A Pledge of Allegiance to the Bay Area

9/21/2010

On the plane again—middle isle this time. Between two quiet men reading magazines. Three awesome days spent in the Bay Area. I’ll most certainly (as certain as I can be during this transient and fluid life stage) be calling this place home upon my return to the Northern Hemisphere.

Some reasons I will be moving to the Bay Area in a few years, listed in ascending order as experienced during my recent three-day visit:

(1) to appreciate UC-Berkeley’s lush and elegant campus and outstanding minds as a Geography PhD candidate;

(2) to vote with my minutes and dollars at any of the overwhelming number of used book stores, slow food restaurants, local espresso counters (some also serving hot buttered rum), and international food nooks matched in diversity by the six languages one can hear spoken while standing at a street corner;

(3) to meet and be one of the interesting, warm, and incredibly nice people that serve up the freshest ceviche (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceviche) on the North American Coast and live in a hotel-turned-cooperative-home with a rooftop garden (a.k.a. “backyard”), loving kitchen, bedroom bike shop, and rainbow painted walls;

(4) to be human in the human landscape of San Francisco proper, particularly illuminated at night by neon signs, skyscraper silhouettes, metallic evening attire, and the golden gate bridge appearing ghostly and magnified through the midnight fog;

(5) to be human in the non-human landscape of Point Reyes National Seashore, particularly illuminated at dusk as the sun dives into the Pacific and silhouettes surfacing seals, dramatic crumbling sea cliffs, and plovers chasing and being chased by foamy ocean waves;

(6) to savor the terroir (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terroir) via vintage bottles that adequately and justly represent the region’s interesting and surprising combination of fruitiness, earthiness, and spiciness that transcends the Bay Area’s wine to also characterize its cultural and natural landscapes;

(7) to feel stimulated by and connected with the absolutely intriguing, expressive, unique, and proud people that call themselves Nationalists because America blends and embraces all the world’s colors.