I found
that $20 from several weeks ago, as I was cleaning out my mail basket. Gee, I
found everything I needed plus that $20.
I marvel that when I was a college student in Boulder, my grocery
expenses were $20 for the week. Probably my mother sent me $100 for the
month. Michael and Birdie and Sam and I
would recycle empty coke bottles so we could go have a chewy steak on a Sunday
night up on the Boulder Hill, or perhaps a hamburger, fries and beer at the Sink. Which goes to say that $20 seems to be
equivalent to $5 back in 1970 terms, unless of course you frequent the dollar
store, or SF’s Daiso, where everything and anything goes for $1.50. (That place is better than Ross! And I will
happily escort you there on your next SF excursion.)
It is the Fourth. The sun shines beautifully
in Colma. (Which was sadly non-existent for my grandson’s five day visit over
the previous weekend.) Soon I will
venture into the gaiety of this holiday, San Francisco style. I keep hoping the clear weather will prevail,
so I can watch fireworks on this side of the Bay. Oakland is always clearer and
warmer.
I want to speak
about the Pride Parade, 2012, San Francisco.
In 1973, perhaps ’74, I marched with my gal friends in the Gay Parade in
NYC, which was four or five years after Stonewall. In the 1969 era gays who
marched wore sunglasses and quite possibly suits (!). Later we marched because it was the right
thing to do. We were proud. We wanted to
make a statement. It was a bit scary, but it was good.
Saturday I
ventured over to the Mission where ‘Dykes on Bikes’ had their late afternoon
precursor to Sunday’s events. I missed the opening, where there must’ve been a
lot of motorcycles, and I joined the demonstration midway through. It was reminiscent
– though more open – of that seventy’s era.
I walked behind two young, very lovely gals, bare breasted, who had
taped their nips with gold tape in an X design.
Oh for the days my boobs stood so erect!
Many women on the side rose signs above their heads which read, “Flash
your tits”. There were a lot of women in this parade. But it was nothing in
comparison to the main event during Sunday’s parade.
During the 2012 parade, there were women
everywhere. One editorial ventured that all the young teenage girls had come
out in their rainbow voile tutus, just because. Yes, seemed there were more
women than men, but maybe that was because all the guys were in the streets. I
could hardly get near the parade to see anything. I watched a lot of it on local PBS station
later that night – after the Gay Pride awards, which also had local TV coverage
for two hours. This event’s turnout
definitely eclipsed St. Paddy’s Day in SF, and in San Francisco, that is going
a long way. The St. Paddy’s Parade didn’t
seem to have that corporate buy in, which was much more a Union event this
year. - So what? Irish people don’t buy as much as gays these days? Chase had a float. Macy’s passed out fans that
read ‘Pride and Joy”. Chipotle sponsored another float. Virgin Air even! (And that’s going a long way
in a gay parade) Let’s be in style. Glitter and be gay.
I am glad that there is that kind
of recognition of the gay community. And in another way, it made me sick –
because of the pandering for the dollar, which is so endemic in our
culture. I wonder if those young
teenagers are aware?
In SF I encountered a few – not a
lot, but a few, naked fellows, who sported nothing but a cock ring. I would add that this past week, I was on the
SF embarcadero and encountered half a dozen fellows, bicyclists, in the same birthday
suit plus cock ring attire, (Is the cock ring work like a jock strap when you
are on a bike?) who were resting and sunning themselves in similar garb. No
police were there to harass them, just another – obviously straight – cyclist who
cried out with a lot of aggravation, “For God sakes, save that for someplace
else, won’t you?” My daughter and
granddaughter were sorry to have missed it.
Life in San Francisco is so
whimsical, in some ways. The color of the houses, the mix of all the peoples. A
lightheartedness prevails, but it is still one of the most expensive places to
live in the USA and one that is driven by economics, technologically driven
these days. In the end of course we must look to our
hearts and discount the packaging around it.
Long live love. And if it’s only sex, may it be safe!
