Noe Valley Voice August 2021

Home , Walk Along, We Are All Made of Stars

Vol. XLV, No. 8 August 2021

™

THE NOE VALLEY VOICE

Rising Voices I Was Just Short Fiction, Poetry, Essays Thinking About and Non-Fiction from Local Writing You Writers Something By Jack Tipple Local Writers Put Words to Our he mission statement or manifesto Thoughts While Readers Send Tproclaimed in the first issue of The Voice in May of 1977 declared it to be a Their Images vehicle for creative writing — among other things. But news and feature sto- oe Valley is special. Many who ries — traditional journalism for the Nvisit want to live and shop here. most part crowded out creativity and the And once established within neighbor- occasional poem or op-ed was rarely hood boundaries, few venture far out- seen. side for very long. That was even more true in the year In the summers of 1995 and 1996 that of the the Pandemic’s strongest shock. changed in a big way. Instead of taking We were the poster models for Staycation. And aside from all the Bye Bye Rabat. In August, the venerable store selling women’s clothes to generations of forced closures of restaurants and Noe Valleons from the corner of 24th and Noe Streets closed their doors for good. They’ll restrictions businesses had to deal with, be missed for a long time. Photo by Jack Tipple we were lucky to be in one of the best places possible. but the lure of a summer break took The lines outside of Noe Valley over there was no third attempt at let- Bakery are back to normal now and one ting literature rule. can walk right into Whole Foods. In recent years, the Other Voices col- Writers are sending in their work, and umn edited by Olivia Boler and Sally locals are traveling and letting us know Smith, has presented some fine essays what they’ve found with their emailed and other writing from the neighbor- photos and messages. Take a look hood. With this August 2021 edition, we inside. JT hope to encourage more submissions and participation by giving the standard journalism time off and letting creative writing take over.

Rising Voices is Born On page five, you’ll find the begin- ning of a variation on our Other Voices column. We hope it’s viewed favorably Let’s Get Together. The first issue of The and plan to utilize it again next year. Noe Valley Voice was a modest eight pages, We also hope it will encourage other but the invitation to participate was writers whether they’re new to the welcomed by the neighborhood and craft, or seasoned pros, to submit their growth continues to this day. work throughout the year. They’re like- ly to find receptive editors pleased at Summer Reading Now. Mission district their participation. Space will be avail- Summer Reading Then. The August the month off for summer vacation as resident Karen Topakian gets some rays and editions of the Voice in 1995 and 1996 was the standard, Voice editors designed able here along with the return of all words at Dolores Park in July. See page 6 of presented excellent creative writing and sponsored contests for creative our regular columns like Teen Talk and this issue for where more of your illustrated with photos by Pamela Gerard. writing. Those editions were successful Rumors. See you again in September. neighbors have been lately.

This is Noe Valley. Be Nice or Leave. Confusion, panic and depression have had their way for too long. Whether you’re vaccinated or not, yield at the four way stop, wave and smile to your neighbor. Maybe make a hot dish to share. And shop local like you mean it. Photo by Jack Tipple 2 The Noe Valley Voice • August 2021

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©2021 Corcoran Global Living. All rights reserved. Each franchise is independently owned and operated. Corcoran Global Living fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. This is not intended as a solicitation if you're working with another broker. Information is deemed reliable, but is not guaranteed.

teamLab: CONTINUITY The Noe Valley Voice • August 2021 3

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Varied and Needed Housing Editor: As one of the developers of the LETTERS 55¢ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR building referenced in Suzanne Nason’s THE NOE VALLEY VOICE wel- letter to the editor ("Skyscrapers in comes your letters to the editor. Write Noe?,” July 2021, page 5), I take the Noe Valley Voice, P.O. Box offense to the negative tone and dis- 460249, SF, CA 94146. Or email edi- paraging assumptions cast upon our- [email protected]. Please selves and our project. include your name and contact infor- My business partners and I moved to mation. (Anonymous letters will not San Francisco more than 30 years ago, be considered for publication.) Be aware that letters may be edited for and lived at the 24th Street property for brevity or clarity. We look forward to several years before deciding to help hearing from you. address San Francisco’s notorious housing shortage by replacing our single- family residence with a modern build- would say what you want, for example, ing containing a ground-floor commer- eliminate the transfer and continue the cial space and five residential condos of J-Church through the subway to down- various sizes. In developing our plans, town. we abided by all of the city’s detailed Now is the time to make our voices requirements for historical research, heard. neighborhood notifications, planning Noe Valley History. Judith Watson Davis a Noe Valley resident since 1969 sent us the department reviews, etc. We neither above vintage advertisement for “Dan’s Gas” which for 15 years was located on the site of Kathy Setian sought nor received any variances, and the present day Noe Valley Town Square. Sanchez St have built to the height permissible by local ordinances. When Is a Tree Not a Tree? first in the country to stand up against While Suzanne Nason may feel our Editor: aparthied in South Africa. building is “not in the style or esthetic When is a tree removal hearing not Unfortunately at all levels of govern- of Noe,” anyone walking the length of about the tree? When the tree is in San ment our current elected officials have this vibrant commercial corridor will Francisco, in a place that neighbors remained silent against aparthied and see a great variety of sizes, shapes, don’t want developed. Not even for gencocide in Israel/Palestine. Now is heights, and styles. This diversity badly needed housing. the time we, private citizens and poli- makes our city visually appealing. San At a May 24 appeal hearing, neigh- cians alike, need to fully recognize the Francisco architecture is not defined bors massed to oppose the replacement humanity of the Palestinian people. solely by Victorians, and the planning of an ivy-choked, severely damaged And until we end our military and department actually forbids new con- New Zealand Christmas tree. Its mori- moral support to Israel the blood shed struction in that style. bund branches, the consulting arborist by the Palestinians will be on our own Change is always distressing to said, pose a falling hazard. Said tree hands. some, but it’s part of the dynamic Photo by Jack Tipple lies in the public right-of-way, where nature of cities and shouldn’t engender the city wants to extend 23rd Street, Bernie Corace knee-jerk NIMBY objections. When and next to a small parcel where the 25th St, Noe Valley, U.S.A complete later this year, our building They’re On Vacation developer is trying to build three will provide homes for five new Noe affordable and ten market-rate units at Valley families who will enjoy all that 4512 23rd St. Should the J Go All the Way? this wonderful neighborhood has to Most of the regular Noe Valley The private lot and the road exten- offer. Voice features and columns have sion boast stunning views on the east- Editor:

