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Anthropology professor establishes student scholarships with donations to SF State

Dawn-Elissa Fischer creates awards in honor of scholar Marcyliena Morgan, civil rights attorney Walter P. Riley 

Extending an academic family tree to today’s students and future generations, a professor at San Francisco State University has created two scholarships for students.  

With two generous donations to San Francisco State, Anthropology Professor Dawn-Elissa Fischer has established the Marcyliena Morgan Scholarship and the Walter P. Riley Radical Change Scholarship. Both awards are eligible exclusively to SF State students. 

Fischer created the awards to respectively honor Morgan, a Harvard University professor and renowned scholar of hip-hop, and Riley, an Oakland civil rights attorney and activist. Both Morgan and Riley have each fought injustices and opened doors with global impact. 

“Dr. Marcyliena Morgan and Walter Riley are revolutionaries in their own distinct ways,” Fischer said. “Their steadfast efforts have brought about widespread recognition for activists and hip-hop artists as organic intellectuals with integrity.”

With both awards, students will gain opportunities to meet mentors, join professional networks and establish their own. As a faculty member, Fischer says that mentorship is critical to engender success in students, particularly those from underrepresented groups without equitable access to professional networks. She learned the value of networking from mentors like Morgan, but also through her personal academic family tree: Fischer’s parents, grandparents and great-grandparents were all educators. 

“There are so many layers and roles that faculty play in helping students build scholarly community,” Fischer said. “In my family, it comes from a Historically Black College and University tradition, and it recognizes structural factors that often block access for talented individuals to plug into success networks,” Fischer added. “And when that happens, society loses.” 

Marcyliena Morgan Scholarship 

The Marcyliena Morgan Scholarship provides stipends for activities related to student professional development, such as travel, lodging and conference fees. These experiences enhance students’ knowledge, but perhaps even more importantly, also allow them to build their own professional networks.  

At Harvard, Morgan is the Ernest E. Monrad Professor of the Social Sciences, a professor in the Department of African and African American Studies and the executive director of the Hiphop Archive and Research Institute. Her books include “Language, Power and Discourse in African American Culture,” “Speech Communities: Key Topics in Linguistic Anthropology” and “The Real Hiphop: Battling for Knowledge, Power and Respect in LA’s Underground.” 

In December, Fischer was among the invited presenters at a tribute to Morgan at Harvard, alongside other notable mentees in academia. Fischer’s presentation makes note that Morgan’s multigenerational, worldwide impact has reached SF State: Fischer has worked with Morgan at the institute, directing special programs and collections for two decades and — along the way — connecting SF State students with Harvard fellowships. 

 

 

Walter P. Riley Radical Change Scholarship 

The Walter P. Riley Radical Change Scholarship honors students committed to pursuing radical social change through community involvement.  

An activist since high school in the Jim Crow South, Riley attended SF State in the 1960s and became involved in Students for a Democratic Society, Black Students for Open Admissions and the student strike for Black and ethnic studies. His work is centered around labor, education, housing access, anti-apartheid, anti-war, police misconduct, voter registration and cultural issues. He has worked with the Black Panther Party and in grassroots efforts to prevent urban displacement of Black and other working-class communities. Riley’s numerous recognitions include the 2015 Law for the People Award from the National Lawyers Guild. 

Learn more about SF State scholarship opportunities. 

 

 

Marcyliena Morgan stands in front of a wall painted with the text Build. Respect. Represent.

Marcyliena Morgan. Photo by Melissa Blackall/Courtesy of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research.

Walter P. Riley places his right hand over his chest while wearing a suit and a fedora

Walter P. Riley

SF State-produced documentaries tell stories of the first Black Marines

The Montford Point Marines were 20,000 African Americans trained in the 1940s 

To commemorate Black History Month, a San Francisco State University documentary team will debut four shorts about the first Black servicemembers in the U.S. Marine Corps. Each of the short films will be available on YouTube. 

The films are oral histories with surviving members of the Montford Point Marines, 20,000 African Americans trained between 1942 and 1949 in Jacksonville, North Carolina. The first recruits began one year after U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt outlawed racial discrimination in war industries, allowing Black men and women, although only in a segregated fashion.  

San Francisco State History Professor Trevor Getz, who produced the films along with Cinema Professor Daniel L. Bernardi, emphasizes the lasting legacy of the Montford Point Marines and the lessons that can be learned from them. 

