San Francisco is My Home

29
Jan

The It Girls of San Francisco

Author: kris, Category: People

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On Saturday, some friends and I got together to watch the Miss America pageant. All the participants dutifully stuck to the party line in their pre- and post-contest interviews: This year’s Miss America will be the “it girl,” confident, strong, smart — and, of course, thin enough that you could add her to your cheese plate when you run out of crackers. (”Carbs! Carbs!” the host shouted to the contest losers, waving a plate of muffins in front of them like snausages in front of a good dog.)

Well, I enjoy beauty pageant irony as much as the next it girl, but let us take a moment to enjoy a brief reality check. Allow me to present a few of the real “it girls” currently haunting San Francisco and environs:

Carmen Chu

Replacing the notoriously corrupt Ed Jew on the SF Board of Supervisors, Chu had worked as the deputy director in the mayor’s office of finance before he offered her the job on the Board. Many were skeptical at first, given her age (29) and lack of hands-on political experience, but most have since admitted that she is smart and capable. Chu is the daughter of Chinese immigrants, and worked in her parents’ restaurant growing up before graduating magna cum laude from Occidental. She will kick ass, take names, and eat carbs.

Image from the Chronicle website, by Deanne Fitzmaurice.

Janie Spahr

You might not expect a 64 year old mother of two to be a Presbyterian minister. You certainly wouldn’t expect her to be an out lesbian who has spent much of her career fighting tirelessly for the rights of “all second-class citizens,” from LGBT people to women to people of color. But all of this is true about Janie Spahr.

Spahr founded the Spectrum Center in Marin, which provides HIV awareness training and support, youth counseling, and political advocacy. She has also spent most of her life working with conservative religious groups to gently open their minds to the notion that LGBT people are just as human and normal as everyone else. You can check out the full bio of this amazing woman here.

Photo was taken from The Bay Area Reporter website.

My mom

The Vice President of a local software company, Eydie Larson began her career as an ordinary programmer. Because of her dazzling technical skills, her strong work ethic, her intelligence, and her eerie ability to manipulate people into doing what she wants, Larson rose through the management ranks to become a VP and Board Member. She also spent many years during my childhood leading my Girl Scout troop, and if you think it’s easy to steer four kids through the rocky shoals of adolescent backstabbing and insecurity, think again.

Larson is currently rehabilitating a neurotic rescue dog, and has spent the last few years tirelessly campaigning for grandchildren.