrations and a startup pitch competition alongside the talks. Speakers include Stanford professor Byron Reeves; Kristen Griffith, insights director at Clorox; Rob Gaige, global head of marketing insights at Reddit; Kendra Shapiro, who leads consumer insights and UX research at Ancestry; Mike Carlon of Charter Communications; and Maya Kantak of Rocket, with further speakers from Microsoft, Visa, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Airbnb. Part of the programme is reserved for client-side researchers.

A screening of Alejandro Jodorowsky's Santa Sangre (1989), followed by discussion with local photographer and film enthusiast Tommy Milutin. This haunting, dreamlike odyssey follows a traumatized circus performer navigating a surreal world shaped by his mother's influence, past violence, and distorted love—blending horror, spirituality, and psychological turmoil into a strikingly unconventional cinematic experience.

Learn how to build an end-to-end agentic geospatial pipeline using satellite and weather data on AWS and Wherobots. This technical talk covers practical approaches to processing geospatial intelligence at scale, combining machine learning with geospatial analysis. Hosted at AWS Builder Loft.

Kathi Zellweger and Mike Chinoy discuss Zellweger's firsthand experiences delivering humanitarian aid in North Korea, focusing on strategies for building trust, navigating institutional barriers, and supporting vulnerable populations in one of the world's most isolated countries. The conversation explores the practical and diplomatic challenges of NGO work in restrictive contexts.

A series of four seminars on advances in genome engineering for stem cell biology and therapeutic development. Featured speakers include James Gardner (UCSF) on normothermic perfusion systems for ex vivo human biology, Dan Wagner on single-cell phenotyping in CRISPR-edited embryos, Michelle Gbenedio on organoid development, and Alex Pollen on experimental techniques for village culture organoids. Sessions run Oct 13–Dec 8, 2026 at UCSF.

A practical seminar on generative AI models, tools, platforms, and workflows designed to accelerate scientific research. Vivek Natarajan, AI researcher at Google DeepMind, will discuss new applications and methodologies for AI-guided research. Followed by a networking reception.

A workshop on building scalable go-to-market systems for AI-native companies. Participants will learn why speed without a GTM operating system creates fragility, and what it takes to build systems that are fast, repeatable, and built to scale. Led by Lydia Flocchini and Tim Hillison—both 3x CMOs, GTM Partners Certified Partners, and repeat operators with a track record of nine successful builds across startups, scaleups, and Fortune 500 companies. Attendees will leave with a clear GTM operating system framework, a maturity assessment of their current GTM journey, and real examples from data to agentic GTM. A One Way Summit 2026 Official Side Event.

AI-generated code now arrives faster than validation pipelines can process, breaking the balance between code production and quality checks. This meetup brings together engineers rebuilding feedback systems for the agent era. Speakers and panelists will discuss why this gap matters for change success rates and recovery time, how pairing robust delivery pipelines with sub-minute validation improves efficiency, and how running only relevant tests keeps compute costs down. Hosted by Bond AI with a panel discussion, audience Q&A, and peer networking.

A Halloween-themed interactive investigation into a broken development environment, hosted by AI Valley and Flox. Attendees follow clues through suspicious dependencies and environment issues to diagnose what went wrong—with talks and live demos from Justin Castilla (Flox), Jessica Garson Beauchemin (Runpod), Amin Karbas (Resolve AI), and Dan Gross (FriendliAI). The event combines technical problem-solving with food, drinks, and networking; costumes encouraged.

A conversation on how engineering teams integrate AI into their workflows beyond code generation. Tanmai Gopal (CEO, PromptQL) discusses how customer context and team knowledge shape AI-assisted work; Iba Masood (Optimal AI) covers AI code review, quality, security, and measurement; Joe Maionchi (co-founder, RocketRide.ai) addresses moving AI prototypes to reliable production, including testing, debugging, and maintenance. Aimed at engineering leaders attending GitHub Universe.

A talk on founder psychology and resilience with Matteo Cassese, founder coach and keynote speaker. How do successful founders—Steve Jobs, Larry Page, Jensen Huang—leverage difficulty and chaos for growth while avoiding burnout? Cassese explores the internal work that shapes external success: transforming conflict into opportunity, the stories founders tell themselves, and unconventional approaches to confidence and mindset drawn from psychology, mythology, and contemplative practice.

A talk on how AI is transforming the modern software engineering stack. Hosted by Mobile Monday Silicon Valley at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

USA Today bestselling author Adam Plantinga discusses his latest thriller, Dark Country, the newest installment in the Kurt Argento series. Argento finds himself shielding a teenage boy caught up in a dangerous manhunt in this explosive crime novel.

A screening of Saving 4 Seconds, a documentary about Bay Area efforts to implement life-saving suicide-prevention policy on the Golden Gate Bridge. The film features interviews with local families, advocates, and elected officials who championed the policy, along with never-before-seen CCTV footage of bridge employees intervening to save lives. Hosted by SPUR Urban Center, a trusted civic institution.

What happens when humanitarian workers operate in one of the world's most closed and repressive regimes? Kathi Zellwegger shares firsthand insights from her experience providing humanitarian aid on the ground in North Korea, offering rare perspective on daily life, state control, and the possibilities for engagement with the isolated communist state. In conversation with Mike Chinoy, journalist and Korea expert.

An Anti-Debate on the billionaire tax, a structured dialogue format where participants build on each other's insights to explore complexity rather than declare winners. Moderated by systems strategist Jenny Stefanotti, with San Jose State finance professor Annette Nellen and UC Berkeley law professor Brian Galle exploring the tax's merits, challenges, and trade-offs from multiple perspectives.

Frontier AI systems face real-world challenges at scale: GPU failures, cascading outages, and non-deterministic behavior threaten reliability. This session explores operational lessons from 2026's high-impact AI infrastructure incidents, featuring infrastructure leaders, SREs, and MLOps engineers discussing practical architectures for cluster resilience, inference under pressure, and redefining SLOs for probabilistic systems. Topics include mitigating compute failures, designing fallbacks and circuit breakers, measuring reliability in AI systems, and blameless postmortems from major 2026 outages. Hosted by Bond AI and Rootly.

A screening and conversation around Lynn Novick's forthcoming PBS documentary Crime and Punishment in America, executive produced by Ken Burns and Sam Pollard. Novick, an acclaimed filmmaker whose previous work includes documentaries on American history and institutions, will discuss how the United States became the world's leading incarcerator and explore the forces behind mass incarceration. Co-presented by Commonwealth Club World Affairs and KQED Live.

