A Wonderful Christmas Gift: Loving Where You Live, Living Where You Love, And A Hidden Garden In San Francisco

I got very tired posting about hatred during the Christmas Season, so here is my REAL Christmas sentiment.


The Gift That Makes A Difference in People's Lives.

Sometimes a gift can be for everyone and yourself at the same time. The garden I've planted/created for the people in our building (and now the whole complex of 3500 units) is like that. It helps give people joy, peace, serenity and cultivates a sense of wonder. 

Yes, it's spiritual: to the gardener as well as to the residents. It eschews secular meaning - humanist, yes, but not secular humanist. Not just a garden of pretty flowers and plants, but a space that draws the soul away from the rest of the world, closer to the Creator, into another, less troubled place.

Loving Where You Live

ParkMerced is a unique space in San Francisco with unique attributes - as well as unique problems. It is not considered "San Francisco": it has no "painted ladies", no hills, no homeless, no landmarks, no bars, no touristy attractions. Built in a 1948, it is a combination of small mock-Regency (read 50s) town homes set among minimalist concrete towers over 108 acres. It's "shopping center" is a strip mall consisting of one grocery*, a sports bar, a taqueria and a laundry. 

Oh, and a papa johns pizza. 

It is bordered by Lake Merced, SF State University and the freeway and because if its position, it is unfortunately tethered to MUNI's M metro line (M for "miserable"). Perched high enough for upper tower apartments to have a magnificent view of the ocean, the largest housing project west of the Mississippi touts its singularity. 

It's residents are a curious combination of students, elderly, a variety of ethnic groups with the emphasis on Chinese and Russian. At any given time, over 10,000 people live here, but the vast layout negates any form of city claustrophobia. 

Vegetation consists primarily of pine trees and "Pride of Madiera" echium. Visible fauna consists of residents' dogs (it is a rare dog heaven in San Francisco), coyotes, an occasional cat (so many indoors), a variety of birds including hawks, doves, seagulls, crows and a myriad number of sparrows. Invisible fauna consists primarily of underground gophers.

Pride of Madeira Echium

And individual plantings. 

Like mine. 

"It's not just a garden, it's a sanctuary, " said one neighbor. People meditate there. Kids come to see the echium-bush birdhouse and the "faerie portal". Some people start their mornings by gazing down on the hundreds of red acrylic rocks forming a glittering heart. 

The bejeweled Faerie Portal

Spurts of violence are rare, and it is a peaceful place where the exigencies of a conglomerate management and obscene cost of living are tolerated (those who have rent control are constantly suspicious of management that can get three times in rent from a new lessee).**

The management's talk of "quality of life" have been met with skepticism, but my own experience tending a (formerly unwarranted ) garden has been "we'd like to see more of that" and has bolstered my opinion.

"They're trying."

Living Where You Love - The Christmas Spirit All Year Round

It's not always easy to love where you live, you have to truly experience living your space and neighborhood with someone you love. The feeling at ParkMerced is more than live and let live. Even some of the students are (gasp!) courteous and acceptance of all lifestyles is the key. Gay couples are spread out among the ten towers. Same-sex couples are accepted, even welcomed. 

The motto of Good Will Toward Men is adhered to throughout the year.

Christmas in the garden is still a private affair known only to tower residents and, of course, the residents of the garden: the birds and spirits (in the form of "Faeries"). The gophers don't count; they are interlopers, opportunists that care only for lies beneath the ground. 

They have no aesthetics.

Peace and good will. One sadly aging Russian grandmother sits there for hours on end, the garden obviously giving her tranquil thoughts. Sometimes she talks to a friend - quietly, as if a raised voice would disturb the peace.

There is never an angry word heard near the garden. Children seem more respectful: this sanctuary has the power to quiet little ones.

The video below says much more about the Christmas spirit than mere words. The "Faeries" and their Portal will (hopefully) give you a "Merry Christmas" from the heart, and hope for a wondrous New Year.

* The grocery has instituted special meals for students and home-delivery for elderly customers.

**One may remember the immense problems I had in keeping my apartment here.

My Rainbow Garden Salutes San Francisco Gay Pride

If you like it, feel free to share!

Whose Jihad Is It Anyway? Sparks Fly From Gays To Geller And Her News Ads in San Francisco

(Note: The above photo depicting the execution of homosexuals in Iran was not part of the Geller campaign ads, but one of the photos included in a corresponding comment posted on The American Freedom Initiative's website. The imposed captioning is mine - RevDan).

Pandering to fears of Sharia law is usual fodder for Pam Geller, but her latest ads target a different demographic, and in San Francisco, the home of that demographic.





The above ad is to run on the side of San Francisco MUNI buses and other transit, but in a turn-around strategy, The SFMTA (Transit Authority) will donate a portion of Geller's money to the Human Rights Commission. Theresa Sparks of the Commission said that they would take Geller's money of hate and turn it into something positive for the community. The sentiment was apparently lost on Geller who captioned the YouTube clip of Sparks with "San Francisco Human Rights Theresa Sparks City Officials support jihad, anti-gay, anti-woman." (see below)

The reaction to the ads is very revealing and probably unintended by Geller: the Right is all too righteous and the Left (mostly gays) is repulsed at being used.

