I don’t like to give people like that rent-free space in my head.
Direct quote from a smart young fellow I met on the train when dealing with people who piss you off. Brilliant. Voltaire would approve.
Jay’s Wisdom
Quote From the Road
Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.
Lucca’s New Drive Thru Window
Lucca’s Ravioli was a special place in San Francisco that closed down a few years back – https://sfjournal.net/lucca-ravioli-co-nothing-lasts-forever/. It was a real Italian Deli that made fresh fresh ravioli.
Recently a police car drove though the front window. The Mission Local (https://missionlocal.org/2023/06/sfpd-squad-car-crashes-into-luccas-after-high-speed-chase/) seems to have covered this bizarre and tragic event better than other news outlets.
Poor Lucca’s Ravioli! It closed down a few years back and now a police car, while chasing a car, ends up driving through the front door. Is this a scene out of a Buster Keaton movie, or maybe Smokey and the Bandit? Why are cops chasing cars at high speed on Valencia Street one of the most pedestrian oriented streets in the City?
Not the First Time
On June 28, 1995 a fire truck drove through the quant Radio Valencia Cafe. https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Fire-Truck-Drivers-Cleared-in-S-F-Crash-3028835.php
How come this keep happening? Add your theories below.
A Father’s Day Story
For some reason when Father’s Day comes around I mostly think about my own father. John O. Lyons was my dad. He had six kids and lived a fascinating life full of youthful enthusiasm during his early years, adventure then the pragmatic realism of fathering during his middle years, and a comfortable retirement later in life while he took his pills and struggled with Parkinson’s Disease. One of his books, The Invention of the Self: The Hinge of Consciousness in the Eighteenth Century, Southern Illinois University Press (1978) is an amazing read. The first chapter “Into the Void” should be required reading for undergraduates going into the field of psychology or history. Today, it would no doubt confuse the youth often obsessed with the notion of the authentic self and identity.
In the mid 1960s, my father who was an English professor at the University of Wisconsin, for reasons unknown at the time, took a side job delivering the Wisconsin State Journal on Sundays. We never questioned why he did this side job. Was the price of milk too high? Were five kids just too much? I have two older brothers and on these Sundays we each took turns waking up before dawn to help dad with his rural paper route. We would take off in the dark in the family blue VW bus. My job in the backseat was to collate the stacks of newspapers, put a rubber band around each one and then hand them up to my dad to stuff into newspaper boxes. I was maybe five or six years old.
Years later I was told that on my first day as my dad’s helper, I was surprised to find out that all the newspapers were exactly the same. Obviously, I was way ahead of my time, predicting the demise of a single source of truth years before Facebook, social media and digital journalism monetized silos of falsity. We would deliver hundreds of identical Wisconsin State Journals. In the wintertime it would sometimes get a bit precarious on the icy roads as spinouts did happen and word of uncontrolled donuts on icy farm roads would reach the discussion at the dinner table. For sure, when we got home I would go back to bed and fall asleep in the warm soft sheets that I had left a few hours before.
When I was in high school, while scarfing down a bowl of cereal in the kitchen, my dad informed me out of the blue that he had a son with a previous wife. Anthony, was evidently my half-brother. Even though I had never been informed or this I looked at him and was neither surprised or shocked. When you are a self-absorbed sixteen-year-old, such news means nothing. Later on we learned that Anthony had died young in a car accident in his thirties – our half-brother from another life we never met.
A few years back, after both of my parents had passed, we all started putting the pieces together. The morning paper route in the blue VW bus was surely to help pay for child support for Anthony. The irony is that while I was with my dad on his morning paper route helping him pay for past deeds, it turned out I was the lucky one as I was the one able to spend those magical mornings with my dad. I still remember the smell of the seats in the VW bus, the noisy sound of the motor and can see his hand reaching back for the next paper.
San Francisco’s First Juneteenth Parade
As a celebration of liberation and freedom, on June 10th, 2023, there was a Juneteenth Parade down Market Street in San Francisco. The parade headed west. On bicycle, I headed down to the event going east down side streets then on Market taking in the many floats. There were a few drum-based bands, lots of beautiful and amazing cars, youth groups, a float dedicated to William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr. (1810 – May 18, 1848) one of the earliest biracial-black U.S. citizens in California and one of the founders of the city that became San Francisco. (we learn something new everyday), the African American Shakespeare Company more really cool cars and holding down the rear about five Black folk riding horseback. It was a pretty amazing site to see.
I saw Mayor London Breed and the ubiquitous Scott Weiner as well as Supervisor Ahsha Safai. The parade was lightly attended. There was a contingent of unarmed police officers in the parade. Hopefully, this tradition will continue.
Banning the Wrong Books
…the truth is, that when a Library expels a book of mine and leaves an unexpurgated Bible lying around where unprotected youth and age can get hold of it, the deep unconscious irony of it delights me and doesn’t anger me.”
