Hi Valley,
I'm visitng San Francsico, where I moved to Turners from going on five years ago now. I always tell people I took the typical Albany-NYC-San-Francisco-Turners-Falls route. I haven't been back here for three years. It’s wicked intense to be back. (Howzzat for detailed, incisive proze!?!) I kind of feel like I'm starring in my very own "It's a Wonderful Life" except that no one's life has come to ruin without me here and I don't have an angel for a guide. So many people I haven't seen in so long, going through their same day-to-day lives, more or less, while my life has had such radical changes for better and worse. I’ve been especially moved to see the people I haven’t thought much about let alone been in contact with since I’ve left, people I know from walking down the street, from shops and bars and cafes, people I'd never email or facebook or talk to on the telephone. Not exactly typical among them, but one example,, is Swan (link is to a short documentary video about him), a schizophrenic man who’s hung out outside Adobe Books all day, every day, for what must be a decade now. He doesn’t talk much, but hands out xeroxed writings which are by turns insane and facscinating and brilliant and . . . oh I’ll put some up here later on today, you’ll see. I never really read his broadsides when I lived here. He’d hand them to me, I’d stuff them in my bag, and they’d eventually get recycled. This week I’ve been reading a stack my host Kristin has. So much interesting stuff all around one doesn’t take the time to see when it’s always available. Another cliché, but clichés exist because they’re true. Okay, so why am I sitting here typing when my hours in this great city are ticking away?
Oh, and here are my cheesy punchlines for the photo:
1. Does this burger make me look fat (huge? Gigantic?)
2. I think I’m gaining weight on my trip.
3. Cali cuisine – great stuff, but the portions!
In all seriousness though, I've had four burritos in six days here (the old tummy forced me to take a break) and it's JUST NOT ENOUGH. SOOOOOOoooooooooooo yummmmmmmy.
