Matt's Writing

By Joe Sciarrillo Asemara, an asylee from Eritrea, is sitting across from me at my desk at an immigration law clinic in San Francisco’s Mission District. Bouncing her one year old baby on her lap, she’s wearing a traditional zuria dress with a white shawl lightly draped over her braids and shoulders. Like many Eritrean and Ethiopian immigrants whom our office works with, she recounts living through two wars, persecution by Eritrean authorities, and surviving a trek of being smuggled from Brazil up through Central America to Mexico, and miraculously making it across the U.S. border with the help of coyotes. The irony of Asemara sitting there, is that despite all of the obstacles she’s faced so far, her next task seems insurmountable -- to find affordable housing in San Francisco. A worker working on a new construction project in San Francisco’s SOMA district. African immigrants have found it especially difficult to find affordable housing in San Francisco. Immigrants and ref...

The San Francisco Giants won the World Series for the second time in three years the night of October 28, 2012. The Giants swept the Detroit Tigers, winning all four games against them. Game 4 went into the 10th inning, and the Giants won 4-3 in Detroit. What happened after the win in San Francisco was described by some media outlets as a "riot" in the streets of San Francisco . Below are Joe Sciarrillo's photos from that night and from the 2012 World Series Parade appearing in the photobook Bay Area Underground . Giants fans celebrate in front of San Francisco City Hall as soon as the Giants win. Photo by Joe Sciarrillo Giants fans gather in Downtown San Francisco to watch the World Series Parade on October 31, 2012. Photo by  Joe Sciarrillo Orange VW bug is decked out with Giants gear, including brooms to celebrate "sweeping" the Tigers. Photo by  Joe Sciarrillo Boys wearing Buster Posey's jersey watch the Giants World Series Parade in San...

The Giants beat the Cardinals in the National League Championship Game 7 on October 22, 2010. Despite the foul weather, both teams played through it. And despite the pouring rain, the fans partied in the streets after the game. Here are some photos by Joe Sciarrillo to appear first time in print in the photobook Bay Area Underground . Hunter Pence stands in right field amid a downpour. Photo by  Joe Sciarrillo Hunter Pence scored 3 runs on a double which broke his bat in the third inning. Joe Sciarrillo was actually outside the stadium in the spectator zone when he took this photo through the right-field fence. View of Game 7, 2012 through the right-field fence at AT&T Park. Photo by  Joe Sciarrillo Fans watching NLCS Game 7 for free through the right field fence at AT&T Park. Photo by  Joe Sciarrillo Fans celebrate the SF Giants win after Game 7, 2012. Photo by  Joe Sciarrillo Giants fans celebrating that they're going to the 2...

One thing that's been fun working with Joe Sciarrillo on a photobook is that he always seems to be on the ground for all the major events in the Bay Area. Looking through the thousands of photos he's taken in the last five years, we found a lot of gems. Given all the media attention on Giants fans "rioting" in the streets after the October 28, 2012 World Series win, I wondered, what were the celebrations like after the 2010 World Series? And Joe had some very interesting footage and photos of the celebration, which we're including in Bay Area Underground . And here are photos of the celebrations in the Mission District after the 2010 World Series: Giants fans dancing on top of a Muni bus after the 2010 World Series. Photo by  Joe Sciarrillo Giants fans light a fire on Mission Street after the 2010 World Series. Photo by  Joe Sciarrillo Mission Street was so packed with people, some started climbing the Muni wires. Photo by  Joe Sciar...

The first Friday Nights at the De Young event at the De Young Museum on March 30, 2012 was a lively fashion-themed party. The free event was packed with people in all types of attire mimicking the current exhibit at the museum: The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk . Overall, the ambiance, people, and free entry made it a fun social event to go to in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. Click here for more photos from the night . There was a fashion show presented by the SF Bay Guardian, and people wore all types of outfits, like this Obey Giant-themed dress based on Shepard Fairey's street art . Also, the De Young Museum's observation tower was open, and it's free to go up and get a great view of San Francisco.  For more photos from the night, check out the photo album on Google+ .

Dave Smallen, who I recently wrote about for his song NYC, and interviewed on my radio show back in March, is releasing his album Everything Changes & Nothing Changes at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco on Friday, November 27. For tickets and info on the show, please visit http://davesmallen.com and http://www.bottomofthehill.com/