Mark Twain – concerning the banning of “Eve’s Diary,” a comic short story by Mark Twain
There has been much news about the banning of books of late. A sort of totalitarian energy in our world has emerged in a way reminiscent of earlier times. The “thought police” is hard at work. With opinion becoming increasingly confused for truth and a reactionary strain has entered the body politic. There has been the banning of books on civil rights, African American history, gay rights and history and queer memoirs one of which is Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe perhaps the most banned book in recent years.
Curious what all the fuss is about, I checked out Gender Queer from the public library. The book is actually a comic book. It is memoir of a young person in rural Northern California discovering their gender identity and becoming transgender. It is poorly written, rather naïve and the illustrations leave a lot to be desired. You can read the entire book in a few hours. I highly recommend that people check this book out from the library and read it as this topic will continue to be in the news. It will certainly influence future elections. While you are at the library also check out some Calvin and Hobbes and perhaps Captain Underpants – far better literary works.
Indeed, I think the problem with the books bans, is the quality of the books they are banning. The banning of books seems only to shine the light on these trendy low quality books which few adults have actually read. The book banning types need to go after bigger fish and bring interest to higher quality work. There are so many to choose from. Without further adieu:
SF Journal Official Short List of Banned Books 2023
#1: Brave New World
Aldous Huxley
HarperCollins
The notion that in the future we will become these sex-crazed perverts is simply unacceptable. The explicit drug use is out of control as well. Do not read this book! It will ruin your brain.
#2: Slaughterhouse Five – A Children’s Crusade
Kurt Vonnegut
Random House
One of those books that has been banned, and should be banned because there is perhaps a little sex and nudity, but probably because Vonnegut, a pacifist, takes the whole notion of war to task. In our war-mongering world, peace is simply unacceptable.
#3: Free People of Color of New Orleans : An Introduction
Mary Gehman
Margaret Media, Incorporated
This “woke” book goes way too far. Why in the world would we even mention New Orleans in the context of geography, Black history or American culture. That the book points out that African Americans were actually free in New Orleans throughout the history of the United States is just plain preposterous.
CONCLUSION
Of course there are many more books that need to be suppressed. To all the censors out there: please work harder at identifying higher quality books to ban.
Carnaval 2023 – It Just Gets Better and Better
San Francisco Carnaval takes place every year during Memorial Day weekend It is one of those “under the radar” events that seems to be attended by the locals in the know. Saturday along Harrison Street featured many musical performances on different stages, food vendors and various activities. I particularly enjoyed the lineup on Saturday at the 22nd Street and Harrison Stage with some very talented and prepared local Bay Area musicians. The stage closed the day with Los Van Van from Cuba.
1:00PM BULULU
2:00PM SABOR DE MI CUBA
3:00PM AKHEEL MESTAYER QUINTET
4:00PM LOS VAN VAN
Tragically, Juan Formell, the leader and bass player of Los Van Van had died on stage in New York the night before so it was surely a profound event. Unfortunately I was unable to hear the Los Van Van set as I had a previously booked gig. Reports came in all positive.
All the stages tended to run late as the day when on. I heard that Los Van Van did not go on until around 6 pm.
Sunday is the Carnaval parade. Many different cultures and peoples throughout Latin America participate. It is an interesting juxtaposition to see all the many colorful dance troops and bands on floats perform while in the background is the gritty Mission Street. Many of the Aztec dancers did the whole parade barefoot. Now that is dedication!
Until next Carnaval 2024!
In the City of Bikes: The Story of the Amsterdam Cyclist – Great Summer Reading
The book In the City of Bikes: The Story of the Amsterdam Cyclist by Pete Jordon is featured in a very entertaining 99% Invisible episode De Fiets is Niets/.
In the City of Bikes is a fast read about both the twists and turns of both Amsterdam and Jordon’s journal with the bicycle. It is well-researched and the quotes about and from the various characters integral to the story make it a light read. Perfect for the beach or nearby lake.
In the City of Bikes: The Story of the Amsterdam Cyclist
By Pete Jordan
Publisher: Harper Perennial; 0 edition (April 16, 2013)
Language: English
Paperback: 448 pages
ISBN-10: 0061995207
ISBN-13: 978-0061995200
History Books are Not Meant To Make You Feel Comfortable
Florida and The “Don’t Make Me Feel Guilty Act”
The selling and buying of textbooks is a big business and in Florida they are actively controlling textbooks often concerning the instruction of issues of race and social protest. Florida and Governor Ron DeSantis have been much in the news for various censorship bills. Some of the language in the Florida bill CS/HB 7— Individual Freedom is rather strange. It attempts to make it so kids are not made to feel guilty through association. I am not sure whether there are specific incidents of teachers traumatizing kids with guilt through association but maybe that is a Florida thing.