ern slope of Twin Peaks. No tree Muni is seeking input on changes to this month off. They’ll return Owen Linzmayer, removal, no viable project. So, neigh- the J-Church line. Since the pandemic, with the September edition. San Francisco resident bors insisted the tree should stay and the J has been terminating at Branch Properties LLC Michael Blake’s Crossword, the the development was not welcome. Market/Church/Duboce, forcing riders Crime Report and Cost of Living, Such opposition to small projects going downtown to transfer to the sub- tucked in desirable neighborhoods way. This forced transfer is difficult for Short Takes, Store Trek, Library shows us why it’s so hard to build all riders, but particularly for seniors, Books and Rumors will all return THE NOE VALLEY VOICE housing. Yet building on long-vacant families with children, people with dis- then tanned, rested and ready. P.O. Box 460249 • San Francisco, CA 94146 lots and discontinued businesses via abilities, shoppers with bags, and for www.noevalleyvoice.com projects large and small, in all of the late-night and early-morning workers. he Noe Valley Voice is an independent news- We hope you enjoy this edition Tpaper published in San Francisco. It is dis- city’s districts—not just a few—is an Muni wants to make the changes per- tributed free in Noe Valley and vicinity during important tool in addressing our hous- manent and has put out a survey. of mostly creative writing, essays the first week of the month. Subscriptions are available at $40 per year ($35 for seniors) by ing crisis, creating affordable housing Unfortunately most Noe Valleans and observations. Many of you writing to the above address. where there was none. Embracing a haven’t heard about it, and the survey is may recognize some of the The Voice welcomes your letters, photos, and dying tree, but not housing for our deceptive in several ways: stories, particularly on topics relating to Noe names of the writers. Bill Yard Valley. All items should include your name and workers, won’t get us there. · It’s not until Question #9 that contact information, and may be edited for brevi- they ask if we want the transfer point to contributed reporting and soul- ty or clarity. (Unsigned letters will not be considered for publication.) Unsolicited contributions George Mozingo be made permanent. ful writing to the Voice for some will be returned only if accompanied by a self- · They do NOT ask about the of the earliest decades. Published addressed, stamped envelope. importance of having a direct line to The Noe Valley Voice is a member of the San author Laura McHale Holland Francisco Neighborhood Newspaper Association. Graffiti at the Chabad House downtown without having to transfer, Email: [email protected] Editor: while they DO ask about the impor- was a Voice columnist for several Website: www.noevalleyvoice.com As the father of two young Jewish tance of not being delayed in traffic. years. Veteran Voice contributor Distribution: Call Jack, 415-385-4569 children I too abhor the graffiti left on · They do NOT ask how often we Jeff Kaliss continues to write Display Advertising: Call Pat, 415-608-7634, the gate of the Chabad House pre- rode the J to go downtown before the or email [email protected] about interesting things for the Display Advertising Deadline for the school. Nothing can justify such pandemic, nor do they ask how often September 2021 issue: August 20, 2021 actions. But we have to be morally we plan to go downtown in the future. Voice. This time we have his poet- Editorial Deadline: August 15, 2021 blind and deaf to not understand the They only ask us to rate the quality of ry. LisaRuth Elliott is a relatively EDITOR THIS EDITION anger behind them. That anger stems service since May 2021 when the trans- recent and very articulate Voice Jack Tipple from decades of our government's polti- fer point was initiated. EDITORS/CO-PUBLISHERS writer. You’re sure to find words Sally Smith, Jack Tipple cal and military support for an increas- · They obscure a dramatic service CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AND EDITORS ingly belligerent, apartheid state of cut by labeling it “improvements” to an that invigorate you. Corrie M. Anders, Associate Editor Israel, whose govement is committed to unwanted transfer point, and using Olivia Boler, Other Voices Editor the doctrine of Zionism which in prac- phrases like “help the J-Church” and Heidi Anderson, Matthew S. Bajko, Owen Baker- Would you like to join them? Flynn, Karol Barske, Michael Blake, Gabe Castro- tice has meant for the ethnic cleansing “benefit those who rely on Muni”. Root, Liz Highleyman, Kala Hunter, Jeff Kaliss, and genocide of the Palestianian peo- Nonetheless Noe Valleans should fill Give us a chance to see what Richard May, Nico Madrigal-Yankowski, Roger Rubin, Tom Ruiz, Astrid Utting, Megan Wetherall ple. out the survey. Go to comes from your pen or key- CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Like Senator Wiener and Supervisor https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/6410493 board. A frequent column run- Art Bodner, Pamela Gerard, Najib Joe Hakim, Mandleman I believe we should call /website and note in particular: ning in the Voice is named Beverly Tharp out any and all acts of anti-semitism. Question 9: "This project is a tempo- DISTRIBUTION But we should just as loudly call out rary measure to benefit those who rely “Other Voices” edited by Olivia Jack Tipple the inhuman actions of the government Boler. She’d love to give you a PREPRESS and INTERNET on Muni. Would you support making it André Thélémaque, Jon Elkin of Israel against the Palestians and permanent?” You would answer “no” if read. And so would Noe Valley. ADVERTISING SALES demand our government to sever ties you don’t like being forced to transfer See you next month. Pat Rose, Jack Tipple with the Jewish state until it pledges to go downtown. PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER itself committed to the equality of all Question 11: "Is there anything you’d by Fricke-Parks Press ### Contents ᭧ 2021 The Noe Valley Voice people within its borders. like to add about the transfer point for Our city and region was one of the the J Church at Market Street?” You The Noe Valley Voice • August 2021 5

RISING V OICES fiction, poetry, essays, nonfiction • the noe valley voice

Tw o Po e m s By Grace D’Anca

Mother’s Shoes Baptized

She had a thing about wearing shoes Baptized in fog if someone showed up at the door. like new cross on top of a hill Otherwise she’d go barefoot a lot suspended in the wind and let me too. But I can’t remember kissing the rain her regular shoes. There were shoes waiting to open like a canyon. in the pink bedroom closet next to window Sing an aria to no one over looking peonies in summer and crocus dance on pointe barefoot in winter, low-heeled pumps black and brown except for purple nails shiny wine colored slippers throw away the cracker box past she wore if she had to go to the hospital for a d&c pick up your broken heart and purple suede open toe sling back dancing shoes. and swallow it whole She didn’t go dancing anymore but she let me you will never be this again. clomp around in them. But I can’t remember Look back on your wisdom her regular shoes to do ordinary things drive blind around the curve every thing else shoes. She even had plaster your wall with what you know gold Capezio flats she pierced holes in be brave be alone be among to string laces she could criss cross stop start bend break up to her knees to wear with a full skirt she could fan but don’t be brittle. and sombrero earrings. I was old enough to be embarrassed. You are baptized in fog. But I can’t remember her every thing else shoes. Remember.

Did she wear high button shoes in that 1922 photo, sitting on a huge mound of snow away from the house where her father would not let her have friends? Did she Minnesotan Grace D’Anca came to S.F. in 1967 in pursuit of the arts. Performing grab the felt slipper next to her bed in the cold back room with Bay Area theater and dance groups, mental health facilities and youth lock-ups, she got interested in audiences and became a creative arts therapist. Retired, she to strike her father still medicates with. when he tried to try to slip into her bed?

Did she wear stiff mahogany oxfords when she thrust her foot across the threshold to bar her father’s mistress from her dead mother’s house?

Did she wear mukluks those seven years she missed college to keep house for her misanthropic brothers who squandered university privileges to become a warehouse man and a hobo?

Did she wear white low-heeled shoes with her magenta student nurses cape when she went back to school did she wear black sensible shoes to match the bag heavy with medical supplies when she cared for a man with no arms and legs who drew cartoons, and a little girl who loved to have her ears cleaned?

I don’t remember her in Keds I don’t remember her shoes for everything else except for flip-flops she wore early morning and end of day to water snapdragons under the bathroom window and pansies beneath the apple tree planted when I was born. Image by Jack Tipple When she lay in a heavy fountain pen gray casket I wondered if she might be wearing one purple suede open toe sling back shoe with the other foot bare. 6 The Noe Valley Voice • August 2021 • READERS •

Megan Wetherall and daughter Lucia Cornelius on the South Bank of the Thames in London with the Houses of Parliment and Big Ben in the background..

Want to appear on our Readers page? It’s easy. Just pack a copy of The Noe Valley Voice when you set off on your next adventure. Take a digital photo and email it to [email protected]

Tell us a bit about the location and time of photo and we’ll make you famous. Thanks! Nash, the Pandemic Pup is “11 months old and we got him as an 8 week old puppy back in September 2020 during the pandemic’ reports Kristin Fleming. “He’s a Bernedoodle and can be regularly spotted at either the Upper Noe or Upper Douglass dog parks! He has a ton of energy so he’s at a dog park almost every day hanging out with his best friend Norman (another Bernedoodle born the same time as him - we’ve now become friends with his owners!) and making friends with all the other dogs and owners.

Beatrice Bonnafous, a Parisian artist, inspects the hometown newspaper brought by her Sgt. Justin Woo, shows what he likes to read on break from his current assignment at friend Beverly Photo by Beverly Tharp Walgreens on Castro Street in Noe Valley. The Noe Valley Voice • August 2021 7

RISING V OICES fiction, poetry, essays, nonfiction • the noe valley voice

“We cannot seek achievement for million and growing structural deficit. ourselves and forget about progress Summer school to help address learn- and prosperity for our community... Appoint Our School Board ing loss is just for some families in focal Our ambitions must be broad By Laurance Lee populations. New school start times will save the district $3 million in trans- enough to include the aspirations and portation costs, but have wreaked needs of others, for their sakes and for havoc on so many before school family our own." schedules. There is basically no money Cesar Chavez for extra counseling or for repaying special education teachers for supplies. read with interest Christine Cor- Idaro’s Other Voices piece, “Why I One can say that it may be asking too Support an Appointed vs. Elected much for having this Board of Education School Board” in the June 2021 Noe try to work to balance a budget Valley Voice. Particularly compelling was through a pandemic. Did they do any- her ending: “Our schools are our most thing about revenues or costs when the valuable institutions and should not be projected structural deficit was $75 treated as ‘political’ theatre or a train- million before the pandemic? That old ing camp for future politicians.” Why can is down the road with 7 kick marks. should our Noe Valley neighborhood be interested in the actions and votes of If anything, this Board has spoken the Board of Education Commission- often on equity. Yet this past school year ers? has demonstrated unfortunate out- comes. Reading and math gaps widened Noe’s demographics are well known- for K-5. Average attendance was lower we have few families with public school for certain groups. Preliminary enroll- students, very few with public high ment numbers at Everett Middle and school students. Some of us do not Mission High are 15% less. And that’s know public school families. Well, hope- just what we know. fully we can peer beyond our personal Early Childhood art. Photo by Jack Tipple circles and agree with the above quote t’s time for us all to pay attention and to act. This Board of Education has not from the immigrant with an 8th grade across the decades. Oh yes, times are full time classroom instruction in the I done its job and will not be up for the job education about broadening our ambi- different now. That is all the more rea- fall? It’s already early August, weeks in front of it. Recall Board of Education tions. This City has families of over son for this neighborhood and the City before school starts, and there is no President Gabriela López, Vice-President 52,000 students who choose to keep to help to center the education and agreement with the teachers union, the Faauuga Moliga, and Commissioner Ali- their children in public schools. mental health well-being of our public United Educators of San Francisco. And son Collins. Support a City Charter school students. many remember the prior agreement amendment for the Mayor to appoint the I am a proud product of San Fran- And right now is when these stu- for spring classroom learning had a Board. cisco public schools, K through 12th dents really need help. A few months of daily schedule that under delivered for grade. The teachers, staff, and adminis- zoom in the room. No in-class instruc- many families and many teachers. trators were caring and dedicated, tion for the majority of middle and high modeling how to interact in this diverse Laurance Lee is a real estate developer school students. aybe under delivery is the nature focusing on energy-efficient Missing Middle City. Classmates of every stripe and Mfor this school district and Board and Affordable Housing. background are now deep friends But what about the Resolution for of Education, especially given the $120

