an important family friend give us a dining table, very important, and we are excited about it. my little brother and i were 11, 14. we were realizing that they were kind of hand prints everywhere on the bottom where no one would really see, and it became this kind of a weakening of what child labor is. it was almost like an exercise to show a stranger that feeling we had at that moment. >> the second thing the exhibition covers is how the allocation is defined, a great example on the theme, sculpture called mexicali culture. another bay area artist who has

done residencies in china and also to what, mexico. where immigrant communities really helped define how businesses look of a business' sign age and interior decoration, her sculptural piece kind of mismatches the two communities together, creating this wonderful, fantastical future look at what the present is today. first topic is where we can see where the two communities are intersecting and where they start colliding. teresa fernandez did a sculptural installation, utilizing the ubiquitous blue, white, and read patterns of a rayon bag that many communities used to transport laundry and laundromats to buy groceries and such. she created a little installation kind of mucking up the interior of a household, covering up as many objects that are familiar to the i and the fabric. fourth area of investigation

that the exhibition looks at is the larger concerns of the asian and latin communities intersecting with popular cultur one best example -- when he's exemplified is what you see when you enter into the culture. >> this piece refers to restaurants in tijuana. when you are driving, to speak chinese and you read chinese characters. you see these signs. i was trying to play with the idea of what you see and the direction you read. when you start mixing these different groups of people, different cultures, i like the idea. you can comment on somebody else's culture or someone else's

understanding about culture. >> one of the hopes we have for visitors is that they go away taking a better understanding with the broadest and the breadth of issues impacting both the asian and latin communities here in california and how they spell out into the larger fabric of the communities we live and work in.

>> good evening, everyone. my name is filled in the third, the director of your parks department. my job can be challenging at times, but on and that light

tonight, i feel like the luckiest guy in the world to be here, to support families in the event like this is truly fantastic. this is the greatest city in the world, the greatest parks department. thank you for joining us. 82 years ago, uncle john mclaren, our first park superintendent started the tradition of minding a mile- long of live trees at, to where he lived at the time. behind you is the official entry of san francisco, and it is called uncle john's tree. it is a monterey cypress that is 131 years old. it is over 100 feet tall. it has over 700 lights.

it took 8 rec and park tree toppers to light this up. let's give a big round of applause honoring john mclaren, who would be 160 today. 82 years later, our staff has continued the tradition, and i want to thank all of the park staff, recreation staff, tree toppers, electricians, structural maintenance crew. everyone had a plan in -- hand in planning this tonight. i want to make sure that everyone is applauded for the great job that they had done. [applause] i also want to thank the city family who is here tonight. mayor ed lee. we will hear from him in a second.

members of the board of supervisors, including supervisor farrell, supervisor elsbernd, supervisor wiener, i think supervisor mar is trying to park. supervisor mirkarimi is supposed to be here. i want to thank our fire chief joanne hayes white for being here today. i want to thank our police chief. our treasurer, jose cisneros our rec and park commissioners. [applause] ana and reid, fiona ma. i also want to thank quickly our

entertainers for the evening. we have had some incredible entertainment. the golden gate band. the hoover middle school jazz band. the birchen high-school drum corps. the young people music theater company. the george washington high school marching band. the brunos. press, circus -- presscot circus. i also want to thank our co-host for the evening, the newly formed parks alliance. the parks department cannot do it alone. the alliance has really become our best friend.

i want to recognize their board chair. our executive director matt o'grady will come up to say a few words. >> thank you so much. the parks alliance is the new kid on the block. a brand-new organization, and yet, a very familiar organization, because we come from the san francisco parks trust and from the neighborhood council. these two organizations got together and realize they can do so much more by combining forces to make this park system the best open space system in the world for san francisco. i wanted to give you a couple of samples of some of the great partnerships we have built to make these parks so fabulous and gray in san francisco.

the first partnership is with none other than the parks and recreation department. it is called the gear up program, where we have been tried to buy resources for our part centers citywide. that program has raised, from your generosity, more than $300,000 or reparations centers across the city. bravo and thank you for your generosity. i want to mention another partnership we have had running through the san francisco parks alliance. take another look at this enormous, beautiful tree. trees like this do not get that way on their own. it started from a tiny seed, and it grew to this beautiful majesty because of the love, care, and feeding and care that was provided to victory over the last 130 years by our gardeners

and arborists. every tree in every part in san francisco, every plant, the landscaping that makes our parks so beautiful, they are that beautiful because of the gardeners, landscape architects, and other professionals of the park staff that care for them every day and night, 365 days a year. where do our gardeners come from? i see a lot of young people here. some of you might be interested in learning how we can nurture them to make them so beautiful for us. we have a partnership with union local 261, who developed an apprenticeship program to teach young people how to be the best gardeners in the world so they could join the staff of the recreation and parks department and provide a future for parks

