Neptune Landing

        Each trip to New York stokes the imagination for this is truly a destination of fire. For visual art, we visited the New Museum, a freshly-constructed edifice that resembles surround-sound speakers balancing on each other's shoulders like cheerleaders. Located on the Upper Bowery, its new location was finished in 2007 and its top floor features the best canvas of all, downtown Manhattan viewed from an open-air balcony. Its other six floors feature gallery space, staff offices and the ground-floor cafe and bookstore. View of the New World Trade Center           The New Museum's featured artist is Chris Burden, a baby-boomer sculptor and performance artist who takes militancy and hypermasculinity to an uncomfortable level. His show, Extreme Measures, centers of engineering, collision and military planning. One of his pieces is a video of an irresponsible crane letting loose beams from hundreds of feet up. The camera takes the perspective of the falling beams as t

         For the holiday break, I've come to New York to reunite with Mauricio. We found a tiny studio apartment overlooking Tompkins Square Park where the street cacophony has been lulling me to sleep. We've left the window open and you can hear the hum of traffic in these springlike breezes along with laughter and conversations among humans and among dogs. Even the hard landings of skateboards sound like the endings of cassette tapes. The street music is retro and comforting but probably goes down suburban ears like poison.  Dutch Facades near                                                                                                                          Tompkins Square Park          I know you're not supposed to willingly slumber in New York but I took an oversold, redeye flight where a young, handsome guy was having seizures two rows ahead of me at 3 in the morning. He ended up surviving but all the stewardesses crowded around him like mother hens. The he

PLACE Facebook was all abuzz earlier last month with a geography/personality test launched by TIME Magazine. You answer a few questions about your philosophy and lifestyle and their website spits out the name of the appropriate state that fits YOU. Although the logarithm is a bit faulty (e.g. Why does this rag suggest I spend my yankee days and nights in Georgia?), the idea is quite fascinating. Blue Heron at McLaren Park Reservoir Certain personalities gravitate to certain places. Economist Richard Florida in his new-urbanism, wonkish book " Who's Your City ?" explains that one of the most undervalued decisions we make in our lives is the choice of where to live. Think about it: countless books and websites are devoted to vocation and life partner but very little devoted to setting. Consider that we breathe, eat and sleep in our chosen ponds 24 hours a day whereas we only spend 6 to 10 hours a day on the job and a typical 12 hours a day hanging with the sweethea

       Last weekend I met a friend for a drink at Harvey's in the Castro. Visiting from Boston, Derrick had mentioned a Radical Faeries get-together he was planning on attending later that evening. The Faeries have always fascinated me; I feel a kinship even though I don't know a lick about applying makeup or conspicuous dress. How sorely I had been mistaken in my stereotypes.        The Faeries are a circle of chill, smart, laid-back gay men who identify with hippie culture. The house party I attended was warm, small and quiet. People were carving pumpkins in the dining room and cooking pizzas in the kitchen.        Jim, our host, lives in a house called "P-Town West" and put together a video montage of the Peanuts Gang Halloween Special along with a few clips and videos of Lou Reed (who had died earlier that day). It was such a lovely introduction to Faerie culture in which I met a few great men and even one woman, a former New York punk who now rescues an

    For a practice that includes some silly paraphernalia (here's looking at you stretch pants, foam blocks and carry-around mats), yoga is a serious business in Fog City. Citizens devote as much energy and time to yoga as they do to their dietary needs and Halloween. Turn your head and you'll spot a space to stretch. Boston may celebrate a high  Dunkin' Donuts  density but a casual glance on google maps provides 796(!) places to get a yoga fix within the 7 mile by 7 mile county of San Francisco. So if there's so much supply and so much demand, why do I constantly feel like the only kid who forgot to do his homework? Did everyone move here as a previous yogi?     I'll admit it - I'm a dabbler by nature. With ten plus years of casual yoga behind me, however, I feel confident enough to hold about a dozen poses on my living room yoga mat (and to know them well by name). Never had I considered yoga competitive until I moved to San Francisco. More worrisome, I f

Any self-respecting, progressive San Franciscan gets a delivery of a CSA box or at least has a good story about one. CSA stands for Community-Supported-Agriculture. Basically, you go online to find a local farm that provides CSA shipments, read the farm's reviews on yelp, sign up with them and every Thursday they deliver a 10 lb. box of fresh, locally grown fruits and veggies to your apartment lobby. It's important to note that you are not a customer but an investor so you must return the shiny cardboard box from the previous week. They also give you a method for composting your egg shells and egg cartons. From the first week I'll be honest though; the first few weeks of delivery, my palms were sweating about using all the vegetables in a timely manner. On top of the spoiling possibility, you are also faced with using exotic items that confuse any white, mama's boy. Parsley, cabbage, braising mix and various types of squashes made my anxiety list. Fear not. Turn t