Noe Valley Bookstore Events By Richard May

Bookstores Gear Up for Summer

Our neighborhood bookstores, Omnivore Books on Food and Folio Books, host five book events between them this month. Folio continues its events online, while Omnivore holds its in-store. Folio partner in readings Odd Mondays brings us a poet, a novelist, and a poet-novelist Aug. 9, 7 pm., via Zoom. Oakland poet Paul Corman-Roberts reads from his new collection Bone Moon Palace, L.A. novelist Penny Mickelbury from her newest You Can’t Die But Once, and Noe Valley poet-novelist Tamsin Spencer Smith from her novel Xisle. Email [email protected] for the link. Buy Tamsin Spencer Smith books from Folio in-store at 3957 24th St. or online at www.foliosf.com/odd-mondays.

Omnivore has scheduled four in-store events for August, including Member of the National Michelle Polzine, owner and chef of the now permanently closed 20th Association of Enrolled Agents Century Café, formerly of Hayes Valley, on Aug. 14 at 3 p.m. You can still enjoy DIY desserts from the restaurant by buying Polzine’s book • Individual • Tax Planning Baking at the 20th Century Café. • Business Returns • Prior Year Returns Other in-store August events at Omnivore are The Magic of Tinned • Electronic Filing • Out-of-State Returns Fish with Chris McDade, Spicebox Kitchen with Linda Shiue, and Seven Pots of Tea with Nandita Godbole. Check Call for an appointment TODAY! https://omnivorebooks.myshopify.com for dates and times. The store 300 Vicksburg Street #1, San Francisco • 415-821-3200 is located at 3885A Cesar Chavez St. (on the corner of 24th near Church Street) 8 The Noe Valley Voice • August 2021

Alert

More Muni service coming August 14

More Muni service in time for school: • The M Ocean View returns to rail service • The full 35 Eureka route • The full 48 Quintara/24th Street route • Service until midnight on 16 routes • The full Owl network

Visit SFMTA.com/ServiceChanges for details on routes and hours of service. For information about taking Muni to school visit We’re partying like its 1993! (Our original opening) SFMTA.com/SchoolRoutes. 8FhSFQBSUZJOHMJLFJUT PVSPSJHJOBMPQFOJOH 0SEFSZPVSGBWPSJUFTGPSUBLFPVU 5VFT4BUQNNow open for indoor and outdoor dining, Physical distance limits have been lifted but federal law still requires that masks are Tues-Sat 5:30-8:30 GJSFGMZTGDPNPSEFS worn when riding Muni and in transit facilities. fireflysf.com/reservations

311 Free language assistance / 免費語言協助 / Ayuda gratis con el idioma / Бесплатная помощь переводчиков / Trợ giúp Thông dịch Miễn phí / Assistance linguistique gratuite / 無料の言語支援 / Libreng tulong para sa wikang Filipino / UI4U 'JSFGMZTGDPN خط ا摀摐ساعدة ا摀摐جا摠撠 ع摀撐 الر무료 언어 지원 / การช่วยเหลือทางด้านภาษาโดยไม่เสียค่าใช้จ่าย / 搠摐 4BO'SBODJTDP $" SFMTA.com/ServiceChanges

NOE VALLEY MARKET UPDATE | Q2 2021

SINGLE YoY% YoY% CONDOS FAMILY CHANGE CHANGE

NEW NEW NEW NEW LISTINGS LISTINGS LISTINGS LISTINGS 55 +2% 37 +16%

LISTINGS IN LISTINGS IN LISTINGS IN LISTINGS IN CONTRACT CONTRACT CONTRACT CONTRACT 67 +109% 32 +357%

NUMBER OF NUMBER OF NUMBER OF NUMBER OF SOLD SOLD SOLD SOLD 58 +164% 34 +580%

MEDIAN MEDIAN MEDIAN MEDIAN DOM DOM DOM DOM 9 -18% 10 -17%

MEDIAN MEDIAN MEDIAN MEDIAN $/SQ FT $/SQ FT $/SQ FT $/SQ FT $1,297 -8% $1,176 -3%

MEDIAN MEDIAN MEDIAN MEDIAN SALES PRICE SALES PRICE SALES PRICE SALES PRICE $3.00M +2% $1.49M -1%

DANIELLE LAZIER REAL ESTATE TRUST · EXPERTISE · RESULTS 19 Years in Business · Over 755 Home Sales and Counting See more market insights & our smiling faces at NoeValleyMarketUpdate.com | DRE 01340326

Quito, Ecuador. Sometime in 2018. the grandmother, to report on the patient and the regimen. The truth of RISING V OICES lemon juice and salt and baking soda he bus turned right onto Machala fiction, poetry, essays, nonfiction • the noe valley voice handed down and confirmed like Tand headed toward the light at La ancient messages delivered over the Florida. The boy grabbed his backpack crests of the Andes by their runners. and hopped off as the light turned red on, husband—no matter. While they and the bus door opened. He glanced La Mujer Spunch away at their phones like up at the darkening skies—he did not matadors lunging at a thousand bulls, have his jacket. He wanted to be home By Bill Yard mother or wife will add a little before the rain came. But mostly he just chimichurri, and later when the man wanted to be home. puts his phone down beside him on the Home, where his mother would be stir- sofa and puts his feet up on the spare ring something on the stove. Home, stool and his eyes close, she will sneak where his sister would be watching a up like a cat and take off his shoes as he video and texting a friend. Home, mumbles something to the bulls of his where his dog would be patrolling the dreams, and she will cover him lightly rooftop, keeping the evil pigeons from with the blanket, not the new blanket landing. The smell of his mother’s arroz they bought with his yearly bonus but con pollo greeted him while he fumbled the old faded one her own grand- for his keys. mother sewed and embroidered back ears later, deep into an uncertain in her casita in el campo, when her pot Yfuture, years of deciding he didn’t of chicken bubbled over a fire of burn- like marijuana or beer, of one day over- ing wood, and thus a third generation of sleeping and being fired from his hated woman was looking out for him and job before finding one he liked where she decided that, when he awoke, she he always showed up on time, years of would tell him that her doctor had hopping off any of a dozen buses, tired showed her the ultrasound and that in about money or soaked to the skin a few months they would have a baby because he forgot his jacket, until one girl, that even a fourth generation of la day for some odd reason a shy girl with mujer would embrace him in her tiny skin from the shadows and chocolate arms, to call him “Papi.” eyes and a thick obsidian mobius trensa He had come home. Papi had come whom he had never noticed but who home. had noticed him since their second year “Papi’s home,” her mother would say. in colegio, who cooked chicken like his “Go open the door and kiss your We are all made of stars. Photo by Jack Tipple mom, who used just enough cilantro father,” she would order the little girl, and comino to get his attention, finally as she stirred the arroz con pollo. often although they had never met and merely cook, stir the bubbling pot, fill got his attention. no words were exchanged, they knew the house with steamy scents of nd he was home again. His all and spoke all in their silence, there cilantro and comino and ajo and cebolla mother’s tired husk now able to lie Bill Yard splits time between San Diego A was nothing to know beyond what the while they smile and sing. Bring the sick and Quito. He has been known to hide in peace in the cementario while her women knew. They knew that the wise boy the remedio—lemon juice with salt inside old Coltrane tracks, hike alone, and spirit floated in heaven above he imag- woman kept her man at the table an and baking soda—and stand him up somehow scratch out a living. Good ined, smiling he hoped, he wanted, espe- extra moment before setting before there at the sink despite his futile fortune has often tracked him down, cially when his young wife scolded him him the bowl of steaming fanesca or protests and make sure that he gargles despite his best efforts. for leaving his jacket at home before he encebollado or arroz con pollo. They long enough, then call her own mother, headed off to work—didn’t he know listen to music, these women who each the clouds of Quito already? A lifetime are of both country and city, of today in Quito and he didn’t know that it and a century before, they were happy would rain? She shook her head. Dios when their man—son, husband, father, Mío he was a lucky man, she knew, he some strange wombless creature—was knew, and this wife now in their new at home. The women know that we are place in Barrio La Luz and his mother all dying, that we must die and that they up in heaven were happy, happy for the Thank must continue to cook against the faithful rain, because they knew even if darkness, this is their weapon, against he didn’t. He did not have to know death’s soft cool encroaching warmth. because they did. They knew what only Cook with joy—not rage, not fear, but some women know, women who spoke You Noe Valley! FRIENDS of The Noe Valley Voice

The Voice has noted the financial challenges we face and invited you, our faithful readers, to make cash contributions to help us continue this 40 year tradition of local journalism. The names below are some of the most recent who’ve stepped up and showed us they care. We’re forever grateful for their generosity.