“They fought the Second World War and the war against racism together. And then they went on to serve the country and their communities for decades after,” Getz said. “They want to pass on messages that are of great value to us today. The team of filmmakers led by Bernardi managed to capture those messages authentically. The results are powerful.” 

The Veteran Documentary Corps (VDC), an institute based in SF State’s College of Liberal & Creative Arts, created the films as part of its ongoing mission to tell authentic stories of the American veteran experience. Bernardi, VDC’s director, directed three of them, with Eliciana Nascimiento helming the other. Many other Cinema alumni and students also participated, including Andrés Gallegos, Hannah Anderson, Robert Barbarino, Joshua Cardenas, Jian Giannini and Jesse Sutterley.  

“The series in honor of African American contribution to the ideals of American freedom and civil rights was 95% SFSU: from faculty producers, faculty directors, faculty sound designer, alumni director of photograph, editor and animator to a crew of Cinema graduate and undergraduate students,” said Bernardi, who is a veteran of the Iraq war and a commander in the U.S. Navy Reserves. 

Later this year, Oxford University Press will publish a related nonfiction comic book, “The First Black Marines,” by Getz and SF State History student Robert Willis. 

Watch the documentaries on YouTube. 

SF State students write Wikipedia bios for unsung heroes of STEM

Humanities class helps fill in equity gaps among STEM professionals from underrepresented groups 

Wikipedia is among the most visited websites in the world, with information on over 6 million topics. But much is missing, particularly in diversity. Through a partnership with the user-moderated online encyclopedia, students at San Francisco State University recently wrote original biographies for notable professionals in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) from underrepresented groups. 

Scientists from traditionally underrepresented groups comprise a small minority on Wikipedia. According to Wikipedia, only about 8% of the site’s 275,000 biographies of scientists are women, with similar gaps across race and ethnicity. 

With support from the Broadcom Foundation, the Wikipedia Education group selected the San Francisco State Humanities class “History of Science from the Scientific Revolution,” taught by Associate Professor David M. Peña-Guzmán from the Department of Humanities and Comparative World Literature, as one of its partners this past summer. Wikipedia Education is a nonprofit organization that serves as the bridge between academia and Wikipedia throughout the U.S. and Canada. 

Nine of the biographies compiled by SF State students are live on Wikipedia. The students’ writing brings visibility to living professionals whose legacies have yet to be completed. They include chemical engineer Miguel Modestino, sustainable industrial engineer Enrique Lomnitz and Procter & Gamble executive and microbiologist Adrian Land. 

Maxwell Stephen Williams, a History graduate student who took the class, helped contribute the bio on Aaron Streets, a UC Berkeley bioengineering professor. Williams says the class taught him different ways to utilize Wikipedia in academic research. 

“It’s somewhat frowned upon to use Wikipedia as a source. But what’s not frowned upon, I found, was the sources that the people used for the Wikipedia article,” Williams said. “I don’t know if you should cite Wikipedia for a research paper, but it offers a general baseline. It gives you scholarly sources to further your own research.” 

Peña-Guzmán applied for the class to participate in the Wikipedia Student Program because it aligned with the themes he wanted to impart to students about the complex relationship between science and the histories of patriarchy, colonialism, classism and social bias. Writing the biographies of scientists of color who have made an impact in a scientific or technological domain was the class’ culminating project.  

“From the very beginning of the class, I built in questions about the politics of science,” he said. “Filling Wikipedia’s race gap through these biographies gave my students a very real, if minor, way of making a difference.” 

Peña-Guzmán will discuss his students’ projects on Wednesday, Dec. 13, at “Closing the gap for Black and Hispanic STEM professionals on Wikipedia,” a free virtual seminar presented by Wikipedia Education. 

The Wikipedia Student Program aims to make the broadly referenced site more inclusive and diverse. Since 2010, students from over 800 universities in the U.S. and Canada have worked on over 135,000 articles.  

“Evidence suggests that Wikipedia can influence trials in courts of law and significantly shape the world of science,” says Wikipedia Education Equity Outreach Coordinator Andrés Vera, citing two research papers led by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty member. “Teaching with Wikipedia can help spread awareness about any topic to a wide audience.” 

Learn more about the Department of Humanities and Comparative World Literature. 

 

‘Hip Hop America’: SF State History professor assembles major exhibition at Grammy Museum

As co-curator, Felicia Angeja Viator emphasizes women’s contributions to hip-hop 

When a San Francisco State University professor was invited to co-curate an exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, she knew women must be at the center. Their presence is unmistakable when entering “Hip Hop America: The Mixtape Exhibit” at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. Saweetie’s famously blinged-out fingernails are among the first things that visitors encounter. 

