When Should Our Bears Leave Our Windows?

 The SF Chronicle asked about our deepest concerns about Califrnia's June 15 reopening?

Here's how I responded:

Good morning~

I have a question that I hope you'll help me with even if you don't find my concern useful for your column on the June 15 reopening.  

What about the bear in the window and the signs?  When do we remove them?  In early April 2020 I put the comfort bear in my living room  window at the request of a friend and neighbor with a little boy.  It was made from an item of clothing of my mother after she died and had been in the back bedroom window overlooking the garden in honor of my mother's wish to be outdoors as much as possible, expressed in her Advance Health Care Directive.  Then her dementia caused her to be afraid of going outdoors.  

When I put Mama Bear at the window  on a cushion on top of the back of the sofa, facing west across the street to Larsen Park and then the Pacific Ocean. I expected her to topple over, but in all these months, she never has.   I hope she's been of some comfort to the child next door and other passers-by.  She's been a comfort to me. 

On the window  I've also put signs like the Thank You to frontline workers one the SF Chronicle furnished back in April 2020, when San Franciscans sang along to "I Left My Heart in San Francisco."   I have a star representing the only one I know who died of Covid-19.   There's also a sign for Racial Justice. 

When should this bear be removed?  What about the signs?

Your reader, 

Tina Martin 

Dr. Seuss Revisited

 

• Why do away with the Dr. Seuss books that offend?  Why not change the offensive illustrations?  I've always loved the message of "Green Eggs and Ham"--Try something new before rejecting it.  But it needs to reflect our current awareness of animal welfare and sustainability, so I doctored Seuss:

SAMI

 I don't want any vegan dish./I do not like them I -Am-Trish.

TRISH

 

You do not like them, so you say./Try one!  Try some!  And you may.  Try one and you may, I say.

SAMI

Oh, Trish!  If you will let me be/I will try one.  You will see.

 

 

SAMI

Say, I like this vegan food!/I do! It really suits my mood!

 

TRISH

 

Trying something new can be

A pleasurable thing to see

AND sustainability

is kind to animals and me.

Tax the Rich: The Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act

Senator Elizabeth Warren, Representatives Pramila Jayapal and Brendan Boyle have introduced the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act.

OWL has alerted us to this, and I've just finished asking the support of 

Senators Diane Feinstein and (for the first time) Alex Padilla, and Chuck Schumer, Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Jackie Speier, saying, "Please support the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act.  A 2% annual wealth tax on Americans who have al least $50 million dollars in net worth and a 3% tax on those with at least $1 billion in net worth would  provide $3 trillion ($3,000,000,000) for child care, education, and infrastructure to help close the widening gap between rich and poor Americans as well as help to reconstruct our communities.  I know the ultra-millionaires want to do their part to create a better society.

New Block for the Victorian Englander House

A friend and I saw the Victorian Englander House that was moved Sunday from Franklin to Fulton.  (I'm sorry that we didn't know about it in time to watch the move itself.)  It has its house number 807 on it but will be renamed 635.  It was interesting to see the blocks it was put on for the move, the workers lunching, the mortuary that was moved over to make room, and the block it's now on.  It had been next door to Shell Service Station on Franklin

.  Now it's diagonally across from the Buchanan Mall (a gazebo, etc) and the African American Art and Culture Complex and a housing project, speaking of projects (like moving a house four blocks).

Then we went to see the 8,000 ton Commerce High School that had to be moved in 1913 to make room for the Civic Center.  They "slid" it down the road a few feet at a time on steel rollers, and that move took seven months!  We couldn't believe how mammoth it is.  We also noted that even though 170 Fell Street is etched in stone, Commerce High School is the brown building, not the white one in the photos.  I should make clear that I included one photo I didn't take because it shows the house at an angle I can't.  

After Erika and her dog Misou went on, I went back to the site where it was moved from, and it was all boarded up, of course, but it will be interesting to see the 8-floor, 48-unit rental as it develops.  I also took a closer look at the African American Art and Culture Complex.  

A Farewell and Thank You to Marshall Kilduff, Editorial Writer and Creator of SF Chronicle's Sunday Quiz

 Here's what I just sent to Marshall Kilduff, editorial writer and creator of SF Chronicle's Sunday quiz:

I'm not sure which editorials you've written over the years, but I have greatly benefitted from your Sunday Chronicle quiz.  It's one of the first pages I turn to, and then I find out what I've hit or missed during the week.  

This past Sunday, I learned that a snowflake is a touchy big shot who can't handle criticism, that the space agencies ar prepping probes to collect orbiting garbage, and that California is 44 of 50 when it comes to the successful vaccinations for Covid 19.

Your quiz has been a shot in the arm!  Thank you!

Revisiting the Women's Building on 18th and Lapidge in San Francisco

 Friday Erika and I took a closer look at the Women's Building on 18th and Lapidge Streets in the Mission--something I've been reading about in MaestraPeace, a book I got after realizing how little I knew when Bill and I were on a walk around there a year ago. Notice the beautiful sky, too!

I also noticed for the first time how street artist Daniel Doherty has transformed Seurat's Sunday Afternoon in the Park to make it Dolores Park and add people of color--people included in great numbers in yesterday's welcome-to-the inauguration program.

The Sun Sets on 2020 at Ocean Beach!

 I walked to the ocean to see the sun set on 2020 the same day I walked only part of the way to the Cliff House to watch the sign come down from that iconic restaurant, which will be a restaurant no more.

The Cliff House Sign (after 157 years) Comes Down

 The Cliff House sign came down on Thursday, December 31, right at noon, as planned.  The man you see being interviewed--someone maybe even older than I am,  told the reporter he remembered going there with his family back in the 50's.

I don't go back that far, but I told the reporter that I went there on dates in the 1960's and 1970's and also with my husbands--different decades--with my son, niece, etc.  I forgot to mention Jutta, my penpal from 1963!

What I don't show here are the crowds.  But you can see Dan and Mary Hountalas, the couple who ran the Cliff House from  1973 through half of this year.