     Even though I'm a nature boy, I love the idea of cities as being these stews of tradition, innovation, ethnic heritage/composition, geography and industry. Mix it all up and you get something unique each time. There are however sister cities or metros that seek to learn from one another. Sister cities are more than just cutesy titles. San Francisco, California and Cork, Ireland, for instance, employ a real practice of exchanging business, cultural, technical and educational knowledge over the long-term.   The Rebel Cork Benevolent Association , a group of native Corkers laid the groundwork for a sister city partnership when they started meeting in 1883 to exchange ideas among themselves in this strange city on the western edge of the U.S. The RCBA was also a vehicle of families helping each other in times of need. More and more Corker pilgrims made the westward journey and soon enough an official relationship seemed a foregone conclusion. The sisterhood was officially formed j

        Not to be confused with a daytrip to Hades, the lower world journey is an essential component of coming to know your power animals and inner teachers in shamanic practice. The Lower World Journey has wormed its way into literary culture, most famously with Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland," when Alice falls down the rabbit hole and embarks on a great adventure. There is one thing that Carroll misrepresented; the characters she encountered were more middle world spirits (with personalities and intents ranging from neutral to hostile) rather than loving lower world spirits. The spirits in the lower world are magnanimous; they do not wish you any harm and are there to help. Drugs, too, are not necessary for a trip to the lower world (and can actually be a hindrance). There are, however, six essential steps to make this a fruitful journey.         1. Soundtrack. No, not Beyonce or even Beethoven, but rather a CD or MP3 of shamanic drumming, a steady

        Formerly known as Eureka Valley, the Castro district is one of the larger neighborhoods in the central city and increasingly one of its most well-heeled. In the 19th century, The Castro and nearby Duboce Triangle were known as Little Scandinavia before being taken over by the Irish in the 1930's. In the 1970's, the gays started moving in, most notably, Harvey Milk, a camera store owner who later went on to become the city's most famous district supervisor. The Castro has some lovely hills, homes and bougainvillea bushes as well as several clothing stores, cafes, bars and a few decent restaurants. The F Line trolley ends here, giving the neighborhood a certain 'over the rainbow' feel.                      If anything, the Castro proves that this town can still throw a damn good party! Twice, recently, revelers descended on Castro Street to throw a political extravaganza; once on Wednesday evening, June 26th following the favorable Prop 8 and DOMA de

                California somehow bottoms out on  small-business-friendliness  surveys but when I look around San Francisco all I see are small, ma-and-pa joints. Tax-wise, the state and city governments may be a little overbearing but we've got a great and savvy clientele that would never dine at McDonald’s or shop at Walmart. Customers and shopkeepers are not only friendly and independent but have a wonderful sense of humor too. Just check out some of these business names.            When every entrepreneur employs rhymes and puns, it can be hard to find the witty title that sticks. Case in point:  Foggy Doggy  was already taken.  L

       If I were cornered and pressed to define shamanism in a pithy way, it would be "A craft that uses the unseen and the imaginative to bring abundance to yourself, your family, your community and our planet." (And, yes, I still believe in referring to EARTH as our agreed-upon planet!). There are several tools of the craft such as gratitude (the most salient tool of the program) dreams and the interpretation thereof  journeys  (i.e. a specific form of guided meditation that uses the sound of drumming) and spirit allies or animal spirits that can be found in both ordinary and non-ordinary realities such as those found on journeys .        The most joyful part of a shamanic practice is undoubtedly the companionship of animal spirits, also known as power animals or spirit allies. As European-Americans we've had our totems literally beaten out of us with the spread of Christianity. I'm not trying to be controversial or anti-Christian but it's the truth. Th

    Sacramento City Hall      One of the first things I noticed about Sacramento was the health and happiness of its trees. Gorgeous Oaks, Sycamores, Palms and Maples graced the grid-like avenues with pride and strength. It reminded me of a lovely summer day on the verdant blocks of Wollaston and East Milton back home. You could almost feel the trees smile!  Saint Paul's Episcopal Church Elks Club Building (nicknamed the Ghost Busters Building,                      standing at 226 feet)     Any reason to escape slick San Francisco was good enough for me. On Friday I finished work early to take a shamanic training (on extraction) in California's capitol city and I couldn't have been more charmed. With the help of Expedia, I landed a sweet deal at the Sheraton Grand and spent most of my two days in Downtown, Midtown and Curtis Park. People were so friendly and inquisitive and everyone I met outside the training beamed at the mention of shamanism. It was almo

      A San Francisco old-timer recently told me that the transients seek to consume this city while the tried-and-true seek to build it. Consumption has become the American past-time in this most American of cities but we've also been on a building spree (as evidenced by the slanted spines of cranes along Market Street). Richard Florida, the new urbanist, would pat us on the back as a premier lifestyle city that is making space for the depressing concept of  twitter apartments while nabbing the title of happiest city in America . But, surely, there's more to this place than laughter on the street and hunger in the fog.        Casting the world into producers and consumers has always seemed an impoverished division to me. Deep down, in my writer's vanity, I've subscribed to a third class of humans: that of connectors/interpreters. Right: Patio Garden         Gardening has become one way to interpret what seeds might need and connecting them to the elements.