Jane Voeste Sandy Calvello B. J. Droubi Kenneth & Janet Bollier Dan and Lloyda Murphy Anonymous Noe Valley artist Kit Cameron is showing her watercolor paintings at Terry Lynn Karl George Borges Far Out Gallery 3004 Taraval at 40th Avenue William Ehardt Mary Kay & Dennis Reager San Francisco Bonnie Lindahl Saturdays & Sundays 12 to 6 p.m. and by appointment Our need continues. Please join your neighbors

Through September 5th with a contribution to

Other artists showing are Andy Forest, Friends of The Noe Valley Voice Kit Cameron Eddie Wolowski and Carlo Grünfeld Watercolor: Alpine Lake – above PO Box 460249, San Francisco, CA 94146 10 The Noe Valley Voice • August 2021 Integrative Medicine for Kids

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The Noe Valley Voice • August 2021 11

returned to Shinbone last week, but Mary peered at her feet, which were Ilike countless nooks and crannies in clad in those black lace-up boots the world, the lane isn't what it used to RISING V OICES women born at the tail end of the 19th be. The attic apartment I rented— fiction, poetry, essays, nonfiction • the noe valley voice century used to wear. bartered for, actually—was gussied up asked Captain about this. A band- and turned into a condominium, walled Itailed pigeon with one natural and off from the rest of the house and on one wire foot, Captain lived high up in sale for $1.2 million, all 475 square feet On Shinbone Lane an oak tree behind Jeb Waller's Victo- of it. I don't even want to know how By Laura McHale Holland rian at 3346 Shinbone Lane, situated much per square foot that is. My land- directly across from Mary's. Captain lady, Mary, took me in, no written appli- spent most of his time in Jeb's garage cation or references required, in the workshop, where Jeb fixed anything and spring of 1974. She's long gone now, everything, a lost art nowadays. Their bless her beautiful soul, and whoever conversations ranged from jazz greats buys that attic will be credit checked like Betty Carter appearing at Keystone and underwritten for longer than Rum- Corner to lowering the U.S. maximum plestiltskin's nap, that is unless they pay speed limit to 55 mph, to the Dada art cash, which hard as it is for us 99 per- movement in 1920s Paris, to heiress centers to fathom, is a thing. Patricia Hearst standing guard with an M1 carbine rifle while her kidnappers I'm not sure what drew me to Shin- robbed a bank. And to my eternal won- bone after all these years—just an urge der they let me, a newcomer, join their that kept pestering like a hungry cat, I conversations. This took a little getting suppose. I stayed at Eloise's place near used to because Captain's voice, grav- the foot of the hill where Shinbone elly like the songwriter Tom Waits, ends. Eloise's former place, I should say. bypassed the ears and came straight There's a sign where Shinbone meets into the mind. 29th Street now that says NO OUT- LET. Back in 1974, folks were more flex- I never could grasp the logic behind ible about the meaning of "outlet." what Captain chose to divulge. He Members of Shinbone Friends, formed would, for example, detail ongoing feuds because no neighborhood nearby between neighbors over tree pruning would claim Shinbone as its own, would and placement of garbage cans, but Bloom amid drought. Photo by Jack Tipple never have let that sign stand. Most when I asked what went down between everyone who lived along our two-and- Mary and Eloise, he plugged that line of a-half blocks of unpaved freedom it, teaching myself calligraphy from an just like Eloise's. inquiry with, "If they wanted you to belonged to that group—old timers, instruction book I picked up at a side- know, they would tell you." young families, misfits and transients. walk sale. She pestered everyone. Except for Mary, my landlady. Whenever they How could I argue with that? loise's cottage is now an Airbnb that Now, Eloise might not have been fond encountered one another—which was Ecost me a pretty penny for a two- of me, but she was gracious in the way often since only the remains of a farm- ven now, I question nothing from night stay. The interior is all hard lines in divas have as she walked her miniature stead converted into a community cen- Ethat time, for I left far more than my black and white with chrome accents. I poodle, Coco, up and down the lane, ter buffeted the ill will flowing between heart on the Shinbone Lane of yore. doubt it looked anything like that when asking anyone and everyone—stranger them—Eloise looked up as though Eloise lived there. I can't say for sure and friend alike—if they had seen her admiring clouds passing above, and because Eloise never invited me inside, runaway daughter. It didn't matter how many times she'd asked before; if she perhaps because she, a former prima Laura McHale Holland writes stories true and untrue in multiple forms and finds hope in ballerina, could tell from the get-go that managed to corner you, she'd ask again, unlikely places. Her debut novel The Kiminee Dream, was a finalist in the 2021 Next I had no talent for graceful contortions. "Have you seen my Julianna?" while Generation Indie Book Awards. "On Shinbone Lane" is excerpted from a novel in progress. I was more of an arts and crafts person, pulling out a crinkled photo of a beauty For more info, stop by https://lauramchaleholland.com. dilettante might be the right word for with thick chestnut hair and grey eyes,

• Wayback Editions •

In over 40 years, The Noe Valley Voice has published a great many pages. Thanks to the Neighborhood Newspaper Collection at The Internet Archive here in San Francisco, you can read every edition from the first in May of 1977 through 2011 (and more will be scanned and uploaded in the future).

https://archive.org/search.php?query=Noe+Valley+Voice&page=1

In 1996 we started putting selections from each issue on the web at noevalleyvoice.com but it wasn’t until the July/August 2013 issue that we were able to put up all the pages of our print edition.

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Compass is a licensed real estate broker (01991628) in the State of California and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only. Information is compiled from sources deemed reliable but is subject to errors, omissions, changes in price, condition, sale, or withdraw without notice. No statement is made as to accuracy of any description. All measurements and square footages are approximate. Exact dimensions can be obtained by retaining the services of an architect or engineer. This is not intended to solicit property already listed. *Stats based on 2020 SFH MLS data at the time of print.

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RISING V OICES fiction, poetry, essays, nonfiction • the noe valley voice

Making the Cut By Julie Lekach House

ne and a half years without a hair- Every day after that was a good hair Ocut. Well, that’s not true, I went day, or at least a good-enough hair day. one and a half years without a profes- Every two months or so I re-set up the sional haircut. Last week, Sheila, who chop shop in my bathroom. I dreaded has a chair at Moe’s on 24th Street, the process before I began, worrying washed my hair, massaged my head and that I’d cut so much, so crookedly that I asked her usual how-are-the-girls ques- couldn’t fix it. Once I was done, how- tion. The girls are 32 and 30, but the ever, I relished the new haircut feel. I question is sweet because Sheila also thanked the Zoom gods for expos- started cutting my hair when they were ing only those parts of my hairdo I not women, but girls, ages 7 and 5. I’ve could see while cutting. been popping around Noe Valley with Sheila for 25 years. ctually, I’ve been cutting my own Ahair since 1959. Back then, my 3- Like most people in mid-March 2020, I year-old self went from cutting out thought COVID-19 lockdowns and the Humpty Dumpty to chopping off one virus’s spread would be a thing of the side of my long, curly locks. My haircut- past by May or June. I was already over- ting experiment, and subsequent pixie due for a cut. My procrastination had cut, made my mother cry. But, that’s a caught up with me. Still, my unwieldy Buffalo (NY) story for another day. For hair seemed a trivial inconvenience today, I’m excited to be going back to amid all the shelter in place sacrifices. Sheila in two months. I’m happy know- To control the chaos, I tried head- ing that cutting my own hair this time bands. Nope. I dug through drawers and around didn’t even come close to mak- found my children’s barrette collection. ing anyone cry. I looked like an 8 year old with white hair. I settled on hair gel, gobs of it, by June.

