Public Pronouncement

I've kept journals since I was eight years old. I've got enough journals to fill at least a few wide shelves, and that wouldn't even be all of them, because by 'kept' I don't mean that I've physically kept all that I 'kept' - some have gone missing and some I tossed away, out of embarrassment, the writing was that bad. I've got all of my childhood journals, though. The writing in those is pretty good, for a third grader. The topics I chose to write about were interesting, for a third grader. I had systems of belief then. Compelling ones. For a third grader. It was when I got to college that I tossed my systems of belief out the window to the hungry souls below. And then I tossed the window out the window. And my writing became pure drivel.

Shortly thereafter I learned that a person has to have windows. In fact, we just got new ones. Nice, easy-to-open-and-close double paned windows. The husband thought they would help make the place warmer. But they don't. It's still cold in here.

I used to be much more diligent about journaling than I am now. When I was a kid, I wrote everyday, before bed. I don't remember the last time I wrote a true, time-devoted entry in my paper journal. Which is too bad, because I've got a nice one right now. It's got a brown leather cover with a little snap closure and an embossed leaf in the corner. The pages are stained with age. I got it at The Strand years and years ago. Anyway, I know I wrote some notes while we were in Puerto Rico. "White sand. Sipping water out of a giant coconut. Wild horses in the streets." But that was the extent of my most recent attempt at journaling.

Now I've just got too many things to do. Besides working and rehearsals, there are the ever important tasks:

Learn to sew.
- Make throw pillows.
- Hem husband's pants.
- Make window curtains.

Here is an example of my first attempt at learning this new trade, accomplished three days ago:



Today, I borrowed this from the library:


Knit a tea cosy. We got an adorable tea pot as a wedding gift, and I am now obsessed with loose-leaf teas. But in this chilly apartment, the tea gets cold fast. Well, I learned that tea will stay warmer longer if you put a cosy on your pot. This is how far along I am:



Practice Guitar. Here's what song in the "Learn to Play Guitar" book I'm on:


Well, tonight I decided to ignore all those tasks and write a journal entry instead. On my public blog. Why public this time around? Because, the truth is, anytime a person keeps a journal or a diary, one is doing so with knowledge of the potentiality of it being read. At it's core, journaling is a narcissistic activity. Never has that been more apparent than with the mighty blogosphere, of which I am now a citizen. It's nice to be part of a community, and to have another activity to add to my ever growing list of hobbies and tasks.

Note to my friends and family: the above pronouncement is NOT an invitation to read my journals, should you ever stumble across them.

A Hurried Update

• Marriage is wonderful. People ask, "Is it different?" and my answer is, "Yes. It is." It is liberating. It is comforting. It is fun.

• My family and friends are amazing people, and I wish I could be around all of them all the time. In fact, ever since the wedding, I have been thinking favorably upon the Mormon notion of the afterlife, in which a person rejoins their loved ones in heaven for all eternity. That is, of course, if they're all devout Mormons. This presents a slight snag for me.
  

• The photos provide proof of what fun it was. Perhaps I'll post them for your enjoyment later.

• For the purposes of this blog, I will henceforth refer to "le fiancé" as "the husband."
  

• Puerto Rico is idyllic. But the Caribbean sun is powered by the devil!

• Despite their punishing me with a painful sunburn, I came to quite like those devilish rays and have had a difficult time adjusting to the rolling fog of San Francisco. I shake my fist at this sky and demand sun! But it doesn't help, and I find myself in the kitchen, heating a kettle of tea and wrapping a blanket around my tanned shoulders.

Opening Night

I'm performing with peck peck dance ensemble tonight. After last night's dress rehearsal, I am kicking myself for not continuing to study dance all those years ago. Darn my fourteen-year-old brain for thinking flat feet were an insurmountable disability. I coulda been a contender!

Eleven Minutes of Legacy

I performed an excerpt of my solo play "Legacy" at The Marsh last night. This is the one about my relation to Brigham Young. I only had eleven minutes of stage time, and it was quite difficult choosing which segment to perform. I've got about 35 minutes of written material, and I intend the full-length work to be about an hour and ten minutes.

Overall, the performance went well. The audience seemed to really enjoy it, and luckily no one, not even le fiancé, noticed how badly I'd screwed up my lines!