San Francisco State Associate Professor of History Felicia Angeja Viator, the co-curator, placed an emphasis on women’s contributions throughout the exhibit, rather than compartmentalizing women as hip-hop history often does.

“We wanted to weave women throughout every single story,” she said. “As a visitor, you come in and you see women everywhere, and that is a true representation of the history. But it’s also a way to normalize the idea that women were there — and contributed and innovated and were significant. It gives people a sense of where we are now, with women dominating hip-hop.” 

“Hip Hop America” opened Oct. 7 and is on display through Sept. 4, 2024. In addition to Viator, the SF State faculty is also represented by Africana Studies Lecturer Dave “Davey D” Cook, as a member of the exhibition advisory committee. 

Among the artifacts procured by Viator include the personal mixtape collection of late SF State alumna Stephanie “DJ Stef” Ornales, a champion of female DJs regarded as a legend in the Bay Area hip-hop community and beyond. In large part, the content on the 60 cassettes in the exhibition is not available on streaming services, showcasing a way that audiences discovered rap music in the pre-internet era. 

“For me, it’s the crown jewel of the exhibit because it represents what’s so important about hip-hop in terms of the DIY [Do-It-Yourself] culture of it,” said Viator, who also was one of the first female DJs in the Bay Area and wrote a book exploring the societal impact of the gangsta rap subgenre. “DJs and underground MCs would share tapes. I wanted to show how important that is for moving the music around.”  

Every semester in Viator’s “History of Popular Culture” class at SF State, her unit on hip-hop always ignites a lively discussion with a coalescence of varying musical tastes and historical perspectives. 

“When I teach this history, I try to honor the fact that this music is so dynamic and changes so much,” Viator says, “and, as I do in general when I teach history, to give students a sense that history matters.” 

Learn more about SF State’s History Department. 

Felicia Viator holds a microphone while speaking and wearing a black leather jacket and a 4080 Magazine T-shirt

Associate Professor of History Felicia Angela Viator speaks at the opening gala for “Hip Hop America: The Mixtape Exhibit.”

Saweetie poses for a picture next to an encased display of her fingernails at Hip Hop America: The Mixtape Exhibit

Saweetie shows off her nails — the 10 on her fingers and the 10 on display.

SF State and the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts: partners in culture and resistance

Against the odds, two San Francisco institutions have long collaborated on a grassroots level 

“You’re a stranger now in your home town / With strange faces on once familiar streets.”  

These lines from San Francisco State University Professor Emeritus Alejandro Murguía’s poem “Silicon City” evoke the feelings of many residents of San Francisco’s Mission District, where gentrification has torn apart the community for decades. The Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts remains a fixture despite the changes, and it wouldn’t have happened without artists and activists like Murguía. 

“As a marginalized community and community of color, we’re always going to be held to different standards,” said Murguía, the center’s inaugural director who later would earn two degrees from San Francisco State. “And so we always have to come out on top — sobre pasar, go above them — in our talent and our skill and our ability to organize our community so that we can survive.” 

Established in 1977 as inequity and displacement had taken shape in the neighborhood, the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts (MCCLA) provides a full array of free, affordable classes and programming that cover Chicanos, Central and South America and the Caribbean. More than 10,000 people visit every month. Housed in a 37,500-square-foot building honored on the Historic Register of Historic Places, the MCCLA includes an art gallery and studios, a print shop, classrooms and a theatre. It also plays key roles in the annual Carnaval, offering music and dance courses to teach people to perform in the parade. 

“Coming out of the civil rights movement, people of color were finding their voice in this country. Activists were fighting for ethnic studies programs,” said Martina Ayala, MCCLA executive director. “Thanks to those artists and community activists, we can look back at the Mission District and find multiple anchor institutions that were established by young students, many of them at SFSU, who had a long-lasting impact.” 

Coinciding with student activism at SF State in the 1960s, organizers made a major push for the San Francisco government to establish community centers throughout the city. Murguía (B.A., ’90; MFA, ’92), fellow future SF State Latina/Latino Studies Professor Carlos Cordova (B.A., ’74; M.A., ’79) and other students were among those organizing in the Mission.  

“All these cultural celebrations we enjoy today are great, but the history behind them, they came at a cost. And they came at a cost that many college students paid,” Ayala said. “And I can’t thank them enough for their courage to fight for what they believed in.” 

