Sunday, December 30, 2007

A Walkable City

Here is a great excerpt from a book I recently read by Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking. I highly recommend the book to anyone, it's very well-written and engaging, and not half as boring as it sounds! I liked this passage about San Francisco and thought to share it.

<<... A city always contains more than any inhabitant can know, and a great city always makes the unknown and the possible spurs to the imagination. San Francisco has long been called the most European of American cities, a comment more often made than explained. What I think its speakers mean is that San Francisco, in its scale and its street life, keeps alive the idea of a city as a place of unmediated encounters, while most American cities are becoming more like enlarged suburbs, scrupulously controlled and segregated, designed for the noninteractions of motorists shuttling between private places rather than the interactions of pedestrians in public ones. San Francisco has water on three sides and a ridge on the fourth to keep it from sprawling, and several neighborhoods of lively streets. Truly urban density, beautiful buildings, views of the bay and the ocean from the crests of its hills, cafés and bars everywhere, suggest different priorities for space and time than in most American cities, as does the (gentrification-threatened) tradition of artists, poets, and social and political radicals making lives about other things than getting and spending.
...I sauntered over to nearby Golden Gate Park, which lacks the splendor of a wilderness but has given me many compensatory pleasures: musicians practicing in the reverberant pedestrian underpasses, old Chinese women doing martial arts in formation, strolling Russian émigrés murmuring to each other in the velvet slurp of their mother tongue, dog walkers being yanked into the primeval world of canine joys, and access by foot to the shores of the Pacific. That morning, at the park's bandshell, the local radio variety show had joined forces with the 'Watershed Poetry Festival', and I watched for a while. Former poet laureate of the United States Robert Hass was coaching children to read their poetry into the microphone onstage, and some poets I knew were standing in the wings. I went up to say hello to them, and they showed me their brand-new wedding rings and introduced me to more poets, and then I ran into the great California historian Malcolm Margolin, who told me stories that made me laugh. This was the daytime marvel of cities for me: coincidences, the mingling of many kinds of people, poetry given away to strangers under the open sky.>>


Taken alone, this passage sounds a lot like bragging, and one could argue that these things are found in other cities as well (like Central Park in New York). I think the real draw of walking in San Francisco is that you can actually *get* somewhere by walking a reasonable distance, and that during the walk you're greeted by surprising vistas, delightful architecture, amazing plants, trees and birds, inviting cafés and shops, and other walkers. Part of my enthusiasm for the city is its contrast to Chicago and my newness to it -- but I've talked to people who grew up here, and they aren't tired of this place. Each time I go for a walk, I see at least one new thing in the plant world.. a new plant altogether, or a familiar plant doing something I've never seen before (like a geranium large enough to be classified as a vine, rosemary and lavender bushes, and blooming jade). There are different birds here, and you can actually hear them everywhere.. trees are very precious in SF, and you can call a city hotline to have the "tree police" sent out to investigate or stop tree abuse! People overwhelmingly take care of their homes and landscape their tiny yards and even the footprint of tree plantings in the sidewalk. Even though it's the end of December, a lot of plants and trees are still quite lush, and many of the succulents that do so well here are in their blooming season. There's always something to see, hear, smell (it's nice when you can smell the plants and aromatic trees and not the trash) and just plain marvel at. And the important thing about that is not just that it exists, but that this environment is stewarded by people who realize its value and necessity for quality of life.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Views from SFAI

I thought I'd share some images from the campus of SFAI.. I appreciate its departure from the grid-within-a-grid mentality and enjoy the views when I emerge from my A/V cave!

I believe the original building was completed in the 1920s, and the newer part is from the late '60s.  You enter through the courtyard and continue out to the main plaza, which is a big open-air space with a café, gallery and computing lab.  You can also go upstairs to see the amphitheater, the old tower, and just have some alone time.  The views are amazing, you can see the entire East Bay area, Alcatraz, Angel Island, Coit Tower (and Telegraph Hill area) when it's not foggy!

(The Cave)

Entrance:

Courtyard:

New & Old:

Looking Southeast toward Coit Tower:

Main Plaza with skylights for lower floors:

Bike Rack!

There's also a Diego River Mural.. so cool!

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Birds & Flowers

Not too much has been happening here.. Vanessa's waiting to get a job offer from Tom Waddell Health Center, and I've been settling into my new job. Our schedules are often at odds, so we've been like ships passing in the night. Now that the semester is over at sfai, I can set my own hours and I have the whole week around Christmas off. We're looking forward to leaving town again and undertaking some much-needed adventures!

Not that sf is bearing on our nerves.. we both comment almost daily how much we love it here, and the weather's been quite gracious compared to the rest of the poor country. When I leave the cave I work in every day, I can take a stroll around the sfai campus and see amazing views of the east bay, coit tower, alcatraz, and the general beauty of this hilly, colorful city (that also has amazing light at nearly any hour). If I'm riding home in the early evening, there are mind-blowing sunsets as I look down the long, flat streets of the Mission that terminate at looming, grassy hills. Or if I'm riding home late at night, the city is quiet, with an autumnal chill that reddens my cheeks, and the clear skies are burgeoning with glittering stars. It's been so long that I've forgotten almost all the constellations.