Explore how our relationships with cities, parks, and the more-than-human world shape our future in this panel inspired by Susanna Kwan's *Awake in the Floating City*, the 2026 One City One Book selection. Drawing on five years of the Parks as Ancestors series, the conversation expands beyond protected parklands to consider urban spaces as living legacies. Local community leaders working on place-based environmental justice—including moderator Yakuta Poonawalla of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy—reflect on memory, loss, connection, and responsibility across generations and cultures. The panel coincides with Indigenous Peoples' Day, Día de los Muertos, and Diwali, inviting participants to consider what we inherit from places and people who came before us, and what we will leave behind. Attendees may bring a photograph or sentimental object honoring someone they have lost.

A moderated conversation with legendary turntablists DJ Qbert and DJ Shortkut exploring their creative journeys, technical innovation, and impact on turntablism as a respected musical discipline. The discussion covers their Filipino heritage, artistic longevity, and commitment to supporting the next generation through education and workshops. Moderated by Kendo the DJ, founder of Mixsterious. A short live demonstration of their technical skill and performance style may be included.

A screening of When ICE Melts, a feature-length documentary about resistance to Operation Metro Surge and ICE enforcement in Minnesota's Twin Cities, with director Kip Hedges in person for a post-screening Q&A moderated by SFSU Faculty and CFA member Blanca Missé. The film follows organizers, community leaders, and working-class resistance across neighborhoods, workplaces, and unions, including footage of the January 23 mass strike. It examines strategic lessons in building democratic structures and solidarity to confront authoritarianism, designed as a resource for organizers and activists in other cities.

A technical talk on building software factories using coding agents, harnesses, and verification systems. Attendees will learn how AI-driven coding tools are being integrated into production workflows and what engineering practices enable scaling from experimental agents to reliable systems.

A community ballot-review gathering where attendees work through local and statewide measures together, ask questions, share resources, and discuss options before casting votes. The format is collaborative and low-pressure—you vote on what you feel informed about and skip the rest. Hosted at Manny's.

A lecture on Frank Netter's groundbreaking medical illustrations and the intersection of art and science in medical education. Dr. Wen Shen, an endocrine surgeon with a master's degree in the history of medicine, explores Netter's career and his profound influence on how physicians visualize and understand the human body. Part of the Orlo H. Clark Lectureship series.

Morgan Eckroth (@MorganDrinksCoffee), 2022 US Barista Champion and Director of Onyx Academy, discusses their book *Coffee, for Here*, a practical handbook for brewing with confidence at home. From bean origins and flavor profiles to approachable brewing techniques, Eckroth meets readers at every level—whether beginners or refiners—breaking down each step with the warm hospitality and inventive approach that has made them a leading voice in coffee education across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.

Rabbi Shais Rishon, spiritual leader of Ohel Eidot CHeMDaT"A (the first African American-led and -centered synagogue in Washington, D.C.), discusses his book *The Souls of Black Jewish Folk*, published under his pseudonym MaNishtana. Drawing on a personal legacy of African American Judaism stretching to the 1780s and his upbringing in the Chabad-Lubavitch community, Rishon explores how Jewish tradition, racial identity, and contemporary American life intersect. He will be in conversation with a member of the USF faculty.

Elena Dudum celebrates her debut memoir, *They Told Me Back Home Would Be Beautiful*, at the independent bookshop where she grew up in the West Portal community. Dudum discusses her new work exploring memory, identity, and homecoming.

Veteran journalist Jonathan Weber, founding editor of The San Francisco Standard, discusses his book *City on the Edge* in conversation with Bloomberg Businessweek editor Brad Stone. Drawing on nearly 200 interviews with elected officials, tech leaders, activists, and artists, the book chronicles San Francisco's transformation from cultural hub to global technology center, exploring the conflicts and pivotal decisions that shaped one of the world's most influential cities—and what they reveal about its future.

Thomas Frank discusses his new book *The Creativity Con*, a critique of how 'innovation' and 'creativity' have become ideological cover for policies that entrench class inequality and protect elite interests. Frank charts the construction of America's self-image from Sputnik to Silicon Valley, examining how these concepts have been deployed by business leaders, technologists, and politicians while actual policies reinforce the status quo—tax cuts for the wealthy, deregulation, offshoring, and urban reorientation. Frank is the bestselling author of *What's the Matter with Kansas?* and *Listen, Liberal*, founding editor of *The Baffler*, and former Wall Street Journal columnist.

A monthly somatic practice lab led by ICF-certified coach Annalisa Jackson for women working on how they show up in romantic connection. Through embodied practices, reflection, and small-group sharing, participants learn to rewire reactive patterns in love and connection — moving from intellectual understanding of attachment styles to felt, nervous-system-based change. This month's focus: finding groundedness when uncertainty activates your body in romantic situations. No prior experience needed; each session stands alone.

A lightning-talk meetup for Bay Area biosecurity professionals covering pandemic prevention technology, AI evaluation for biorisks, and synthetic DNA screening. Featured speakers include Jonas Sandbrink (CEO, BioTrust) on trusted access credentials for frontier biology, and Misha Gurevich (CEO, Aerolamp) on far-UVC technology. Hosted by Tessa Alexanian and Joey Bream in their personal capacities. The evening includes a meet-and-mingle, talks with Q&A, and informal discussion over snacks.

Zara Marielle reads from and discusses her debut fantasy novel *The Café of Infinite Doors*, a story woven from Scottish mythology and feminist themes. The novel follows Marceline, a sheltered twenty-three-year-old who discovers a magical café—a refuge from her controlling husband—run by a mysteriously feathered woman named Lucretia, her partner Kilda, and Sylvan. When the café's portals begin closing and darkness looms, Marceline must choose between her hard-fought freedom and protecting her newfound family. Marielle is a former ESL teacher and holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Edinburgh.

A celebration of San Francisco's stairways featuring authors Mary Burk (Stairway Walks in San Francisco) and Alexandra Kenin (Urban Trails series). Moderator Liz Novoa hosts an SF stairway trivia game while Burk and Kenin share stories of the city's known and hidden stairways, best views, secret gardens, and a detailed map of SF's roughly 1,000 stairways. The grand finale of SF Stairway Month, organized by Glen Park Beautiful as part of the inaugural Walktober celebration.

An in-person summit for enterprise IT leaders, technical decision-makers, and infrastructure architects scaling agentic AI systems at scale. Hear from enterprise leaders deploying and debugging AI agents in production, exchange technical strategies on inference economics, memory and context infrastructure, AI factory architectures, and agentic workload orchestration. VentureBeat curates a focused peer-networking environment designed for meaningful one-on-one conversations across industries and access to proprietary research on how enterprises are scaling agentic AI.

