Gifts for good causes

Channel this year's political anxieties into your holiday gift list.

By Giselle Velazquez

SO THIS IS Christmas (or Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa, or Festivus). And what have you done? Besides pretend to work while furtively shopping for digital cameras online, that is. But hold on. It's easy to decry the season as a soulless orgy of crass commercialism – but it's not like anyone's forcing you to conquer your holiday gift list by marching from Best Buy to Virgin Megastore to the Gap – whose founder, by the way, has channeled gobs of money toward various conservative causes.

Politically, economically, environmentally, and so on, it's been a bit of a rough year. But it's quite easy, particularly in the Bay Area, to channel your frustrations and anxieties – and holiday conspicuous consumption – into purchases that might make this Bush-blighted, hurricane-swept, injustice-wracked world just a tad brighter.

The Bay Area is rife with earnest organizations and collectives that support the arts, the environment, media rights, queer rights, human rights, and all kinds of other right-on rights – just not the political right. It's time to support them by bestowing their excellent, original wares and services on your delighted recipients. Your conscience will thank you, and your friends won't have to pretend they like those hideous magenta, zebra-striped picture frames. It's a win-win – at least until the credit card bills roll in.

Art – who needs it?

Apparently not America, since arts funding across the nation seems to shrink each year. Support culture and enlightenment with a visit to one of these local shops.

The best way to support an artist is to patronize their artwork – and at Future Primitive Sound no one has to pity-buy a sad clown painting. The hip-hop art collective's gallery features the work of top graf artists like Doze Green and Mode 2, and the Web site features clothing ($20-$50), lithographs ($150), and silk-screen prints ($40-$100), so anyone can afford some hot urban style without breaking the bank. 597 Haight, SF. (415) 551-2328, www.futureprimitivesound.com.

Arr, matey! There are few people that kids look up to more than rum-guzzling, scurvy-stricken pirates. That must be why 826 Valencia supports its writing mentorship programs with its very own Pirate Supply Store. The shop has something for everyone from the richest plunderer to the lowliest seafarer, including eye patches ($5), flags ($11-$22), and designer glass eyeballs ($25). There are even "romantic" pirate fragrances ($45) for when the lonely sailor feels like getting frisky with ye fair wenches (raging venereal disease sold separately). The store also features books and periodicals ($8-$16) by 826 Valencia students, who explore their love of writing with the center's dedicated team of tutors and volunteers. 826 Valencia, SF. (415) 642-5905, www.826valencia.org.

It's one of the Big Questions that has plagued music historians for centuries. "Could Mozart have taken Beethoven in a fistfight?" Now the world can find out for sure with composer action figures ($6.95) from the San Francisco Symphony online store. Marvel as the B-Man strikes a blow for the romanticists with an uppercut to Wolfgang's chin, and watch the classical sparks fly. The symphony Web site also features a host of other quirky gifts, from finger puppets ($4.95) to official SFS socks ($8.95) – rumor has it they may even carry a symphony CD or two. www.shopsfsymphony.com.

Still here – now exponentially more queer

Take pride in living in the gayest city on Earth (sorry Branson, Mo.) and do your part to keep it as queer as possible for future generations.

Salute the neo-nuclear family with a "QueerSpawn" T-shirt from LGBT advocacy group Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere, available to those who donate $100 or more to the organization. That might sound kinda steep for a T-shirt, but the proceeds help fund COLAGE's mission of celebrating queer family values while fighting laws that discriminate against same-sex parents. With both child and adult sizes, the whole family can show off their pride. 3543 18th St., Ste. 1, SF. (415) 861-KIDS, www.colage.org.

Coming to the rescue of workaholics, Under One Roof provides a one-stop shop for all the discerning friends and family on the gift list. The store's eclectic merchandise includes upscale home decor like a Keith Haring coaster set ($60), kitschy Housewife tarot cards ($14.95), and an oddball Our Lady of Guadalupe glow-in-the-dark figurine ($9.95). There's also plenty of ornaments ($20-$45) for any holiday happening, including some by Christopher Radko. All proceeds go to HIV/AIDS organizations – according to Under One Roof, it's sold more than $11 million in merchandise to benefit the fight. 549 Castro, SF. (415) 503-2300, www.underoneroof.org.

Hmmm, what to buy for evil religious right-loving Aunt Ethel for Christmas ... of course! The complete works of the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus. The 250-plus-member group has been making sweet music for 27 years, having made its first informal appearance singing a memorial hymn the night of the George Moscone and Harvey Milk assassinations. The chorus recently released its first Christmas CD, Home for the Holidays ($14), with highlights from its 2000 through 2004 Castro Theatre Christmas Eve shows. (415) 865-3650, www.sfgmc.org.

Our beautiful greenish planet

We've been whaling on Mother Earth since the industrial revolution, so hurry up and play nice before she pummels us with another hurricane.

For the acquaintance giftee with a sweet tooth, try a present of fresh-baked vegan cookies or other pastries from Nomad Café ($1-$2.75 each). According to the Web site, "People wander in to the Nomad Café from near and far. Only a very few run away screaming." That's as good a recommendation as any, but the vegetarian café also serves only fair trade organic coffee and teas, composts 95 percent of its garbage, and won a 2005 California Waste Reduction Award – one of 10 winners statewide. It even donates leftover food to local charities and shelters. 6500 Shattuck, Oakl. (510) 595-5344, www.gypsyspiritmission.com/html/nomad.htm.

