It's like Israel for...
Recently, I overheard someone in the Castro say that "San Francisco is like Israel for gay men," meaning that this is the chosen land, the geographical magnet for the queers seeking emancipation. I've quietly mulled it over and think that San Francisco is Israel for anyone who is different. But even that seems a little weak-willed. So I've decided that San Francisco is like Israel for rule breakers.
This idea behind San Francisco has produced a lot of coolness and creativity but also quite a bit of frustration. I was appalled when I saw people bicycling on the sidewalk and pissing on the street. I nearly witnessed a 90 degree collision between an irate bicyclist and an impatient motorist trying to outrun a red light. On my second night here, in Civic Center, I witnessed a grown man dressed as an overgrown infant girl with a huge pink-and-white Binky and bonnet. More chilling, on my birthday in fact, an elderly Asian man was run over at the main Castro intersection by a bicycling hipster. Detectives are actually using his callous Facebook comments against him (How's this for a San Francisco crime and investigation?). There's a circus atmosphere here that cannot be quelled no matter how many yuppies move in. People regularly stroll around naked (although now you need to affix a nickel-sized sticker or piece of floss somewhere to not be indecent). People regularly talk on their cell phones wherever it suits them. And smoking pot in public is as banal as a Tuesday afternoon buying groceries.
On the other end of the spectrum, it has produced a slew of innovations, products and non-profits whose missions offer solutions to problems that were not even considered. In a grand moment of house furnishing and synchronicity, I stumbled upon a yard sale on Church and 15th whose guardians were selling just what I needed- a desk table and two chairs. It was of a blond soft wood, in great condition without any frills. I bargained and locked a price tag of $25 down from $30. Come to find out that it was an organizational yard sale for BioDanza, a non-profit that uses dance to promote communal emotional health. One of the women, who carried one of my new chairs to the door, is an instructor named Belisa Amaro. She teaches a local class on Tuesday nights and I've been ready for weeks to get this body moving, grooving.
Another example of creative rule breaking is Queseda Gardens, a neighbor-run non-profit that took a drug-addled stretch of the Bayview neighborhood and turned it into a flowering showcase. Since its founding and 2002, crime has plummeted in this neighborhood and residents are even growing their own food in the median. Studies do show that having regular access to trees and greenery can curb crime by cooling hot tempers. Neighbors are becoming emboldened as they take back the streets and learn a little something about botany.
Examples run the gamut and San Francisco has no monopoly on rule breaking or creativity but it does offer the perfect atmosphere for such things. Shamefully, I got caught breaking the rules at my new place. I happened to leave some oatmeal powder residue from one of my oatmeal baths along the tub. I've been running around so much that I thought I could clean it for a later hour without my roommate catching on. Miguel was not pleased and I was worried he was going to throw me out. I talked him back from the ledge but for a while I was sickened by my own excuse-making. Does he really care that I had delayed my housekeeping so I could meet some friends? Or that "I've been running around so much that..." or that "I've had such trouble getting grounded." There are no excuses with strangers. I think the hardest part of my voyage is that the new people I've met have little patience with my defects compared to my friends and family back home. Don't get me wrong- the folks are great here and have given me quite a few breaks and even second chances. But there's no place like home for screwing up and still being loved for you. Although, it has been refreshing to have no history of screwing up with a new cast of people. This has been a year where I've learned to not worry so much about my shortcomings but rather to capitalize on my strengths. Still that's no reason to treat my surroundings like a perpetual hotel room. The perfect antidote to discourtesy is a bevy of fresh flowers. My new faves are freesias, they're cheap and they smell great!
This idea behind San Francisco has produced a lot of coolness and creativity but also quite a bit of frustration. I was appalled when I saw people bicycling on the sidewalk and pissing on the street. I nearly witnessed a 90 degree collision between an irate bicyclist and an impatient motorist trying to outrun a red light. On my second night here, in Civic Center, I witnessed a grown man dressed as an overgrown infant girl with a huge pink-and-white Binky and bonnet. More chilling, on my birthday in fact, an elderly Asian man was run over at the main Castro intersection by a bicycling hipster. Detectives are actually using his callous Facebook comments against him (How's this for a San Francisco crime and investigation?). There's a circus atmosphere here that cannot be quelled no matter how many yuppies move in. People regularly stroll around naked (although now you need to affix a nickel-sized sticker or piece of floss somewhere to not be indecent). People regularly talk on their cell phones wherever it suits them. And smoking pot in public is as banal as a Tuesday afternoon buying groceries.
On the other end of the spectrum, it has produced a slew of innovations, products and non-profits whose missions offer solutions to problems that were not even considered. In a grand moment of house furnishing and synchronicity, I stumbled upon a yard sale on Church and 15th whose guardians were selling just what I needed- a desk table and two chairs. It was of a blond soft wood, in great condition without any frills. I bargained and locked a price tag of $25 down from $30. Come to find out that it was an organizational yard sale for BioDanza, a non-profit that uses dance to promote communal emotional health. One of the women, who carried one of my new chairs to the door, is an instructor named Belisa Amaro. She teaches a local class on Tuesday nights and I've been ready for weeks to get this body moving, grooving.
Another example of creative rule breaking is Queseda Gardens, a neighbor-run non-profit that took a drug-addled stretch of the Bayview neighborhood and turned it into a flowering showcase. Since its founding and 2002, crime has plummeted in this neighborhood and residents are even growing their own food in the median. Studies do show that having regular access to trees and greenery can curb crime by cooling hot tempers. Neighbors are becoming emboldened as they take back the streets and learn a little something about botany.
Examples run the gamut and San Francisco has no monopoly on rule breaking or creativity but it does offer the perfect atmosphere for such things. Shamefully, I got caught breaking the rules at my new place. I happened to leave some oatmeal powder residue from one of my oatmeal baths along the tub. I've been running around so much that I thought I could clean it for a later hour without my roommate catching on. Miguel was not pleased and I was worried he was going to throw me out. I talked him back from the ledge but for a while I was sickened by my own excuse-making. Does he really care that I had delayed my housekeeping so I could meet some friends? Or that "I've been running around so much that..." or that "I've had such trouble getting grounded." There are no excuses with strangers. I think the hardest part of my voyage is that the new people I've met have little patience with my defects compared to my friends and family back home. Don't get me wrong- the folks are great here and have given me quite a few breaks and even second chances. But there's no place like home for screwing up and still being loved for you. Although, it has been refreshing to have no history of screwing up with a new cast of people. This has been a year where I've learned to not worry so much about my shortcomings but rather to capitalize on my strengths. Still that's no reason to treat my surroundings like a perpetual hotel room. The perfect antidote to discourtesy is a bevy of fresh flowers. My new faves are freesias, they're cheap and they smell great!
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