San Francisco is My Home

12
Mar

When it’s not a good idea to raise your hand

Author: kris, Category: News

Those of you who are enjoying my newly implemented Monday weekend roundups and Tuesday business reviews will be disappointed today. No structure on Wednesdays. Wednesdays are a free-for-all.

Today I want to talk about Kelly Medora. The SF Board of Supes just approved a $235,000 settlement for her after a policeman broke her arm. What was Medora doing? Selling drugs? Exposing herself in public? Nope, she was hailing a cab with a friend in North Beach (which is as far from a crime-centric ‘hood as you can get without going to uber-ritzy Sea Cliff) and a cop started yelling at her with no provocation. When she complained to a different cop, the first cop grabbed and twisted her arm until it broke.

If this isn’t enough for you, Medora is a preschool teacher. Way to help out your PR department, there, copper.

Here’s the thing: you can’t say that one incident of police brutality equals a pattern of police brutality. You can talk about other incidents, of course. A friend of mine attended a peaceful protest, sparsely attended. When the cops showed up and demanded the crowd disburse, they did so. Then the cops shot them in the back with rubber bullets, which not only hurt like a sonofagun, they can also kill you if they hit you in the wrong place. This wasn’t her only experience with cops brutalizing protesters, just the most recent.

Cops can get violent, we all know this. Just like we all know that when you’re out there in the stuff, lines can get confusing. A big crowd yelling at you can be scary and maybe you react with the wrong level of force. A panicking suspect can look like a violent suspect if you’re feeling panicky yourself. But there are levels of violence we can understand, though not condone, and then there’s breaking a preschool teacher’s arm for no reason.

I know it gets tough out there. But guys, let’s step up our peaceful negotiations classes or something. Because it’s tough out there for us un-armed folks too.

11
Mar

The Pacific Coast Brewing Company

Author: kris, Category: Bars and Clubs, Oakland

Tuesday may become a weekly business review. I like structure, you know? It’s un-San Franciscan of me, but it is very Franciscan.

Let’s test this Tuesday review out with a discussion of the Pacific Coast Brewing Company in Oakland. You walk in and you assume this is a chain restaurant. The name alone is generic and, geographically speaking, broad enough to encompass a string of breweries up and down the coast, right? However, it’s actually an independent brewery whose owners sent away for a “How to Build Your Own Brewery” kit.

Like the most of California breweries, this one features dark wood furnishings, slightly dim lighting, big ceilings, great beer and substandard American cuisine. Actually, the burgers are so bad they’re almost English — they have that weird, sponge-like resistance when you bite them, like they were recently frozen and then microwaved.

But the beers are great. Also, I liked the relaxed atmosphere. I was there on a Monday night with some friends, and we were able to play a lengthy board game without being hassled. I’m sure later in the week this place fills up and you can’t park a table, even if at least one of you is always nursing a beer, but for early in the week it’s a good place to chill.

I can’t say if this is always the case, but our waitress was as laid back as we were. If it annoys you to have to flag down your waitstaff then this isn’t ideal for you, but I liked it because it meant she wasn’t rushing us out of there, and also there was a corresponding “human person” element in her dealings with us. I didn’t feel like we had a servant, more like an acquaintance happened to be bringing us more napkins.

On the whole, I would say this place is great for drinks after work or for drinks after dinner, but avoid eating here unless you stick to simple stuff like french fries. Still, it’s worth a trip for the beers alone.

10
Mar

Monday roundup

Author: kris, Category: Events, Holiday, Movies, Weekend preview

What ho, fellows. Time for our Monday weekend round-up. I thought I would actually write it on a Monday this week as a special treat, but don’t get used to it or anything.

Friday, March 14

The San Francisco Ballet is performing a tribute to Jerome Robinson (think West Side Story and you’ll have the man in mind). If normal ballet simply isn’t gay enough for you — I know it’s not gay enough for me — then you might enjoy this head-on collision of ballet and musical theater. I myself will be attending this performance, so if you’d care to say hello you can just watch for the girl making anxious faces every time someone leaps in the air. I am a worrier, and constantly on watch for someone to break an ankle at these little athletic trials.

Saturday, March 15

If you like St. Patrick’s Day but don’t like watching frat boys vomit green onto public sidewalks, eschew the drunken day-of celebrations and attend the family-friendly parade on Saturday instead. San Francisco takes its Irish community seriously (alas, we don’t seem to feel the same way about our Welsh), and the parade is an extravaganza of dancers, school bands, floats, bagpipes and Wolfhounds.