and gardeners here in the city. thank you to you, 261, and the other partners that have been so great with us. i want to form another new partnership here with all of you. you may not know this, but today is a very special person's birthday today. some of you may not know this, but i got my start as a musician, as a conductor. i have not done it in quite awhile, but i will conduct all of you to sing happy birthday to none other than our own phil ginsburg, who is 45 today. please join me. >> ♪ happy birthday to you have a birthday to you happy birthday, dear phil

happy birthday to you ♪ [applause] >> thank you. all i want for my birthday is 50 more gardeners. all right. let's bring up our parks champion. he is everywhere in the parks system. he is playing ping pong in the square, playing ball, in golden gate park, he is everywhere. ladies and gentlemen, our mayor, ed lee. >> thank you. i thought all you want it was her two front teeth? thank you very much for coming. it is wonderful to see so many families here together. this is the season where we celebrate with our family and kids. i cannot think of any place more

wonderful to be than this 130- year cyprus to share with you the lighting of this wonderful tree. i want to thank our department representatives, city official family, elected officials. i also want to let you know, i came here last year. we saw painted on the side of this train, the world series chickenshit emblem. this year, we have our san francisco fire engine. -- championship emblem. a wonderful tribute to our fire department. i want to thank the chief for coming here tonight, for helping us with the toy drive, and for bringing a special guest.

santa is here tonight, a special guest from our fire department. he is coming. i also want to let you know, in addition to tonight, on the weekend of december 17, 18, rec and park, city hall, all of our city officials, want to welcome you to the civic center. we are going to have a snow village, snow for all of you to play in. come in on saturday and sunday, the 17th and 18th. then on the 18th, we will open city hall, and you can take pictures with your family. city hall will be open from

11:00 until 4:00 p.m. that afternoon. please come in to join us for the holiday season. thank you. with that, are we ready? everybody stand up. how about a countdown beginning with 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. [applause] happy holidays, everybody. >> if you listen very carefully, you are going to hear coming down the streets -- i think santa is coming, mr. mayor. i think he is coming. there is a lot of traffic out

there, but he is on the way. >> just a few steps away from union square is a quiet corner stone of san francisco's our community to the meridian

gallery has a 20-year history of supporting visual arts. experimental music concert, and also readings. >> give us this day our daily bread at least three times a day. and lead us not into temptation to often on weekdays. [laughter] >> meridians' stands apart from the commercial galleries around union square, and it is because of their core mission, to increase social, philosophical, and spiritual change my isolated individuals and communities. >> it gives a statement, the idea that a significant art of any kind, in any discipline, creates change. >> it is philosophy that attracted david linger to mount a show at meridian. >> you want to feel like your work this summer that it can do some good. i felt like at meridian, it

could do some good. we did not even talk about price until the day before the show. of course, meridian needs to support itself and support the community. but that was not the first consideration, so that made me very happy. >> his work is printed porcelain. he transfers images onto and spoils the surface a fragile shes of clay. each one, only one-tenth of an inch thick. >> it took about two years to get it down. i would say i lose 30% of the pieces that i made. something happens to them. they cracked, the break during the process. it is very complex. they fall apart. but it is worth it to me. there are photographs i took 1 hours 99 the former soviet union. these are blown up to a gigantic images. they lose resolution. i do not mind that, because my images are about the images, but they're also about the idea, which is why there is text all

over the entire surface. >> marie in moved into the mansion on powell street just five years ago. its galleries are housed in one of the very rare single family residences around union square. for the 100th anniversary of the mansion, meridian hosted a series of special events, including a world premiere reading by lawrence ferlinghetti. >> the birth of an american corporate fascism, the next to last free states radio, the next-to-last independent newspaper raising hell, the next-to-last independent bookstore with a mind of its own, the next to last leftie looking for obama nirvana. [laughter] the first day of the wall street occupation set forth upon this continent a new revolutionary

nation. [applause] >> in addition to its own programming as -- of artist talks, meridian has been a downtown host for san francisco states well-known port trees center. recent luminaries have included david meltzer, steve dixon, and jack hirsch man. >> you can black as out of the press, blog and arrest us, tear gas, mace, and shoot us, as we know very well, you will, but this time we're not turning back. we know you are finished. desperate, near the end. hysterical in your flabbergastlyness. amen. >> after the readings, the crowd headed to a reception upstairs by wandering through

the other gallery rooms in the historic home. the third floor is not usually reserved for just parties, however. it is the stage for live performances. ♪ under the guidance of musical curators, these three, meridian has maintained a strong commitment to new music, compositions that are innovative, experimental, and sometimes challenging. sound art is an artistic and event that usually receives short shrift from most galleries because san francisco is musicians have responded by showing strong support for the programming. ♪