City of Saint Francis

Making my way through the neighborhood streets between home and my studio today I passed a woman starting her motorcycle. She lives in the neighborhood and I've seen her and her bike a few times. She's a heavyset woman and she rides what might best be described as a European café racer. Her shape and the shape of her bike are comically incongruent, something I've noticed the other times I've encountered her. This morning was no exception. I saw her starting her bike and immediately felt my judgment start to come up.

There's no good reason for me to have any judgment at all about her. I've never spoken with her and I don't know anything about her. The judgment was simply a juvenile moment of internal mockery—a moment in my mind of which I'm not proud.…Go ahead, keep reading

I don't know why it means so much to me that the guy who broke into my laundry room apologized as he was being taken to the police car by the SFPD, but that moment keeps replaying itself in my mind. I don't know if he meant it, but he said it like he meant it. If he was trying to con me, it was a subtle play. He didn't say, «I'm sorry. Please don't press charges.» It was a complete sentence, a declaration: «I'm sorry.» Even if he was pushing my buttons, he played it like he wasn't.

One of the officers said that meth users only know how to do two things: lie and steal. I've seen a bit of that myself, but usually methheads are playing the short con, not a long one. Whether he meant it or not, his words signified an admission that he was in the wrong, and that's what people are supposed to do when they are wrong.…Go ahead, keep reading

It started with the rattle of a chainlink fence as I was getting ready to take a shower. My neighbors keep a very nice yard, but I've never seen them out doing yardwork in the rain. The sound was followed by the thud of the door downstairs slamming shut. I knew it was the laundry room door—I'd have heard my front door more clearly.

I looked out the kitchen window and saw no one in the yard, so I went to the living room window and looked out. I didn't see anything or anyone in the yard. I checked the doors of my neighbors in the main house: both were closed. Usually if someone does laundry they leave the door open.

Then I saw my next door neighbor waving at me from his window. He waved and pointed below me. I looked at him and he pointed down again, more emphatically. I made the thumb-and-pinkie sign for telephone and mouthed the word «police».…Go ahead, keep reading

Thursday night at Art Explosion on Seventeenth Street in San Francisco Spring Open Studios 2009 kicked off with an «after-work preview» show to provide a peek at the new work that was on display all weekend, beginning with Friday night's opening at 7pm. I haven't the time or inclination to provide a complete survey of the variety of the work at Open Studios this year, but I took some snapshots of a small sample of this year's notable work.…Go ahead, keep reading

Mark your calendars and get ready to come on down to Open Studios at the Art Explosion. The essential details follow:

Preview Thursday April 23rd 5pm–8pm
Opening Reception Friday April 24th 7–11pm
Open Studios Sat & Sun April 25th & 26th 12–5pm

Between the three Art Explosion locations there are over 100 artists opening their doors so that you can come and see how we work, see new artwork that hasn't yet gone to galleries, and even works in progress. The artists will be available to answer questions, sell their work, and just chat.…Go ahead, keep reading

I'm not totally unsympathetic to the proponents of Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that would rewrite the California State Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. I understand that my position (which amounts to a «why the hell should I care if gay people want to get married» attitude) is not the only legitimate opinion. Some folks just don't think that's the way it oughtta be, and they are entitled to their opinion. I probably should have just left it at that, because after reading up on Prop 8, I still don't get it and I don't even think I've been offered any reasons.…Go ahead, keep reading

Despite my recent grumblings about the paper quality of Moleskines, I'm pleased enough with the design to have a few in my current rotation. I'm embarrassed by how many notebooks I have started right now, each with its own dedicated purpose, at least vaguely. The one that I'm most intrigued by as a project is the Moleskine City Notebook for San Francisco. The idea is simple: they provide the basic ingredients of a city guide, the rest is essentially blank.…Go ahead, keep reading

Woke up this morning to the sound of my upstairs neighbor hollering and banging on the door. When I wandered out to see what was going on, it turns out he wasn't banging on my door, but the back door of the next-door neighbor. Smoke was pouring out of the second-floor window and he was shouting to wake the neighbors.

I dialed 911…Go ahead, keep reading

Today is Armenian Remembrance Day, a day set aside in memory of the Armenian genocide by the Turks mostly during World War I.

President Bush made a statement today stating «there cannot be reconciliation until there is truth telling» but stopped short of using the word «genocide.» The government in Ankara still insists that there was no genocide, but historians generally agree that the Turkish slaughter of Armenians was the first genocide of the Twentieth Century.…Go ahead, keep reading

My father gave me this copy of Dreaming of Babylon along with a few other Brautigan books, as he knows I'm a fan, my disappointment in An Unfortunate Woman notwithstanding. He told me that he thought it was an early novel, before Brautigan got into being poetical and eccentric. Imagine my delight to find out that this was his second-to-last novel, one of his attempts to put his spin on genre writing.

Therefore, Dreaming is delightfully whimsical as it takes on the voice of "hard-boiled" private eye C. Card. Card is a protagonist who seems to have little going on for himself. He's broke, behind on his rent, and doesn't even have any bullets in his…Go ahead, keep reading