Sunday, March 16

The Asian American Film Festival will run from March 13 through March 23. The schedule for any given day is pretty dizzying, packed with stuff to see at several theaters all over town. Your options are extensive, but I like your chances with “I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK.” Check out the synopsis:

“From acclaimed director Park Chan-wook comes I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK, a playful, macabre tale of an existentially insecure cyborg and a kleptomaniac terrified of disappearing into a dot.

“Lim Soo-jung (also starring in Happiness) is Young-goon, a troubled girl who, after a traumatic separation from her grandmother, believes herself to be a cyborg. Committed to a mental institution, Young-goon forgoes food, convinced she must recharge through electrical devices. Ultimately, Young-goon is determined to gain enough strength to reunite with her grandmother—and mercilessly kill anyone who stands in her way. Enter Il-soon, played by pop icon Rain, a sensitive but unstable kleptomaniac with a penchant for stealing people’s characteristics. Through their budding romance, the two keep each other from literally and metaphorically vanishing into nothing.”

Um, yes please.

07
Mar

San Francisco IS my home

Author: kris, Category: Seen

Carol Lloyd wrote an interesting column for today’s Surreal Estate, the Chronicle section whose name we all wish we’d thought of first. She wrote about a new book by Richard Florida called Who’s Your City which, according to Lloyd, says that “where you live still largely determines your destiny.”

The two points it makes about our area, from what I gather, are 1) that San Francisco will always be expensive because 2) San Francisco will always be an awesome place to live. (This is due to all kinds of factors: climate, the prevalence of alternative lifestyles, the large concentration of top scientists and creative-types, and so on. Obviously Florida doesn’t read the Chron, or he would know that all these advantages are counteracted by how often we apparently maim our own children. Whoops! Our bad!)

It all reminded me of a quotation from Frances Mayes, who wrote Under the Tuscan Sun and who also happens to be a San Francisco resident when she’s not living it up in Italia. She said “Where you are is who you are. Never casual, the choice of place is the choice of something you crave.”

I am often struck, as I walk around this weird little wonderland of ours, by how much growing up in the Bay Area has shaped who I am. Because I grew up here, I recycle without thinking about it, I don’t own a television or a car, my social circle includes LGBT people and I know what LGBT stands for (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, if you’re wondering). When I want to play, I go to costume parties or board game nights, or I go to a Mochi Pet show, or I hike around in the mountains and rivers. When I want to work, I apply for jobs at non-profits, or, as now, I work for myself.

Also because I live here, I don’t blink at paying almost $1000 in rent each month, I know almost no black people, and children frighten and annoy me except in small doses.

My only point here is to marvel at how lucky I am, not just to live in a place like this but to be shaped by it. But enough about me. Next week we return to your regularly scheduled weekend roundup, and I may add some other weekly posts as well. (Weekly profiles? Weekly restaurant reviews?)

Also, even though I love it here, it would be cool to pay less rent. I’m just saying.

This image is from here.

06
Mar

Falls in spring

Author: kris, Category: Nature, Outdoors

Some of you may notice I tend to wander off for a few days around the beginning of each month. Where do I go, and why? Could be anything, really. I’m not telling.

One place I might have been this month was off checking out one of our seasonal local waterfalls. I found this article in the Chron last month and have had it on my mental to-do list ever since. Though it is in the Chron, it mysteriously does not deal with child death, fatal MUNI accidents or the Mayor’s hair. Instead, it provides a list of great spring waterfalls to check out.

As we amble along through this unseasonable summer, I recommend taking advantage of it with a trip to a waterfall. Good for families, first dates and friendly gatherings, waterfalls lift your spirits in a way that letting the tap run for a few hours never seems to do. You think you’re going to get outside when the real summer comes. But that’s when the fog and rain hits. Do yourself a favor and step out your door now instead.

These falls are in Arizona, a bit farther afield. The picture is from here.

29
Feb

Girl Army

Author: kris, Category: Classes, Oakland

Speaking of worker owned and operated, here is a cool thing: Girl Army. These folks operate self-defense classes for women. They’re comprehensive, useful, and charged on a sliding scale. Got no money? Go for free. Curiously, the Girl Army collective doesn’t seem to think poor women should be defenseless any more than rich ones; no one is turned away for lack of funds.