I'll Tell You What the Facts Are

Le Fiancé's new band played a show at The Knockout last night. It was only their second show, and they've amassed quite a following. The bar was packed, and everyone was really into the music. It's hard not to be - they're really, really good. And I'm not just saying that.

With this new band, I get to revisit the role of groupie. I wasn't in The Smnmblnts for the first six months that we were dating, and I used to go to the shows nervous, giddy, and filled with anticipation. At The Facts' first show a few months ago, all of those feelings rushed back, but the nervousness subsided as soon as they started playing. Then, when le fiancé picked up the tamborine for the song 'Treat Me Right,' the giddiness took over. His tamborine dance makes me very happy.

Wrapped

Filming ended yesterday on the little indie that I've been shooting for the past three weeks.

Week One
The location was the California Cavern in San Andreas. The director had given me an address to look up on mapquest. The directions seemed straight-forward enough, and I took off on the evening of Saturday, April 21 without concern. Shooting would commence immediately upon my arrival, estimated at around 8:00pm. Well, I hadn't planned for the route to be entirely comprised of back roads: one-laners nearly the whole way. Since it was dark out, and raining, and I was driving through unfamiliar territory, I went very slowly. I didn't make it to the town of San Andreas til nearly 10:00.

Although the California Cavern claims to be in San Andreas, it isn't really. Not in the town. It's way, way outside of the town at the very end of a long and winding road. A long and winding wet road (it was still raining), without street lamps. As my Volvo crawled forward, I kept seeing little white sparks leaping from the road. I thought they must be splashes of raindrops in the puddles, glinting in my headlights.

Finally, I spotted a large lit sign that said, "California Cavern at Cave City." At this juncture, I knew I was in the right vicinity for the shoot, but I hadn't been told where the actual location was. It was dark and raining, and I was surrounded by wilderness in all directions. I decided to stay put under the big sign. That's when I noticed that the leaping sparks were tiny white frogs! They were all over the road, and I realized I must have flattened more than a few along the way.

After some time, 15 minutes perhaps, I saw headlights emerging from the darkness, and a van pulled up beside me. It was the director. He lead me down a dirt path and to the foot of a stairway. With flashlights in hand and the hoods of our jackets pulled over our heads, we climbed the stairs to the mouth of a cavern. I'm talking about a real cavern, complete with stalactites, stalagmites, crystal formations, chambers and alleys. It was eerily reminiscent of Indiana Jones.

We finished filming that night at 2:30a.m. and drove directly to the Black Bart Inn to get some rest. (The website says the hotel "offers a restaurant, pool, banquet facilities, first-rate hospitality, and competitive room rates." They also offer bed bugs and a cracked-out cleaning lady.)

The next morning (day, really - I didn't wake up till noon), I wandered around the main road to find a cafe or anywhere that I could get a cup of coffee (as far as I could surmise, the Black Bart Inn does not have a restaurant - one that's functioning, anyway). Along my stroll, I passed a mural with a portrait of Mark Twain and a frog. That's when it dawned on me - I must be in Calaveras County and the frogs I saw are the Celebrated Jumping Frogs of Calaveras County! I loved that story when I was a kid!

Just a few blocks away from the mural, I came across a historical museum on Main Street. After moseying through the rooms of antiques and trinkets (it wasn't much of a museum), I continued my search for coffee. I found a small diner called The Country Station with a menu item I couldn't resist: poached eggs over homemade biscuits and gravy. Just then I saw the rest of the cast walking toward me. We all settled down in a Country Station booth and chowed down, compliments of the director.

Shooting recommenced in the cavern at 6:00 p.m., and wrapped at 2:30 a.m. Again, I drove directly back to the Black Bart Inn to catch some shut-eye before heading back to San Francisco.

Week Two
The location was a ranch outside of Fairfax. It was 85 degrees out. My costume consisted of thick, heavy jeans, tall cowboy boots, a long-sleeved canvas work-shirt, a gun holster, and a cowboy hat. I was miserable. To make it worse, a massive allergy attack kicked in as soon as I got to set, and I didn't have any meds.

I brought meds on the second day, but they didn't help.

By the third day, I was a wreck. Luckily, that was the day that my character gets shot and nearly killed. My worthless state was rather appropriate.

