Drilling with my battalion neighbors at NERT's Citywide Drill Spring 2025
The NERT Citywide Drill Spring 2025 was held at the Couny Fair building in Golden Gate Park this weekend for SF Fire Department neighborhood emergency response team (NERT) volunteers. I’ve been a certified NERT since 2018 and this is the fourth citywide drill I’ve now participated in.
Besides meeting up with NERTs I’m in touch with as the Cow Hollow and Marina District coordinator role I took on since 2024, there were some new opportunities I especially appreciated. Among them:
BATTALION DRILLS
NERT has shifted from small neighborhood teams to Battalion-based groups that encompass 5 or 6 neighborhoods. It’s how we will organize and stage response together in a disaster. We drilled with our Battalion 4 mates, so got to meet them and work with them for the first time. There were 10-12 of us when I joined them for the ALL HAZARD ROOM, a drill that combines a bunch of hazards: water leaks, gas leaks, downed electrical wiring, a victim trapped under heavy rubble, an uninjured neighbor in a wheelchair who wants to stay with the trapped victim, a sudden fire that needs to be suppressed, and earthquake aftershocks.
RADIO OPS, STAGING AREAs
Most of the day I was with the Hams (I got my Technician license last year and haven’t had much chance to use it yet). At this citywide event, radio operators had drills: there was an Auxiliary Communications System Field Team, with Planning and Walking radio groups for two disaster staging areas that mimicked the staging areas we’d set up for each Battalion group in the event of an emergency. I shadowed/scribed for a radio operator taking down incoming incident messages from our Walker and random people coming to the staging area to report their findings, like building collapses, fires, and injuries needing medical attention and rescue, and then communicating that to ACS Field Leader who interfaced with Battalion.
STOP THE BLEED & OPIOID OVERDOSES
There was a short class on naloxone and tourniquets, which I hadn’t taken before. Now we know how to identify an opioid overdose symptoms, and administer a naloxone dose, as well as apply a tourniquet and make a tourniquet in the field with a strip of fabric and a ballpoint pen. Wouldn’t you like to know how to do this? I think we could all learn it. I want to see this common sense public service instruction everywhere, like on bus stops!
DISASTER VICTIM TRAINING VOLUNTEERS
I didn’t do the FIELD TRIAGE drill this time but saw children victim-actors with simulated injuries: broken bones, lacerations. The kids were disaster victim training volunteers and they helped NERTs practice what we’d do to help them if we encountered them in our neighborhoods after a disaster struck and before emergency services could reach them.
Take a look at a video reel of NERT’s Citywide Drill Spring 2025 from the fire department.
TBT: I produced a planetarium exhibit about dinosaurs for a pioneering astrophysicist
When I was living in Kuala Lumpur, I produced a Planetarium theatre show for Malaysian Ministry of Science, Technology & the Environment.
In 1996, an astrophysicist chose me to explain what happened to the dinosaurs.
Dr. Mazlan Othman, director general of Malaysia’s Space Science Studies Division in the Prime Minister’s Department, chose me to produce an educational exhibit for schoolchildren of this newly industrialized nation in Southeast Asia.
I researched and wrote a script on the astronomic demise of the dinosaurs as found in the geologic record (it’s that iridium layer!), then supervised a staff of 20 scientists to produce the presentation.
I reported directly to Dr. Mazlan, a pioneer in Malaysian space exploration whose next professional role was to direct the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) in Vienna, and then to set up the National Space Agency in Malaysia.
To utilize the domed space theatre best, I designed surround-sound effects and music, supervised the sound recording, and oversaw the programming for a 20-projector system.
For the first time, the observatory’s suite of Minolta multimedia operations was used. I optimized and modeled its use in the program, and advised on needed upgrades.
I wrote a study guide for schoolteachers to accompany the permanent exhibit, which ran five times a day in two languages.
TBT 2011, 2013: false cosmopolitanism & brand mismanagement on social media
The Bellyflops of Social Media Mismanagement
I posted this in 2013 on my Medium page.
On the precipice of war, overreaching false cosmopolitanism continues. Plus, parents plan for unsustainable digital abstinence.
Today the Kenneth Cole Twitter account tweeted something thoughtless about “Boots on the ground” or not, don’t forget about sandals and loafers.