One thing I've really enjoyed is the little ecosystem outside our apartment windows. The garage roof next door is covered in plants, other neighbors have tasteful decks with trees and lots of plants, and there are several big, old trees that all sorts of birds frequent. There's a little hummingbird family that's quite active, buzzing here and there all day, sitting in a tree branch right outside and singing their little hearts out. I've seen robins, juncos, a pair of beautiful blue scrub-jays, black phoebes, gigantic crows, the usual wrens and sparrows, and today I saw a Cooper's hawk fly through the yard and perch at the top of the tallest tree in our neighbor's yard. We've also had a woodpecker visit the side of the house a few times! It's really delightful to be able to watch all of these creatures from our apartment, and doubly so because most of them are new to me.

(images pulled from the net)
Dark-Eyed Junco

Acorn Woodpecker

Western Scrub-Jay

Black Phoebe

Anna's Hummingbird

Cooper's Hawk!

I spent all day outside working on my bike.. long story short, I got knocked off my bike last weekend by an SUV driver who failed to see me RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER TRUCK before she took off from a stop sign. My knee got knocked up again, but mostly everything was fine. But my one brake was knocked out of alignment and I didn't have time to fix it all week.. luckily it didn't give out while I rode down the big hills! I took the opportunity to add a much-needed second brake, install my awesome new rack, and change up the handlebar situation. Not having a stand or space indoors to work, I had to lay everything out on the picnic table in the yard and try not to lose anything. I think I know what I'm going to ask for this Christmas...! I got kind of chilled being out all day, but at least it reached 50 (a cold, cloudy 50).. I won't complain!

Oh, and I wanted to share a picture of the beautiful bouquet Vanessa got me.. she felt bad for calling 911 and leaving me on the street after I was hit, so she went to a reputable florist and brought this home for me!


It's really stunning, with delicate little white and purple flowers, berry-laden branches, twigs covered in lichen, green and white kale, eucalyptus with fruits, and lots of other delicious items stuffed together. Quite impressive!

And finally, last weekend I helped our neighbor-florist decorate a wedding in a schmancy mansion in the schmancy part of town.. here's a nice image of what we did:


There were 700 roses and nearly as many candles on the tables, and the altar pieces were really neat concoctions of lichen- and white berry-laden branches and balls of white roses. It all came together really nicely, but it was stressful to say the least.

Monday, December 3, 2007

A Weekend of Firsts

First First: My first job in San Francisco.. I was offered a job as an AV Technician at the SF Art Institute! I'm excited to work at another awesome school, and the staff seems similar to the folks I miss so much at SAIC.. personable, handy, and reliable, among many other positive traits.

Second First: My first bike ride outside of SF, first time north of the city, first giant hills, first time going reallyeffingfast, and first long ride since (well, I can't really remember.. maybe the 30-something-mile ride I took with Duane over the summer?). That's a lot of firsts for one event! I'm pretty sure the ride was around 75 miles including getting to and from home.. and considering that I shipped my last bike from Chicago at the end of September, didn't ride at all for three weeks, and have only gone on a couple of short non-challenging rides since, I'm surprised that I didn't die. I definitely felt out-of-shape from my normal tiring point, but I did a lot better than you might think I would. I could've worked my way up to a ride like this, but sometimes I like to just jump into things.

Nine of us rode out at 10am on Sunday, and about half were on their fixed gear bikes. I did alright through the parks, over the bridge, and through Sausalito, but on the first really big climb my muscles started to fail me. I persisted though, shifted down and just kept going up. I thought I'd be on my own since everyone else managed to make it up like champions, but it was a cool group and they were all waiting for me.

That was the case for the rest of the climbs.. at some point my muscles just hit a wall and wouldn't really go up anymore. I'd make it about thirty feet, then a cramp would hit my thigh and I'd have to get off and stretch. It really sucked. But the rest of the group, it turns out, was having fun at the top, monkeying around and showing off tattoos, taking silly pictures and stuff. It gave them a chance to get refreshed, but by the time I rolled up panting they were ready to take off again and leave me in the dust some more!

I have to say those climbs were worth it though, because we zoomed down the other side. "Of course..." you're saying to yourself, but if you've never zoomed down a hill on your bike before like me, you don't quite understand. It's crazy! I guess it's kind of how skiing feels, because the roads wind down the hills. I think my bike appreciated the chance to be let loose after being so shamed by my pathetic ascents!

Practice makes perfect though, so I'm going to take advantage of my optionally-hilly commute to Russian Hill on the other side of the city. Maybe I can regain some dignity in the eyes of my peers. I did make sure to blurt out "Chicago" a lot so that maybe someone would understand that I don't know what a hill is, or how to ride up one. My grace period is expiring soon, though. Can you believe I've been here for almost two months?!

Anyway, here's a terrain snapshot of the bike route.. keep in mind that it was 'there and back'.