The “call a republican” pay phone on Valencia Street in San Francisco on Jan. 21, 2026.

On Wednesday morning, I called my mom. Then, I walked a few blocks to a pay phone in the Mission on Valencia Street and called a 72-year-old retired high school English teacher from Abilene, Texas, named Kregg. Kregg and I had never spoken before; I didn’t know he existed until he picked up the receiver. 

That pay phone, located outside a tattoo shop near 14th Street, connects strangers in San Francisco, a liberal bastion, to those in Abilene, Texas, one of the most conservative cities in the country. The San Francisco pay phone is labeled “call a republican.” When the receiver is lifted off the hook, it automatically rings another pay phone, labeled “call a democrat,” which is posted outside a bookstore in Abilene. This is how Kregg and I got to talking. I had a story to write; he was leaving a bookstore and heard a pay phone ring.

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It’s a publicity stunt by Matter Neuroscience, a tech company that has raised $26 million. The company researches the biomarkers of happiness. Currently, the company offers an “emotional fitness” app. 

“By design, our goal is to help people live a more emotionally and molecularly balanced life. Really........

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