A conference bringing together customer experience leaders and AI experts to explore the intersection of AI and business strategy. Speakers include James Green and Hemant Taneja, alongside industry practitioners and researchers examining how organizations are deploying AI systems and rethinking customer engagement in an AI-driven landscape.

A summit bringing together 1,000+ founders, investors, and innovators from 30+ countries to advance immigrant entrepreneurship and build connections across the global startup ecosystem. The event features keynotes, expert panels, and networking sessions designed to support immigrant-founded companies, attract venture capital, and showcase the economic contributions of immigrant entrepreneurs to innovation and job creation in the Bay Area and beyond.

A talk on early childhood development measurement and monitoring. Susanne Martin Herz, MD, PhD, will discuss the Global Scales for Early Development (GSED), how developmental trajectories can be tracked similarly to physical growth metrics, and how the GSED and D-score inform population-level health monitoring and program design. Part of UCSF's Grand Rounds series exploring global health advances and research.

Chris Baker and Alysia Gonzales read from their work at the Writers Grotto's Words & Stories Reading Series.

A hands-on build night focused on developing open-source alternatives to paid creative tools using ComfyUI. Participants will collaborate on projects competing for a $10K grand prize. Hosted at Frontier Tower.

Learn about indoor air quality, children's environmental health, and practical strategies for creating healthier home environments. Representatives from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 9 will discuss common indoor air pollutants and asthma triggers—smoke, mold, dust, and pests—and explain how to use the Air Quality Index (AQI) to plan safe daily activities. Space is limited; reservations required.

A lecture on scientific explorations of neonatal pain and early life adversity. Dr. Kanwaljeet J. S. Anand, professor of Pediatrics, Anesthesiology, Perioperative & Pain Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine and director of the Stanford Child Wellness Lab, will discuss his research journey toward changing the paradigm for neonatal anesthesia and analgesia, and his ongoing work on child wellness and early life adversity. The lecture is followed by a reception.

An exploration of how enterprise AI adoption is reshaping infrastructure, security, and data practices across organizations. The event features presentations and discussions on emerging AI applications and their operational impact.

Build your own AI agents for real estate workflows — transaction coordination, acquisitions, property search, and construction — using Genspark's AI workspace. Led by Corey Griffin, a real estate business owner who has deployed 10 agents for his own company, this hands-on session walks you through setting up agents that plan, research, and execute work autonomously. No experience needed; bring your laptop and a free Genspark account (created before arrival). Designed for realtors, investors, contractors, title professionals, and business owners curious about AI agent capabilities.

Explore the German-American influence on Bay Area innovation from the Gold Rush through Silicon Valley. Award-winning author Sandra Bonura discusses Claus Spreckels, the German-born 'Sugar King of California' who built an industrial empire. German journalist Arndt Peltner examines German immigrants' broader role in shaping the region. Silicon Valley entrepreneurship specialist Anne Cocquyt traces continuing connections between German innovation and contemporary Bay Area enterprise. Reuters editor Judith Langowski moderates, followed by audience Q&A.

A hands-on workshop featuring real robotics demonstrations and practical AI applications, hosted by Nebius and Voxel51. Attendees will engage directly with physical AI systems and explore how machine learning integrates with robotics hardware.

A delightfully eerie celebration of Edward Gorey, the iconic artist and 'Godfather of Goth,' featuring short performances, behind-the-scenes stories, film clips, and surprises hosted by author Carol Verburg. Guests are invited to wear Gorey-inspired costumes or bat attire for prizes, though dressing up is optional.

Mark Applebaum, Edith & Leland Smith Professor of Composition at Stanford University, explores what made the Beatles unique and transformative. Over seven years across thirteen albums, the band evolved dramatically and changed music for decades. Applebaum—a composer, jazz pianist, and TED talk speaker seen by over five million viewers—examines whether their impact came from innate musical ability, creative songwriting, commitment to experimentation, or sheer charm. Leave hearing the Beatles in a new light.

A celebration of *Mark of the Warrior*, the sequel to the New York Times bestseller *Breath of the Dragon*, featuring authors Shannon Lee and Fonda Lee in conversation with Andrea Stewart. The novelists discuss their collaborative fantasy epic.

A pitch competition and networking event hosted by Swissnex San Francisco, connecting Swiss innovators and startups with North American investors and industry leaders. The event brings together Switzerland, North America, and global partners in science, education, innovation, and the arts. No substantive educational program or speaker agenda is described.

A hands-on workshop in microfluidic cell-free manufacturing—a technique for producing proteins and biologics outside living cells. Participants will work with microfluidic systems to understand the principles and applications of cell-free protein synthesis, a growing field in synthetic biology and biotech manufacturing.

A ProductTank SF meetup focused on building products designed for AI agents. ProductTank is a global community for product managers and builders to discuss emerging challenges and opportunities in product development. This session explores how to design, develop, and ship products that leverage agent-based AI systems, covering product strategy, user experience, and technical implementation for agent-driven applications.

A talk on strategies for securing autonomous AI systems and managing emerging security threats in the field. Hosted at Orrick.

A recurring philosophical salon exploring thought experiments and ethical arguments. This session focuses on objections to utilitarianism, with recommended readings on philosophical norms and counterarguments to utilitarian theory. Past discussions have ranged from personal identity and free will to animal ethics, artificial intelligence, and the nature of morality itself. Attendees engage in facilitated dialogue around philosophical questions in an intimate setting.

A lecture on how poetry teaches us to sit with life's biggest questions—love, grief, curiosity, doubt, belief, and awe. Poet and critic Dean Rader, a University of San Francisco professor and T.S. Eliot Prize winner, guides attendees through accessible 20th and 21st-century poems exploring what it means to be alive. No literary background required. Followed by Q&A.

Five published authors read from their latest work in horror, science fiction, and speculative fiction. Featured writers include Cynthia Gómez (The Nightmare Box and Other Stories), Loren Rhoads (In the Wake of the Templars, Unsafe Words), Sumiko Saulson (Happiness and Other Diseases, Black Magic Women editor), Kristina Ten (Tell Me Yours, I'll Tell You Mine), and Tamika Thompson (The Curse of Hester Gardens, 2024 Indie Book Award winner). Hosted by Telegraph Hill Arts and Literature at Telegraph Hill Books.

A discussion of Rebekah Moyer's *Simple Kitchen Magic*, which offers whole-food recipes and home remedies for common ailments grounded in holistic nutrition. Moyer is a content creator and third-generation nutrition enthusiast who spent a decade pursuing self-directed study in holistic health, inspired by her family's food traditions and her kombucha-brewing mother. She shares accessible, nourishing meals using whole-food ingredients and practical remedies for everyday wellness.