By July, I had run through the dregs of my full size gel tube and the little tube I kept in my travel bag. Going into stores, especially drugstores lined with the potentially sick, made me anxious. I had- n’t yet succumbed to the lure of Ama- Before. zon Prime delivery. After the cut. Photo by Sandra Eggers Nearly gel-less, I weighed my options. Store or scissors? I’d been cutting my husband’s sparse hair (sorry, darling) cuts. Maybe it was just a hint for a big- could I make the cut with my always for years. I’d watched the stylist at Anna ger tip, but he always did such a good shaky hands? for Hair buzz his top with a clipper. I job that people would stop me on the realized that I, too, could insert a num- street and ask who cut my hair. Sheila Channeling my inner Sheila, I placed a Julie Lekach House has lived in Upper Noe Valley since 1990. She and her ber two blade and buzz away. carried on the tradition. I learned to bunch of damp hair between my index have Sheila’s card in my purse, because and middle finger. I made sure my finger husband raised two daughters here. They ran a successful software business from strangers still asked where I got my hair barrier ran parallel to Sheila’s original ut my hair is different. I have lots of their home before WFH (Work From Bit. When I lived in New York in the cut. line. I snipped. I repositioned. I Home) was cool. Currently, Julie is retired 1980s, my hairdresser either joked that Luckily, the high-quality hair scissors repeated. And, I prayed. and enjoys folk dancing, line dancing and I broke his scissors with my abundant we bought years ago to cut my older writing for her memoir class. hair or that I should pay for two hair- daughter’s bangs were still sharp. But

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RISING V OICES fiction, poetry, essays, nonfiction • the noe valley voice

Don’t Lose It By Jeff Kaliss Image by Jack Tipple Jack by Image

It opens with a riff: For now, while you’re still reading paper, are still alive a Latin-tinged sway you can all share the time with an elder, and rent is still on an open fifth and groove on how it is within their reach and ours, borrowed from Horace Silver’s jazz gem, that how it went and most of us are single. “Song for My Father”. is ever what it was, We all borrow from our fathers and how you go to goodness, You quaff your scotch, invite Rikki before we get to get our own places how you drop your coin, to shoot a game of pool. and buy our own drinks. you play your song, Alvin’s got his own eye on your game. your ‘80s jukebox song, He moves out from behind his bar Can you hear it now, and it stays with you, to feed the jukebox once again. on the jukebox at Finnegan’s Wake? you take it down the street, “Rikki don’t lose that number.” Our saloon of choice it takes you through your life. in the days after disco, Don’t lose? when rock ‘n’ roll and all of us Rikki Don’t Lose That Number”. She’s putting every solid number, on up to 8 were trying to sound smart, in all six pockets of the table, but still flirting with the foolish. That was the name of that song. compelling you in conversation, too: the grad school she’ll be going to back East, “We hear you’re leaving, that’s okay. Why did Alvin keep it on the jukebox? once she’s conquered the West. I thought our little wild time had just begun. What did he not want us to lose? I guess you kind of scared yourself, you turn and run. You’re glad she won this game. But if you have a change of heart. . . “ Was it Rikki? You raptly watch and walk her to her prize. Remember Rikki? the ice cream that you buy her, down the street, Listen now for the run a double-scoop, with sprinkles; that follows that lyric, All of them, any of them the sun has shown the fog away, on a B-flat-plus-9 chord. could have been Rikki. and she seems glad that everything is melting. Were you there to hear it Rikki: the crisp androgyny of her name when it was playing what your life was, brings back that tangy tug, “Rikki don’t lose this number.” forty years ago, that lemon squeeze below your waist, What numbers should we keep, Alvin? on Finnegan’s jukebox, wanting towards having, 24th Street leads along our happiness. when Finnegan’s stood open women and men both wanting her, We don’t need the 10 or the 24 in the heart of Noe Valley, her clever chatter cracking ice cubes, to get away from this. between Noe & Castro? your eyes slipping downwards from hers. From her frank, fresh eyes, But the ‘80s will blow by Can you, with younger eyes, still see that sound, young when you were young, as we get hired, married, pregnant, without prescription, longish tousled hair, as Rikki does her dissertation, still hear that bar, crisp blouse, starched, unbuttoned, as music gets made by machines, without tinnitus? her mounded breaths, as many candles crowd our birthday cakes. longish summer legs, Maybe not. thighs hugged by summer shorts. “You tell yourself you’re not my kind, But “that’s okay”, but you don’t even know your mind, as Donald Fagen, Remember to keep talking, and you could have a change of heart. . . “ the neo-beatnik in the Steely Dan band, while you’re in the 1980's: sang to Rikki, how you write for the neighborhood paper, Hey. some years before this story. what a great place this is It’s not a change of heart you need. to have to write about, It’s not you never knew your mind. It’s okay the cute cafés and coffeehouses Your mind and heart were one then, and still are. if you don’t know music theory, (and all the cute who hang out there), So are mine. okay if you abstain the homey eateries, and never would have ventured the mom-and-pop stores, We don’t need numbers, we need living. into Finnegan’s, ‘cause Mom and Pop It’s in the music. okay if you’re a techie Alvin knew that then. who wouldn’t have been He still does. invented yet.

— Poem by Jeff Kaliss The Noe Valley Voice revived Jeff Kaliss’s freelance writing jones in 1979. This led to a career, with a tributary MFA in Lyrics and Music by Walter Becker & Donald Fagen Creative Writing from San Francisco State. In books, articles, poetry, fiction, and elsewhere, he writes much about music, (Steely Dan) place, and purpose.

16 The Noe Valley Voice • August 2021

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Compass is a real estate broker licensed by the State of California and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. License Number 01527235. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only and is compiled from sources deemed reliable but has not been verified. hanes in price condition sale or ith- drawal may be made without notice. No statement is made as to accuracy of any description. All measurements and square footages are approximate. MLS reported data 10 ay rea ounties per roer etrics. ast ees data is estimated and may chane ith late reported activity.

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put the hummingbird feeder up in the immobilized and enveloped in a quick Ispring, full of hope that I would soon encasement of silky strings, and I see hummers aplenty. But as I observed RISING V OICES watched the spider’s speedy move- my mini-ecosystem over the following fiction, poetry, essays, nonfiction • the noe valley voice ments to further disable and disassem- weeks, I realized there was a California ble the flying thing. The spider, sucking Scrub-Jay nest in the maple tree and the juiciness from within, quickly that the tiny flying dancers would not deflated the fly. feel comfortable hanging around. (Jays will eat hummingbirds and raid their BIRD. CAT. SPIDER. HUMAN. nests!) So, I took down the feeder. Now By LisaRuth Elliot sparrow landed just beyond my the young have fledged, and the Scrub- Aview, foraging in the rose tree Jays have moved on. This past month I beyond the house. I crouched at the started hearing the clicks and calls of sudden appearance of the Anna’s Hum- hummingbirds in the maple branches. mingbird above me, probably a bit con- One evening I cooked up some sugary fused at my—and my hanging nectar and hung the feeder. The very laundry’s—presence in such close prox- next morning I had my first visitor. The imity to the nectar in the feeder it usu- immense joy these little creatures bring ally has unimpeded access to. A me is uncanny. The hum of wingbeats high-flying American Crow, maybe a just now paused my typing. Coco the Common Raven, sounded above. A car cat—or “little miss green eyes” or “the alarm ruptured the muted tones of the huntress”, as I also tend to call her, my sky language I had tuned into around neighbor’s outdoor cat—has taken up me, and reminded me that this dense various prime bird watching spots urban environment is full of a whole under and around the feeder. Before I other soundscape. A neighbor spoke hung it, I had a conversation with her to loudly with another person who let her know I would be inviting some answered with laughter. Another neigh- bird friends over, and as I stroked her bor had earlier spent countless agoniz- belly, I asked if she could refrain from ing minutes using a high-pitched voice Habitat. Photo by Jack Tipple killing them. She has an acute ear and to train a dog in some task. A second eye, sometimes her gaze alerts me to a the cat, as she willed my hand to stroke tance to the south. A cabbage moth car alarm a street over started up, as if bird on a branch, other times we zero her cheek and head, directed me to fol- again and again visited the top of the in a call and response. I moved inside to in almost simultaneously to a sound or low the length of her black furry body pink-flowered plant I will never learn turn my attention to the constructs of a quick wing movement. I’m not crazy to her tail as she circled around my the name of. The hummingbird’s sharp a human life, taking sketches of the about the fact she’s free to roam the lower legs. I searched the maple tree staccato twi-twi twi-twi flitted by above overlapping worlds I observed that outdoors, and if not for the fact I know crown for the furtive and quick move- the maple crown. I detected the outline morning of the birds, cat, and insects she wants to eat them, or at least cap- ments of a bird whose twitters I could of a plump spider seemingly suspended with me into the rest of my day. ture them, I think we actually make not yet identify as I waited for my laun- in mid-air, but really at the center of an good birding companions… dry load to finish. We were all within elaborate construction invisible to any feet of each other, each with our own being’s naked eye, unless you see it in LisaRuth Elliott is inspired by place. The n a recent sunny, fresh Sunday priorities, desires, needs. just the right angle of light. I had been stories and landscape of San Francisco, of morning, while sitting outside on wanting to trim that wily jasmine the Yelamu and its creatures, inform her life O and work. She is an avid birder, writer my deck, I heard the whirr of vibrating hree Bushtits chased each other spider has connected one side of its and editor, visual artist, community hummingbird wings a couple feet above Tacross the small patch of sky in my web to, but it would have to wait. A historian, urban farmer, and lecturer at my head close to the feeder. The reach- view. The glorious contours of San winged one flew into the net of the bar- Bay Area universities. ing glance of the green eyes of Coco Bruno Mountain were clear in the dis- rel-bodied spider. Instantly the fly was