Geller Group (from Atlas Shrugs)

- and hopefully those PC liberal gays will heed to this.- We must suffer the stupid 'til we can enlighten them. Patience!Patience! Patience!
- It’s about time somebody did this in the heart of Californication. It might be a hilarious idea to set up a fund “to support oppressed homosexuals in the Middle East”. Maybe to even convince homosexuals to travel there to make a nuisance of themselves.(NOTE: this is the comment to which the above photo was attached)

And from Bare Naked Islam (It really isn't Islamophobia when they really ARE trying to kill you!):

       American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) submits new bus ads on ‘Muslim Oppression of Homosexuals’ to San Francisco Transit. As with most leftists, the Gay community has at best been missing in action when it comes to the anti-jihad movement. More often, they attack us. I wonder where they will be now?

Gays (from Joe.My.God):

- One disgusting creature denouncing other equally vile characters.
 - I think it's perfectly reasonable to despise these hateful regimes in the Middle East and elsewhere (Indonesia, Pakistan) and still consider Geller a hate-fulled nut case.
- Apply her thinking in New York and you get Islamophobia, apply it in Iran and you get death sentences for gays. She is who we are fighting in Iran just as she is who we are fighting here.

Gay comments frequently point out Geller's own anti-gay stance: for example, Geller virulently opposed the appointment of Kevin Jennings by Obama:

From Atlas Shrugs:

"President Obama has appointed Kevin Jennings, founder of GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network) ... Jennings is a vicious, anti-religious bigot who once said “[F–k] ‘em” to the “Religious Right.” He supports promoting homosexuality and gender confusion as normative to even young students."

In comments about Geller, the Christian Right was often referred to as the Christian Taliban. 

Whose Jihad Is It?

While the LGBT community of San Francisco has always been considered the focal point for equal rights, few in the gay community consider the struggle akin to a religion. It is certainly not a "holy war" since that term is used by some social conservatives to indicate their fight against gay rights. "What's yours?" paints the picture of virulently militant gays, the kind characterized by such organizations as Act Up! But Act Up! was focused on the AIDS crisis and government's inaction, especially in the realm of medical research and treatment. It chastised the sacred cows like Jesse Helms, Jerry Falwell, and Pat Robertson, but never invoked the name of God. The term of Jihad, therefore is totally misplaced, and, in fact, offensive.


The Jihad is in Geller's mind - where it is always been.

The Eviction Chronicles

Pt 1

He walked past my bedroom door.

“Hi.” I said, head turned only slightly in his direction.

“Hi” he said, breathlessly.

I thought I detected his wearing a jacket, but wasn’t quite sure if it was a sports coat or dark zip-up.

The difference would be huge – almost as huge as his bulk.

S. is 6’1” and 285 lbs of pure Sedentary (hence the “S”). As in immovable. As in motionless. Jabba-the-Hut motionless.

And S is the reason I am being evicted out a wonderful space in San Francisco.

The sports coat? If it was a sports coat, that meant that he actually got a job working as a sedentary security guard. If it was a zip up, that meant that he had only gone out for cigarettes. If it was a sports coat, that meant I might get paid a pittance of his back rent. If it was a zip-up, that meant another day of using up gas and electricity on my bill. If it was a sports coat, that meant that three visits to Goodwill searching for the right size finally paid off. If it was a zip-up, that meant he probably gave up looking for the sports coat.  

Today my day was filled with angst, anger and advice: “You’re going to face eviction eventually, but in the meantime, you have to get S. out of there so you can get another roommate and save up enough to move out.” Before that stern lecture, I spent four hours writing, cleaning the kitchen, writing, prepping for my stint at the Eviction Defense Collaborative, and doing sit-ups – all to the sounds of snoring. 

Eviction in San Francisco is an exhilarating experience fraught with legalese, intrigue and what Glen Beck terms as “social justice.” Eviction means months of the aforementioned angst, with the possibility of settling into something else (with new roommates), homelessness, or living in an SRO (Single Room Occupancy). SROs range from rat-infested rooms to clean boxes with shared baths – all filled with people who, to some, are teetering on the brink of irrelevance. Oh, some make it out, but most spiral down into near non-entities whose only goal is to get their cigarettes/beer/chips/frozen dinner at the corner market without feeling totally ripped off.

To me: S-R-O = D-I-E

I live in an anachronistically serene, antiseptic, mid-century modern section of San Francisco – Park Merced. Populated by the old (retirees) and the young (students from San Francisco State University next door), it is 108 acres of ocean-view property managed by a new, hard-assed company keeping to PM’s roots.

You see, Park Merced was once owned by Leona Helmsly.

The new company was installed to make sure everyone toed the line: “Pay or Quit” notices are handed out when your rent is only minutes overdue. Late fees are gleefully added to your account and legal shenanigans (“let’s work out a payment plan with a SLIGHT fee”) are common. Everything is designed to keep[ you in line, even their facebook page.

Part II: “Don’t post it on facebook, dimwit!”