Week Three
We shot in a green screen studio here in the city for the first two days. So easy in comparison to the previous weeks. After shooting, I could go run my errands and live life like normal. Sunday, however, we were back in Fairfax for the scenes with the horse. Yup, I got to ride a horse. Its name was Elche. Okay, I didn't actually get to ride it - they had a stunt person for that. But I did get to get up on it, and shoot a scene where I make like I'm about to start riding. Maybe next time I'll get cast in a film that has the funding train me, so that I can do my own stunts!

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pics of me on the horse. You'll just have to wait till I get a copy of the film!

Old-Timey Kind of Night

We ventured out to a remote region of San Francisco last night called "The Outer Richmond". Our goal was to see Hot Fuzz, the new movie by the creators of Shaun of the Dead. In deciding on a theatre to go to, we chose the one with the earliest show time, which happened to be The Balboa. The reviews on Yelp paint a picture of a small, independent theatre harkening back to days of lore, before the phenomenon of corporate-owned megaplexes.

The Balboa certainly is charming. It stands as the centerpiece of a single block-long strip of restaurants and cafes hovering in the middle of an otherwise sleepy suburb. The scent of popcorn reaches the entire length of the block. The popcorn bar is like the ice cream bar at Ponderosa - 12 different kinds of salts and seasonings beckon big eyes and overkill.

Directly across the street is a laughably nondescript dive bar called Hockey Haven.


My kind of place.

Hot Fuzz was a riot. I won't give any more details. If you've seen Shawn of the Dead, you'll know what to expect.

1000 Van Ness

In 1921, 1000 Van Ness was a Cadillac showroom, one of several on Van Ness Avenue. These ballroom-style car dealerships were a symbol of the automobile industry and an era of expected wealth. These days, they stand as landmarks of a bygone time of hope and entitlement. In fact, to a non-native San Franciscan, they seem somewhat ostentatious, with their crystal chandeliers and marble floors, enclosed by their glass walls from an often bleak Tender-nob scene of homelessness, poverty, and drugs.

Today, the grand interior of 1000 Van Ness comes as somewhat of a surprise to a new San Franciscan out to see a movie. In 1998, Burnham Pacific Properties converted the historic showroom into a multi-plex movie theatre. There are also 50 residential lofts, a Crunch gym, and several restaurants housed in the same building.

Upon entering the movie theatre, the box office is on your left, a grand staircase leading to seemingly nowhere straight ahead, and a large and empty ballroom floor all around. About half of the unused space is boxed-off by glass walls and a door. The south-west store-front windows look onto this enclosed emptiness. Last year it became, for one month, a "Halloween Super Store," an ill-fitted use for such a grand space (excuse the pun).

Little did I, or does anyone know, that the grand staircase at the back of the showroom leads to a mezzanine office space. Boxcar Theatre Company currently has a short-term lease on the space and will be converting it into a live theater and installation space for their upcoming adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's "Galapagos." I am in this show and have been rehearsing there for the last two weeks. For this reason, I have been spending a lot of time on Van Ness Avenue.

The avenue and surrounding neighborhood contain some of the most striking architecture in the city. I am consistently dismayed at how much of it is empty. Empty storefronts, empty office space overhead.

In 1849, William Eddy developed Van Ness as the city's central north-south avenue. Hopes were that it would become a major commercial zone. What went wrong, and when? Read its full history here.

I've often speculated about the De Avila Elementary school on Haight street. It has a striking facade, vibrant and colorful, but it seemed to sit empty, abandoned. Turns out the elementary school was axed by the Board of Education after the 2004 - 2005 school year, in an effort to close the $22 million dollar budget deficit. The campus was designed to hold 500 students, but only had 150 enrolled in '04 - '05. Last academic year, Aim High Academy, a school for underprivileged, homeless and “at-risk” sixth graders , occupied the DeAvila building, but has since moved to another location.

The facility will soon fill with students again, but of a different age-group. According to the Haight Ashbury Beat, "As early as January 2007, a portion of City College’s soon-to-be-renovated John Adams campus will move, temporarily, to the De Avila school building at 1351 Haight St."

I wonder how how long 'temporarily' will be. I've written before about my desire to see a centralizing locale for theatre and performance art. The De Avila School, centered squarely in one of San Francisco's most artistically vibrant neighborhoods and easily accessible by MUNI, is the perfect candidate.