Northern California has some challenging waves, and plenty of people who love to surf them, including members of Bay Area Surf Productions. The filmmaking nonprofit dedicates proceeds from its works to Bay Area environmental and coastal preservation organizations. Its first surf film, Nor Cal Project ($19.95), came out on DVD in November and features Pacifica surfing action and a soundtrack by local bands. Buy a copy on the Web site. 333 Precita, SF. (415) 412-1727, www.bayareasurf.com.

The grassroots Planet Drum Foundation is a staunch supporter of bioregional sustainability, advocating for the environment through workshops, performances, and projects. So make sure to recycle the fabulous Arte Papel paper products ($8-$25) it sells through its Web site. Arte Papel, an Ecuador-based women's collective, creates beautifully rustic recycled-paper stationery ($18), business cards ($20 for 100), and journals ($10-$18), decorated with pressed flowers. (415) 285-6556, www.planetdrum.org.

A fresh, living tree, ready and willing to be festooned with holiday finery, can also make a nice surprise. This year the city of San Francisco has partnered with nonprofit Friends of the Urban Forest for the Green Christmas program. For $90 a young tree will be delivered to your door and whisked away once the holidays are over – and planted somewhere in the city, adding a bit of green to the concrete jungle. (415) 561-6890, www.fuf.net.

Out-Foxed and Chronic-illed

With newspapers and radio stations rabidly consolidating, unique voices are getting harder to hear in the media maelstrom. Check out your local indie media and be rewarded with fresh perspectives, local coverage – and much better music.

Sick of the same moldy old pop songs and psoriasis commercials on the radio? So was Free Radio Berkeley, which started broadcasting low-power community-based FM radio in 1993, providing an alternative voice for the community. Although the station was shut down by the feds in 1998, Free Radio Berkeley is still committed to low-power FM radio. Treat your free speech-loving friends to Radio Camp, a four-day workshop that will teach them how to build an FM transmitter and set up their own microradio station, all for a sliding-scale fee of $150 to $200. For the less DIY inclined, the Web site even sells ready-made transmitters and amplifiers. (510) 625-0314, www.freeradio.org.

You could give your friend/loved one 12 months of the latest pop clichés with a subscription to Rolling Stone or Spin ... or you could present them with the best in local, national, and international hardcore punk, courtesy of Maximumrocknroll. Churning out issues since the early '80s, this grandaddy of Bay Area zines is older than many of the wild-eyed punks who grace its cover. Give the gift that keeps on giving (12 times a year for $36), or, if you're a starving gutter punk down to your last few crumpled dollars, snag a single issue for $4 and try not to think about food. www.maximumrocknroll.com.

Speaking of indie punk, Lookout Records didn't have the best 2005. The venerable independent record label hit a financial pothole that derailed the label's releases for the year. Stop by and show some love by picking up a few Lookout sweatshirts ($30), 50/50 cotton-polyester blend, and some Pattern CDs ($10), 100 percent pure rock 'n' roll. 3264 Adeline, Berk. (510) 450-8310, www.lookoutrecords.com.

Beyond America-land

It's a big world out there, and there are a lot of cultures to see and know.

It may be cheaper to buy a yoga mat at Wal-Mart, but it's a safe bet that the Walton family doesn't insist on paying its foreign workers a living wage. World of Good does, selling only Fair Trade Federation-approved global handicrafts in its store and donating 10 percent of its profits to furthering worldwide fair trade efforts. The store stocks fashionably funky apparel like Vietnamese scarves ($19.95-$29.95) and hand-embroidered Indian sling bags ($36.95) as well as housewares, jewelry, and other treasures waiting to be discovered. 1380 10th St., Berk. (510) 528-8400, www.worldofgood.com.

Also made with care are bracelets from the Tibetan Nuns Project. The project assists nuns who have been exiled from their home country in setting up communities abroad and supporting themselves by handcrafting woven "freedom bracelets" that commemorate their defiance against the Chinese government. The nuns also produce handmade greeting cards ($3), drawstring bags ($5), and traditional Tibetan prayer flags ($7-$15). 2288 Fulton, Ste. 312, Berk. (510) 647-3423, www.tnp.org.

For those too cool to shop at Pier 1 (and that would be just about everybody), Casa Bonampak features a head-turning array of indigenous, authentic Latin American folk art. Dangle a Frida Kahlo pendant ($39.95) around that special someone's neck, or spread your toast with some genuine Zapatista honey ($7.95), collected from flowers in the highlands of Chiapas. The Fair Trade Federation store also carries Che Guevara greeting cards ($2), calavera party streamers ($6), and cotton blouses hand-stitched by Mayan Indians ($42.99-$44.99). The items come from central and southern Mexico, which were particularly hard-hit by Hurricane Wilma earlier this year. 3331 24th St., SF. (415) 642-4079, www.casabonampak.com.

Giving is a mighty rewarding experience – but not quite as rewarding as getting, so don't forget to treat yourself to some do-good goodies this year – all for the greater good, of course.