Family-friendly trick-or-treating and costume contests are planned in San Francisco and Oakland as Halloween nears.
"The Great Hauntway" returns to the upper Great Highway Sunday, October 30, from 1 to 4 p.m. Sponsored by the Friends of the Great Highway, the event takes place between Judah and Taraval streets. It is a free, family-friendly community Halloween event featuring over a mile of trick-or-treating, kids activities, and live music from Carry Nation, a news release stated.
The Great Hauntway debuted in 2021 to thousands of attendees, giving kids a safe, car-free, and fun place to celebrate Halloween with a scenic coastal backdrop, the release noted. Community members will be setting up decorated tables for the trick-or-treating, with awards given to the best of them. Other activities include pumpkin decorating, big bubbles, a bounce house, and more.
As this is San Francisco, there's some politics mixed in as organizers stated that if Proposition I on the November 8 ballot passes, reopening the Great Highway to vehicle traffic on weekends, this could be the last Great Hauntway. (The roadway is open to vehicle traffic on weekdays, as part of a compromise that Supervisor Gordon Mar and Mayor London Breed developed, but closed to vehicles on weekends.)
To RSVP for the event, click here.
In the LGBTQ Castro neighborhood, also on October 30, the Castro Merchants Association is having a family Halloween block party from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Noe and Market streets. Organizers stated in a release that the party will feature costume contests for kids (12:30 p.m.), pets (2 p.m.), and adults (4 p.m.); trick-or-treating; drag performances; and other Halloween activities. There will be prizes for the costume contest winners, ranging from grand prizes of a $100 gift certificate for pets to a $250 gift certificate for kids to $500 in cash for adults. Those interested in the contests should report to the main stage 15 minutes before the start time.
To register for the contests, click here.
Finally, in Oakland it's Boo at the Zoo daily through October 31. Attendees can grab a program when they enter for a self-guided scavenger hunt to trick-or-treat for animal trading cards throughout the zoo. Costumes are encouraged, but no inflatable ones because they could scare the animals, an announcement stated.
The Oakland Zoo is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and located at 9777 Golf Links Road. Tickets must be reserved in advance through the online ticketing program. Attendance is currently limited. There are also suggested costume themes that are on the website. For more information on Boo at the Zoo, click here. To purchase tickets, click here.
Queer Cultural Center hires new ED
The Queer Cultural Center in San Francisco has named Anand Kalra as its new executive director. Kalra started the position September 26, he told the Bay Area Reporter in a phone interview October 24.
Kalra, who identifies as a trans man who is queer and bi, is a lyricist, songwriter, and filmmaker. His arts collective, Uncaged Library Arts, has produced a live multimedia documusical, accompanying studio soundtrack album, virtual variety series with now over 25 music videos, and is currently in post-production on a follow-up EP from Uncaged's documusical, "Octavia of Earth," inspired by the life of science fiction writer Octavia E. Butler.
"I'm extremely grateful for QCC's support in this project's journey, as we workshopped 'Octavia of Earth' at the 2018 National Queer Arts Festival," Kalra stated in an email announcement.
Prior to joining QCC, Kalra, 35, stated that he developed his skills as an activist, organizer, and radical librarian in more than two decades of experience in work for peace and justice.
"Over the last six years, I've built up a consulting practice that has helped more than 30 social justice organizations ground their systems, practices, and processes in principles of transparency, justice, and shared power in service of collective liberation," he stated. "Overall, the approach is about bringing organizations into internal alignment and improving the efficiency with which they map their values into practice. The result in each case is a healthier, more sustainable organization."
QCC promotes social justice and the artistic and financial development of queer art and culture, its website states. Its signature program is its National Queer Arts Festival, an annual multidisciplinary festival held in June throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
"I'm really excited and gratified," Kalra said. He added that next year's queer arts festival is coming up, along with some new things.
According to his resume, which he shared with the B.A.R., Kalra previously worked as finance and operations manager for Positive Women's Network USA, a nationwide organization for women living with HIV; and was office manager for Unite HERE Local 2850. He also served as health programs manager at the Transgender Law Center.
Kalra said that in his first month on the job, he's been doing a lot of listening.
"I'm asking a bunch of questions," he said, adding that he hasn't made "a bunch of changes right away."
"But there is a need for direction," he explained.
"My vision for QCC over the next few years is to continue developing powerful, meaningful arts programming that centers QTBIPOC communities, and to make our work sustainable over the long term," Kalra stated, referring to queer, trans, Black, Indigenous, people of color. "To do that, we'll need to ground ourselves in relationships with our longtime partners, as well as expand our offerings to meet the demands of our new hybrid virtual and in-person world.
"As an artist, participant, and now leader of QCC in its next generation of programming, I'm committed to doing what it takes to keep our beloved communities connected through the power and magic of the arts," he added.
Kalra succeeds Natalia Vigil, a queer Chicana artist who became executive director in 2020, as the Bay Area Reporter previously reported.
QCC operates on an annual budget of about $1 million. The board did not disclose Kalra's salary.
For more information on QCC, click here.
Organ concert at St. Francis Lutheran Church
St. Francis Lutheran Church will present its music director and organist David Schofield in concert Sunday, November 6, at 3 p.m. at 152 Church Street.
Schofield will present a program of works by J.S. Bach, Buxtehude, DeGrigny, and Pachelbel based on the ancient plainsong hymn "Veni Creator Spiritus." Members of St. Francis will sing the hymn in both Latin and German versions.
A release noted that Schofield has performed on some of the country's most notable organs, including Riverside Church, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, Grace Cathedral (Episcopal) and St. Mary's Cathedral (Roman Catholic) in San Francisco, and Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral in Los Angeles.
Schofield was the director of music for the Catholic Chaplaincy at Columbia University and the Church of Notre Dame on the east campus before moving to San Francisco in 1999, the release stated. In the city, he was director of music and liturgy at St Dominic's Catholic Church in San Francisco from 1999-2003. He has been the music director at St. Francis since 2005.
The concert is free, and tea and scones will be served afterward.
People can self-select sex on Social Security record
The Social Security Administration has announced that people can now self-select their sex on their Social Security record. Kilolo Kijakazi, acting commissioner, made the announcement in a news release October 19.
"The Social Security Administration's Equity Action Plan includes a commitment to decrease administrative burdens and ensure people who identify as gender-diverse or transgender have options in their Social Security Number card application process," Kijakazi stated. "This new policy allows people to self-select their sex in our records without needing to provide documentation of their sex designation."
People who update their sex marker will need to apply for a replacement Social Security card. They will still need to show a current document to prove their identity, but they will no longer need to provide medical or legal documentation of their sex designation now that the policy change is in place, the release stated.
The agency will accept the applicant's self-identified sex designation of either male or female, even if it is different from the sex designation shown on identity documents, such as a passport or state-issued driver's license or ID card. SSN cards do not include sex markers, the release noted.
Currently, Social Security's record systems are unable to include a nonbinary or unspecified sex designation. It is exploring that option, which became one for U.S. passports earlier this year.
The Human Rights Campaign, the country's largest LGBTQ rights organization, praised the new policy and stated that it aligns with its own recommendations in its 2020 Blueprint for Positive Change.
David Stacy, government affairs director of HRC, stated that the new policy is essential to allowing people to lead dignified lives.
"The Human Rights Campaign commends the U.S. Social Security Administration for allowing individuals to self-identify their gender on social security records, a move that will mitigate the risk of discrimination, harassment and violence faced by millions of transgender Americans," Stacy stated. "We continue to urge other administrative agencies to follow suit in adopting inclusive policies that recognize and affirm transgender people."
For more information, click here.
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