Over the years many SF State faculty have selected the MCCLA as the venue to feature their creative work. Professor Emeritus Carlos Barón (M.A., ’88), once the MCCLA theatre and dance coordinator, premiered his play “Death and the Artist” there. Music Lecturer John Calloway (M.A., ’03) has been performing at the center for decades.  Murguía says it continues to serve community needs in multiple ways despite existential challenges to the Mission. Gentrification remains the most persistent in the once workin

Over the years many SF State faculty have selected the MCCLA as the venue to feature their creative work. Professor Emeritus Carlos Barón (M.A., ’88), once the MCCLA theatre and dance coordinator, premiered his play “Death and the Artist” there. Music Lecturer John Calloway (M.A., ’03) has been performing at the center for decades. 

Murguía says it continues to serve community needs in multiple ways despite existential challenges to the Mission. Gentrification remains the most persistent in the once working-class neighborhood, which was at its peak majority Latina/Latino but continues to decline. 

“It’s a real hotbed of community activism and culture and helps ground the Mission District community through all these phases of gentrification that it’s gone through the past 47 years the cultural center has been around,” he said. “Nationally, it’s a huge magnet for artists from other parts of the country, and even Latin America, to show up in San Francisco and have a place immediately that grounds them in their art, that supports them in their art, that allows them a foundation.” 

MCCLA and SF State faculty and students continue to share a symbiotic relationship, promoting similar grassroots and progressive values. The center frequently employs SF State students as interns, including several this year. SF State Dean of Students Miguel Ángel Hernández has been invited to join the center’s board of directors.  

“Any cultural event that we create — whether it’s a poetry reading, a gallery exhibit, a Carnaval, a music concert — it’s all part of not just our resistance to the antagonism to our community, but an affirmation that we have been here longer than the Pilgrims,” Murguía said. “And that’s super important that we realize that. Every act of culture, whether it’s a mural or a poetry reading, is in fact an act of resistance — doubly so, in our times, when not just our community is being attacked, but arts, reading, literature and books are under assault.” 

MCCLA’s city-owned building needs much maintenance, which will force it to move temporarily beginning July 1. Ayala says she and other MCCLA supporters are using their activism skills to ensure the city government provides written assurance that allows them to return to the city-owned building once retrofit and repairs are completed, honoring the rent of $1 per year.

“I always tell people that the Mission Cultural Center is the hospital of the soul,” Ayala said. “And we all know that during the pandemic, without the arts we would not have been able to survive. When we’re confined in a space, we need to find a spirit.” 

Learn more about SF State’s Latina/Latino Department. 

SF State Asian American Studies professor receives prestigious CSU Wang Family Excellence Award

Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales earns accolade for excellence in teaching, scholarship and service

San Francisco State University Asian American Studies Professor Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales has been honored with one of the most prestigious awards faculty can receive in the California State University (CSU) system.

Earlier today at the CSU Board of Trustees meeting, Tintiangco-Cubales was recognized as one of five winners of the Wang Family Excellence Award. Each year, the CSU recognizes four faculty and one staff member with this award for their unwavering commitment to student achievement and advancing the CSU mission through excellence in teaching, scholarship and service.

“Dr. Tintiangco-Cubales is an exemplar of student-centered pedagogy, including creative and innovative curriculum and teaching methods,” San Francisco State President Lynn Mahoney said. “Colleagues across the College of Ethnic Studies look to her teaching as a model for how to engage and innovate in the classroom — from elementary to high school students and doctoral students.”

Tintiangco-Cubales has been an SF State faculty member for over two decades, serving as a teacher-leader both on campus and off. While she has many teaching philosophies, she says her most important one is to humanize learning by seeing students as their authentic selves.

“I truly try to see each one of my students as humans. I try to see what they come in with and try to be as understanding as possible,” Tintiangco-Cubales said. “They come along with experiences, and that oftentimes means the exchange of education is back and forth. I’m not the only one with the knowledge to give them.”

That philosophy has proven to be impactful for many students, including Asian American Studies graduate student Jeanelle Daus.

“As an educator, ate Allyson allows for her students to narrate, analyze and connect their own experiences with each other and to the larger field of Asian American studies,” Daus said. (Ate means “big sister” in Tagalog.) “Through this connection, she helps me remember that I am whole and that everything I have learned is real and rooted in this reality, thus supporting me in my endeavors to create the change I wish to see within my world and my community.”

