Super-special KALX fundraiser DJ shift tomorrow!
3 - 6pm PST, Sunday, October 25
KALX Berkeley 90.7fm
Sidja will be joining me on air as I politely ask for your spare change and play as much awesome music as I possibly can. I'm so jazzed I'm putting this right at the top of my post instead of burying it at the bottom like I usually do. If you miss this installment there's always next Sunday, but I recommend pledging early and pledging often. Now back to your regularly-scheduled programming...
In anticipation of my energy levels plummeting come winter-time, I headed out into the gorgeous weather today to soak up much sunshine. Eventually I found myself sitting in Dolores Park with a cone of salted caramel ice cream from Bi-Rite in hand, watching hipsters improvise a slip-n-slide on the grassy hill with a hose, feeling absolutely and perfectly content. While I was there I poked around ART RESPONSE!'s Silent Painting Protest, taking great care to avoid the orbit of the shirtless fellow with a "Free Love" sign taped to his waist. Overall I couldn't detect much difference from a typical Saturday afternoon in the park, just with some added prayer flags thrown in for artsy measure.
From the Mission I took the bus over the hill to the Haight for Christian Lander's reading at the Booksmith. If by some slim chance you're not already familiar with his blog Stuff White People Like, go there immediately. In honor of tonight's appearance Lander read six entries that he felt particularly applied to San Francisco, including #82 (Hating Corporations) and #88 (Having Gay Friends) and of course #91 (San Francisco). Though Lander insists the success of his blog since it launched in January and his subsequent book deal was mostly just dumb luck, its popularity in a year where discussions of race in the media have at times been less than direct is telling. I mean, Barack Obama is #8 on the list. Lander is incredibly insightful in his observations, and I love that he can simultaneously make me laugh and cringe at myself. Like on the BART ride home when I pulled out my Lonely Planet guide to Bangkok for my upcoming trip and suddenly thought, "#19: Traveling." There's certainly nothing wrong with having passions, it's just when white people think that as individuals they're so darn unique in said passions that they leave themselves wide open for ridicule. At least coming from Lander it's wrapped in humor.
That said, let me recommend another something I like a lot: the Fruitvale Dia de los Muertos Festival, which is taking place all day tomorrow right next to the Fruitvale BART stop. The altars there are guaranteed beautiful and the sugar skulls plentiful. I can't deal with the costume-making that goes along with American Halloween, but the emphasis during Dia de los Muertos on the remembrance of departed loved ones and the acknowledgement that death is always close by is much more my style. Especially as I try not to notice the days keep getting shorter.