Nope.
Boots on the ground mean soldiers going to war possibly to be maimed or killed, and to wreak havoc on the lives of others. The precipice of war is not an opportunity to remind people you make loafers.
Feels like deja vu for Cole. Because it is. The brand flopped just like this in 2011.
In 2011 I made the connection between global mishaps of high profile brands and the false cosmopolitanism we’re all suffering.
There was Groupon’s SuperBowl ad fiasco, when the company attempted to mix consumerism with sensitive political, environmental, cultural, economic and social issues, and the Kenneth Cole Twitter debacle which appeared to make light of unrest in Cairo.
I wrote about earlier instances of the phenomenon of false cosmopolitanism in 2010. See links to that, and my influences below.
Access to the worldwide web makes us imagine we’re global thinkers. But most of us aren’t. Not even close.
In order to truly be global thinkers, we’d have to be xenophiles, actively and constantly bridging cultures, immersed and knowledgeable about multiple worlds.
Most people hang out in “like-minded microcosms” and when we cross a boundary online the new light shed on everyone’s prejudices and assumptions can take us by surprise.
This “xeno-confusion” is happening more often in the virtual realm, with higher and higher stakes.
Today’s other big story of social media mismanagement has been swiftly answered by Alexandra Samuel of Love Your Life Online. It falls into the category of unsustainable digital abstinence to solve problems that may crop up in the future.
“Don’t be scared to Facebook your kids,” she responds to Amy Webb’s piece at Slate “We Post Nothing About Our Daughter Online.”
Samuel writes: “Parenthood is such a central experience that there’s no way to cut it out of your online life without profoundly compromising your own ability to have authentic, meaningful connections online.”
That’s exactly right. Plus, digital abstinence doesn’t prepare you for the world your child will grow up in.
How are you preparing yourself for a wider world?
Improving a local gateway with indigenous plantings
Saturday morning spent planting native, drought resistant plant species with North End neighbors.
This was the plan: a Saturday morning spent planting native drought resistant plants with my neighbors and others. We would replace a gnarly grass lawn with the hope to make “Richardson and Lombard Streets a more welcoming and beautiful gateway into San Francisco”, in the words of the Cow Hollow Association, and rehabilitate the natural habitat as well.
“Plant food instead!” yelled a drive-by troll.
Thirty of us were on our knees in the dirt, with pick axes and knives, loosening the roots on plants we had just removed from their grow pots. The sun was surprisingly hot for 9:30 a.m., usually this area is slow to warm with all the tall trees and vegetation edging the Presidio not to mention the fogline that people like to say ends at Divisadero, a few blocks further into the city.
“Plant food instead!” a man yelled at us from a car. Literally a drive-by troll.
We were on the highly trafficked road that guides drivers to the Golden Gate Bridge in one direction and welcomes you to the city and neighborhood of Marina District in the other direction. Lots of cars, and carbon monoxide exhaust.
In the Bay Area, people speak their high mind. He’d already zoomed through the intersection but I knew what he meant: create a community food garden, for humans. That’s definitely needed in every area, and I suspect each project needs a plan and resilient support. Yelling the command from a car like a community edge lord doesn’t move the needle much.
It took me a second to react. This IS food, too, I would have told him.
This IS food. These 300 or 400 indigenous plants we’re putting into the ground feed birds, bees, and butterflies.
🤔💭 Our natural resources project with neighbors wasn’t the result of a split second decision, like his, to answer the question “Should we use this particular plot for food for humans or nature?” This particular plot was solved long ago, by a grass lawn. Agitating to change the lawn took three years and a lot of people.
The improvement melds the distinct situation and needs of the land with the ability and interest of the people and organizations around to care for it. Once these small plants and seedlings - grown from seed by the Presidio Nursery where I started volunteering last year - are established, they will not require further irrigation efforts or costs. They are intended to be hardy, and withstand the vagaries of the weather and rain seasons, and carbon monoxide from cars, and thrive.
The Richardson Gateway Project is the work of numerous area leaders like former city supervisor Catherine Stefani who secured the initial funding of $50,000 three years ago, and Cynthia Gissler of the Cow Hollow Association who invited the neighbors today. We were joined by members of the City’s Department of Public Works and the Presidio Trust, supervised by National Park Service and Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy Volunteer Supervisor Staff. Cynthia’s Aunt Caroline, a nonagenarian retired public school teacher, handled our release form paperwork for the day.
