Police Blotters – December 2009

• 8:37 a.m. — A person came in to the police department to write out complaints about ongoing world concerns.
• 1:09 a.m. — A caller reported “tweekers” running up and down the street. Officers were unable to locate anyone.
• 2:32 p.m. — A motorist was having Christmas tree trouble.
• 8:41 p.m. — A caller reported two men in a pickup were possibly “casing” a tree farm.
• 11:22 a.m. — A man  reported his daughter called him and told him her stepbrother hit her in the stomach. It was found to have been a pillow fight.
• 11:42 p.m. — A woman reported her purse was stolen by a shoeless, dreadlocked man wearing a white blanket.
• 11:06 a.m. — A woman reported her husband was in a dispute with her 17-year-old son. Her husband pushed the son with a broom after the son became upset about a family Christmas picture he did not want taken. The situation was mediated.
• 11:50 p.m. — A man reported he needed redemption.
• 8:22 p.m. — A caller reported two “tweeks” were in the laundry room. They were found to be guests at the complex.
• 6:11 p.m. — A woman reported her vehicle had been stolen. She called back to report she found her car.
• 12:14 p.m. — A woman reported she and her mother were in a verbal argument about which shirt she should wear. The situation was mediated when the daughter agreed to dress nicely when she went to town and only wear her flannel shirt at home.
• 3:51 p.m. — A caller reported a man sitting on an electrical box with his jeans split to expose his private areas. Officers were unable to locate the man.
• 11:14 p.m. — A man reported he and a friend had gone to a hobo camp to donate blankets and his friend was now lost. He was described as wearing all black and being “as big as a house.” The man later reported his friend had returned home.
• 10:25 p.m. — A woman reported a man who might be stalking her might be outside her gate, naked. Deputies were unable to locate anyone.
• 7:39 a.m. — A caller reported an elderly woman hitchhiking in a bathrobe.
• 2:36 a.m. — A caller reported an elderly woman in pajama bottoms had fallen in the bushes. She was given a ride home.
• 10:35 a.m. — A caller reported a woman was in a wheelchair panhandling and after the caller gave her money, she got up from the wheelchair, walked into a store and purchased alcohol.
• 10:47 p.m. — A caller from a business reported a man named “Creepy Paul” grabbed the caller’s buttocks and wanted to take “them” into the bathroom. He was gone when officers arrived.
• 11:31 p.m. – A man called to report a woman showed up at his home asking to use the telephone. She said she was homeless, had amnesia and planned to have a hysterectomy. She then left.
• 4:46 p.m. — A caller reported a man, possibly wearing a fake beard, pulled his pants down and exposed his genitalia before running back to his vehicle.
• 5:01 p.m. — A caller reported a suspicious man knocking on the door and selling steaks.
• 12:32 p.m. — A man reported a young buck with broken antlers lowered its head and charged him. He said he was just walking on the trail and he did not know why the deer charged him. He said he and five other men tied the deer down and were sitting on it. An animal control officer was contacted and advised them to free the deer. The deer was freed and ran off. The man did not need medical attention.
• 2:07 a.m. — A caller reported a vehicle fire. It was later discovered that a Santa hat next to the vehicle, not the vehicle itself, was on fire. A woman was arrested and booked on suspicion of arson.
• 1:55 p.m. — A caller reported a person was selling things on the corner, and it looked “trashy.”
• 9:28 p.m. — A woman reported her room was completely torn apart and she had a suspect in mind.
• 1:05 p.m. — A caller reported an “angry artist” was in the lobby.
• 9:13 p.m. — A woman reported being harassed by her former boyfriend. She believed he had a listening device and was listening to her breathe.

Hasn’t it been a wonderful year?

Maybe I’m just biased about 2009 being wonderful. After all, I got married in 2009. I came back to San Francisco in 2009, full of new appreciation for the City, even for MUNI. I got to go back to Italy — better yet, I got to go to Rome.  Humphry Slocombe, Nopalito and Il Cane Rosso opened in 2009, three places I can’t believe I ever lived without. Not to mention that there’s an f-ing Democrat in the White House with a stylish wife who promotes fresh, local food.

2009 in Food

2009 was a big year in food with Michelle Obama’s White House garden, the powerful documentary Food, Inc. and even some real reporting, care of the New York Times, on the (many) problems with our meat. (The recalls continue, even over the holidays. Here’s hoping you had a grass-fed holiday and an e.Coli-free New Year.)

