a streetcar named phillip

yesterday i explored by myself. got to know downtown san francisco and the BART. practice for spain. today emily and i went thrift shopping in the mission, people watching in the haight, and playing around in the presidio. i bought too many books to take back, so i gave emily one entitled "the sexual life", published in 1904 and dedicated to the author's mother. in the haight we bought pizza, and a hippie i'd been checking out asked for a bite. i'd turned down a lot needier people for spare change, of which i have plenty, but i gave her a bite of my pizza because it was a totally unexpected and ballsy request. my pizza was gooey and delicious. she took a huge bite and put her pierced lips all over it. (as a side note, i think most americans' germophobia is more suited to AIDS patients than healthy adults and is probably related to our puritan past.) then she said thank you and walked away. there was no real generosity in my compliance, and i don't think there was any real need in her request.

so san francisco has got me thinking about taboos again. drugs, voluntary homelessness, fetishism. sf is full of that, and they seem fine with it. and the midwest has such a problem with all of it. i know i'm going to have a great time when i go back home to illinois though. it's springtime there, and the symbolism of the end of my last midwestern winter is on my mind. maybe i can enjoy it there more knowing that seattle is just a few months away.