Beyond her unique teaching philosophies, Tintiangco-Cubales has achieved many other accomplishments at SF State. She developed and taught nine different undergraduate and graduate courses in Asian American Studies and Ethnic Studies. She also teaches seminars in the Educational Doctoral Program and supports teaching ethnic studies each semester to more than 150 students in Step to College, a program focused on increasing the number of first-generation and historically underrepresented students who attend college.

Outside of SF State, Tintiangco-Cubales has used her expertise to transform the K – 12 ethnic studies curriculum at local, state and national levels. She has worked with districts and schools across the country to advocate for the institutionalization and implementation of ethnic studies, and to provide pedagogical and curricular development and support. 

Tintiangco-Cubales received her bachelor’s degree in Ethnic Studies at University of California, Berkeley, and her doctorate in Education at University of California, Los Angeles.

Learn more about Asian American Studies at SF State.

Speaker Emerita Pelosi addresses SF State community at annual Opening Convocation

Welcome event also features remarks by SF supervisors, President Mahoney, other University leaders  

Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi was a surprise guest at San Francisco State University’s Opening Convocation on Aug. 17, taking part in the ceremonial tradition welcoming faculty and staff to a new year on campus. 

Pelosi began her speech in McKenna Theatre by acknowledging the vital roles of University employees. 

“We have to make sure we are paying our workers well as we sing our praises,” Pelosi said in front of an audience of hundreds. “We want to make sure we respect them.”  

She also praised San Francisco State for its dedication to social justice and democracy. 

“Right now, we have to make sure with all of the challenges that are out there to our democracy and democracy worldwide, that we make decisions that our flag is still there, with liberty and justice for all. San Francisco State is about all of that,” Pelosi said. “So I’m proud to bring you greetings from the Congress with respect for you, for the students, for the families, with gratitude to all of you. And just one last thing: Go Gators!” 

Pelosi was not the only elected official in attendance. Two members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Rafael Mandelman and Shamann Walton (MPA, ’10), were also on hand.  

Mandelman said he is optimistic that today’s college students will graduate prepared to face the myriad challenges in society. 

“I, and the city and county of San Francisco, are grateful that you all have chosen to prepare to lead the students here into that non-dystopian future that we all hope remains achievable,” Mandelman said. 

Walton said he is proud to not only have graduated from SF State himself, but also to be the parent of two Gator alumni. He discussed the value of education as “the No. 1 thing that can never be taken away from us.” 

“As Malcolm X said, ‘Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today,’” Walton said. “Your work this year and continuing, of course, is preparing the brightest minds for success ... and [to] change the world.” 

In her remarks, SF State President Lynn Mahoney highlighted SF State’s dedication to focusing on students.  

“I am deeply proud of the ways in which San Francisco State serves as a model of excellence in innovation in teaching, academic innovation and research,” Mahoney said. “Strengthening student learning is a priority for all here.” 

Mahoney also noted the University remains committed to eliminating equity and opportunity gaps among underrepresented populations. 

“The greatest demonstration of our commitment to social justice starts here,” she said. “It starts at home by increasing the success of our students, especially our Black, Latinx, low-income and first-generation students.” 

Other speakers included: Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Amy Sueyoshi, Professor of Biology and Academic Senate Chair Michael A. Goldman, Associated Students President Ersa Rao, California Faculty Association SF State Chapter President Brad Erickson, Staff Council Chair Dylan Mooney and CSU Employees Union SF State Chapter President Sandee Noda. The deans of SF State’s academic colleges and the University librarian introduced 34 new tenure-track faculty members. 

Convocation also featured an awards ceremony honoring distinguished faculty and staff, presented by Neda Nobari (B.S., ’84), board chair of the SF State Foundation. This year’s winners:  

  • Excellence in Teaching (Tenured): Paul Beckman, Information Systems 

  • Excellence in Teaching (Lecturer): Mohammad HajiAboli, Engineering 

  • Excellence in Professional Achievement (Tenured): Dianthe “Dee” Spencer, Theatre and Dance 

  • Excellence in Service (Tenured): Nancy Gerber, Chemistry and Biochemistry 

  • Excellence in Service (Staff): Phonita Yuen, Metro College Success Program 

Learn more about the Opening Convocation on the Academic Senate website. 