Food was a major highlight of my year. Shopping at our local farmers market continued to be a weekly treat for me, but this year, I also learned to break down half a hog at the Fatted Calf, saw a totally different kind of market in Palermo, Sicily, and came back to the Bay Area in time to do what we could to help save Soul Food Farm.

For the most part, restaurants took a backseat this year to other food experiences (eating pizza in Naples is one exception, of course). Many of my memorable meals in 2009 weren’t at full service restaurants. I ate Namu’s kim chee fried rice and 4505’s cheeseburger at the new Thursday street food market outside the Ferry Building. Inside the Ferry Building, Il Cane Rosso has become a weekly stop for me (their bollito sandwich is crazy delicious).

Through 18 Reasons, I had dinner with favorite winemakers, like the (totally hilarious) Mick Unti, and responsible ranchers like Mark Pasternak from Devil’s Gulch.

2009 On the Road

Our big trip was once again Italy. But with two moves and a wedding, there wasn’t much time for going anywhere else. Thankfully, there’s so much to explore in our own backyard: our wedding weekend took us to the Marin Headlands, we had a mini-honeymoon in Point Reyes, spent part of the summer with my family in Tahoe, and celebrated my birthday on Mt. Tam and Stinson Beach.

2009 Soundtrack

I’ve basically given up on music and just listen to whatever Mr. WholeHog wants to play. But every so often, something jumps out at me, and this year, I couldn’t get enough of the Walkmen’s ‘In the New Year‘ and Neko Case’s ‘Prison Girls’ (or her cover of Harry Nilssen’s “Dont’ Forget Me)”. 2009 was the year of Neko Case. I saw her interviewed at Herbst Theater in January and then camped out at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in October to see her end the weekend.

2009 Bookmobile

I finally got back to reading this year, thanks in large part to late summer vacations. Olive Kitteridge, A Star Called Henry, Zeitoun, My Life in France (yet another example of the book being SO much better than the movie), Three Cups of Tea, City of Thieves, Oscar Wao, the new Nick Hornby novel.

And thanks to Nick Hornby, I don’t feel guilty about  reading writers just because they’re critically acclaimed. I’m talking to you Philip Roth, Don Delillo, et al.

Looking Ahead

I’m not one for New Years’ resolutions. It seems to me that if you want to change something in your life, you should change it — regardless of what time of year it happens to be.  But our wedding ate up so much of 2009 so I’m looking forward to having some mild California winter weekends to spend hiking this year.

I won’t need to stockpile vacation days for a Europe trip this year and that opens new travel possibilities: Mexico? New York City? A second Tahoe trip this year?

Frisco Christmas

Maybe it’s because I spent most of 2009 missing San Francisco that I’m particularly enamored of these SF-based gifts. If you want to get super local or if you’ve got a native San Franciscan on your list this year, consider some of these San Francisco treats:

4505 Meats is perhaps best known for their chicharrones (and they are outrageously good — and a perfect stocking stuffer), but their pork-focused merchandise is just as memorable. Their ‘Frisco Pig was a Friend of Mine’ print is on my Christmas list this year. It’s available online or at the Thursday Ferry Building Farmers Market.

At the Bizarre Bazaar in Golden Gate Park recently, my favorite discovery was Gangs of San Francisco. These shirts highlight San Francisco’s crazy past and will test your knowledge of SF history.  I couldn’t resist buying myself the Playland at the Beach shirt, pictured above, but I had to ask my mom, an SF native, about Fleishacker pool. (If you don’t have an SF native nearby, the website explains the origin of each shirt. I still can’t believe The Chutes — an 1895-era waterslide in the Haight!)

SF’s cable cars get so much attention, but I really love the vintage F-line streetcars. The Market Street Railway store (online or in the museum at 77 Steuart St in San Francisco) has lots of gifts that celebrate these old school trolleys. I’m partial to the prints of different street cars in different areas of the City: the Ferry Building, the Castro Theater, Chinatown. I gave Mr. WholeHog the Castro poster one year to commemorate our years living in the Castro. You’ll also find old Kezar Stadium shirts and I spotted some Kezar pint glasses the last time I was in the store.

Help to Make the Season Bright

Despite what the religious nuts claim, giving is truly the reason for the season. Most organizations are in need of your support, and there are many worthy causes out there (you can see what I’ve supported in prior years here and here).

