Fashioning Change

Fashioning Change was a fashion show fundraiser held last night for the Barack Obama campaign. I've never given money to a political campaign, and I likely wouldn't have given any money to this political campaign if a fashion show hadn't lured me in.

East bay fashion and jewelry designers filled a medium sized space just south of Market and they brought all of their followers with them. This was not a city crowd. As I observed, there was a certain too cool for school vibe absent from the event that reinforced my love of the east bay. Could I turn down a warehouse space in the Dogpatch or Potrero Hill? Not a chance. But I'd move while quietly telling myself it's only temporary and I'll be back in the open spaces and warmer temperatures of Oakland in the future, when I've had my fun.

And don't get me wrong. I love the city too, and I know not everyone there carries that cooler than thou bearing. And I suppose I've outed myself as being someone who goes to places where I experience the throngs in their chunky glasses, grandpa hat and vintage shirt uniform. They go places where there's good food and often fresh fashion and new art to take in. Too bad they can't find their own style.

Viva la lake.

Holy Roller

Eff the bumper sticker. We're going large.

When I saw this truck, I thought the driver was one of those people who go to those storefront churches in the mission. They go on Sunday mornings, go home for lunch and then come back to keep it going until the evening.

Then there's after school church a few days a week. You go from five until the holiest roller starts to buckle - and that's usually between 9 and 10 o'clock at night. Jesus. Jesus Cristo.

Evangelicals. I have a few in classes. They're something else. They're judged, and they act like it.

Fresh in SF

I wanted you to see her square gold bamboo earrings, but she wouldn't move her hands.

They call that hair bump so many girls wear now a "hump". I remember first noticing the phenomenon when a lot of celebrities were doing it, most notably Gwen Stefani. This girl took the hump and made it her own. While all teenagers are all styley in their Old Navy, H & M kind of way, this girl is hecka styley. I think it takes a real sense of fashion and some guts to walk out of the house like that when you're in 9th grade, both of which I suffered a deficit of in my high school career. I didn't learn to say "Fuck it" until I was 30.

So you may think her hair is crazy, crazy, crazy. But you know you dig that hump.

From the Vault - Ski Week End

And the credits were rolling. We were on our way home to enjoy the next half of our winter's end break, not skiing, not snowboarding, not sledding.

About the first picture: there must've been some friend of a friend of a friend breach, because somehow Elef made it to my Facebook photos.

Elef Neso (Orange County, CA) wrote at 3:50pm on March 15th, 2008 How do you do that? Make shite look beauty? Delete

I don't know, Elef, I don't know. I just do it.

I also don't know who on earth you are.

Thanks, man.

From the Vault - Ski Week 2008, Point Reyes

I've been feeling nostalgic for the days of good pictures and good company, so here are some from the vaults. This is ski week, 2008. Grahme, Nate and I joined Chris at his mom's in Point Reyes. We planned to go camping somewhere off of Sky trail (see He went thataway, 3/19), but the weather kept us in, drinking beer and whiskey, playing games for 3 days.

Grahme's pack, unlike the rest of ours, did not hold headlamps and camp stoves. Grahme's pack had liar's poker, Slamwich, Boggle, Set and a bunch of other games I can't remember. So after a day's hike to where we wouldn't be camping, we got some food to make dinner, had dinner and then dug in.

I was a pro at Liar's Poker. Nate's Texas sized hands made him a Slamwich savant. Grahme and Chris also had good showings. We were all winners. Just like in children's league soccer. My 3-inch tall trophy is sitting on the mantle as I write these words. I also got the take away of a little insight into the world of men. Being the only girl in Boystown was fun. I don't know if they were trying to make me feel comfortable, but we talked about relationships a whole lot in between glasses of Jack and bottles of beer.

Today, today!

Thank goodness for red lights. He looked away when he saw me with the camera.

There's more of that red stuff over to the left, but you can't see it. Go to 6th between Folsom and Mission to take in the whole mural. It's so cool. You've got all that geometry happening to the left and right, and then an explosion of grafitti in the middle. It's all grafitti, I know, but the style in the middle of the piece is more traditional.

I hope no one does anything to it. Our stupid kids who call themselves taggers who only scribble on notebook paper and the back windows of MUNI if they're brave enough like to show how down they are by writing "Toy" across pieces that they deem inferior - not art, not grafitti, not good. Silly little teenaged minds. Lots of fronts. Who they really are, no one knows yet. I hope they don't destroy this piece.

Good day in the city today. I saw a bunch of Miro pieces I'd never seen before in a place I'd never been when, really, I was only in town to look for boots. The ceiling was made of gross old squares of who knows what; some were stained. I felt sorry for the paintings. But I was happy to see the work. Alex called while I was at the gallery. He has a backyard now.

It was warm and hardly windy, even downtown. Thank you sweet jeebus.

I'm a VIP - California Academy of Sciences

My friend Grahme used to be my co-worker. Then he got this kick ass job at the new California Academy of Sciences. So even though the mention of his name yields shouts of, "Grahme who?!" or "He's dead to us!" I enjoy the perks. And I never shout those things. I'm afraid he'll hear them in his heart and then I won't get to do cool stuff like go to pre-openings of "the country's premier science museum," the first of its kind west of the Mississippi.

There were so many aquariums. And all of them had things in them that looked like rock-dinosaur-monster mixes. Really interesting sushi possibilities. The guys of Slanted Door are going to have a cafe there, so if you want $46 spring rolls made with dinosaur monster fish, go there. Best in town.

Opening day is September 27th. It'll be free and you can expect to see political celebrities like Gavin Newsom and Arnold Schwarzeneger. I'm not even going to check the spelling on that. After opening day, expect to pay $25 for your entry. For a little perspective, that is 50 Cliff's Z-Bars at Trader Joe's.

p.s. Sujata took picture #2.
p.p.s. I don't know why we're smiling like that. We weren't that happy. My shoes were kind of hurting.