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WHO TO CALL AT CITY HALL NVV7/2021 San Francisco Information Line www.sf311.org ...... 311 or 415-701-2311 Covid-19 Text “COVID19SF to 888-777, see sf.gov/topics/coronavirus-covid-19, or call . . 311 Burned-Out Streetlights, city owned (wooden poles call PG&E) ...... 311 District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, [email protected] . . . . 415-554-6968 District 8 Community Liaison for Crime Prevention ...... [email protected] Graffiti Removal, Tree Removal, Street Cleaning (DPW)...... 415-695-2017 Hazardous Waste Disposal / free pickup bulky items ...... 415-330-1300 Homeless Services Street Outreach Services (SOS)...... 415-355-2250 Lost or Injured Animals Animal Care and Control ...... 415-554-6364 Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services sfmayor.org ...... 415-554-7111 NERT (SFFD Neighborhood Emergency Response Teams) ...... 415-970-2022 Parking Enforcement DPT Dispatch ...... 415-553-1200 PG&E Gas or electrical issues ...... 1-800-743-5000 Pothole Repairs [email protected] ...... 415-554-5810 Recycling Recology San Francisco ...... 415-330-1300 Rent Board ...... 415-252-4600 Sewer Problems, Overflows ...... 415-695-2096 Tree Planting [email protected] ...... 415-554-6700 24th Street Community Benefit District (CBD) ...... 415-519-0093 Water Leaks, Water Pressure ...... 415-554-3289 “A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” ―Lao Tzu, sixth century BC Chinese philosopher

See You in September!

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n 2018 I returned to Kailua Kona, ter flowers to greet them. We walked to- IHawai’i to pay my respects to my de- wards an area covered in black lava flows ceased parents whose ashes were scat- RISING V OICES that had tide pools and small blow holes. tered off the coast. I planned to “visit” fiction, poetry, essays, nonfiction • the noe valley voice Richard pointed to a place and said, my parents as part of a strong Japanese “There’s a good spot.” Roxie and I navi- tradition of paying respect to one’s eld- gated the lava rocks, careful not to slip ers after their death. I learned this tra- and fall on the algae covered stones. dition early in my childhood because Kona Chips Richard was behind us, not venturing as my family would always visit the By Sandy Nakamura far as we did because he has issues with gravesites of my relatives and friends. It his balance. I carried a plastic container was an act of kindness that we would filled with flowers to place in the ocean practice almost every month. As a and when I reached the point where the young adult, I moved away from my lava flow meets the sea, I stood there for family’s roots in the Central Valley and a moment enjoying the spectacular view. the practice of visiting my elders quickly I looked down at my feet and a sea turtle left me and was lost for several years. was looking up at me. I was so surprised When my parents passed away, Mom to see it… right there! Sea turtles are in 2010 and Papasan in 2014, I started considered sacred in Hawai’ian culture visiting them in Hawai’i every two and are revered as a symbol of wisdom years. Papasan had a specific wish to and good luck and appear to humans in have his ashes combined with Mom’s the form of a guardian spirit. and to scatter them in the ocean off “There’s a honu right here!” I yelled the coast of Kona, in the same spot back at Richard. Roxie was excited where his best friend, Uncle Peter about the turtle too. We had been Anderson’s ashes were scattered more wanting to see honus since the begin- than twenty-five years ago. In 2015 I ning of our trip and as if by magic, one hired a Captain and rented a boat to Pacific Ocean surf. Photo by Jack Tipple came to visit us. We placed the flowers scatter their ashes and was accompa- in the water next to the turtle and the nied by Uncle Peter’s wife Leona, her orful mix of plumeria and orchid blos- where Richard played as a child and waves began to take them out to sea. boyfriend Peter (ironic, yes?), and my soms. As they floated atop the ocean’s which was once exclusive to Hawai’ians “Honu, take these flowers to Mama best friend Richard. As our boat left the surface, I opened the urn and scattered only. It’s now a State park and open to san and Papasan,” Richard said. dock of the harbor, Richard sat in a their ashes. Funny how the ashes did the public, but most tourists do not he honu turned around and swam chair facing the back of the boat, so he not sink quickly into the water. Instead, know about it, so shhh, let’s keep it Tout to sea. The waves floated the quiet and out of Fodor’s, Lonely Planet could relish the incredible view of his they slowly spread across the top of flowers behind the turtle and it actually and other travel guides. favorite mountain on the Kona Coast the water and remained there for a looked like the honu was doing exactly Ho’okena Beach is located off High- named Hualalai. long time, mixing with the flowers and what Richard had commanded. It was way 11, also known as Mamalahoa High- ichard is pure Hawai’ian and has a my tears. The combination of the ashes surreal how things happened that way way. Vehicles must travel down a steep rich family history on the Big Is- and the ocean’s salt water made the but I’m not going to question how or R and winding road to the beach. Parking land. We met in 2006 when I joined Na dark blue sea turn a vibrant aqua blue. why it did. It just did. I didn’t say any- is scarce, a few houses and what appear Lei Hulu I Ka Wekiu in San Francisco, a It was amazing, like magic. Then the thing out loud to my parents that day to be tin roofed shacks line the shore- hula halau (school). Richard was the unthinkable happened Richard began but knew they were witness to the line. One of Richard’s cousins lives in a oldest dancer of the halau and left in chanting a Hawai’ian verse to honor my honu too and were smiling. I was filled shack-like abode and has lived there for 2013 to return home to Kona, Hawai’i. parents. I turned around when I heard with happiness and turned to share my many years. Huge pit bulls guard the It was important for Richard to join me his deep, commanding voice and looked emotional moment with Richard. As I property. Ho’okena is a small beach, in the act of scattering my parent’s at him with tears in his eyes and so turned to see Richard standing behind nestled in a protected cove, alongside a ashes because he and I share a special much love in my heart. Richard cap- me, he was holding a bag of Kona Chips once sacred rock formation and moun- bond. We are so close, I feel he is my tured the moment as he always does. to his mouth pouring the small bits left tainside. Bones of the dead were placed brother and protector. We love each When our boat returned to the har- at the bottom of bag, ensuring he could inside small crevices in the mountain- other and have an incredible friendship. bor, the Captain told Richard he had eat every last morsel. side to later be memorialized by native So, when the boat approached the ex- never witnessed anyone chanting in “Really?!”, I said. Hawai’ians. act location where my Uncle Peter’s more than twenty-five years since he “What?!” he replied.That’s my ichard, my friends Karen, Sharif, and ashes had been laid, the Captain cut the started taking families out to sea. He Richard… my hoaaloha pili loa. their six-year old daughter, Roxie, engine and we were suddenly engulfed was surprised by Richard, as was I, and R came to Ho’okena Beach with us. Roxie in complete silence. The ocean was a said he would never forget that and I planned to walk along the beach to- deep, dark blue and the waves were moment and the feeling it gave him. gether because she wanted to say “Hi” to calm, so the boat floated in the same I will always be grateful for what my parents. After swimming and picnick- spot effortlessly. I spoke to my parents Richard did that day. It was a perfect ing on an “ono” lunch of spam musubi, and told them how much I missed them example of the kind of person he is. poke, seaweed salad, Kona chips, leftover and said Kind, generous, so thoughtful. Thanks, teriyaki chicken, Filipino pancit, and fresh Sandy Nakamura has lived in Noe Valley for I’d be back to visit them again and Big Brother…Mahalo nui loa my fruit, it was time for me to find a quiet over two decades. She gives back to her again. I had purchased flowers to float hoaaloha pili loa (best friend). place to “visit” my Mom and Dad. I asked community and is referred to as the Mayor on the water before placing their ashes I returned to Kona Kailua again in of Church Street. Some say she’s a lifelong Richard to come with Roxie and me, so in the ocean. (Sadly, leis are no longer 2018 and this time I didn’t rent a boat lover of stories. Others say she talks a lot. the three of us walked along the shore- allowed for ash ceremonies, to protect or hire a captain. Simply put, she’s a perfect storm for writing short stories. ocean wildlife.) The flowers were a col- I went to Ho’okena Beach, a place line looking for the perfect spot to scat-

