Why San Francisco?
Lately I’ve learned a lot about not missing something until it’s gone. I learned that it doesn’t have to be a person, or a time. In my case, it’s a place. And it doesn’t need to be fully gone to be missed. Dear San Francisco is my love letter to the place I am missing, and all the people within it. I invite you to view my gallery with an open mind because San Francisco is a place for open minds.
I grew up in a town in the East bay of California- about a half hour from The City, which is how we refer to San Francisco. I don’t know what I want to do when I’m older, but a big thing for my future is that I do not want to be tied down. I want to see things, and break out of the feeling that I’m on an ordinary trajectory. I just want to be out of society’s path and actually feel like it. Once I moved away for college I started thinking about how and why this feeling is so important to me, and I realized one of the only places I’ve actually felt a glimpse of this, is only 30 minutes from home. San Francisco has always seemed to put my problems and opinions in perspective. You can think however you want there, and be however you want as well. There are opportunities granted to people there that other places lack to share. I don’t mean opportunities in just a monetary, or occupational way, but in the sense that there are more opportunities for you to learn, grow, mature and see things that either change your outlook on life, or support it… finally support it. Some of the deepest conversations I’ve had were with the homeless of San Francisco, or the strangers on corners who sell rocks and crystals using foldable tables on sidewalks like Broadway. Sometimes I think of San Francisco as its own world or its own society. It is the melting pot of open minded people. Humor and art is used consistently throughout the entire city. I would say the city runs off of humor and art. Art in any and all forms. Sometimes you just see the people there, and you think of art- maybe they’re doing art on the side of the road, or even while walking. Maybe it’s the man that you see running through the dark but evening lit streets, singing out loud while strumming his guitar in full song. He’ll make you think of art, and he’ll make you think about where he’s coming from or where he’s going rather than of yourself. There are plenty of distractions from your own head in San Francisco… Maybe he came from playing at a bar. An open mic? You will see things you can’t see anywhere else while just driving or walking through the city, and if you judge, it’s simply not for you. It’s not that San Francisco is extremely welcoming, or that everyone who lives there is a certain way and just belongs there… its that you don’t need to belong there. You don’t need to belong to anything, or feel like you do. Belonging is not a thing there, to me it’s different than that. It’s a place where everyone and everything just coexists. Nobody or thing has to change to get along in San Francisco- it’s like it worked itself out naturally while the rest of society continued on in its structured ways. Of course it is a city and I’m not saying there is no crime, but if you ask for the stories of the people in San Francisco, you will learn that most came for non-monetary opportunity; To just exist in themselves free of judgment. Others already had it, realized it like me, and began longing for it again. You won’t experience or learn these things, if you just go to The City, you have to talk to people, strangers. Don’t just go to the beaches, go to the NUDE beaches, see why. In San Francisco you always have the option to change your mind. Don’t just go to tour shows, go to the performances, the local mic nights, the talent shows. You won’t see what I’m saying until you see the heart of San Francisco, the To: San Francisco, From: San Francisco type of art- it’s very easy to find.
In San Francisco you will find a lot of people who are a part of the homeless community. Despite what you may think, it is a complete and functioning community full of the most love you will never see. Love that has a million boundaries while also having none at all. It’s a love so accepting most people cannot even accept it. It can contain love that lacks the one thing that either influences love itself, or influences complete evil; money. It lacks money. It lacks the constant strive for monetized and materialized success. It already lost that, so is instead resorting to other routes trying to find pleasures in life in ways not as many people are doing anymore- connectedness, experience, conversation, love, survival. That’s if you can find and see the love. It is also tragic. It’s also an unfortunate epidemic in many places but nonetheless, should be thought of as no less than a community. We can learn a lot from their tragic stories, their love stories, strength, honesty, positivity, human connectedness, and how they help each other out- it’s important to remember that just like ourselves, we only see a small percentage of their lives. They help each other out more than the average group of steady income people. I frequently find myself talking to people in college about our perspective of homeless people and unfortunately there is a common thread of a drastic difference in opinion. After some thinking, I realized I grew up in a place so much more exposed to all types of people. My family is made up of people from all around the country with different political views and backgrounds, and I grew up in two different parts of California. I grew up in the melting pot of a city, in the melting pot of a state, in the melting pot of a country. I also ended up with the small conclusion that more people should visit San Francisco for long periods of time, to gain perspective on how society is succeeding on its intended job in separating us.
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