We were joined by the newly appointed city supervisor for District 2, Stephen Sherrill and his son.
🙏 to the people who honked with thumbs up, we did see you!
My wish for everyone out there:
I hope you find your chance to contribute to a local garden of your choosing.
If this particular block is anything judge by, community gardens are not “drive-by” efforts. They take commitment, leadership, time, resources, collaboration.
Among the hundreds of plants we put in the ground today: foxtail agave, coyote brush, monkey flower, buckeye, poppies, coffee berry, blue blossom, sage wort, deer grass, hummingbird sage, aster, wild rose, moor grass, anemone, sagebrush, seaside daisy, bluff lettuce.
Conceiving of an Expat Harem inspired streaming series
Stealth project, defunct. Revolved a return to the cultural thread, in international streaming, if the time is right. (It wasn’t, 2022 and 2023 earthquakes and bombings changed the landscape, in a heated election year.)
Pitchbook for streaming series concept, 2022-2023
Expat Harem-related projects won't quit. The book is still for sale, and people are finding it like an actress in London who discovered it in a bookshop in London and sent it to a TV producer in Istanbul.
In 2022, at the request of that TV producer in Istanbul, I co-developed a streaming series concept inspired by the book "Tales from the Expat Harem" and its associated blog.
Collaborating with another writer, Katherine Belliel, whose Haze appeared in the book, and who coedited the sequel book Expat Sofra, we crafted a unique series that reflected the themes and stories from the original literary work.
This involved extensive research into the rights landscape, and entertainment legal agreements. We then pitched the concept to an international streaming service, leveraging our creative vision and strategic communication skills to present a compelling case for the globally accessible series.
The project demonstrated our ability to adapt literary content for a new digital medium while managing complex logistical and legal aspects.
Let's recap
I nominate Stephanie LB @LincolnsBible Black for a Cassandra Award.
Here’s the summer before. 2018.
“Treason is the reason for the season, someone said on Twitter.
I shared it on my Instagram along with contemporary Tweets from Louis Neufeld who was very early on many germane threads that drive our headlines today. Her 2017 threads deserve a receipts challenge. I nominate her for a Cassandra Award.
Citywide drill commemorates the Loma Prieta Quake that started the NERT program
Yesterday’s citywide drill for neighborhood emergency response teams in San Francisco noted 35th anniversary of lomaprieta quake, earliest NERT members from Marina … & the Japanese consul general joined (several other countries want to learn from this fire department program!)
Biodiversity hot spot grows 150 native species each year for Golden Gate National Parks
Since 1981, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy has served as the nonprofit partner of the National Park Service, collaborating with the Presidio Trust, partners, donors, and the community to support the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA). The GGNRA stretches across three Bay Area counties, north and south of the Golden Gate Bridge, and includes iconic places such as Muir Woods National Monument, Fort Point National Historic Site, Alcatraz Island, Crissy Field, Mori Point, Lands End, and the Presidio of San Francisco.
I volunteer with park staff at the nursery’s indigenous species greenhouses, shade houses and lab for seed processing and sowing.
Presidio Nursery is a cooperative program of Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, National Parks Service, and Presidio Trust.
Since September 2023, I have done transplanting, pruning, and pot washing and look forward to work in the seed lab during winter 🥼 🌱
These are some of the other tasks available for volunteers at the Presidio Nursery:
seed collection
seed cleaning
transplanting
pruning
weeding
composting
pot washing
nursery maintenance
care of an educational garden
The Presidio is a haven for more rare species per acre than all national parks including Yosemite and Yellowstone.
This international biodiversity hot spot grows 150 plant species and 150,000 plants a year for habitat restoration and reforestation around the Presidio and other parks.
Among other places, you can enjoy their plants at the new Tunnel Tops park at Speaker Nancy Pelosi Plaza. Thanks to Pelosi’s initiative to save the Presidio for the people, the Presidio was designated a National Park 30 years ago.
Repopulating the Presidio with almost-extinct manzanita clones one afternoon.