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Aug. 1: Political group ACTION SF hosts virtual Aug. 7-Sept. 5: WATERCOLORS by Kit meetings, open to all, from 12:30 to 2 pm. Email Cameron, Andy Forrest, Eddie Wolowski, and [email protected] to find out if the Carlo Grünfeld are on display at the Far Out meeting is virtual or in-person. Gallery. Weekends, noon-6 pm, and by appoint- Aug. 1-19: CREATIVITY EXPLORED hosts ment. 3004 Taraval. 463-5537; faroutgallery.com. Blackiful, a group exhibit featuring Black artists Aug. 11: RESILIENT Noe Valley meets at the “to respond to a need for a Black sanctuary Noe Valley Ministry. 12:30-2 pm. 1021 Sanchez. space.” Fri., 3-6 pm; Sat., 10 am-2 pm. 3245 16th. 282-2317; confirm with Pastor Brown at Make an appointment to view: 863-2108; creativi- [email protected]. tyexplored.org. Aug. 14: OMNIVORE Books hosts a free in- Aug. 1-Sept. 5: WATERCOLORS by Kit store discussion with Michelle Polzine, author of Cameron, Andy Forrest, Eddie Wolowski, and Baking at the 20th Century Cafe: Iconic European Carlo Grünfeld are on display at the Far Out Desserts from Linzer Torte to Honey Cake. 3-4 pm. Gallery. Weekends, noon-6 pm, and by appoint- 3885A Cesar Chavez. 282-4712; omnivore- ment. 3004 Taraval. 463-5537; faroutgallery.com. books.com. Aug. 1-Sept. 5: The SF MIME TROUPE performs Aug. 15: Chris McDade introduces The Magic of a series of weekly Radio Play Podcasts, “Tales of TINNED FISH at a free live in-store event. 3-4 the Resistance, Volume 2: Persistence.” For the pm. Omnivore Books, 3885A Cesar Chavez. 282- link: sfmt.org/talesvol2. 4712; omnivorebooks.com. Aug. 2-30: The 30th Street Senior Center offers Aug. 19: Kung Pao KOSHER COMEDY’s virtual FALL PREVENTION classes on Mondays “Lockdown Comedy” features streaming per- and Thursdays, from 1:30 to 2:30 pm. 225 30th. formances by Jason Stuart, Vijal Nathan, Dan St Sign up with Luz Villanueva, 550-2265. Paul, and Lisa Geduldig. 6 pm. koshercomedy.com. Aug. 2-31: Noe Valley OVEREATERS Aug. 20: Saxophone player Charlie Gurke per- Anonymous at St. Aidan’s meets via Zoom, forms as part of the virtual Shenson Faculty Monday through Saturday 7 to 8 am. 314-0720 or CONCERT Series at Community Music Center. 779-6273; oasf.org. 5:30-6:30 pm. 647-6015; sfcmc.org. Aug. 2-31: The 30th Street SENIOR CENTER Aug. 21: OMNIVORE Books hosts Linda Shiue, offers takeout lunches for people over 60, week- M.D., author of Spicebox Kitchen: Eat Well and Be days and Saturdays. 9:30 am-1:30 pm. 225 30th. Healthy with Globally Inspired, Vegetable-Forward 550-2226. Recipes, in an in-store conversation with Bryant Aug. 3, 10, 17, 24 & 31: The San Francisco Terry. 3-4 pm. 3885A Cesar Chavez. 282-4712; Public Library offers “Sweet Stories for Families,” omnivorebooks.com. virtual STORYTIMES, on Tuesdays, from 11 to Aug. 22: Nandita Godbole discusses Seven Pots 11:15 am. 557-4400; sfpl.org. of Tea: An Ayurvedic Approach to Sips & Nosh at a Aug. 4 & 18: The de Young Museum’s VIRTUAL free live in-store event. 3-4 pm. Omnivore Books, WEDNESDAYS program presents a two-part dis- 3885A Cesar Chavez. 282-4712; omnivore- cussion, “Art, Science, and Mythology of Wine in books.com. Ancient Mediterranean Cultures.” 5-5:45 pm. Aug. 25: Bird & Beckett bookstore hosts a read- 5SFFTBSFPOFPGUIFNPTU deyoung.famsf.org. ing by POET Judith Bernhard, who will be inter- DPTUFGGFDUJWFDMJNBUFTPMVUJPOT Aug. 4-25: The Castro FARMERS’ MARKET is viewed by Silvi Alcivar. 7:30-9 pm. 586-3733; bird- open Wednesdays 2:30 to 7 pm March 17 to beckett.com. BWBJMBCMFUPVT Nov. 17. 290 Noe. pcfma.org. Aug. 26: The San Francisco Public Library, SF Aug.4-27: PILATES BOOTCAMP classes at the Neon, and the Tenderloin Museum host a virtual Noe Valley Town Square are scheduled for presentation, “CINEMATIC SF Neon with Jim Van *O4BO'SBODJTDP XFIBWF Wednesdays and Fridays, 8 am. 3861 24th. noeval- Buskirk of Celluloid San Francisco.” 7-8 pm. UPPGFXBOEUIFZSFOPU leytownsquare.com. FRVJUBCMZEJTUSJCVUFE Aug. 6-27: Bird & Beckett bookstore hosts Still Zooming: The next Noe Valley Voice will Friday JAZZ live-streaming from the shop. 7:30-9 be the September 2021 issue, distributed XXXGVGOFU pm. 586-3733; birdbeckett.com. the first week of September. The deadline for Aug. 7-28: Noe Valley FARMERS MARKET is items is Aug. 15. Email calendar@noevalley- +PJOVTJONBLJOHBEJGGFSFODF open 8 am to 1 pm (8 to 9 am for seniors). 3861 voice.com or write Calendar, Noe Valley Voice, 24th. 248-1332; noevalleyfarmersmarket.com. P.O. Box 460249, San Francisco, CA 94146. The Noe Valley Voice • August 2021 21

RISING V OICES fiction, poetry, essays, nonfiction • the noe valley voice

Ruth Asawa By Dale Fehringer

Over time, Asawa became renowned Good Comes for her unique style of art. She created Through Adversity fountains; including the Andrea Mermaid Fountain at Ghiradelli Square and the uth Asawa was one of California's San Francisco fountain near Union Rmost admired sculptors and the first Square. But most people know her for Asian American woman to achieve suc- her wire sculptures; large and sophisti- cess in that field. She was also a long- cated pieces. Today, several of them are time resident of Noe Valley. displayed in San Francisco’s de Young Born in 1926 into a Japanese-Ameri- Museum. can family in southern California, Asawa Asawa was also a highly-regarded grew up in a life of adversity, both on community leader in art education. She her family’s produce farm, where every- started an art school in San Francisco one did hard and dirty work, and in that carries her name. school, where she was looked down espite adversity, she led a unique upon by some of her fellow students. Dand inspirational life. She did the Three months after the Japanese best she could, became the best she attack at Pearl Harbor, when Asawa was could be, and told everyone who would 16, her father was arrested by FBI listen that she was not a victim, she was agents and taken to a camp in New a survivor. Speaking of her incarceration Mexico. Two months later Ruth and the during World War II, she said: rest of her family were sent to the “I hold no hostilities for what hap- Santa Anita race track in Arcadia, Cali- pened. I blame no one. Sometimes Ruth Asawa with some of her intricate wire sculptures as pictured in the September 2013 fornia, where they lived in a horse stall good comes through adversity. I would Noe Valley Voice. Photo by Laurence Cuneo until they were sent to an internment not be who I am today had it not been camp in Arkansas. There they were fter being imprisoned for 18 months art and fell in love with an architecture for the Internment, and I like who I am.” confined with eight thousand other Aa Quaker organization obtained her student named Albert Lanier. After Japanese Americans. Among them release and she went to a college in Wis- graduation, they moved to San Fran- Dale Fehringer is a freelance writer who were some Japanese-American anima- consin where she studied to be a teacher. cisco, where they spent the rest of their has lived in Noe Valley for 30 years. This tors from the Walt Disney Studios who After college, she was denied a teaching lives, raising six children and pursuing story is included in his book, San Francisco: taught Ruth to draw. She spent much job because she was Japanese-American. their passions. Albert designed build- Legends, Heroes and Heartthrobs, which is of her free time learning and practicing She attended Black Mountain College ings while Ruth created sculptures, available at Folio Books and Video Wave. art. in North Carolina, where she studied fountains, paintings, and wire hangings.

august & september NATURE UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL events at WATERCOLORS FROM NATURE omnivore books

1. MICHELLE POLZINE • BAKING AT THE 20TH CENTURY SAT CAFE: ICONIC EUROPEAN DESSERTS FROM LINZER TORTE AUG TO HONEY CAKE • 3:00-4:00 P.M. FREE! Polzine, one of San 14 Francisco’s best pastry chefs, will transport us straight to the grand 2. cafés of Europe with legendary sweet and savory baking recipes of Central and Eastern Europe.

