Mike "Dream" Francisco's art brought together the worlds of art and activism. As the Manilatown Heritage Foundation displays his work through a commemorative gallery on display over the next several months in San Francisco, photographer Abe Menor reflects on Mike "Dream" Francisco's work and influence.

From  New America Media: Twenty-four year-old Karla Mi Lugo has been street performing for four years. Up and down the West Coast and San Francisco is her current stage.  Street performing is Mi Lugo’s main source of income. She says 40 bucks a day is good enough for her. Mi Lugo is part of the growing underground economy, a market where service is given without contracts or receipts and the term “under the table” is the password. 

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Once upon a time, the San Francisco Bay Area was a haven for liberals, who found a welcoming home in the city and environs that gave rise to the Free Speech Movement; became a sanctuary for war objectors; and whose politics proved a thorn in the backside of the right-wing then-governor, Ronald Reagan. But the live-and-let-live attitude that marked the ‘60s and ‘70s has given rise to a more intolerant brand of liberalism, which is considered (by more moderate Democrats) as a dangerous crack in San Francisco’s formerly reputable veneer.