"A developed country isn't a place where the poor have cars.  It's where the rich use public transportation."  The former mayor of Bogota, Gustavo Petro

 My letter to the editor May 30, 2023 

"Muni warns of big cuts in service" sets off alarms because as Janice Li says of BART, if it fails, everyone will pay the price--even those who don't use it.   To avoid worse traffic congestion and climate warming and to increase equity, we need to support public transit, which I've been riding since 1966--to campus as a student, to homes all over the city as a baby-sitter,  as  a mother with an infant, as a mother with a toddler going to play groups and gyms for tots...and now in my retirement, I take Muni and BART to Davies Hall, the SF Playhouse, Greens, Manny's, across the bay to family reunions and graduations...I am a grateful transit rider, often quoting these words:  "A developed country isn't a place where the poor have cars.  It's where the rich use public transportation."   Rich or poor, let's use it and support it in every way we can, including urging the state and federal government to provide funds.

Sent around 1:20 pm on Tuesday, May 30, 2023

 I wish I'd said from where to where I traveled from on Muni!  Just as a student, I traveled from California and 8th Avenue in the Richmond, 2246 41st Avenue in the Sunset,  624 26th Avenue, 174 Chattanooga, and Lincoln and 9th to SFSU--different semesters, of course!

 Is it transphobic to say that children are too young to make major decisions about surgery on their bodies? They can't vote.  They're supposed to be 16-18 to be at the age of consent for sex, and the same for marriage.

I'm a fan of Joe Garofoli, but I'm disturbed by the headline in his column in the SF Chronicle today, "SF Pride breaks with Snider after his transphobic tweet."

We are too often told what to think.  Here we are being told that Snider's tweet was transphobic.

Dee Snider has been a longtime supporter of LGBTQ rights and had agreed to perform the song "We're Not Gonna Take It" in reference to the pushback on the rights of LGBTQ people at SF Pride.

Then Paul Stanley, a 71-year-old rockstar made what Joe Garofoli calls a transphobic Twitter post:  "There is a BIG difference between teaching acceptance and normalizing and even encouraging participation in a lifestyle that confuses young children...as though (it is) some sort of game and then parents in some cases allow it."  (Not so clearly stated.)  Apparently he referred to the normalizing and encouraging as a "sad and dangerous fad."

Snider responded, "You know what?  There was a time where I 'felt pretty' too.  Glad my parents didn't jump to any rash conclusions!  Well said, @PaulStanley Live."  

Does this imply that Snider is transphobic?  

Suzanne Ford, executive director of SF Pride said "The message perpetuated by that tweet casts doubt on young trans people's ability to self-identify their gender."   Would it be more accurate to say that the tweet casts doubt on children's ability to permanently identify their gender for a surgical sex change from what they were "assigned"?  And isn't "assigned" a misleading word too?

Here's what else Snider said:

“Parents need to be less reactionary; Right and Left. No need to steer the child in either direction. Let the kid figure it out for themselves knowing their family is supportive. I had a vet/cop hardass dad who, while he shook his head A LOT…let me do my thing.”

 

Yesterday with a walk (AFT 2121 retirees chapter) scheduled for 10:45, I hoped to get to the de Young Museum for the Kehinde Wiley Exhibit in time to see it beforehand.

https://www.famsf.org/exhibitions/kehinde-wiley-an-archaeology-of-silence?gclid=Cj0KCQjw3a2iBhCFARIsAD4jQB1O04pjbPF-SpDIl36eh66pvmozKkmNaYTEddYS4T1jn3vLZ_qDfD0aAokJEALw_wcB

But after the Y and Trader Joe's, I had to stop by Sunset Cleaners on Taraval, where Cindy the seamstress had sewn my musical comedies mask onto the hat I wear to Total SF events.  

She'd sewn it on upside down, so I had to go back in and arrange to have it redone before going home to bathe and wash the head of hear that goes underneath it.

So...by the time I got to the de Young Museum (#28 to Fulton and a walk down JFK Promenade from there), I had only enough time to check in, find out that my membership was good only until July, renew, get earphones with Kehinde's own commentary, and then see a few of his paintings and sculptures before heading out to the 15 minute walk to Stow Lake.

When I got there, one of our members hadn't arrived, and we wound up waiting 45 minutes for her!  The very vibrant 97-year-old among us was not pleased either.  I enjoyed the extra time talking with her and others, but I wish I hadn't hurried so much to get there in time.

I'll go back to the exhibit of Kehinde Wiley's art and also see Ansel Adams in Our Time.

The walk was one I have often taken but continue to enjoy.  I was in Golden Gate Park on Saturday for the Vegan Earth Day March, but I didn't get to Stow Lake, where yellow irises were in abundance.

 

As you might guess from seeing these photos, I'm a big fan of Total SF--the podcast and events led by Heather Knight and Peter Hartlaub.  The top one was taken on New Year's Day 2023, when I was up on that Little Prince planet called Grandview Park to welcome the sun to the new year.  The second one was just after 8:00 am on November 19, 2022, the first day the Central Subway was open and free for weekend previews.  (Too bad I wasn't blogging at all last year!)  