Required Instruction
- A person, by virtue of his or her race or sex, does not bear responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex.
- A person should not be instructed that he or she must feel guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress for actions, in which he or she played no part, committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex.
From the Florida Bill CS/HB 7
In Florida, history is evidently not about truth or even the pursuit of truth, but of making sure that certain people feel comfortable.
We’re #1 and Never Question American Exceptionalism
At the core of this sort of legislation is the notion of American exceptionalism. History has always been written and controlled by those in power and the “victors. ” The bills in Florida are just one more explicit example of this phenomenon.
The history of the United States that was taught to me in the 1970s left out a lot of important stuff that I learned about only much later in life. (Juneteenth and the Tulsa massacre are just a few examples). Often, the teaching of U.S. history tended to focus on the the 18th century and the founding of the nation. George Washington and his cherry tree. Benjamin Franklin and his kite and pragmatic habits and little of the fact that he was a vegetarian. The beef industry maybe cut that part out.. The notion that the pilgrims and the Indians had Thanksgiving together and ate turkeys and pumpkin pie. The exceptionalism of democracy itself. The Declaration of Independence and a little of the Bill of Rights until even that started to become uncomfortable.
By the time you finished high school you maybe learned a few details about the World War II but that was mostly to the hum of a film projector playing newsreels of the time – the “Battle of the Bulge” or maybe D-Day. Your history teacher, an audio visual enthusiast, was glad to have the hour of World War II propaganda films so he could grade papers in the dark. The United States saved the world from fascism but what was fascism but some guy with a strange mustache in a large wool coat screaming into a mic and solders saluting with straight arms. Ten minutes on the holocaust. We did not read anything about the Korean or Vietnam wars. Cuba was pure evil. The working of the CIA and the assignations of leaders of various democratically elected leaders around the world was never on the syllabus. Current events were discussed occasionally but always in the context of American exceptionalism. Martin Luther King was but a dream. Books that were banned were more often fiction – Huck Finn, Brave New World, Vonnegut and Henry Miller if they somehow made it to the library stacks. Insulting language and often far to sexy. As is always is the case, censorship had the opposite effect of garnering interest for the forbidden texts.
What I find odd about the whole Florida case and the culling of history textbooks is why would Florida even buy new history textbooks? Are the old history books worn out? If they want to live in the fantasy of the US history as taught in 1965 where America can do no wrong, just use one from a bygone time. Every student knows that the real history is often between the lines. I was often bored to a stupor by the typical history book with the end-of-chapter questions and the summaries meant to fill my brain with often trivial facts. It would be far better to simple use the old history books and teach them in context. See how the American exceptionalism that was promoted is often far more complex than first meets the eye. Fill in the missing pieces with real books that go into detail about all the things that really happened. Read original works from authors of the time.
What is obviously lacking in all of this discussion is the fact what is often not taught is critical thinking and skepticism, two skills that are essential in life. History can perhaps make people feel uncomfortable with the truths of the past but kids, please do not take it personally as it is events beyond your control.
Related links:
https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2022/7/BillText/er/PDF
https://www.flsenate.gov/Committees/BillSummaries/2022/html/2809
Parking Tickets in San Francisco
As a pubic service, below is the most recent list of Citations and fines for San Francisco, California. From https://www.sfmta.com/sites/default/files/reports-and-documents/2020/10/fy_2021_fees_and_fines_effective_1.1.21.pdf
| Parking Violations and Fines – SF Transportation Code Penalty Schedule | Effective 7/1/2021 |
|---|---|
| Citations | |
| Div I 7.2.10 Pedestrian Crossings | $77 |
| Div I 7.2.11 Electric Assistive Personal Mobility Devices | $100 |
| Div I 7.2.12 Bicycle Riding Restricted | $100 |
| Div I 7.2.13 NUV Violation | $100 |
| On-Street Parking | |
| Div I 7.2.20 Residential Parking | $97 |
| Div I 7.2.22 Street Cleaning | $85 |
The Tyranny of Parking Tickets
There is perhaps nothing that can ruin your day in San Francisco more than returning to your car and finding a parking ticket under your windshield wiper.
Every San Franciscan with a car has experienced the wrath of the metermaid – seemingly peaceful and calm people in their blue uniforms driving around in their golf carts issuing pain and misery around town. The reason they wear helmets is surely for self protection. It is a hard job indeed and the fines make it so if there is one thing that San Franciscans take seriously it is avoiding parking tickets. Once you get a rash of these you begin to wonder if you should simply stay in bed all day just so you do not lose money.
The one that is often the most peculiar is the $85 you must cough up for the Div I 7.2.22 Street Cleaning infraction. While you look out your window with your car ticketed and observe the street cleaning truck go by mostly just blowing trash every which way it makes you take a deep breath and hopefully chuckle. I have street cleaning schedule on my calendar with alerts thirty minutes prior to the event.
