Back In My Town Again

For the first time since early December last year, I'm back staying in San Francisco for a while. God, I love this city, partly because it is chock full of memories for me.

For example, here with my oldest son and his family in Glen Park, I'm right about where I used to drive my youngest daughter to nursery school, at Miraloma Co-op a few blocks west.

As we entered this neighborhood, me driving in the front seat, her sitting in her carseat in the back, I'd always ask her, "Do you wanna go there on Monterey Boulevard or Joost?" (Joost is one block north.)

"Joost," was always her answer. So Joost it was.

Almost every corner of the city has memories like that awaiting me. We drove down to the dump today -- man, I like that dump. When you like a city's dump, you definitely like that city.

On Tuesday, my son wants to pick up some chairs on 24th Street.

24th! Lined with memories. 

So is every neighborhood in town -- the Mission, Bernal Heights, Potrero Hill, Dogpatch, Bayview, Oceanside, Ingleside, Excelsior, Sunnyside, Glen Park, the Castro, Inner Sunset, Richmond, the Presidio, Noe Valley, Twin Peaks, Duboce Triangle, the Theatre District, Civic Center, the Financial District, Candlestick Point, Hunter's Point, the Cliff House, Mount Sutro, Japantown, South Park, Pacific Heights, the Marina, Chinatown, Fisherman's Wharf, Buena Vista, Cole Valley, Ashbury Heights, North Beach, Telegraph Hill, Soma, Town's End, The Embarcadero, the Haight, Mid-Market, Hayes Valley, the Western Addition, Russian Hill, Polk Gulch, the Tenderloin, Union Square, Saint Francis Wood, Parkside, West Portal, Portola, Alamo Square, Alta Plaza, McCovey Cove, Golden Gate Park, Stow Lake, Hippie Hill, the Barbery Coast, Lombard Street, Treasure Island, Yerba Buena, that little piece of Alameda nobody knows about, Ocean Beach, St. Mary's Park, Mission Rock and all the other secret corners of the city whisper to me as I pass.

Every whisper
Of every waking hour
I'm choosing my confessions
Trying to keep an eye on you
Like a hurt lost and blinded fool, fool
Oh no, I've said too much
I set it up

-- REM

All the street signs talk directly to me: "Hey David, welcome back. Where've you been?"

I answer them back. "I was south of here looking north; then east of here looking west." Always looking for San Francisco, where I too left my heart.

Only the fog knows the rest.

***

We've been remiss in our duty to offer advice to the newly elderly lately, but we do have some today, and it's this:

Don't kick the bucket.

No, we are not being cute here, using a cliche to ask you to stick around a bit longer. Remember, we grew up in the Midwest, where when people say things they mean them literally.

So do not kick that bucket. You'll just hurt your foot, maybe seriously. If you want to move it, pick it up ever so gingerly and carefully move it on down the line.

Think about it. When time comes to kick the bucket metaphorically, you don't want your last thought to be, "Oy, I wish I'd moved that sucker just a little bit further down the line."

So that's our advice, you can take it or you can lay it to rest. Just don't lay yourself to rest.

Our other advice is don't hang around with other old people exclusively. They can be a bad influence. Parents and teachers like to advise young people to not give in to peer pressure, like don't steal a car just because your friends are doing it, or don't drop acid.

Well, peer pressure doesn't evaporate with age; in some ways it grows worse. "We're all gonna die anyway so why not Covid-19," some old folks will say these. days.

No, that's a bad idea. Not from Covid-19. Let's move that leaky bucket down the line and stick around for the next pandemic.

I think the solution to our aging population problem, if it' a problem, is we should sprinkle our elderly generously among the younger persons, who seem to me to be far more numerous than we are. I'll take their kind of peer pressure all day long, except for the car-stealing part.

***

Okay, okay. Here it goes: 

* Here's What Extreme Heat Looks Like: Profoundly Unequal -- Earth is overheating. This year is poised to be one of the hottest ever. Millions are already feeling the pain, but the agony of extreme heat is profoundly unequal across the globe. (New York Times)

* Abolish the Police? Those Who Survived the Chaos in Seattle Aren’t So Sure -- What is it like when a city abandons a neighborhood and the police vanish? Business owners describe a harrowing experience of calling for help and being left all alone. (New York Times)

* More than 1,300 of the roughly 1,750 prisoners at FCI Seagoville prison and camp in Texas have tested positive for the virus, according to data from the federal Bureau of Prisons -- a stunning three out of every four inmates. So far, three inmates have died from Covid-19. (CNN)

* A new video shows another black man in custody in North Carolina pleading, 'I can't breathe,' before he died. (CNN)

* Ronnie Goodman, a homeless artist and distance runner who has lived on the streets of San Francisco's Mission District for years, died Saturday morning at his encampment on Capp and 16th Streets.  Rescue workers tried to revive the 60-year-old, but those efforts proved unsuccessful, said Paula Tejada, the owner of nearby Chile Lindo. (Mission Local)

* Lebanon protesters storm ministries as violent protests grip Beirut (CNN)

* Insecurity drives China’s Xi to take on the world -- Beijing’s outward aggression reflects domestic unease and a desire to foment nationalist sentiment to counter mounting economic and strategic challenges. (Washington Post)

***

There's Tony Bennett and Scott Mackenzie and many others, but my personal favorite who sang about my city is Jeaneete MacDonald, back in 1936. Thus the video.

"San Francisco"

-- Bronislaw Kaper, Walter Jurmann, Gus Kahn (and Jeanette MacDonald).

-30-