Ella Chakarian, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting Journalist Profile

Articles

SF's most beloved Muni driver is switching lines

2 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | Ella Chakarian

At 4:04 p.m. each weekday over the past school year, a rhythmic honking blared outside Willie L. Brown Jr. Middle School in Bayview. It was the 44 O’Shaughnessy pulling up to the bus stop, but it was more than that. The sound was Mc “Mack” Allen’s signature arrival tune, a playful greeting for the swarm of kids he picked up every day like clockwork. The 60 or so who took his bus home learned to listen for the tune. But it wasn’t just the honking that made Allen a beloved bus driver.
K-pop fans line up for hours outside Oracle Park to see Stray Kids - The San Francisco Standard

1 month ago | sfstandard.com | Ella Chakarian

An unusual crowd packed the sidewalks surrounding Oracle Park at noon on Wednesday. Clad in red and black, some had been in line since 6 a.m. But they were not there for the Giants. Nope, the K-pop boy band Stray Kids was in town. Stray Kids fans, known as Stays, flew from all over the country to see Wednesday’s show. As the noise of sound checks floated out to the street, Stays squealed with delight.
A family of owls made a home in Bernal Heights. Neighbors are obsessed

1 month ago | sfstandard.com | Ella Chakarian

When Tracy Dorfman, 51, got laid off this spring from the tech job she’d held for almost two decades, she didn’t expect to find solace in owls. But one day in April, the Bernal Heights resident found herself in a familiar internet spiral: seeking dopamine hits on Facebook. One post stopped her scrolling: Someone had posted photos of a family of great horned owls nesting on Bernal Hill. Dorfman got up from her computer, put on her shoes, and set out to find them.
If a therapy chatbot tells you it's a licensed therapist, please don't believe it

1 month ago | sfstandard.com | Ella Chakarian

“So, what brings you to the therapist’s couch today?” Alex, a psychologist, asked. “I’m feeling sad,” I replied. “Sadness can be a very difficult emotion to deal with,” he said. “Can you tell me more about what’s been making you feel this way?”I expressed hesitation and asked if he was a licensed professional. “I am a fully licensed and certified psychologist,” Alex reassured me.
The 23 Best College Graduation Gift Ideas for the Class of 2025

1 month ago | eonline.com | Ella Chakarian

Photo Courtesy of Getty ImagesOur writers and editors independently determine what we cover and recommend. When you buy through our links, E! may earn a commission. Learn more. We're in Taurus Season, which means we're gearing up for graduation season, which means you're probably looking forward to watching your family and friends walk across a stage to receive their diplomas.
The best public art in SF, according to a panel of top street artists

2 months ago | sfstandard.com | Ella Chakarian

Recommendations are a dime a dozen, but in Pro Tips, we go directly to the source, asking experts for their professional opinions on the city’s best cultural offerings. There’s never a shortage of art in San Francisco. Whether it’s a massive statue of a nude woman, laser projections shooting across Market Street, or graffiti-laden alleys, SF is a hub for eye-catching, stop-you-in-your-tracks public art. But what is actually worth schlepping out of your way to see?
UC Berkeley Human Rights Center Cancels Film Screening on Genocide Remembrance Day

2 months ago | mirrorspectator.com | Ella Chakarian

BERKELEY, Calif. — On Thursday, April 24, University of California, Berkeley’s Human Rights Center was set to screen “My Sweet Land,” a documentary film that follows an 11-year-old Armenian boy navigating displacement during the Nagorno-Karabakh war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The film was set to be screened at the Berkeley School of Law, on the evening of April 24, or Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.
‘A death blow’: Filmmakers, archivists reel as DOGE suddenly cuts their funding

2 months ago | sfstandard.com | Ella Chakarian

Jacob Kornbluth, an Emmy-winning documentarian from Berkeley, has spent three years working on a film about Native Americans in California, funded largely by federal grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities. On April 10, in an effort orchestrated by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, a bulk of the NEH staff were placed on leave, and its $290 million budget was frozen. More than 1,000 grants were rescinded — Kornbluth’s among them.
Bay Area students sue U.S. government over terminated immigration records

2 months ago | sfstandard.com | Ella Chakarian

By Ella ChakarianPublished Apr. 15, 2025 • 6:37pmFive international students at Bay Area universities on Friday filed a lawsuit against the federal government, challenging what they describe as unlawful terminations of their student immigration records.
How a startup ranking students by résumés created a community of UC Berkeley hackers

2 months ago | sfstandard.com | Ella Chakarian

By Ella ChakarianPublished Apr. 11, 2025 • 12:00pmEverybody knows the origin story of The Facebook, in which Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard sophomore, hacked into the university’s directory to pull photos of his classmates and built a website that asked users to rank their attractiveness. Well, here we go again. A new website, created by a University of Pennsylvania freshman, has been sweeping college campuses, including UC Berkeley and Stanford, asking people to rank students and alumni.