Caitlin Donohue

Cosmetic changes

Looking for a cruelty-free fall look? Swagger Cosmetics' got that shade

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caitlin@sfbg.com

STREET SEEN "Oh, now there's someone taking a picture of us," says Swagger Cosmetics founder Blake Karamazov, gesturing at a paparazzi who is snapping away through the cafe's plate glass window. No shade, shutterbug — drag visions being interviewed while eating vegan Asian pear pie at 2:30pm deserve a capture or 10. (But c'mon, next time ask first.)Read more »

Good Vibes Sex Summit takes the Marriott, and not without controversy

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To be completly morbid about a really positive event: had Hurricane Sandy catacylsmically materialized in the Marriot Marquis Club Room on Saturday, half of the Bay Area's sex nerd population would have been wiped out, and a good portion of the national sex educator community would be in mourning. The Good Vibrations Sex Summit was taking place, and health professionals, sex educators, TV personalities, surrogate parents, and laypeople interested in where sexuality stands in our society today were assembled for a day of panels and lectures.

Much-needed, sex-positive analysis of current events abounded. Schism, perhaps, was inevitable. All in all, it was a day of real talk. Read more »

Hakka in the home: An autumn side dish from one of our fave cookbooks

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I've read few cookbooks as interesting as The Hakka Cookbook, Sunset Magazine recipe editor and food writer Linda Anusasananan's exploration of her Hakka Chinese roots through the cuisine that the culture's global diaspora has developed. Check out my interview with her in this week's food and drink issue Feast for more on Hakka bites, and the journey that led her to write what may be the first cookbook that shares them with the rest of the world. Better yet, do that and then make the recipe below, an easily-prepared vegetarian dish that works as a fab autumn side dish. Spinach is in-season through the end of November here in the Bay Area. Read more »

This week in sex events: Free Internet anti-porn and sex nerd heaven

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What to do when Halloween rolls around, but you're already slutty 365 days a year? Up the ante with one of this week's sex events, because you're more than just an awkwardly-gender-coded bag of crap from Spirit.

Read more »

Trans activists honored in Clarion Alley mural

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It was important to Tanya Wischerath that the crowds who came to last weekend's Clarion Alley Block Party got to see the latest addition to its collection of murals. The new piece is a stirring tribute to transwomen activists, done in jewel tones on a background of night sky and stained glass. "I was told nine days before the street fair [that I got the wall], and I was adamant that I would have something finished by then," the artist said in an email. We're glad -- it's lovely.  Read more »

Girl on wall

Badassery abounds at Los Muros Hablan, where Sofia Maldonado teaches her brand of Puerto Rican feminist street art

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caitlin@sfbg.com

STREET SEEN Welcome welcome, friends, to my new column. You'll wanna check back here for Bay Area style — clothes, weed, art, sex, y'know. But this week, international women's studies: a Puerto Rican street artist on domestic violence, in her home town.

It may have been the moment of my recent trip to check out San Juan's first street art festival.Read more »

Cantonese country cousin

Finally, the Hakka diaspora has its own cookbook

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caitlin@sfbg.com

FEAST "Comfort food for the working man," is how longtime Sunset Magazine food writer and Hakka Chinese daughter Linda Lau Anusasananan describes the food she grew up watching her grandmother prepare. Anusasananan spent years penning articles on everyone else's soul foods in her professional career, and finally decided that the earthy — yet at times incredibly complex — eats that have been developed by the diaspora sprung from her nomadic ancestors deserved a cookbook of their own.Read more »

Wedge issues

Happy days on the Marin-Sonoma Cheese Trail

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caitlin@sfbg.com

FEAST 2012 It is a trip ill-suited for vegans and anyone with a phobia of fossil fuel. But no one said that the Sonoma Marin Cheese Trail was an endeavor for everyone. Certainly not the faint of belly — even our truncated voyage of five cheesemakers and 61 miles in a day is a lot, lactophilia notwithstanding.Read more »

The 'heightened sensitivity' blues

One woman's angertorial regarding progressive politics in SF

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OPINION 

"No one can deny that there is presently a particular sensitivity around domestic violence issues, and this may have been a contributing factor in their decision in this instance. I want to emphasize that I respect this heightened sensitivity and I will not criticize those allies of mine that have chosen to withdraw support."

- Oct. 17 press statement from District 5 candidate Julian DavisRead more »

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis make straight people sing about gay marriage at Fillmore

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Sure, Seattle rapper-DJ duo Macklemore (nee Ben Haggerty) and Ryan Lewis had the crowd at the Fillmore singing along to their heartwarming gay marriage anthem "Same Love." The song is off their just-dropped release The Heist, which is currently astraddle the top of the iTunes charts. We're talking San Francisco here, so the audience's exuberance was kind of a gimme. 

But it's still exciting. Read more »