SF State alumni, faculty find camaraderie in Writers Guild of America strike

‘Better Call Saul’ executive story editor Marion Dayre is an SF State lecturer, and she brought two of her former students to the picket lines 
 

For many San Francisco State University graduates with Hollywood dreams, moving to Los Angeles is a move for opportunity. While the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike has brought production to a halt industrywide since May, two former San Francisco State students have placed themselves on the picket lines alongside one of their faculty mentors.  

“It’s history in the making, so why wouldn’t you want to be there and try to make a change?” said Barbara Burgues, a Venezuela native who attended SF State in 2021 and now lives in Los Angeles with goals of producing, writing and directing. 

Her former SF State classmate Armando Jimenez picketed with her. Jimenez (B.A., ’22) is an aspiring screenwriter and director who moved to Southern California in the spring. 

“It’s natural for me to join the picket line. I get to fight for my future,” he said. “Especially since I’m hoping to get a job somewhere in that field; I hope to be able to afford the roof over my head.” 

Burgues and Jimenez were invited to the picket line by Marion Dayre, a lecturer in Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts and executive story editor on the Emmy Award-winning “Better Call Saul.” (Streaming soon: She is the head writer on Marvel’s “Echo” and co-showrunner on Amazon Prime’s “Wytches.”)  

Dayre structures her “Television and Video Program Design” class to simulate the full preproduction process of developing a series for streaming. Writing is a major element, but students also learn to build a pitch and other tricks of the trade. As a rising star on the front lines, Dayre tells her students what conversations are like in the writers’ rooms and network executive suites, with self-care in mind. 

“If students are asking if they’re capable, I hope they would be able to find that assurance going through the process of the class,” Dayre said. “What I try to pass along is the importance of self-care as a writer. Knowing that we’re in a community with our anxieties, we don’t have to harbor them alone and navigate them alone. I try to come and be real.”

But then comes the question of existential doom: Is it a good time to move to Los Angeles to break into the industry? 

“It’s always risky and it’s always full of rewards. And I think now’s as good a time as any,” Dayre said. “I moved to LA during the last strike [in 2007 – 2008]. And everything worked out.” 

David Pollock marches on the picket line with a sign reading Writers Guild of America on Strike! with handwritten text I Have No Words

Alumnus David Pollock marches on the picket line. This year’s WGA strike is the fifth that he has participated in.

Shrinking seasons, shrinking compensation 

WGA members are striking to seek increases and equity in pay, improvements in work conditions and job security, measures to prevent harassment and discrimination, and the regulation of material generated with artificial intelligence. The guild is bargaining with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. 

“When I was watching television in the 1950s, there were 39 episodes a season. The same shows were on year after year, and they were all advertiser-driven,” said David Pollock (B.A., ’61), a retired Emmy Award-winning writer from classic programs such as “Frasier,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “The Carol Burnett Show” and “M*A*S*H*.” 

“Over the decades, incrementally, the number of episodes shrunk as the business expanded,” added Pollock, now retired but still a frequent WGA picketer. “We’re just burning up content faster and faster with shorter attention spans.” 

‘Another pause for the greater good’ 

Dayre says the camaraderie that it takes to write a quality script begins in the writers room and continues on the picket line, where she is a captain. 

“We had a slowdown during COVID, and now it comes time to take another pause for the greater good,” said Dayre, who has taught at SF State since 2021 and been a WGA member since 2014. “You’re never guaranteed the next job or the next spot, but you are guaranteed the ability to learn from brilliant writers and to help them when you can.” 

Jimenez says picketing has been a fun way to effect change and learn about the business side of entertainment. As an extra motion of solidarity, one day he brought two cases of water for the protestors. 

“I’m not a WGA member and, fortunately, you don’t have to be a WGA member to join the picket line. Nobody minds at all,” said Jimenez, who interns in project development for Dayre. “They have such a great community of people. I don’t usually see something so tight-knit where an entire huge group of people go, ‘Oh, we’re going to go on strike. We’re all going to do this.’ Plus, spending time with someone like Marion, it gives me comfort for the future.” 

Burgues only spent one semester at SF State, but it’s changed her life. She credits the University for sparking her creativity, and Dayre is a vital inspiration. 

“She’s just so understanding of how hard it can be to get into this industry, and it’s very easy talking to her,” Burgues said. “If it weren’t for her, I don’t think I would have had the courage to tell my parents, like, ‘Hey I’m going to be a writer and leave everything behind and just be a struggling international student.’ And I do not regret it at all.” 

Learn more about the SF State Broadcast and Electronic Commuinication Arts Department. 

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