New San Francisco Vistas for My Son!

 It's 10:07 am on Sunday, November 1, 2020, and my son is due to land in San Francisco at 11:30 am.  

After being sure I'd see him in the summer here in SF, and then finding out that the pandemic wouldn't be gone right after we spent Easter at Puerto Backyarda, I knew at least I'd see him in NYC in September.  Nope.  I started to doubt that I'd see him at all this year.

I knew he was looking for a job that required the same skills but didn't have the same responsibilities as the one he had in NYC, but I didn't know he'd gotten a job offer in the Bay Area until early October, when he let me know.  After living in NYC for more than eleven years, he accepted the job, gave notice at his place of work and on his apartment, looked at about a thousand Bay Area places online and then got the one he wanted the most, arranged for movers, and got airlines ticket that's bringing him here today!

 I first found out that he'd be moving to San Francisco when a new book by Gary Kamiya (with illustrations by Paul Madonna) was coming out, Spirits of San Francisco.  Jonathan and I had read Gary Kamiya's book Cool, Grey City of Love:  49 Views of San Francisco in 2013, when we first discovered Grandview Park and other wonders of the city described in the book.  So I let him know when I heard that Gary Kamiya and Paul Madonna were appearing online at the Commonwealth Club.  He said it sounded interesting, but he wanted to spend the last couple of days with Diana, the girlfriend he'd be leaving behind for now.

By this time, I'd made two pilgrimages to his place--one by myself from 555 California Street, where we had a rally for Prop 15, and another from the Ferry Building, where Erika joined me.  We met a charming young woman who took us to a higher point where we could see the balconies overlooking the Bay.  She mentioned what I'd already heard from Jonathan: Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo lived in his building briefly in 1940. .

So that was the question I put in the chat box:  Do you have anything in your book about places where Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo lived?

They didn't get to my question.  

 I bought the book  this past Thursday, at Bookshop West Portal.  On Friday morning, when I sat down to start it, I looked more closely at the cover picture, which looked so much like Calhoun Street--the extension of Union Street where Jonathan would be living.  So I looked at the index and found 9 pages about the history of that street.  Sure enough, it was the one on the cover of Spirits of San Francisco.

The "spirits" include "the haunted balcony" and a character from the Gold Rush days, Doc Robinson.  There have also been movies made there at the intersection.   

What a welcoming gift for Jonathan!   I wrote an inscription to him, underlined key passages (because we know from the book Marginalia that that increases the value of a book), and got it in the mail on Friday.  I hope he'll receive it on Monday, but maybe he'll get it on Tuesday, Election Day!  

We're hoping for good things to come!  I just this moment got a message that Jonathan has safely landed.  (It's his wish that I not be at the airport and that he have the chance to settle in before we meet tomorrow.)

Hues

Two nights ago a spectacular sunset came to my gate and awed me with its hues.  It was like being serenaded visually.

 

That Fly on Pence's Head

 Wednesday morning's San Francisco Chronicle (borrowing from an Associated Press article)  pointed out that the fly allighting in Pence's hair created more buzz than nearly anything else!  Stephen King tweeted "The fly knows," and it may now have to be tested for Covid-19.  

Biden tweeted a photo of himself clutching an orange flyswatter under the heading "Pitch in $5 to help this campaign fly."  

I listened to a podcast on Tuesday night's debate and was surprised that according to some kind of gauge, Kamala Harris spoke about 3 minutes longer than Mike Pence.  She interrupted him at times too, but I thought he interrupted her a lot more.  How do they gauge the time when they're talking over each other?  Does that count as the total time for each?  

For your amusement, here's a message from Siri even though I didn't ask!  I guess she picked up on what was coming from the TV--largely from Susan Page, the moderator, who kept saying, "You  have two minutes, uninterrupted" but rarely got the uninterrupted.

For some reason, this won't enlarge.  What Siri is saying is "Start a timer for two minutes." 

 

 

Is Reading the San Francisco Chronicle Like Walking through Samuel Johnson's London?

 Here's what I was telling a friend in a letter today:

I usually go to NYC in September, so since I couldn't do that this year, my son and I read and discussed Vivian Gornick's Odd Woman and the City, and I almost felt that I was there.  I liked one passage about Samuel Johnson, which I relate to our times.  

"In the 1740's, Samuel Johnson walked the streets of London to cure himself of chronic depression...open sewers, disease, poverty; destitution; lit by smoking torches; men cutting each other's throats in deserted alleys at midnight.  It was of this city that Johnson said, "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life."

Specifically, I relate this to reading the SF Chronicle.

SURREAL SKIES, SURREAL YEAR...Explosive Butte County fire kills 3...Revelation Trump downplayed virus nothing new to most voters...Virus toll passes grim mark...UC Berkeley admissions under fire/Connections, wealth aided underqualified, audit finds...Smoke-taint quandary has wineries in chaos...Flip-flop on Supreme Court...Burglars switch to homes in lieu of tourists' cars...It feels like the end of the world...Evacuatlion scofflaws endanger emergency worker...Census workers in S.F. report delays, chaos...No charges in killing; 2 cops shot in protests...Trump won't commit to peaceful transfer of power...

When a woman is tired of the SF Chronicle, she is tired of life.

San Francisco at Noon on a Smoke-Choked Day

 

View from my front window at noon on a smoke-choked day.

Contacted Governor Newsom for a Response to Wildfires as Described on The San Francisco Experience

Episode Description

11,000 dry lightning strikes hit the Golden State overnight August 16 and 17, igniting 347 wildfires. Here in Wine Country, 50 miles North of San Francisco, the fires continue to burn two weeks later, sending massive columns of smoke and ash South to San Francisco and the Bay Area. 2020 marks the fourth straight year the Wine Country has suffered the consequences of massive wildfires. Governor Gavin Newsom says this is what climate change looks like. But is that a cop out ? Mismanagement of California's 33 million acres of forestland has been going on for years. At the same time, our population has mushroomed to 40 million but infrastructure has not kept pace and wildfire management is but one more example.

 California does not even have a Strategic Plan to deal with the wildfire threat, according to the non-partisan Legislative Analyst Office (LAO). So what does the future hold for mitigating the threat of wildfires in the Golden State ? 

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4IYiJ5anyJjrvFByouEdg0

Open Letter about Forest Fires and a Podcast to the Governor about

 Contact the Governor

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