Two leading astronomers discuss the frontiers of space science in a laid-back, Q&A-friendly setting. Nick Rodd, a Divisional Fellow at Lawrence Berkeley Lab and former CERN faculty member, presents the latest developments in dark matter detection. Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the SETI Institute and co-host of the weekly podcast Big Picture Science, explores the search for extraterrestrial life. Part of the global Astronomy on Tap series, this is the revival of San Francisco's monthly chapter. No science background required.

Douglas Stuart celebrates his Booker Prize-longlisted novel *John of John*, a portrait of a young artist returning to his Hebridean island home and the tensions between duty, desire, and family secrets. Stuart, author of the Booker Prize-winning *Shuggie Bain*, is in conversation with Matthew Clark Davison, co-author of *The Lab: Experiments in Writing Across Genre* and creative writing educator at San Francisco State University.

Opening night celebration of Scaling Intelligence, an exhibition of 11 commissioned artworks exploring creative possibilities at the intersection of AI, machine learning, and artistic practice. Selected through a global open call, participating artists developed works with Modal cloud computing credits and support from Gray Area and Modal, investigating how different forms of intelligence might connect, interact, and sense the world. Projects range from satellite imagery and microbial visualization to neural network exploration and watershed mapping. Featured artists include Cezar Mocan, Colin O'Donnell & Justine Sun, Dela Cruz & Will Gardiner, Grayson Earle, Iana Chugunova, Ira Greenberg, Kristina Pulejkova, Miguel Novelo Cruz, Parag Mital, Rashed Haq, Sasha Sorokina, and Spencer Chang. The exhibition runs through November 1.

What blindspots shape our everyday conversations? Zachary Reese, professor of psychology at the University of San Francisco, explores the hidden dynamics of human connection: how we calculate sentence endings, build shared reality, and unconsciously follow patterns to make others laugh. Drawing on his research, Reese reveals why people hesitate to share good news (fear of seeming to brag) and avoid mentioning similar experiences (fear of stealing the spotlight)—behaviors that paradoxically undermine connection. He'll present findings from speed-friending studies on first-encounter anxiety and close with practical, research-backed strategies for deeper, more authentic conversations. The evening includes arrival time, lecture, and Q&A.

A flavorful exploration of Taiwan through food, examining how the island's diverse history, cultures, and development have shaped its culinary traditions and how cuisine expresses national identity and serves as a tool of cultural diplomacy. Features David Chih-Hsiang Wu, Director General of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in San Francisco, in conversation hosted by the Center for Asia Pacific Studies at the University of San Francisco.

A fireside chat with U.S. Congressman Kevin Mullin on his legislative priorities, state and federal partnerships for economic growth, and business policy. Hosted by the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.

The EaRTH Center's 5th Annual Research & Translation Forum convenes researchers, clinicians, and innovators around the theme 'Shaping Health Futures: Leveraging Emerging Technologies to Advance Chronic Disease and Pediatric Research.' The day-long program features research presentations, an environmental health poster session, and collaboration opportunities among Center members and awardees. Hosted at UCSF Mission Bay.

How are observatories adapting to survive mounting pressures from wildfires, light pollution, satellite megaconstellations, and federal budget cuts? Dr. Teznie Pugh, Superintendent of McDonald Observatory at the University of Texas at Austin, explores the field's response, arguing that modern astronomy requires training in advocacy, communication, and policy alongside excellent science. She examines coalitions among observatories, environmental and climate scientists, conservation groups, and elected officials, and draws lessons from satellite negotiations, light pollution regulation, and wildfire mitigation strategies.

How can data visualization deepen scientific investigation and communication? Eric Rodenbeck, founder of Stamen Design, discusses collaborations with UCSF scientists and researchers, including the Atlas of Emotions with Paul Ekman and the Dalai Lama, the UCSF Health Atlas with Dr. Debby Oh, and Brain Cartography with Dr. Edward Chang. He explores how maps, interfaces, and visual systems can reveal complex data, expose unexpected relationships, generate new questions, and help researchers and broader audiences understand science differently.

A half-day summit on infrastructure for autonomous AI agents, featuring 10 live product and technical demos from selected teams, a keynote on connected and collaborative AI systems, and a panel discussion on the infrastructure requirements for agentic applications. Speakers and judges include Dan Ndombe (Docker), Brett Liu (Sixty Degree Capital), Benny Liao (Acorn Pacific Ventures), and Vandon Duong (DCVC). Topics span agent runtime, tool use, multi-agent orchestration, context and memory systems, inference and serving, and evaluation and security. The curated room of approximately 80 attendees includes founders, engineers, researchers, investors, and enterprise leaders building in the agentic AI space.

A multi-session conference for forward-deployed engineers, founders, and operators working in AI. The program features keynotes, breakout sessions, and fireside chats exploring emerging practices, technical challenges, and industry trends in AI deployment and engineering. Designed for practitioners navigating rapid AI adoption across organizations.

A hands-on workshop exploring how multiplayer AI can streamline product development workflows—from backlog to spec to implementation to team review. Participants will learn how to turn tickets into shareable specs, work with AI bots to build features, and capture team decisions for future context. Led by Anuhrut Gupta, Product & Applied AI Lead at PromptQL. Bring your laptop and a backlog item (sample data or authorized materials welcome). Dinner and non-alcoholic drinks provided.

A practical talk on zero trust security strategies applied to AI systems, covering model protection, data security, and autonomous agent safety. Hosted by Cloudflare, a leader in cloud security infrastructure.

Open Source AI Week is a multi-day conference featuring expert-led tech talks, workshops, bootcamps, and crash courses on building and deploying AI systems. This session showcases three leading platforms: Temporal (workflow orchestration), Arize (ML observability), and Databricks (data and AI infrastructure). Designed for developers at all levels seeking to deepen their skills in open-source AI tools and methodologies.

An evening connecting climate designers with business professionals to explore climate careers and real-world solutions. Climate designers from UC Berkeley's College of Environmental Design present projects on flooding disaster management, environmental contamination from sea level rise, extreme heat, and green infrastructure. Attendees gather for topic-specific tables where designers pressure-test visions against professionals with expertise in financing, partnerships, governance, and implementation — an opportunity to discover how climate expertise translates to careers and how business skills apply to human adaptation challenges.

A discussion on U.S.-China relations focusing on energy, technology, finance, and digital trade ties between the San Francisco Bay Area and Shenzhen. Hosted by the Bay Area Council in partnership with Bank of China NY, the event will feature speakers exploring bilateral economic and innovation opportunities. Followed by dinner and drinks aboard the Historic Klamath.

