Leanne Maxwell

LinkedIn • 23rd July 2023

Barbie Liberation Organization, '90s Culture-Jamming Artists & Activists

One of my favorite art instructors at IU was part of Barbie Liberation Organization (BLO), a culture-jamming group of artists and activists in the early '90s. The group swapped the voice boxes of about 300–500 talking Barbies and G.I. Joes across the country (after purchasing them first) and put them back on the shelves, prompting unsuspecting kids to think deeper about gender stereotypes. The altered Teen Talk Barbie dolls reportedly said phrases such as "Vengeance is mine", and Talking Duke G.I. Joe proclaimed, "The beach is the place for summer."

LinkedIn • 13th July 2023

Mentra: Neurodiversity Employment Network

I’ll be frank: I’ve always found LinkedIn to be a bit confusing and intimidating. I have a lot to offer as a writer and designer and possess an impressive range of skills, but articulating and showcasing them to the outside world has always been a foreign concept to me.

Medium • 27th June 2021

San Francisco’s ‘TL Bomber:’ Lone Wolf Detonating Bombs in City Streets or Urban Legend?

Local lore has been circulating across social media for over a decade detailing the exploits of San Francisco’s mythical ‘TL Bomber,’ an alleged lone wolf explosives enthusiast who’s been gleefully dropping shockingly loud and powerful explosives in the streets of the Tenderloin/Lower Nob Hill neighborhoods for the past 20-odd years. I compiled a map of reports of neighborhood explosions from 2010–2020 and discovered that the bomber does likely exist, along with a few other groups known for sett

LinkedIn • 20th July 2023

San Francisco's Jane Cafe and Bakery Thrives Through COVID

In an era when even the most successful and well-established local businesses have been forced to downsize or shut down all together, San Francisco’s Jane Cafe and Bakery has managed to grow and thrive.

SFist: • 10th April 2012

Memoirs: San Francisco Light

This week's SFist Memoirs features Lt. Dwayne Newton of the San Francisco Fire Department, who's also an S.F. native and veteran photojournalist. Dwayne says he owes his passion for photojournalism to growing up in San Francisco in the '60s, from attending anti-war protests and "staring at hippies" to watching Shaft in the theater with his dad and brother at age 12 and consuming every magazine and newspaper he could get his hands on. Take it away, Dwayne!

I'm going to approach this from the per

SFist • 2nd May 2012

Memoirs: Pat Montandon, San Francisco's Golden Girl

SFist Memoirs is beyond honored to be featuring the magnanimous Pat Montandon this week and next. Fans of San Francisco high society and local history in general are likely already very familiar with Pat and her unlimited arsenal of Bay Area stories, many of which were documented in her memoir, Oh The Hell of It All. The book was a response to her son's memoir, Oh The Glory of It All, which shined quite a bit of undesirable light on his life growing up with Pat and his father, the late Al Wilsey

LinkedIn • 17th July 2023

"Battery Bridge" Adds "Slice of Nature" to Downtown San Francisco

I love encountering the work of San Francisco's Downtown SF Partnership, which was founded in 2020 in response to the mass closures that took place in the city’s Financial District. In partnership with SITELAB urban studio, Fehr & Peers, and John Bela, the Downtown SF Partnership created the Public Realm Action Plan, which aims to transform the district into a more people-centered and walkable area with the addition of plazas and green spaces that allow for relaxing and socializing.

Medium • 6th July 2021

SF & Illegal Fireworks: Lawlessness, Crackdowns, ’90s Gang Shootout & Shocking Explosion

Dating as far back as the late 1960s, Chinese street gangs have controlled San Francisco’s illegal firework trade, centered around Chinatown. The illegal market hit its peak in the mid-‘80s when illegal firecrackers and explosives could be scored from vendors up and down Grant Avenue or from teenage gang members in Portsmouth Square. In the early ’90s, major crackdowns by police culminated in a gang shootout in the middle of Chinatown on a busy Friday night, followed by a former gang member blow

2nd May 2023

The Rousseau Family: Prolific Beaux Arts-Era S.F. Architects

The Rousseaus were a high society family of Beaux Arts-era architects who built hundreds of buildings during the reconstruction of San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. They also had their fair share of scandals.

3rd May 2023

Paying the ADHD Tax

The ADHD Tax is a term used in ADHD circles to address the extra expenses that add up in ADHDers' lives due to their myriad executive function challenges. These challenges often directly result in spending an excessive amount of extra money, time, and energy on things that
don't normally require it, which can result in an unfortunate cycle of guilt and shame if left unchecked.