Susan Tunis--a Treasured Book Seller Moves Away

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Today I had the pleasure of having lunch with Susan Tunis, the women who does such an extraordinary job introducing writers at Bookshop West Portal.  

She's leaving SF and of course Bookshop West Portal, where she's been the one always introducing our writers in such an articulate and gracious way that shows she's really read their books. (She read 597 books last year.)

She's really made a difference the 6 years she's been in our neighborhood. Here are some photos that show her with some writers including David Talbot and the authors of Pantsuit Nation. You can see the audience she brought in! We'll miss her!

Oprah, PG&E, and Trump's Homeless Czar

Maxine Anderson is the member of the board who pointed out that we need to know more about City College--how it's governed and financed.  But she wasn't at our "Making Sense of What's Happening at City College" because of Oprah Winfrey!

Janet Tom at San Francisco Village

Today, February 20, 2020, Janet Tom was interviewed at San Francisco Village.  She was very entertaining!

I've known and admired her for years, but I keep learning new things about her.  ''

Rachel Lanzeotti introduced her and intended to interview her, but Janet didn't need an interviewer.  (Credit should be given, nonetheless, to the very good questions that Rachel asked.)

Janet talked about her initial reaction to the call to announce she'd won an "I Love My Librarian" award.  She thought it was a crank call and didn't return it. Once she learned of the award, she was asked to keep it a secret for a couple of weeks and did.  Then her friends were calling to congratulate her, and she asked, "How did you know?" 

"We read the New York Times!" they replied

She talked about getting speakers for the library programs, and she commented on the terms used to define the roles of the librarians.  She, for example, is the "subject selector." 

"We have categories to confuse people," she said.    "You get a Masters Degree so you can say these words."

She is the subuec selector for health, 610-615.  She's glad she got the beginning of that section, which is prevention.  616-619 are the diseases themselves.

More on this tomorrow..


The attendees seemed as sharp as the women I so much admire in OWL. 

Last Night's Debate with Democratic Candidates--and Mandatory Voting

I have a friend who lives in Mexico, where he's allowed to vote for the full California ballot now but feels he should be allowed to vote on every issue since he's away and not well-informed.

I was touched that he thinks we who live in California are well-informed.

 In this morning's newspaper, I read about Marc Levine's proposal that we have mandatory voting in this state.  He said that since jury duty is mandatory, voting should be too, but that seems like a terrible analogy to me.  I'd say that if the jurists reached a verdict without first hearing testimony (say, the way the Senate did with Trump), that would be analogous to the voters' having to vote. The only way mandatory voting makes sense is to have mandatory education on the issues and candidates--and who's going to balance that?!

Speaking of education, that's what I hope to get from a panel I've helped organize for this Saturday,   "Making Sense of What's Happening at City College," which does prevent divergent views.  

I've gone to support numerous rallies, but I don't want this to be another one.  The "Progressives" I count myself among have been called "The Righteousness Mob," and I think we sometimes deserve that epithet.  We don't listen to people with views different from ours and we show contempt for the people who don't share our perspective.  

About Warren vs. Sanders:  Last night Warren made the accusation that, while Sanders' Medicare for All plan was a good start, "instead of explaining and bringing in more people to help, his campaign relentlessly attacks everyone who asks a question or tries to fill in details about how to actually make this work."

I have a conservative Democrat on the right of me at the Y every other morning, and I enjoy our conversations.  But he scoff's at Sanders' using Denmark as a model because Denmark has fewer than 6 million people, and the USA has 350 million.   I asked him, "Why can't something that works for 6 million people work for a much larger population?  Is our present system working so well for that number?"  One thing I know is that I don't know how to answer people whose views are very different from my own.  

Last night was a good night for Warren, whose comparison of Buttigieg's and Klobuchar's health plans  with  "a PowerPoint" and "A post-it" respectively was very witty.

Barbara Lane's column on "Books by walkers: a literary stroll"

I just wrote a friend about this:

I finally got around to reading Barbara Lane's column "Book by walkers:  a literary stroll," which alerted me to a book by Rebeccas Solnit, which I now have on Audible.  I love to walk, as I think you do, but I don't think they (Barbara Lane and Rebeccas Solnit) understand that a treadmill doesn't preclude walks out in nature.   Rebecca Solnit says that gyms "automobilized and suburbanized mind more comfortable in climate-controlled indoor space than outdoors, more comfortable with quantifiable and clearly defined activity than with seamless engagement of mind, body, and terrain to be found walking out of doors."

They're very different types of exercise.  What I like most about being on the treadmill is that I have two guys I like a lot to talk with as we begin our day--though Jerry is now going through very intense treatment for his second bout of cancer, so he isn't on my left this month.  I also like the fact that the treadmill gets me walking faster than I would on a walk outdoors, so it does more for the cardio-vascular.

Of course, there's no substitute for walking outdoors.  They're just really two very different forms of exercise, and I know I exert myself more during my hour at the gym than I do when I'm taking a walk.

Thank God it's only for an hour and every OTHER day.  I walk outdoors every day.