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LINDA SHIUE, M.D. • SPICEBOX KITCHEN: EAT WELL AND SAT 3. BE HEALTHY WITH GLOBALLY INSPIRED,VEGETABLE- AUG FORWARD RECIPES • 3:00-4:00 P.M. FREE! Let food be thy 21 medicine with recipes featuring spices from amchar masala to za'atar. 30 artists from the Mary L. Harden School of Botanical Illustration SUN NANDITA GODBOLE • SEVEN POTS OF TEA: AN AUG AYURVEDIC APPROACH TO SIPS & NOSH • 3:00-4:00 maryhardendesign.com P.M. FREE! An exploration of the ﬂavors and health beneﬁts in tea, 22  through Ayurveda’s six ‘rasas’’, with recipes for brews and nosh. OPENING RECEPTION MARIANA VELÁSQUEZ • COLOMBIANA: A REDISCOVERY Friday, August 6th WED OF RECIPES AND RITUALS FROM THE SOUL OF 5. SEPT COLOMBIA • 6:30-7:30 P.M. FREE! A Bogotá native will 5 – 7pm 8 discuss the diverse mix of heritages, cultures, and regions that Exhibit runs from Aug 4 – 31, 2021 comprise Colombian food can be summed up in one simple concept: More is more. THURS SHANNA FARRELL • A GOOD DRINK: IN PURSUIT OF SEPT SUSTAINABLE SPIRITS. • 6:30-7:30 P.M. P.M. FREE! A San 16 Francisco bartender’s search for the bars, distillers, and farmers who LOLA’S ART GALLERY are driving a transformation to sustainable spirits. 1250 Sanchez Street in Noe Valley omnivore books on food Open Tues – Sun, 12 – 6pm 3885a cesar chavez street (at church st.) · san francisco, ca 415.642.4875 | LolaSanFrancisco.com phone: 415.282.4712 · omnivorebooks.com 22 The Noe Valley Voice • August 2021

Action SF, the National Movement in Progress Noe Valley Your Neighborhood Facebook: facebook.com/ProgressNoeValley Websites: MORE GROUPS TO JOIN Email: [email protected] http://www.action-sf.com/ or Website: progressnoe.com https://m.facebook.com/ActionSFactivism/ Meetings: Check Facebook page for current Email: [email protected] Fair Oaks Neighbors Juri Commoners meeting and event schedule. Meetings: Usually first Sundays, 12:30-2 p.m. Email: [email protected] Contact: Dave Schweisguth, MI7-6290 Resilient Noe Valley All welcome. Address: 200 Fair Oaks St., SF, CA 94110 Email: [email protected] Contact: Antoinette The Fair Oaks Street Fair is traditionally Website: meetup.com/Juri-Commoners Al-Anon Noe Valley Email: [email protected] held the day before Mother’s Day. Meetings: Most last Saturdays, 9-noon. Contact: 834-9940 Newsletter signup: Website: al-anonsf.org Friends of Billy Goat Hill Liberty Hill Neighborhood Association http://eepurl.com/gYuCD5 Meetings: Wednesdays, 7:30-9 p.m. Contact: Lisa and Mo Ghotbi, 821-0122 Contact: Dr. Lisa Fromer, president Website: www.resilientnoevalley.com St. Philip Church, 725 Diamond St. (park on Website: www.billygoathill.net Email: [email protected] San Francisco NERT (Neighborhood Elizabeth Street side; enter on 24th Street) Meetings: Quarterly. Email for details. Friends of Dolores Park Playground Emergency Response Team) Castro Community on Patrol Contact: Nancy Gonzalez Madynski, Noe Neighborhood Council Contact: Noe Valley NERT Neighborhood Website: castropatrol.org 828-5772 Contact: Ozzie Rohm or Matt McCabe, Team co-coordinators Maxine Fasulis, Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Co-founders [email protected]; Carole Roberts, Website: friendsofdolorespark.org Email: [email protected] [email protected] Castro Merchants Website: noeneighborhoodcouncil.com Website: https://SF-ﬁre.org Contacts: Masood Samereie, President; Friends of Glen Canyon Park Meetings: Quarterly at Sally Brunn Library, New training classes to be scheduled soon. Dave Karraker, 415-710-0245 Contact: Jean Conner, 584-8576 451 Jersey St., with date publicized on Please check the NERT website for details. Email: [email protected] Address: 140 Turquoise Way, SF, CA 94131 website and Nextdoor.com. Address: 584 Castro St. #333, SF, CA 94114 Plant restoration work parties, Wednesday San Jose/Guerrero Coalition to Save Meetings: Email [email protected] mornings and third Saturday of the month. Noe Valley Association–24th Street Our Streets Community Benefit District Contact: Don Oshiro, 285-8188 Diamond Heights Community Friends of Noe Courts Playground Contact: Debra Niemann, 519-0093 Email: [email protected] Association Contact: Laura Norman Dispatch: To report spills or debris on 24th Website: sanjoseguerrero.com Contact: Betsy Eddy, 867-5774 Email: [email protected] Street, call Billy Dinnell, 802-4461. Meetings: See website. Address: P.O. Box 31529, SF, CA 94131 Address: P.O. Box 460953, SF, CA 94146 Email: [email protected]. Website: www.dhcasf.org Meetings: Email for dates and times. Friends of Slow Sanchez Website: noevalleyassociation.org Meetings: Second Thursday, 7 p.m. Call for Contacts: Christopher Keene, Andrew Friends of Noe Valley (FNV) Board meetings: Quarterly. See website. location. Casteel Contact: Todd David, 401-0625 Noe Valley Farmers Market Email: [email protected] Dolores Heights Improvement Club Email: [email protected] Open Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Website: SlowSanchez.com Email: [email protected] Website: friendsofnoevalley.com Tuesdays, 3 to 7 p.m.; 3861 24th St. between Website: www.doloresheights.org Meetings: Two or three annually. Upper Noe Merchants Vicksburg and Sanchez. Meetings: Third Thursday of every second Contact: [email protected] Friends of Upper Noe Recreation Contact: Leslie Crawford, 248-1332 month. Bank of America, 18th and Castro. https://uppernoeneighbors.com/merchants/ Center Email: [email protected] Duncan Newburg Association (DNA) Contact: Chris Faust Upper Noe Neighbors Noe Valley Merchants and Contacts: Deanna Mooney, 821-4045; Email: [email protected] Contact: Olga Milan-Howells, 756-4455 Professionals Association (NVMPA) Diane McCarney, 824-0303; or Sally Chew, Website: uppernoerecreationcenter.com Email: [email protected] Contact: Rachel Swann, 225-7743 821-6235. Address: 560 Duncan St., SF, CA Meetings: Email or check website. Meetings: Bi-monthly on third Wednesday. Meetings: Last Thursdays, Old Republic, 94131. Meetings: Call for details. Upper Noe Recreation Center, 295 Day St. Friends of Upper Noe Dog Owners 4045A 24th St., 9 a.m. Call to confirm. Call to confirm. Eureka Valley Neighborhood Group (FUNDOG) Website: www.NoeValleyMerchants.com Association Contacts: Chris Faust, David Emanuel Noe Valley Parent Network Website: https://evna.org Email: [email protected] An e-mail resource network for parents Address: P.O. Box 14137, SF, CA 94114 Website: www.fundogsf.org Contact: Mina Kenvin Meetings: See website calendar. Castro Glen Park Association Email: [email protected] Meeting Room, 501 Castro St., 7 p.m. Contact: [email protected] THE NOE VALLEY VOICE Noe Valley Parents, San Francisco [email protected] Website: glenparkassociation.org Listserv contact: noevalleyparent- Address: P.O. Box 31292, SF, CA 94131 All phone numbers are in the 415 area [email protected]. Subscribe: code, unless otherwise noted. [email protected]

be willing be patient be super be home.

VISIT US AT CORCORANGL.COM The Noe Valley Voice • August 2021 23

RISING V OICES fiction, poetry, essays, nonfiction • the noe valley voice

Graveside By Howard Steiermann

#1 #2

Thud You ask me how I’m doing. Thud It depends on, when. Thud. Each handful of dirt I enjoy the visits I’ve been having with mom in my dreams. But when I carrying love wake I become wistful because it was only a dream. holding memories I’m mostly fine (or am I?) while awake. Except when I pass the couch my tangible goodbye. on which I sat when we chatted. Except when I read the current New Each hollow thud of dark earth Yorker about a composer who riffs on Leonard Cohen‘s “Who by landing loudly Fire.” The article reminds me of the times I picked mom up and on the pale wood Aron schlepped her into the City for the High Holy Days. I now schlep and even louder on my aching heart. melancholy as I realize mom will never be joining me again to the Herbst, or anywhere. The recent rain added weight to the earth I needed to reluctantly move from mound to grave. The jolting reality of her death added Driving her into the City for services jogs memories about the var- weight to my soul. ious doctor appointments I took her to. Every month it got more and more difficult for her to get in and out of the car, in and out of the Looking down at the plain wood casket wheelchair. Now she is in and out of my thoughts. I see Mom’s nearly 93 year global life journey Fortunately, I recall how she wouldn’t complain even though grimacing encompassing many worldwide destinations in pain. Berlin, Shanghai, Chicago, San Francisco. I recall how she matter-of-factly gave me comments on the obituary I never referred to as an obituary. Now I need to move from distraught son I recall how she weathered so many life storms yet became the be- to taking on the mantle of the elder generation. loved matriarch cherished by so many.

You ask me how I’m doing. Her body, polio’d, scoliosis’d, shingled, cancer’d and recently bedbound I’m fine, thanks. And you? at rest under my feet.

Her perseverance, patience, grace, and witty retorts at rest in my heart. The COOLEST RUGS in Town!

Mom’s story is forever intertwined with mine.

May her soul be forever intertwined with the Eternal.

Amen

Howard Steiermann has lived around Noe Valley for over a quarter century. He loves art, architecture, chocolate chip cookies (no nuts) and is writing his own rendition of the 150 Psalms.

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