An inspiring guide to the art of letter writing as a tool for deepening connections and healing wounds. Frish Brandt, a beloved 'letter midwife,' shares prompts and exercises for exploring the transformative power of written correspondence. Ideal for anyone seeking to reconnect with others or process unfinished emotional business through the written word.

Explore how to have more productive conversations with AI tools by treating them as thought partners rather than vending machines. Facilitated by Chris Heuer, IBM futurist and author of *Conversations With My AI*, this workshop introduces a seven-part conversation framework, then guides participants through a real practice session with their own AI on something they're actually working on. You'll learn to ask better questions, provide necessary context, and leverage AI to think more clearly without outsourcing your own judgment. Bring a laptop or phone with access to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or similar, and one real problem or creative project you're stuck on.

A Halloween-themed practical workshop on using AI agents, combining food and hands-on lessons on agent-based systems and their real-world applications.

A somatic healing workshop led by certified coach Anna Bolender using guided grounding exercises, breathwork, body awareness practices, and gentle movement to help participants shift out of overthinking and reconnect with their body's wisdom. The session explores how stress and survival patterns keep us stuck in our heads, the connection between body and intuition, and provides practical tools for managing overwhelm and building self-trust through nervous system regulation techniques.

Join SFMOMA's Works on Paper Book Club for a discussion of Carribean Fragoza's *Eat the Mouth That Feeds You* (City Lights), moderated by Assistant Curator of Photography Delphine Sims. Sims opens with a short talk connecting the book to SFMOMA's current exhibition *Graciela Iturbide: Between Two Worlds*, including how Iturbide's photograph appears on the book's cover. The group then discusses guided by Sims's own questions. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. for informal discussion among members. Partial reading is welcome.

A structured decision-making workshop for middle managers through senior leaders who find themselves as organizational bottlenecks. Participants learn a repeatable process for delegating decisions to their teams, working through a real decision from their own work in pairs and individually. The session covers reorgs, tool adoption, AI rollouts, and shifting priorities — leaving attendees with a one-page process they can hand to their team immediately. Led by The Commons SF.

Followed by a post-screening Q&A with co-director Eric Daniel Metzgar. A screening of The Great Experiment, an epic documentary in black and white filmed across the US from 2017 to 2021, examining American democracy and national identity through observational storytelling. Rather than debate left-right ideology, the film weaves together diverse American experiences to hold contradictions in frame and ask whether the democratic experiment can survive.

A conversation with Deb Olin Unferth, 4-time Pushcart Prize winner and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, on her latest novel *Earth 7*. Hosted at Mechanics' Institute, a trusted San Francisco civic institution.

A philosophical salon exploring the thought experiment of philosophical zombies—hypothetical beings that act human but experience no conscious sensations or emotions. What would it mean if such a being existed? If you discovered your best friend was a zombie in this sense, would you still value them? Led by Dr. Iris Oved, founder and director of The Paradox Lab, a San Francisco nonprofit bringing philosophical inquiry and critical thinking to all ages. Oved is an active researcher in philosophy and cognitive science who studies how explanation shapes human learning and category formation, testing her ideas through computational models.

Multidisciplinary artist Doug Aitken traces his three-decade career spanning film, video, sound, and performance. His practice centers on site-specific works that explore how we build landscapes, inhabit environments, and share experiences. Aitken discusses six projects anchored in film and video that reveal how his work continually reframes itself, including projects never before shown in San Francisco. Hosted at SFMOMA.

A conversation with April Snow, CIIS alum and licensed psychotherapist, on reframing high sensitivity as a strength rather than a problem. Drawing from her clinical practice and lived experience as a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), Snow explores practical frameworks for accepting sensitivity, managing an overwhelmed nervous system, nurturing your inner world, and thriving in daily life, work, and relationships. She also addresses supporting Highly Sensitive Children. Hosted at the California Institute of Integral Studies.

Learn tax fundamentals for self-employed creatives and freelancers, covering taxable income, deductible expenses, Schedule C forms, hobby losses, home office deductions, self-employed health insurance, and recent tax code updates. Sarah Lockhart, an Enrolled Agent with 25 years of experience serving artists and nonprofits, will lead the presentation and Q&A. Lockhart has developed tax workshops for Intersection for the Arts, Vital Arts, and SF Art Institute, and brings both tax expertise and a multi-disciplinary artistic background to the discussion.

A screening of short films and archival footage exploring queer and trans domesticity and community space, presented in conjunction with the exhibition "Where We Made Room." The program opens with Jenni Olson's "575 Castro Street" (2008), a meditation on the Castro Camera Store and Harvey Milk's assassination-eve audio recordings, featuring his iconic message of hope and denunciation of anti-LGBTQ violence. Followed by a discussion between artist and curator Aleo Landeta and filmmaker Jenni Olson on queer spatial practice and their work.

San Francisco voters will decide in November whether to increase funding for the city's Housing Trust Fund. Hear from experts in affordable housing, homelessness prevention, tenant protections, and public policy on the fund's impact, future direction, and connection to related ballot measures.

Explore the science of fear at the Exploratorium's Halloween event. Ralph Washington, Jr. traces the history, culture, and myth behind our aversion to insects in 'Creepy, Crawly, Curious: The Science Behind Our Bug Fears' (7:00 pm), while the evening features hands-on exhibits on survival instincts, a cow eye dissection, and demonstrations across the galleries. Dance to darkwave, post-punk, and cumbia with Los Goths Co., and enter the annual costume contest.

A candid panel on women's reproductive and pelvic health, covering fertility, contraception, menopause, endometriosis, PMDD, PCOS, pelvic-floor dysfunction, and healthcare navigation. Featuring Dr. Jasmine Pedroso (OB-GYN and fertility specialist at Kindbody), Dr. Joy Brotherton (minimally invasive gynecologic surgeon at Marin Fertility Center and Sutter Health), and Dr. Karen Hodges (pelvic health physical therapist and UCSF/SFSU graduate). The second half is open to anonymous audience questions—no topic is off-limits.

A book release event for Maya-Gawonii Shabazz-Saleh's debut novel *My Roommate Is Trying to Kill Me*, a queer horror romance about Hakeem Morales, a horror actor and aspiring screenwriter, and his suspiciously charming roommate Antonio. The novel blends dark humor with gothic tension and unexpected tenderness. Shabazz-Saleh is a critical essayist and author of essays in *Dead Pretty: Beauty in the Horror Genre* and *Echoes of the Earth: Black Voices Reclaiming Ecology and Justice*. She was recently awarded first runner-up for Red Hen Press' Quill Prose Award for her manuscript *Her Bite*, a Black Southern gothic sapphic vampire novella.