They also have a truly kickass list of reading materials here, which covers everything from domestic abuse to rape to police brutality. (That last one includes instructions for what to do if police want to enter your home, or search your car, which I think is vital information for everyone to have. Know your rights!)

29
Feb

The Red Vic

Author: kris, Category: Haight, Music

I always knew the Red Vic Movie House was cool, but I did not know it was California’s only worker owned and operated movie theater. (As soon as we learn about Cesar Chavez, every Californian falls in love with the phrase “worker owned and operated.” Unions! Power to the laborers! This is an important rite of passage for young Californians, and gives our hippie parents something to feel superior about because their idealism was totally more idealistic than our idealism.)

Anyway, the Vic (as I call it, though I’m pretty sure no one else does) has the three items vital to being rated “awesome”: an esoteric, independent schedule of programming; couches from which you may view the e. i. s. of p.; and a snack bar that serves way more than your average Goobers. I highly recommend checking it out. Why not tonight? They’re showing that Bob Dylan movie.

29
Feb

Zeitgeist

Author: kris, Category: Bars and Clubs

It’s been one of those February weeks that only San Francisco (and points South) can pull off, full of fluttery spring breezes and buttery summer heat. For some reason we tend to get at least one heatwave at this time of year. It contributes to our sense of entitlement. Hey, we must be doing something right if the weather gods keep sending us this blissful little break, right? It’s probably all the tofu we eat.

When it’s sunny out, there’s really only one place to be, and that’s Zeitgeist, the city’s only beer garden. Alas, this is not one of those idyllic German-style gardens where whole families chill together in intergenerational harmony; instead, Zeitgeist is home to bikers (of the motorized variety) and hipsters.

The pleasure of drinking good beer outdoors is always greater than you expect it to be, and it’s tripled when you’re surrounded by some of the city’s hippest and hottest young folk. Add to this an inspired chef manning the barbecue pit and you’ve got yourself a little nirvana nestled just next to the freeway.

A warning: the Zeitgeist cooks will cheerfully hate you. That seems to be the baseline they operate from. I’ve been told that a generous tip, timed when the cook is looking your way, earns you a spit-free burger and maybe even a smile, but I can’t guarantee anything. Proceed at your own risk.

29
Feb

No loitering

Author: kris, Category: Bars and Clubs, News

On Tuesday, our Supes — call them Supervisors or Superstars, it all depends on whether they’re being idiots or geniuses on any given day — will discuss a proposed legislation banning anyone from loitering outside a nightclub for more than 180 seconds between 9 pm and 3 am.

I know what you’re thinking: what the hell is a nightclub? The closest thing we’ve got is Harry Denton’s Starlight Room. But assuming they just mean normal clubs, I still know what you’re thinking: what about smokers? Fear not, my magic dragons, for smokers will be exempt from this rule.

The legislation is an effort to cut down on violent crime. What it would essentially mean is that violent criminals would still be free to lurk and skulk where butterflies of the night gather, but they’d have to be holding a cigarette or risk being hassled. Is this a longterm death penalty from our uber-liberal Supes? Are we condemning these criminals to a life of addiction, gradually ending in horrible, cancerous deaths? And as an added side benefit, most of them would also develop fierce hacking coughs which would alert any potential victims to the skulker in the shadows.

Again, I pose the question: Supervisors? Or Superstars? I just never know.

29
Feb

Sometimes the best apples are at the bottom. Right?

Author: kris, Category: News, People, Politics

From out of the bowels of San Francisco, Nader has chosen Matt Gonzalez as his running mate. (Nader’s running again, did you know this? That sound you hear is the sound of thousands of conservative Democrats groaning in unison. They’re so cute, like little synchonized knee-jerkers.)

According to the Chron, Gonzalez, who has served on the SF Board of Supervisors and lost to Newsom in the 03 mayoral race, “is a hero to the Bay Area left.” The local anarchists I know mostly don’t like him much, but I’m guessing that’s not the left the Chron is talking about. All I know is that while playing for the Supes, he did enact legislation that forbad the SF Zoo from keeping elephants, for which he has earned my eternal love. And he used to hold wine and cheese parties in his office for any members of the public who were interested.

As a complete unknown to most of the country, even the three of them who still read the news, I don’t see how Gonzalez could possibly help Nader. And as Public Enemy Number 1 in the eyes of many Demos, I don’t see how Nader could possibly help Gonzalez. In fact, their race for the presidency will be way less interesting to watch than their race to see who can shoot the other one in the foot faster.

This image of Nader is from here.