Saturday, December 30
It's the people...
I’ve been in San Francisco all week with family (taking advantage of a great Christmas gift given to us) We’ve had a great time, seeing much of the city while walking many miles (Did you know SF is just a ‘little’ hilly). We partook of some of the typical tourist fare--- Fisherman’s Wharf, Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, etc. Most is what you’d expect, (except Alcatraz was a little better than we thought it would be), lots of people, high prices on everything, and no public restrooms anywhere.
I’m a huge fan of big cities with New York being my favorite. Just give me some money for the subway and one of those pop-up maps and send me on my way. I don’t necessarily need to see the typical things people flock to when they visit a metropolitan area, I just want to walk through the neighborhoods and the side streets just watching people, and hoping that I will stumble upon a great used bookstore. It’s the people that fascinate me in the city…
A couple of days ago, while 16 of us are riding a Streetcar down to the wharf I began to have a discussion with a man sitting across from me. He used to live in the Kingsport area of Tennessee working for Kodak. He is African-American and shared with me how during his time there he witnessed a cross being burned on the lawn of a co-worker who is also African-American. This was just a few years ago. While we were talking about this the streetcar driver turned around and began telling us about his experiences in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 1966. Somehow the discussion turned to movies and then, believe it or not, when another man got on the car and joined our conversation we began to discuss quantum physics. Or should I say ‘they’ began to discuss quantum physics…
See, it’s the people…it’s not the buildings, the sites, the really good Irish food I had the other night, it’s the people. We’re going to ride the subway over to Berkeley this afternoon…Maybe my sons and I will meet someone interesting while trying to find a disc golf course on campus.Mark Nelson at 2:18 PM 0comments