Bites, beats, books - oh my! a chat with the mind behind meet me in sf
I love reading. I read so much as a child and spent all my free time in the library between tennis class and choir practice. I read so much that in 4th grade, I won 2nd place in my school-wide readathon (apparently I “cheated” because I was supposed to track all the books I read since the start of the school year, but I listed everything I’ve ever read…ever. But I couldn’t be at fault because the kid who placed first definitely did the same thing).
As I grew older, I naturally lost my hobbies…only to rediscover my love for them as an adult. And earlier this month, Meet Me in SF’s book swap helped me find others who are currently doing the same. At least 25 or so guests were brought together one stormy night under the cozy roof of Kopiku, a cute Indonesian cafe on Lombard street.
The event was executed in a highly organized fashion. I first heard about it from their Instagram, where they linked a form that all interested participants had to fill out. It was almost like preparing for a blind date, but with less pressure and a heavier emphasis on literature. From there, I had to wait a few days until I received an email with the meet up address and confirmation that I’d been matched. After Venmo’ing a flat fee of $10 as instructed (which included 1 complimentary drink and cookie), I was all set.
As soon as I arrived to Kopiku, I was asked to fill out a name tag, but not with my actual name. I had to write down “a topic that I could go on and on about”, so I just filled in Club Rambutan (lol). Afterwards, I explored the narrow coffee bar, where ZZ DJ’d all night long by the line for free refreshments, which was in parallel to a decorative wall of guests’ miscellaneous visual submissions depicting pictures of their childhood, screenshots of their notes apps, and things that inspire them.
Fun fact: I heard a friend of MMSF coded an algorithm to make the book swap matches. And surprisingly it was a great fit! In our forms, TKim (who helped print the free bookmarks in the first image above) and I both mentioned that we read a lot of Asian and Asian American literature, so we both brought books that fall under that category. My match works in healthcare, and the book I gave her focused on Hmong culture within the lens of the American healthcare system (I highly recommend The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down). She got me On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong.
me and my book swap match, tkim! (tkim if ur reading this lets get lunch sometime)
To end the night, I got to chat with Rose, the face and lead organizer for all Meet Me in SF events. Check out our interview below!
**Questions provided by Felix Dong, SF Bay Area Managing Editor of the Rambutan Roundup.
What drove you to start @meetmeinsf? How do you manage to put together all your events by yourself?
ROSE: I didn't know what Meet Me In SF was going to be when I made it, I just knew I wanted to host one event and the rest was kind of this organic collective that came about.The first event I wanted to create was "Meet Me In Chinatown", an Asian American creators' collective featuring a fashion show, art exhibit, DJs, and vendors. The majority of people [were] displaying their artwork for the very first time. That event was the catalyst to starting MMISF.
For a little bit of context in my own personal life, I worked as a community organizer at Chinatown Community Development Center for about a year and a half. I left my job because I was craving to do something more creative and pivoted to a gig at Sundance. After that experience, I felt so creatively inspired and had all these ideas!
“I just really wished that people like me, Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) creators, could have a platform, [but specifically] like bedroom DJs, people who don’t identify as photographers but love taking film photos, writers who only write in their room, people who make videos but have nowhere to put them.”
I could see there was a gap in the Asian American creative space [in San Francisco] and I wanted to bridge my past experiences to help fill it. [But overall] what drove me to start Meet Me in SF began with my own journey as a creative and really trying to find my people. I think it kind of propelled me to uplift other people who are kind of like me, starting off or maybe just dipping their toes [in their craft].
And I may be the creative director and handle almost all the logistics behind the scenes, but it really does take a village. Adhi is one of the founders of Kopiku, and he sponsored us. Like, there was no way I would have been able to have a venue and have drinks and food [without his support]. And the whole Kopiku staff was there to support. And I had friends fly in to help support this event, you know? It was very much a team effort.
What was the inspiration between the book swap?
I was super intentional about cultivating a space that allowed for genuine connections. I think books are already so intimate, it allows you to get a little nugget of a person -- what they're learning, care about, or want to feel. I thought a book swap would be an organic way for people to have fruitful and meaningful conversation.
From the ideation stage of wanting plastic chairs and tables at the event that emulate the street markets in Asia, to asking attendees to submit their photos for a gallery wall, to the matching algorithm to swap books itself --- all of it was planned with the intention of allowing people to build those organic connections.
What have been some of your favorite books to read lately?
ROSE: I’ve been leaning towards a lot of historical autobiographies. Like, I’m still working on A Man of Two Faces by Viet Thanh Nguyen, and then I have big creative reads like Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, The Creative Act by Rick Rubin, and The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron.
As the organizer for @meetmeinsf, what are some of the challenges and joys of being able to host events for the SF community?
ROSE: The first thing I thought of is the initial fear of just starting something and feeling like it could fail. Like, what if I make this event and it sucks and no one comes and I used up all my time and effort and it looks stupid, or it's just embarrassing because I tried and it fucking failed.
A personal challenge for me as an organizer who is doing something that I care about so dearly, I don't have anything to hide behind. If it fails, it's you know, something I created and I feel the pressure of something going wrong and it would be my fault.
“You just have to get over the fear of something [turning out] terrible - it might not be exactly how you pictured it, but if you push through, the joy carries over.”
But I also learned that doing something that scares the shit out of you, the other side of the tunnel of that is some type of magic that I have only really experienced a few times in my life. I think with hosting these events, I feel like it's that type of special magic that happens when you bring people together and just put a lot of intention behind building community as creatives, as Asian Americans, as just people, as humans.
I felt such joy being in book swap. It was really intimate and cozy, seeing people make friends and just connect. It is so great as a community organizer. It's like your greatest desire to see people mingle and have fun, you know, but you can't control it. You can only hope [that they do].
You mentioned you’re relocating back home to San Jose soon. Do you have any plans for expanding @meetmeinsf into the South Bay?
ROSE: Regardless of the title of the Instagram handle (@meetmeinsf), I've learned that this is something that I feel so much purpose in by hosting these events. Regardless of where I end up, I will always do my best to contribute or build some type of community in one way or another.
