As one gloomy and chilly day spills into another, so do customers at Borderlands Books’ new café. It’s very nice to see what’s blossoming in that space sans internet – a young man bent over a sketch he’s formulating while another engages in conversational Italian with his student, an older woman in a black brimmed hat knitting some sort of grey scarf or shawl – couldn’t really tell but it looks super warm – and a young guy in the back corner with blondish, disheveled hair, singing a cappella to his friend. I mean, why not?
How does that song go? Oh yeah, by The Stylistics, People Make the World Go Round.
…So does Twitter.
While it’s all over the net that the unprecedented same-sex marriage case in San Francisco has been barred from being showcased on YouTube, another media format has sidestepped all and come in from behind to the rescue! A project of the Courage Campaign Institute, prop8trialtracker.com can give you the play-by-play from inside the courtroom. Latest update from Julia Rosen: Ted Olson and the four plaintiffs will make a guest appearance on the Today Show, sometime around 7:00 a.m.
You know what else makes the world go round? A pedestrian-friendly city. San Francisco has been ranked as the most walkable city in the country, with New York in second place and Los Angeles coming in at number nine, according to walkscore.com. Dense cities designed for pedestrians and mass transit – hence walkability – apparently improves quality of life as it lowers crime and raises home values, according to some real estate agents. To no surprise, the Mission is among the top five most walkable neighborhoods in the city (not sure, however, if the crime statistics correlate with the above hypothesis).
In the meantime, life continues here in the Mission. The John O’Connell High School Principal, Rick Duber, kicked out a San Francisco police offer who arrested a student who is a suspect in the double homicide that occurred at Papa Portrero’s Pizza in September. The officer made the mistake of not consulting the principal.
Despite all the goings on in this small but complex stretch of the world, somehow, someway, the Mission Mission guy has exhausted his creative juices and is expanding his breadth. Take a look at the new blog, with contributions from a few pendejos – his words, not mine – Uptown Almanac-San Francisco: Where 20-Somethings Go To Retire. (Ha! I love the title!) But they can’t seem to let the Mission go, can they? A recent blog lists the most rented movies in the Mission in 2009. Would you believe Milk and The Wrestler are in the top three?
It’s slated to rain today, so make sure to grab that umbrella before you head out…and don’t lose it!