A San Franciscan “Pueblo me llamo”

On the Life & Labors of your Correspondent, Chema Hernández Gil

From the Bajío to the Bay

A portrait of me by a (paid) human artist.
A drawing of me, by a (paid) human artist.

I’m North American through and through, raised in the Mexican Bajío, in southern Ontario on the shore of Lake Ontario, and in Middle Tennessee, all located neatly in the Northern American biogeographical realm.

I spent my early adulthood around the Léman, including too many years studying at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), programming environmental management software and doing media activism as an independent journalist with Indymedia.

These days I work as a labor organizer, walk Luna along the Embarcadero, camp up and down California when I can, and dive into geeky projects when I can’t. I cut my tech teeth on K&R C and VAX/VMS. I still write what I need like I make pancakes: from scratch, using a simple ANSI C stack.

Organizing and Service

I had the good fortune of being raised vegetarian and became vegan in 2003. I co-founded Seed the Commons, a grassroots organization that works to create sustainable and just food systems that are independent of animal exploitation. You can support our work with a donation.

I was a member of the San Francisco Redistricting Task Force, tasked with redrawing the district lines for 2022 to 2032. It was, as one City staffer put it, “the most intense deliberative body in California”. My exhaustive thoughts on that process and on the final redistricting map can be found in the official Final Report, under my Member Statement, starting on page 41.

For nearly a decade, I was also a member of the East Cut Community Benefit District board of directors (and voted for the name “East Cut”). I’m also a former elected board director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and a former elected member of the Sierra Club, San Francisco local group executive committee.

Communications & Correspondence

You can follow me in the fediverse. I have an ephemeral presence at ctrvx.net/chema. You can verify most of these accounts using Keyoxide. My PGP key is also listed there.