Too Much to Do

There is never enough time to do all there is to do in this city. Here are just a few of the recent events that have moved across my line of vision:

365 Plays/365 Days
Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright Suzan Lori-Parks wrote a play a day for one year. The plays are now being presented in a year-long nation-wide festival, which had it's kick-off in San Francisco last night, November 16. Suzan Lori-Parks attended the event at the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House, and spoke to the audience afterward.

One: An Earth Installation
Stanlee Gatti, a lauded local artist, designer, and event planner, has created an exhibit at the Conservatory of Flowers that 'reflects on the interconnectedness of all living things.' The exhibit runs until April 15th, however the opening was last night, November 16th. Incredible amounts of food and wine assisted the V.I.P. attendees in finding their reflective nature. Among the attendees were Yomi Agunbiade, General Manager of the Recreation and Park Department; Willie Brown, former Mayor of San Francisco; and Leah Garchik, columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle.

Embarcadero Center Lighting Ceremony
Tonight, Friday, November 17, the city turns on its holiday spirit. The skyline brightens during an event that will include a performance by SF Jazz All Star High School Ensemble, an ice show, a special guest performance and a 'spectacular' pyrotechnic show. San Francisco loves its pyrotechnics.

San Francisco Hip Hop Dance Festival
This is going to be awesome.

Mafia Made Trunk Show
Bay Area crafters and do-it-yourself artists show and sell their wares at this Russian Hill Craft Mafia event. Drool over colorful little items that are so cute you wish they were edible, and get a head start on your holiday shopping.

And then, of course, there are a million local bands to see (Minipop play The Bottom of the Hill on Saturday the 18th), and a ton of theatre (anyone seen "Edward Scissorhands" yet? Is it any good?).

In addition to some of the things listed above, I am going to eat some Brazilian food at Canto do Brasil, and see The Science of Sleep.

"San Francisco Values"

During the Gold Rush, San Francisco was known as a place of debauchery: greed, gambling, brothels and crime. An early Las Vegas, if you will. Today, San Francisco is known as a place of peace and love: cultural diversity, social acceptance, progressive ideals, and urban environmentalism. The most European of American cities, many call it.

The Republican right-wing would like to take us back 150 years, to the glory days. We're soon to hear a vintage tune from the top of Capitol Hill, with the words "San Francisco Values" used as a disparaging term - you know, the 'values' of those 'tree-huggers', 'gays' and 'sinners'.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported today that the Republican Spin Machine has already begun cycling the phrase into it's talking points and daily jabber, in expectation that Nancy Pelosi is soon to be Speaker of the House. "Watch Out," they warn. "She's bringing with her her 'San Francisco Values', and you know what that means." This is my favorite quote from the article, from the editorial pages of the Augusta Chronicle:

"Pelosi will be speaker and her far-left San Francisco values -- gay marriage, cutting and running from Iraq, coddling terrorists, raising taxes, amnesty for illegals -- will become the House agenda."

Coddling terrorists? Oh, dear.

Clairblogience has an interesting take on this new slur. Read: "Hollywood Liberal Elite" Vs. "San Francisco Values"

Making Art a Priority

Arts Forum exists to lift arts and culture into the forefront of public policy. Recently, Arts Forum developed a survey for all San Francisco supervisors up for re-election, to gauge their commitment to the arts. Read the results here.

Scrub Down

At a Community Leadership Alliance on Friday, October 13th, Ahsha Safai of the Department of Public Works presented the Community Corridor Partnership. The pilot is a 9 month, $1.7 million program, putting 20 'block sweepers' - city employees armed with a 44 gallon bucket, broom, mop and other cleaning tools - on 100 city blocks. They will clean for 9 hours a day, 5 days a week and have direct contact to DPW and 28-Clean.

A major goal of the program will be to encourage property owners to take ownership of their own neighborhood by creating Community Benefit Districts.  Existing San Francisco CBDs include:

Union Square
Castro/Upper Market
Noe Valley
Tenderloin/North Market
Mission Miracle Mile
Fisherman's Wharf

Shanghai currently employs 28,000 street sweepers.

New York City currently has over 600 B.I.D.'s: Business Improvement Districts.