Joel Pomerantz → writer bio

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Joel Pomerantz is a San Francisco-based writer and natural history educator recognized for his work in local journalism, public art and community service. Under the name Thinkwalks, he offers various educational explorations and presentations about how San Francisco came to be what it is today. He conducts ongoing research into historic natural features and groundwater locations, and also tries to shed light on economic and cultural motivations of population shifts in San Francisco.

In addition to his community-based nonfiction, Joel has written occasional fiction, including a music-filled illustrated book, released in 2011, called Twice Just to be Sure. Joel wrote both the story and the music that accompanies this heart-warming and playfully thoughtful "children's book for adults." The authorship is under the pen name Uncle Pea, with illustrator Lance Jackson and font designer Amy Conger..

Joel's current research obsession is the unprecedented storm sequence of 1861–62, that inundated the entire west coast continuously for months. His discovery of a large lake that existed near the Panhandle of Golden Gate Park is one of the results of this sleuthing.

Joel played a major role in planting seeds for the culture of bicycling that has seen a worldwide resurgence since the 1990s. He was a pioneer in creating access to new publishing technology when the use of personal computers was first gaining ground. He organized many of the public art murals in San Francisco, including the acclaimed Duboce Bikeway Mural and recruited renowned artist Mona Caron into the world of muraling. Joel also offers street art and social justice art tours as part of Thinkwalks.

Joel has focused his efforts on public access, non-profit and community networks. He designed and developed, as founding editor, The Tube Times (San Francisco Bicycle Coalition) and was editor of The Haight Ashbury Voice and various other community print media. He designed and produced resource manuals and outreach systems for the Smithsonian Institution, Antioch College, Media Alliance, the San Francisco Folk Music Club, the AIDS Legal Referral Panel and many other grassroots efforts and small businesses.

His latest publishing release, February 7, 2012, is a collection of 133 entries, deeply researched and written in a subversive personal style, for a city guide iPhone app called Know What.