A Halloween-themed evening of horror stories and wine tastings hosted at the San Francisco Public Library. Justin, sommelier and owner of Ward Four Wines, will read a selection of classic and contemporary horror fiction interspersed with two guided wine tastings from sustainably sourced, family-owned vineyards. Costumes encouraged; the best costume wins a bottle of wine and a copy of this year's One City One Book selection. Ages 21+.

A screening of Bird of Four Hundred Voices, a documentary about Eugene Rodríguez and Los Cenzontles, the Bay Area organization that has preserved Mexican and Mexican American cultural traditions through music, dance, and storytelling for over 35 years. Directed by Bay Area filmmaker James Hall, the film features decades of archival footage, intimate interviews, and performances, with appearances by Linda Ronstadt, Los Lobos, Taj Mahal, Jackson Browne, Ry Cooder, and others. The screening begins with a live performance by Los Cenzontles, followed by a conversation with Hall and special guests on cultural preservation, intergenerational storytelling, and the arts as community catalyst.

A screening of Wolven (1978), Michael Wadleigh's horror classic starring Albert Finney and Diane Venora, about a New York City detective investigating a series of gruesome deaths that may be connected to a mythical wolf-like creature. Introduced by Norman Zelaya. Popcorn provided.

A celebration of Daisy Fried's poetry collection *My Destination*, featuring Fried in conversation with Katie Peterson. Fried's poems explore grief, desire, motherhood, illness, and public anger with unflinching attention to bodies, objects, and moments where private life meets moral force. Peterson, professor of English at UC Davis and author of *Fog and Smoke*, brings her expertise as both a celebrated poet and editor of Robert Lowell's selected poems. The event includes a reading and discussion of Fried's work.

An illustrated graphic history examining ten major genocides across five centuries—from the mass slaughter of First Peoples in the Americas to the genocide in Gaza. Award-winning writer, artist, and genocide-survivor descendant Dana Moshoian Walrath reveals how dehumanization operates through violence and the political systems that enable it. Her interactive graphic narrative uses visual manipulation to mirror the mechanisms of dehumanization, then restores victims' humanity, making their suffering undeniable. Walrath's previous works include the graphic memoir *Aliceheimers* and the verse novel *Like Water on Stone* on the Armenian genocide.

A panel discussion on Japanese law firms entering and operating in the California legal market, examining business opportunities, regulatory and competitive challenges, and strategic approaches to market entry and practice development.

A weekly peer support circle for founders, creators, and business builders facilitated by Nima Imani, an ICF-certified leadership coach. Attendees bring real situations—decisions they're stuck on, team tensions, or the isolation of building—and receive coaching or peer reflection in a small group setting. No pitching; the focus is on navigating uncertainty, hard decisions, and the human side of change.

USF's second Enterprise AI Summit brings together industry leaders, researchers, and practitioners to explore applications of AI in enterprise settings. The event spotlights USF's MS in Data Science and AI program and Data Institute, featuring talks on AI research, career pathways, and industry trends. Designed for students, professionals, and anyone interested in understanding how AI is reshaping business and technology.

A monthly gathering for climate professionals, activists, and the curious to connect and envision together. Malcolm Knapp of Finding the Future will lead a visioning exercise exploring positive futures alongside casual conversation and happy hour. Hosted by Social Impact SF at Trellis, a coworking space dedicated to climate resilience. Beverages available with 25% off happy hour pricing.

A cultural history exploring humanity's widespread practice of wearing masks across time and society. Humanities West examines the psychology behind masking our personalities in public and traces the deep human affinity for physical masks as both cultural artifact and psychological tool. Hosted by Humanities West at The Commonwealth Club of California.

Kirk Lombard celebrates the release of his book *The Shadow Stream* with an author talk, refreshments, and live music at The Dairy (Sports Basement Presidio). The event combines conversation around the book with music and community gathering.

An evening exploring horror, the Gothic, and why we return to things that frighten us. Professors Sara Hackenberg (San Francisco State University) and Renée Fox (UC Santa Cruz) discuss the enduring appeal of the Gothic and the evolution of vampire fiction. The evening concludes with a theatrical table read of J. R. Planché's *The Vampire; or, The Bride of the Isles* (1820) in Golden Gate Park at 8:30 PM. Participants may register for roles in the reading.

Pulitzer Prize finalist Michael Lewis discusses his new book *Blockers*, an inside account of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency and the public servants who resisted it. Lewis, author of *Flash Boys*, *Moneyball*, and *Going Infinite*, traces how individuals navigated a transformative government initiative. In conversation with Lara Bazelon, Professor of Law at the University of San Francisco and author of three books on criminal justice and racial equity, Lewis explores themes of institutional power, ethical resistance, and the human stories behind policy.

A weekend hackathon exploring whether formal methods are ready for production software. Participants will build a piece of production software and formally verify it, working hands-on to test the practical applicability of formal verification techniques in real-world development.

Stranger Builds is a one-day in-person hackathon (October 31) followed by seven days of remote development, challenging builders to ship new software and find real users. Participants compete for $10,000 in cash prizes and credits, with challenges announced during the event. The hackathon brings together engineers, designers, and makers to build AI agents, apps, and other creative projects, supported by sponsors Base44, Fetch.ai, Vonage, and Shelled AI. Part of NERDCONF's global network of 25,000+ builders.

A one-day grammar and prose workshop led by Constance Hale, author of the bestselling *Sin and Syntax: How to Write Wicked Good Prose*. Through hilarious exercises and writing prompts, Hale guides writers of all genres through sentence dynamics, punctuation, voice, and common grammatical pitfalls—using her books *Sin and Syntax* and *Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch* as texts. Participants will master subject-predicate structure, conquer the semicolon, avoid dangling participles, and explore how grammar shapes point of view and authorial voice. A former editor at Wired, Health, and the San Francisco Examiner, Hale has taught creative nonfiction at Harvard and UC Berkeley and published in *The Atlantic*, *The New York Times*, and *Smithsonian*. Six hours, includes bagels and a free book.

A screening of Séance with director Vivian Kerr, who will participate in a post-screening Q&A. Set in 1892 California, the film follows novelist Emma Strand as she takes refuge from a storm at the mansion of her first husband George and his unstable new wife Lillian, who claims to be haunted by their dead child. Over the evening, Emma confronts her marital unhappiness, the temptation of adultery, and the disturbing possibility that the house is genuinely haunted.

A screening of *Maxita* with director Mariana Machado, followed by panel discussion. The documentary follows Yanomami shaman Davi Kopenawa, a leading voice for Brazil's Indigenous peoples, as he travels from the Amazon to confront the mining industry destroying the forests. He reunites with activist Ailton Krenak to expose the devastation's global consequences. Part of Cine + Mas 18th Latino Film Festival and ¡VIVA! at the Library, a celebration of Latinx heritage and cultures.