When you get one of these you soon start think of all the various ways you could have spent the $85. Perhaps a dinner for two at a fine restaurant. Three large pizzas at North Beach Pizza. Six Super Carnitas Burritos at Guadalajara, Tickets for two at SF Jazz, the list is endless.
Whoever said San Francisco is soft on crime never parked their car and forgot to plug the meter!
| On-Street Parking (continued) | |
| Div I 7.2.23(a) Parking Meter- Downtown Core | $96 |
| Div I 7.2.23(b) Parking Meter-Outside Downtown Core | $87 |
| Div I 7.2.25 Red Zone | $110 |
| Div I 7.2.26 Yellow Zone | $110 |
| Div I 7.2.27 White Zone | $110 |
| Div I 7.2.28 Green Zone | $90 |
| Div I 7.2.29 Parking for Three Days | $75 |
| Div I 7.2.30(a) Overtime Parking Downtown Core | $96 |
| Div I 7.2.30(b) Overtime Parking Outside Downtown Core | $87 |
| Div I 7.2.30(c) Overtime Meter Parking Downtown Core | $96 |
| Div I 7.2.30(d) Overtime Meter Parking Outside Downtown Core | $87 |
| Div I 7.2.32 Angled Parking | $72 |
| Div I 7.2.33 Blocking Residential Door | $60 |
| Div I 7.2.34 Median Dividers and Islands | $97 |
| Div I 7.2.35 Parking on Grades | $60 |
| Div I 7.2.36 100 Feet Oversize | $110 |
| Div I 7.2.37 Motorcycle Parking | $110 |
| Div I 7.2.38 Parking in Stand | $110 |
| Div I 7.2.39 Parking Transit-Only | $110 |
| Div I 7.2.40 Tow-Away Zone- Downtown Core | $110 |
| Div I 7.2.41 Tow-Away Zone- Outside Downtown Core | $110 |
| Div I 7.2.42 Parking Restrictions | $110 |
| Div I 7.2.43 Parking-Public Property | $79 |
| Div I 7.2.44 Misuse Disabled Parking Placard/License | $866 |
| Div I 7.2.45 Temporary Parking Restriction | $85 |
| Div I 7.2.46 Temporary Construction Zone | $85 |
| Div I 7.2.47 Remove Chalk | $110 |
| Div I 7.2.48 Repairing Vehicle | $104 |
| Div I 7.2.49 Permit on Wrong Car | $110 |
| Div I 7.2.50 Invalid Permit | $110 |
| Div I 7.2.51 Parking Marked Space | $67 |
| Div I 7.2.52 On-Street Car Share Parking | $110 |
| Div I 7.2.54 Large Vehicle | $110 |
| Off-Street Parking | |
| Div I 7.2.60 Parking Facility | $72 |
| Div I 7.2.61 Entrance/Exit Parking Facility | $100 |
| Div I 7.2.62 Blocking Space Parking Facility | $77 |
| Div I 7.2.63 Speeding within Parking Facility | $100 |
| Div I 7.2.64 Block Charging Bay | $110 |
| Div I 7.2.65 Overtime Parking_Off Street Parking Meter | $79 |
| Div I 7.2.66 Misuse Disabled Parking Placard/License Plate | $866 |
| Div II 1009 SFMTA Property | $110 |
The Bitter Sages of the North Coast
When you live in a city and and your mornings are often spent listening to the sound of rubber on asphalt, your afternoons to the huffing of brakes on the local bus line, and the evenings to the scream of sirens and firetrucks, it is good to sometimes hit the road and explore the quiet hinterlands of California. One of those places is the North Coast and towns like Point Arena three hours north of San Francisco. People are generally friendly survivors of this rugged coast, running a variety of local businesses – cafes, second-hand boutiques, carpenters, handymen, wine laborers, yoga instructors, teachers. and artists. Not a chain store or corporate restaurant in sight.
At the pier in Point Arena I ventured into Point Arena Pizza and was amused at an obviously home-made poster on the industrial refrigerator. In San Francisco such sarcasm with the youth is not very common. In the country, they may be less inclined to refrain from such truths.
Attention Teenagers
If you are tired of being hassled by unreasonable parents
now is the time for action
Leave home and pay your own way while you still know everything.
And indeed, sarcasm is just one of the services that they offer. The quote above is timeless. I am sure it would bring a snicker to parents all over the world.
Bill Frisell Four at the Bijou Theater in Knoxville Tennessee
What an amazing set at Big Ears 2023 when the Bill Frisell Four laid it down at the Bijou Theater in Knoxville Tennessee.
https://bigearsfestival.org/event/bill-frissell-four/
Pick of the Week is this excerpt from one of the tunes.
While it is still available….