One afternoon we handled newly discovered Franciscan manzanita that had been cloned for repopulating the Presidio with the species. We washed 100 pots for them to be repotted into later (after steaming, sterilizing, bleaching) these plants are the only ones that exist other than the mother plant.
Here come the CONTENT CREATORS - 400 million impressions at the Democratic National Convention
I feel quite vindicated this month. The central contention of KIP, my passion project of the past decade, is hitting the mainstream. Everybody sees it!
A journalism society talked about feeling insulted this week. Meanwhile, journalists in the mainstream media had their lunch eaten last week by 200 ‘social media influencers’ invited to the Democratic National Convention who reached 400 million impressions (4x what cable news generated) for a media value of $800 million.
What a masterclass in disinter-media-tion. The Democrats went straight to the people.
The mainstream ‘journalism’ hits keep coming, with Dana Bash of CNN recycling racist Trump taunts as if it’s legitimate journalistic work in the first cable news mainstream media interview of the HARRIS WALZ team. Don’t waste our time!
I cannot help but notice these are the very same social media contributors I've been talking about as the non-traditional bridge media we need to connect to traditional journalism, and I conceived a framework to do that with my passion project KIP.
Journalists, it’s long past time for you to stop feeling insulted and get to work connecting with the people who are bringing news to us. They could use your rigor and training and experience, and we will all benefit from it. Democracy demands it.
By the way, I have a plan for that. Take a look at the KIP framework to connect journalists with content creators (I call them the Fifth Estate) and trusted independent parties to vet, frame, and generate discussion, games, research, education and commerce using current events.
My diversity is formative
This extracts the elements of my diversity from a first person essay I wrote on how my diversity was formed.
Cultural Background:
Raised in a progressive hometown that was a Civil Rights hotbed, with a strong anti-Establishment and countercultural influence.
Racial and Ethnic Exposure:
Grew up in an integrated school district, with diverse classmates and teachers from BIPOC and AAPI communities.
Gender and Feminism:
Steeped in inclusive language and feminist instinct from an early age, navigating and challenging sexism throughout life and career.
International Experience:
Lived and worked in numerous American cities and other countries like Italy, Malaysia, Turkey, gaining insights into different cultures and social norms.
Socio-Economic Background:
Experienced the challenges of a lower socio-economic upbringing, providing a unique perspective on privilege and systemic inequality.
Religious and Spiritual Diversity:
Studied transcendental meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at the age of 9, embracing spiritual practices uncommon among peers.
LGBTQIA+ Community Involvement:
Lived in an almost exclusively LGBTQIA+ environment for eight years, fostering deep connections and understanding of LGBTQIA+ issues.
Disability and Health Awareness:
Inherited sensitivity towards disability and health challenges through familial experiences, notably a father with significant health and social obstacles.
Almost 2 decades of speaking to audiences far, wide, and totally niche!
I’ve enjoyed every minute connecting with the audience at entertainment and publishing industry conferences, universities, business accelerators, cultural organizations, and California’s oldest public affairs forum, The Commonwealth Club. I’ve talked about personal branding with social media, the worst entrepreneurship advice I’ve ever gotten, how to build community online and with content, foreign correspondence or writing from abroad, marketing for startups, the cultural exchange of the Expat Harem, among other specialty topics.
Crazy Rich Asians & the impact of my work: I helped save an architectural gem in Southeast Asia
Remembering the time when I conceived, pitched, wrote, sold, published a three page story in a top newsweekly magazine out of Hong Kong that highlighted a historical building at risk from nearby development to 93,000 elite members of government, business and the arts.
The article had impact.
The year after the article was published, the building won a newly created UNESCO Heritage Award.
To promote the conservation of the greatest diversity of the region’s built heritage, in the year 2000 UNESCO inaugurated the annual Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation, a program designed to respond to the question: “Within the realities of contemporary, fast-track development, what of the built heritage do Asians value and want to preserve from the past to inform the region’s place in the global future?”
quoted from TheSiamSociety.org Lessons from the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation: International Best Practices in Thailand
Richard Engelhardt, Montira Horayangura Unakul and Julia Davies
In 2018 you saw this historic property in the film Crazy Rich Asians, which used it as a setting.
You know it from Crazy Rich Asians. I championed its story in 1998.