Anyway, the reason I'm bringing up Total SF is to show-and-tell "Vertigo" night at the Vogue! Tony Bravo joined Heather Knight and Peter Hartlaub as host, and the judges of the 1950s contest were Honey Mahogany and Sister Roma.  I take my hat off to the hosts, judges, and all participants, who really got into the spirit of the era and event!

 

In today's SF Chronicle's Datebook, Peter Hartlaub suggests 23 things to do in 2023.  When I went with friends to Treasure Island, we took the ferry, but in another article in today's newspaper, there was some very disturbing information:  Taking a ferry is worse than flying when it comes to our carbon footprint.  (This was in an article about the Sea Change now at Pier 9, the first hydrogen fuel-cell powered ferry in SF.  Strangely, the only link I can find for this is one from March 13 even though I feel sure I read about it in the newspaper today!  https://www.sfchronicle.com/climate/article/san-francisco-first-fuel-cell-ferry-17804637.php  

I think it would be fun to take a bus from the Salesforce Transit Center to Treasure Island.  I like the expression "Muni-eyed view."

  I can't believe it's been almost two years since I posted on this blog!  Shame on me.  Just because I'm the only one who reads it (and only while I'm writing) doesn't mean that I shouldn't keep it up.  Since this is San Francisco Vistas, I think I'll start with 32-mile perimeter walk that made it possible for me to see a lot of SF vistas!

I'll start with when it was over because that's when I liked it the best--type 2 fun!

Here's what I wrote on March 27th to Raphey Holmes, the person who organized the walk we took on March 25th, though he gives credit to Wally Bomgaars credit for conceiving of the idea and starting it in 2012.

Dear Raphey,

 

Let's hear it for Type 2 Fun!  When we were walking together on Saturday, you asked me "Are you enjoying the walk?" and I replied, "Well, I'm glad I'm doing it."  You recognized this as not quite the same thing.  When I had my little fall, one of the strangers who offered me her arm and some water identified a 32-mile walk as  Type 2 Fun, and how true that is.

 

It was a beautiful day (windy, too, as forecast, pelting sand), and I was always conscious that all of you were friendly, spirited people, and that was nice.  

 

I'm sorry about your mother's being sick, but  I'm glad your dad wasn't there to show me up.  I got to be the oldest person in the group and use that as an excuse for getting behind.  Your father probably doesn't get behind when he does the walk!

 

At times I thought "This is an endurance test, and I don't like endurance tests."  But I did enjoy the beauty of the night and going at a pace slow enough for me to take pictures.  

 

Please share the pictures in this Dropbox album with the group.  They begin with a forecast of the sunny, windy weather.  Then there's a picture of the Ferry Building at 7:59, when you all were posing for a picture, and then at 8:00 am when, right on the dot as promised, you were taking off.

 

Before I left the house, I had about a quart of kale-almond milk,-banana-Tahini smoothie, knowing that I could use the restroom when I got to the Ferry Building 30 minutes early.  But when I got to the West Portal Station at 7:15, none of the turnstiles was responsive to my clipper card, so I crawled under and was reprimanded by the SFMTA official, who told me the the station was closed until 8:00.  I told him I had to be at the Ferry Building at 8:00 am, and he told me there were buses I could take across the street.  I called 3-1-1 and was told the K-bus was coming at 7:32.  Fortunately it came early, so I got to the Ferry building in time for the departure--but not in time to be in the picture or to use the restroom.

 

Janet Fowler, the friend who first told me about the walk,  kindly accompanied me to a port-a-potty on our route, but even though that took just a couple of minutes, we didn't catch up with you all until Heron's Head!  

 

The highlights of the trip:

 

Completing the 30+ miles of the perimeter around this city I love.  The only place new to me was the Crocker Amazon Park, but I'd never before walked from all these places in the order that they come from east to south to west to north to east again!

 

Being among very positive people.

 

Devouring the sandwich from Gus's--delicious and generous in size!  Also the Sandwich Hero, as you describe Andy.  Jacob too if he's the one who dealt with the orders and money!  

 

Falling because I wasn't really hurt, the people around me came to my aid, and I walked the rest of the perimeter at a slower pace, taking pictures and occasionally going too far, as when I kept walking by the water near the Yacht Club and had to backtrack because there was no exit.  I almost caught up with you at Crissy Field, but  when I stopped to get the pebble I thought was between my toes, I got behind once again.  (The "pebble" turned out to be a blister.)

 

Seeing everyone so happy at Gott's Roadside!  (Thanks for the Band-Aid.)

 

Please thank all the other leaders for me.  After my fall, I called Nathan, whose number you gave me, and I saw him later at Gott's but never thanked him.  You referred me to Wally for the history of the walk, so please thank him too.

 

And I hope your parents are both well and that your daughter will one day join in this--but I respect your plan to give her 19 other possibilities!

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