Celebrate Diwali, the Festival of Lights marking the beginning of the new year in the Indian lunar calendar, with a full day of art activities, talks, tastings, and performances. Drop-in rangoli-making and henna-art workshops run 1–4 PM and are appropriate for all ages. Observed by millions across India and its diaspora, including Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs worldwide, Diwali is a jubilant holiday rich in cultural tradition and artistic expression.

Celebrate the opening of Vishnu's Cosmic Ocean, an exhibition featuring Southeast Asia's largest ancient bronze—a rare Reclining Vishnu sculpture on loan from Cambodia's National Museum. Asian Art Museum curators Natasha Reichle and Forrest McGill discuss the significance and history of this thousand-year-old Cambodian National Treasure in a double-feature talk.

Followed by a post-screening Q&A with director Habiba Nosheen, moderated by Jenni Olson. A screening of The Gymnasts of Fisherman Colony, an intimate coming-of-age documentary by 3X Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Habiba Nosheen that follows three teenage girls in Pakistan as they pursue gymnastics in a society where girls and sport rarely coexist. The film explores themes of girlhood, joy, and quiet rebellion as these young athletes navigate deeply rooted cultural expectations about what is possible for them.

A facilitated community gathering for people navigating major life transitions—career changes, sabbaticals, and life pivots. Hosted by Bernadette Lagman, this Purpose Alignment Circle brings together participants to share stories, reflect honestly on the disorienting phase of returning after a leap, and find footing together. The evening includes guided meditation, large-group discussion, small breakout conversations, and accountability pairing around what feels alive or unclear in your current path.

Julianna Glasse, a former Christian pop star, discusses her memoir about how reading transformed her life and enabled self-actualization. Her story traces an empowering journey of personal discovery through literature, offering insight for women navigating identity and transformation.

A guided walking tour of four historic cemeteries in Colma where notable San Franciscans are buried: Woodlawn, Home of Peace, Hills of Eternity, and Cypress Lawn, with a visit to Holy Cross. The tour concludes with a group return to Colma or South San Francisco BART. Hosted by Shaping San Francisco.

A focused writing session for working writers at all levels. Bring a current project, draft, or idea you've been meaning to start. The evening opens with introductions and quick shares of what you're working on, then settles into quiet writing time with optional headphones for concentration. Afterward, regroup to celebrate progress and enjoy social time over drinks and snacks in the cozy bookstore setting.

OSA Con 2026 brings together engineers, architects, and builders working at the intersection of open source data infrastructure and AI. The conference features deep technical talks on AI workloads and data management, agentic analytics platforms, real-time analytics, shared data lakes, and emerging open-source architectures. Speakers include Lisa Cao (Databricks) on AI agents writing Apache Spark pipelines, Wei-Chin Call (Grafana Labs) on benchmarking AI agents for debugging, Jason Smith (Google) on serverless eventing for AI data pipelines, Aditi Pandit (IBM) on the Presto C++ engine, and Alex Merced (Dremio) on agentic lakehouses, alongside sessions on AI-generated code licensing, infrastructure dashboards, data lock-in, RISC-V Kubernetes clusters, and AI-powered analytics for gaming. November 2, 2026, AWS Builder Loft, San Francisco.

Dr. Michael Huther, Director of the Presidium of the German Economic Institute, discusses Germany's economic trajectory amid geopolitical upheaval. Topics include structural challenges in manufacturing and energy, China's growing trade pressure, Germany's defense spending as the Ukraine war continues, and evolving EU-U.S. relations. Huther brings decades of experience analyzing German economic policy, including prior roles as Secretary General of the German Council of Economic Experts and chief economist for DekaBank.

The 16th annual Lundberg Institute Lecture explores how artificial intelligence is reshaping pediatric care and how families seek medical information, with a focus on the future of the doctor-patient relationship. Alan Greene, M.D., pediatrician and co-founder of DrGreene.com, discusses the implications of AI for both physicians and parents, moderated by George Hammond, author of *Conversations With Socrates*.

An evening for people navigating major life transitions—career changers, sabbatical-takers, and those returning from significant change. Hosted by Bernadette Lagman and Miguel Rivera, the event combines candid storytelling, guided reflection, and group sharing. Attendees will hear personal stories, engage in journal activities, and connect with others figuring out their own soft landing.

Khir Johari discusses his multi-award-winning book *The Food of Singapore Malays: Gastronomic Travels Through the Archipelago*, which explores the cultural anthropology of Malay food and its role in shaping Singapore's Malay culture. The result of 11 years of research spanning from the 7th-century Srivijaya Empire to the present, the book combines historical anecdotes with rich photography. It won Best of the Best in Food Culture at the 2025 Gourmand World Food Awards. Johari has since founded Dialogues by Khir Johari, a platform dedicated to exploring Nusantara's food, culture, and history.

A hands-on perfume-making workshop exploring the art and science of scent. Learn how fragrance notes, structure, and composition create depth and longevity, then build your own custom 10ml fragrance by blending from a curated palette of citrus, floral, fruity, woody, musky, and gourmand notes. No prior knowledge needed. Take home your bottled creation and personal fragrance formula.

A screening of the documentary Traces, which centers Ukrainian women survivors of wartime sexual violence and torture resulting from Russia's invasion. Director Alisa Kovalenko and producer Natalia Libet (co-founder, 2Brave Productions) discuss the film's testimony and documentation work, with moderation by Steven Saum of Saint Mary's College.

A mission-driven summit for founders building defense tech and dual-use startups, alongside government officials and investors. The conference aims to highlight early- and growth-stage companies, foster public-private collaboration, and equip founders with insights and community to succeed in defense innovation. Includes a pre-conference Founder Bootcamp on November 3rd with tactical guidance and direct engagement opportunities. November 4, 9:00 AM–5:30 PM PT.

An election-night gathering at Manny's to celebrate the 2026 midterm results. Attendees are invited to watch returns together in a nonpartisan, inclusive setting. Complimentary tickets available by request; pay-it-forward pricing supports free admission for those with financial barriers. No candidate promotion.

A 60-minute guided somatic breathwork session with certified practitioner Anna Bolender designed to facilitate emotional release, nervous system reset, and clarity. Using circular connected breathing with rhythmic music, participants engage their body's innate healing capacity to discharge stored emotions, stress, and trauma responses. The session includes an opening check-in, the guided breathwork journey, and optional group integration and sharing. Suitable for anyone seeking release, clarity, or reconnection with their body.

