Ben Trefny

The San Francisco Writers’ Grotto is not a grotto, really. A grotto is a cave … or, something like a cave. This is just a floor in a nondescript office building: 31 offices surrounding a conference room, where a few dozen people can sit somewhat comfortably. From the hallways, each office door looks about the same. What makes this place special, though, is what’s behind each door.

Nonfiction writer Ethan Watters says, “This idea of working alone as a writer would never work for me, certainly.” So he, along with Po Bronson and Ethan Canin, started a collective. A place for six writers to work. Then nine. Then 21. Now, nearly 60 writers are members of the Grotto.

KALW's Ben Trefny spoke with members of the SF Writers' Grotto for a recent story. Listen to full interviews with the writers below.

Paul Salazar is a member of the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers and keeps a regular astronomy blog called the Urban Astronomer. He sat down with KALW’s Ben Trefny to talk about the upcoming solar eclipse. He also explained what he calls a "spectacular solar event" that only happens twice every hundred years. It's called the Transit of Venus and it's happening on June 5. Listen to find out where and when to watch.

To listen to the full interview aired on Crosscurrents, click here. 

It’s only once a year that you can experience almost complete darkness in the afternoon sky. This Sunday, the Western United States will experience a solar eclipse. But in a special path across Northern California, the moon will be almost fully enclosed by the disc of the sun, creating a “Ring of Fire” effect. To learn more about the science behind the spectacle – and another reason to look up later in May – KALW's Ben Trefny talked to our local expert, Paul Salazar. Salazar is a member of the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers and keeps a regular astronomy blog.

This story is set to the music of Bay Area shakuhachi player Masayuki Koga, who runs the Japanese Music Institute of America. It’s from an album called Eastwind. All poetry in this piece can be found in the book Tamalpais Walking, by Tom Killion and Gary Snyder.