Times Like These

Rounding a corner in my neighborhood, I encountered two Central American women who looked terrified. When I asked what was wrong, one of them explained how a man had jumped out from behind a parked car and tried to rip the gold necklace from her neck.

The necklace broke (she was holding it in her hand) and the stranger disappeared. But she was still shaking with a combination of shock and rage. I asked whether they wanted me to summon the police, but they said no, what's the point?

I offered to walk them to where they were going, but after a few moments of hesitation, they thanked me for the offer and moved on.

Neither woman spoke English (nor, apparently, did the little boy with them), and they seemed in that moment to very much be strangers in a strange land. The woman whose necklace had been broken was holding a bouquet of flowers -- the kind women sell in the Mission for $5 -- and the flowers were still shaking as I watched them walk away.

In multi-cultural neighborhoods like mine, daily life is segmented into separate cultural experiences. Latinos are generally out on the street more, or on their porches, often as not playing with their children. Often there's music playing somewhere in the background, and just as often some savory food cooking nearby.

The whites are usually on bikes or walking alone or in pairs -- young, hip, and connected by technology -- either texting on cell phones or surfing the Internet on iPhones, or working on laptops in the cafes that serve cappuccinos, salads and croissants.

The Asians often seem to be running businesses out of their homes, either small machine shops in the back or 24/7 garage sales out front. The street language pyramid is Spanish, then English, then Cantonese/Mandarin. There is also a smattering of Tagalog, French, German, Japanese, and rap.

As the recession continues, petty crime incidents like the one I encountered today seem to be becoming more common, and the number of homeless people become more numerous as well. It's a big city, this is a bad economy, and the rest pretty much is predictable in times like these.

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