Alexis Madrigal
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alexis-madrigal.bsky.social
Alexis Madrigal
@alexis-madrigal.bsky.social
Book: The Pacific Circuit
Job: Co-Host, KQED Forum
Life: Local Economy, Oakland Garden Club
Without downloading any new pics describe your gender.
November 20, 2025 at 4:57 AM
Went to see for myself. Lots of reporters (shoutout out @kqednews.kqed.org Erin B and Adhiti B). Things seem to be alternating between loitering slow protest and spiky moments of intensity. Jumpy, as Erin described it.
October 23, 2025 at 7:28 PM
That's where Federal immigration authorities are going to be setting up camp, according to our reporting www.kqed.org/news/1206108...
October 23, 2025 at 2:34 AM
Are there protests yet at the single, small road link from the Coast Guard island to the rest of the Bay?

This almost seems like inviting a long-term protest there.
October 23, 2025 at 2:33 AM
We’ve got a fascinating event at our community space Local Economy tomorrow with some of the immigration judges who were recently fired in San Francisco and some Polish counterparts

luma.com/2th83vpt
October 13, 2025 at 9:43 PM
If you’re in the Bay Area (and even beyond), just a heads up that the new community space we’re opening up in Oakland has opened up memberships ahead of our October open.

We’ve got so much good programming on tap.

Way more info here:
www.thelocaleconomy.com
August 17, 2025 at 10:41 PM
If you’re in the Bay Area (and even beyond), just a heads up that the new community space we’re opening up in Oakland has opened up memberships ahead of our October open.

We’ve got so much good programming on tap.

Way more info here:
www.thelocaleconomy.com
August 17, 2025 at 10:40 PM
June 15, 2025 at 11:56 PM
The fact is: there is no bigger news story in our region today. None. And that is true in just about every American metro outside Minnesota and maybe Washington, DC.
June 14, 2025 at 11:44 PM
I don't know why I never thought to investigate the stagecoach era of California logistics. www.parks.ca.gov/pages/22491/...

www.parks.ca.gov?page_id=25066
June 7, 2025 at 4:33 PM
That’s cool. I had a little plastic lens years ago that I loved. Hard to get enough light, but the vibe was impeccable
June 5, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Bay Area! Y’all know there have been grant cuts to arts orgs, and that includes the remarkable Berkeley publisher, Transit Books. We’re hosting a little party for them this weekend in Oakland. Come!

www.eventbrite.com/manage/event...
May 21, 2025 at 2:50 PM
I’ll just add this from my book …
April 27, 2025 at 5:51 PM
And it turns out it is often like that! Chassis were a famous example in shipping for a while. I also liked this quote from peak pandemic supply chain trouble. These systems are all about balance and flow.
April 12, 2025 at 2:39 PM
“Locating the output of LLMs on a spectrum from poetry to ideology…”

This is either gonna be my most or least favorite book this year, I think. (I am betting most)

www.upress.umn.edu/978151791932...
April 10, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Here’s another thing about these jobs from a paper by Joshua Cohen (who works at Apple) et al … turnover is huge. 3% a week. Imagine if your whole department turned over every 8-9 months. And that’s excluding the 8% who didn’t last a week.

pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1...
April 8, 2025 at 12:47 AM
This is exactly right! The hiring managers of SV companies just said the quiet part out loud over and over. Screenshot is from my book. But also check out the documentary The Global Assembly Line

youtu.be/Eq1KJxBI2jQ?...
April 8, 2025 at 12:27 AM
Another historical reality: this kind of electronics assembly has almost always been done in Asia. Fairchild begins assembly in Hong Kong in 1963! And just look at these maps (a slide from a talk I am giving tomorrow at UW)… Global supply chains have been the norm since the birth of electronics.
April 8, 2025 at 12:08 AM
Just pulling into Seattle on the train for this event at the Ravenna branch of Third Place Books! 7pm! With the legend Angela Garbes!

www.thirdplacebooks.com/event/alexis...
April 7, 2025 at 8:26 PM
I just want people to read all of these things from small American companies.

You can argue the US should build this kind of manufacturing ecosystem, but can’t say it seems even remotely likely to happen.., and even if we did, it would produce wildly more expensive products.
April 7, 2025 at 7:49 PM
People who have read it have said some amazing things about it. Here are some thoughts from Rebecca Solnit, Hua Hsu, Steven Johnson, and Jenny Odell.

If it sounds interesting, you can order it here or anywhere books are sold: us.macmillan.com/books/978037...
March 18, 2025 at 4:33 PM
In the book, I trace the history of these developments and pull us through into the present, where we're dealing with the social and economic consequences of the Pacific Circuit's development. It's both a hyperlocal story set along 7th Street in Oakland and an oceanic one.
March 18, 2025 at 4:33 PM
As part of my book research, my mom (thanks Mom!) and I digitized the extant issues of the Spokesman newspaper, which was produced in Hunters Point in San Francisco from 1965 and 1969, and then created an index of it.

I really want to get this into the hands of Hunters Point families. (1/x)
March 6, 2025 at 1:50 AM
If you can’t make that one, there are a bunch of others both in the Bay and in other places.

Ticket info is at:
www.thepacificcircuit.com
March 5, 2025 at 10:22 PM
There is also a slate of events that you can come to for the book, both here in the Bay and elsewhere. Ok.

You can resume doomscrolling now.
February 26, 2025 at 11:06 PM