dolores park #1 // the newest installment in sf activists’ never-ending war on self-driving cars, math is still racist, mushroom churches spawn and queer cafés implode
This is exactly what I have been looking for! I’m a big fan of Sanjana’s work so far, and I can’t wait to see what she unearths about SF and the Bay Area in general.
Well, that was, ah... entertaining? Is that the right word? Maybe that's not the right word. I'm not sure the right word exists...
I'm very fond of San Francisco (my wife lived there for a long while), and indeed I'm coming back to San Francisco next week, to give a talk about the idea that our universe might be the result of a (Darwinian) evolutionary process at the level of universes – so I guess I'm one of the weirdos you are aiming this at. Nice to get an update on the local lunacy.
I love mushrooms, and think they should be legal, but if any city on earth has the ability to fuck up legalisation and make everything worse, it's San Francisco. I await updates with interest.
Sanjana does a wonderful job reminding us that however insane San Francisco may be, there’s always room for more. Looking forward to journalism that unveils the inner workings of a city government that never ceases to disappoint. But at least we can soon all drown our sorrows in shrooms!
Ah, San Francisco. My home for 15 years from the late 80s until 2000, then again 2006-2008. My 1bdr apartment on Baker St in the Western Addition was 600/month for 11 of those years: I didn't ask for anything, and the landlord left us all alone. The second time around I was in Dog Patch, about 4 blocks from the train station, at 2500/month. You could still take your kids to the Castro St Halloween celebration, or even the Folsom St Fair, knowing that the hard stuff was behind the lines and not easily accessible, much less pushed at you. The homeless were in SOMA and around Moscone Center, but the SROs still stood and allowed for a bit of comfort and dignity for those on the margins. Drugs were pretty commonplace but like everything else, privacy was still paramount and what you did in your own home was your own business.
Now, not so much. Affirm my lifestyle "choices" and underwrite everything with your taxes or I'll kill you!
I haven't been back, I won't go back. Straight people, especially white straight people, were marginalized back when Dirty Harry was filmed, and it's only gotten worse. When I left in 2008 the blanket of dysfunction was already snuggly wrapped around the city, and in the years since more blankets have been added.
Bay Area guy here (West Oakland, specifically). Like a lot of people here, quietly disgusted and alienated by PMC identitarian politics. So of course your newslestter seemed interesting. At least for two minutes - just what exactly is wrong with psychedelic churches, really? FFS, I just want a clean BART, my car not to be broken into, and spoilt rich kids and their pronoun politics out of my face. But that sure doesn't mean I'm going to hop onto your brand of intolerance.
I am interested in this, since I met my wife in the Marina in 1991, back in the more sane days. I loved my time in SF, and am saddened by what's going on, but not surprised. And I care, because I still have extended family in SF.
Not my cup of tea. I’ve already known the city is in toilet and I’m for sure not going to need a weekly synopsis of just how much further the Democratic Party can ruin what was at one time a place to take your kids on vacation. This is just years and years of failure on top of failure. The attempts of creating a utopian society seemed like a good idea but it’s clearly not possible. Nothing but a waste of money and now they can’t clean it up because it might hurt somebody’s feelings. This is what they are trying to take nationwide and I pray it doesn’t happen. This is a Soros great society. If my subscription comes with a weekly column of this I’ll have to rethink it.
WELCOME TO DOLORES PARK
This is exactly what I have been looking for! I’m a big fan of Sanjana’s work so far, and I can’t wait to see what she unearths about SF and the Bay Area in general.
Well, that was, ah... entertaining? Is that the right word? Maybe that's not the right word. I'm not sure the right word exists...
I'm very fond of San Francisco (my wife lived there for a long while), and indeed I'm coming back to San Francisco next week, to give a talk about the idea that our universe might be the result of a (Darwinian) evolutionary process at the level of universes – so I guess I'm one of the weirdos you are aiming this at. Nice to get an update on the local lunacy.
I love mushrooms, and think they should be legal, but if any city on earth has the ability to fuck up legalisation and make everything worse, it's San Francisco. I await updates with interest.
This was a great read - look forward to checking in each week
Sanjana are you a boy or girl?
Sanjana does a wonderful job reminding us that however insane San Francisco may be, there’s always room for more. Looking forward to journalism that unveils the inner workings of a city government that never ceases to disappoint. But at least we can soon all drown our sorrows in shrooms!
Ah, San Francisco. My home for 15 years from the late 80s until 2000, then again 2006-2008. My 1bdr apartment on Baker St in the Western Addition was 600/month for 11 of those years: I didn't ask for anything, and the landlord left us all alone. The second time around I was in Dog Patch, about 4 blocks from the train station, at 2500/month. You could still take your kids to the Castro St Halloween celebration, or even the Folsom St Fair, knowing that the hard stuff was behind the lines and not easily accessible, much less pushed at you. The homeless were in SOMA and around Moscone Center, but the SROs still stood and allowed for a bit of comfort and dignity for those on the margins. Drugs were pretty commonplace but like everything else, privacy was still paramount and what you did in your own home was your own business.
Now, not so much. Affirm my lifestyle "choices" and underwrite everything with your taxes or I'll kill you!
I haven't been back, I won't go back. Straight people, especially white straight people, were marginalized back when Dirty Harry was filmed, and it's only gotten worse. When I left in 2008 the blanket of dysfunction was already snuggly wrapped around the city, and in the years since more blankets have been added.
your source for "well documented differences in rates of offending" disproves your point. do better. be a real journalist. this article is shit.
Bay Area guy here (West Oakland, specifically). Like a lot of people here, quietly disgusted and alienated by PMC identitarian politics. So of course your newslestter seemed interesting. At least for two minutes - just what exactly is wrong with psychedelic churches, really? FFS, I just want a clean BART, my car not to be broken into, and spoilt rich kids and their pronoun politics out of my face. But that sure doesn't mean I'm going to hop onto your brand of intolerance.
I am interested in this, since I met my wife in the Marina in 1991, back in the more sane days. I loved my time in SF, and am saddened by what's going on, but not surprised. And I care, because I still have extended family in SF.
I, too, love Sanjana's work! And River!
Congrats on the start...SF is in need of new thinking and holding those in power to account.
Not my cup of tea. I’ve already known the city is in toilet and I’m for sure not going to need a weekly synopsis of just how much further the Democratic Party can ruin what was at one time a place to take your kids on vacation. This is just years and years of failure on top of failure. The attempts of creating a utopian society seemed like a good idea but it’s clearly not possible. Nothing but a waste of money and now they can’t clean it up because it might hurt somebody’s feelings. This is what they are trying to take nationwide and I pray it doesn’t happen. This is a Soros great society. If my subscription comes with a weekly column of this I’ll have to rethink it.