A public talk by Martin Strauss exploring curious corners of history. Hosted by Curiosity Guild, a community of storytellers investigating the wonderfully weird through nearly-monthly 21+ talks that celebrate historical oddities and overlooked narratives.

Kristen Naiman, Chief Brand Officer at The RealReal and co-author of Real Style, discusses her book, which reframes style beyond traditional fashion guides to explore personal expression, sustainability, and intentional consumption in the age of resale and circular fashion.

A recurring cognitive science reading group for Bay Area enthusiasts. Members vote on and collectively read papers or books related to cognitive science, then gather to discuss. Hosted at Frontier Tower, open to anyone interested in the field.

Architecture and design teams create vast amounts of project data that often becomes fragmented across design, construction administration, fabrication, construction, and operations phases—resulting in duplicated effort, disconnected workflows, and lost institutional knowledge. This AIA San Francisco session examines how design teams can develop more connected approaches to project information across the entire lifecycle. Attendees will explore different data types (design, BIM, project management, asset information), identify common information loss points, and learn practical strategies for maintaining continuity between phases. Real-world workflow examples demonstrate how intentional data management improves collaboration, reduces rework, and extends design value well beyond project handoff. Earns 1 AIA LU credit.

The 14th Structural Proteomics Symposium brings together world leaders in structural biology, mass spectrometry, cryo-electron tomography, computational structure prediction, and integrative modeling. Following the 2025 Milan meeting (130+ participants), this West Coast premiere promises an exceptional lineup of keynotes, cutting-edge research presentations, and collaboration opportunities spanning crosslinking, hydrogen-deuterium exchange, covalent labeling, limited proteolysis, native mass spectrometry, and top-down approaches. Hosted by the Quantitative Biosciences Institute at UCSF.

El Niño conditions are expected to increase heavy rain and flooding this winter. Hear from Bay Area leaders working to protect communities before, during, and after storms. Local jurisdictions, community organizations, and advocates discuss flood preparation, response coordination, resilience efforts, gaps in current planning, and sustained investment in emergency preparedness.

Katrina Lee, John C. Elam/Vorys Sater Professor in Law at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, examines democracy and the resilience of large law firms. Lee is an award-winning teacher and author of *The Legal Career: Knowing the Business, Thriving in Practice* (third edition, 2026), and teaches Business of Law, Legal Negotiation, and Legal Analysis and Writing. She chairs the AALS Alternative Dispute Resolution Section and previously practiced complex litigation in San Francisco as a law firm equity partner.

StopScamsSF, the nation's first city-led program dedicated to protecting residents from financial scams, is hosting a Listen and Learn Session to educate the community on common scams and tactics scammers use to target residents. Led by Mandy Ngu, Community Engagement Specialist for the Office of Financial Empowerment, participants will learn how to recognize scams while sharing their own experiences and feedback — input that helps shape the city's response to financial exploitation. Cantonese translation provided.

An examination of Arab Shi'a communities, Iran's political influence across the region, and transnational geopolitical connections shaping the Middle East and U.S.-Iran relations. The program explores how Shi'a networks and Iranian power projection affect regional stability and U.S. foreign policy.

Stanford researchers Jon Saad-Falcon and Avanika Narayan present their work on Intelligence per Watt (IPW), a unified metric measuring how efficiently AI models deliver capabilities relative to power consumption. As data center energy demands surge, the research examines which tasks require frontier-scale cloud models versus local alternatives, tested across 20+ models and 8 accelerators on 1M real-world queries. Learn how efficiency measurements help researchers, builders, and policymakers decide where AI should run when supply outpaces power availability, and which queries create genuine value versus where gaps remain. Followed by research discussion and networking.

A one-day summit exploring the data systems and infrastructure that power AI training. Attendees will hear from practitioners running some of the most ambitious training runs, discussing their architectures, technical tradeoffs, failures, and lessons learned. Designed for AI builders, engineers, researchers, and those working on the systems enabling large-scale model training.

A live demonstration of dong-ahn (youthful) makeup technique with Aurelia Kim, founder and makeup artist of Aube Hair & Makeup. Kim will showcase Korean beauty's foundation method on a live model, exploring how subtle changes in placement, texture, and balance shape facial contours and create polished, natural looks. The event examines the artistry and intricacies of K-Beauty and how intentional details transform overall appearance. Hosted by the Center for Asia Pacific Studies at University of San Francisco.

Aryeh Green, who has lived in Israel for over 40 years, explores themes of peace and place in an intimate setting at Book Passage. The event features Green discussing his experience and insights on life in Israel.

A community gathering to discuss the 2026 election results and their implications for the nation's future. Hosted at Manny's Cafe, the event brings people together to learn from one another and reflect on what comes next. Manny's offers free tickets to those who cannot afford the $10 entry and encourages supporters to purchase 'Pay It Forward' tickets for others.

A hands-on workshop exploring how biological signals can be translated into robotic movement and synthesized sound. Artists Scott Kildall and Kal Spelletich—collaborating with over 50 years of combined experience in experimental art and technology—will demonstrate their bio-art practices: Kildall transforms environmental data and fungal signals into sculptural sound installations, while Spelletich creates interactive robotic sound machines from plants. Participants will engage with working prototypes, learn electronics and data harvesting techniques, and develop strategies for their own bio-related art projects. No technical prerequisites required. Part of Gray Area's Patch Bay weekly series for media artists and creative technologists.

A screening of the first two episodes of Millennial Punk – Eine Subkultur in Zeiten der Digitalisierung, a four-part documentary exploring the punk scene of the 1990s and early 2000s through the voices of musicians, journalists, and activists who lived it. The series examines punk's lasting ties to anti-discrimination, anti-fascism, and diversity, and asks what sustains punk's ethos in an increasingly digital world. Following the screening, writer Diana Ringelsiep and director Felix Bundschuh join for a conversation and Q&A.

A 90-minute survey of 400 years of operatic history, from Dafne (1597) through A Streetcar Named Desire (1998). The presentation introduces key terms, concepts, and celebrated performers through recordings and live discussion, designed for both opera newcomers and experienced enthusiasts seeking deeper knowledge of the form's evolution and major works.

Join SF Craft Club for a Practical Magic-themed evening of hands-on crafting at The Love Potion Library. Make your own spellbook by decorating a blank hardcover notebook with paper, fabric, and leather scraps, then create potion keychains by filling tiny vials with dried herbs, florals, charms, and whimsical items. The ticket includes all supplies, tea, wine, pastries, a goodie bag, printed photobooth photos, and a raffle entry. Bring your own craft supplies or special potion fillings if desired; Practical Magic-inspired attire is encouraged.