My donations have increasingly gone to organizations that work on food issues — whether it’s feeding hungry people, funding school gardens, or increasing access to fresh food to needy communities. I’ve often written about eating locally and shopping locally, so I’ve tried to put my money where my mouth is by devoting most of my charitable giving this year to local, food-focused non-profits.

One of the most common critiques about local or organic food is that only the well-off can afford it. But many of the organizations, below, are showing that fresh, local food doesn’t have to be expensive.

CitySlicker Farms –  Cityslicker brings fresh, locally grown produce, honey and eggs to areas of Oakland that are essentially food deserts. CitySlicker has urban farms and backyard gardens. They run farmers markets and help residents learn to grow and cook their own food.

Urban Tilth - Another organization working to increase access to fresh food (this time in West Contra Costa country). I was particularly inspired by this article about how Urban Tilth helped Richmond High School set up a school garden and then created a very low cost CSA (community supported agriculture) with produce boxes filled with food from the garden. The CSA  has been so popular that there’s a waiting list — showing that even in poorer communities, there is a hunger for real food.

Quesada Gardens Initiative -In Hunters Point, an area of San Francisco known for its poverty and its violent crime, residents are literally cleaning up their neighborhood: planting gardens together, providing fresh food in an area that has more liquor stores than grocery stores, and creating a true community.

UrbanSprouts – The average age of a farmer in the U.S. is 55, so we need more young people to start growing food. Urban Sprouts creates school gardens in seven middle and high schools in order to better educate young people on gardening, growing food and eating better.

The Food Pantry - One of the many local food pantries supplied by the San Francisco Food Bank and their net work of farmers (you can read more about how California farmers are helping supply local food banks in this New York Times article). The Food Pantry offers free food to hungry people every Friday, and they also help start other pantries –so far, they’ve helped get an additional 18 pantries up and running.

CHEFS – Conquering Homelessness through Employment in Food Service (CHEFS) is a San Francisco organization that trains homeless people for restaurant work. Nearly anyone who comes to San Francisco sees the homeless problem the City faces and getting people off the streets is hard. CHEFS is one program with a real record of success. According to the CHEFS website, “80% of CHEFS graduates acquire a place to live, and a better life through employment”.

Gather Near to Us Once More (That’s Nice)

If I came across as a little particular about Christmas trees, you can blame Meg and John.

I lived with my cousin Meg when I first moved to San Francisco and her then-boyfriend (now-husband) John lived nearby. When December rolled around that first year, it didn’t occur to me to get a Christmas tree. I hadn’t ever bothered to get a tree once I’d left home. But Meg and John couldn’t imagine going without one.

I’d never been to a Christmas tree lot before. My family never bought a tree that I can remember. We decorated whatever branch or sapling my dad found on the property. I wasn’t really conscious of the different types of trees, although I knew that our neighbors had a tree that was so bushy the ornaments hung perpendicular to the tree, and I knew that the cedar “trees” my family had were different than most Christmas trees; the branches were weak and drooped down at the ends.

So I couldn’t have told you that there was a difference between decorating a Noble fir or a Douglas fir, but to Meg and John, the choice was clear: always a noble fir, never a Douglas. Some Christmas tree lots didn’t separate their Noble and Douglas firs, and if John happened to pull out a Douglas, Meg noticed immediately: “It’s a Douglas! Put it back!.”

Going to pick out a Christmas tree with them became a yearly ritual, one I looked forward to every year. It was hilarious to watch them search for the ‘right’ tree and hear their vehement objections to trees that looked perfectly good to me. They’d examine every Noble fir in the lot, shaking it out to see if the branches were even and looking for any bare spots. Meg would gasp in horror at a tree that was bushier on one side than another. “Put it back!” she’d cry. “It’s hideous.”

Our Christmas trees during those years were always beautiful so maybe their thorough selection process worked. If nothing else, I found it highly entertaining. These days, I usually pick out a tree for Mr WholeHog and I, and I spend hardly any time choosing it. Often, I buy the first tree I see. The Christmas tree farm that comes to our farmers market only brings silver tip trees so that’s what we get. I think they’re perfect. I even prefer them to the Noble or the Douglas firs. But I wonder sometimes what Meg and John would think of my tree, what sort of defects might be apparent to them. Some years, I’ve even emailed them a picture of my tree.

I think about them a lot this time of year and about how much fun it was to be with them each December, laughing until we cried in the Christmas tree lot. I remember how upset John was that one year when he pulled out his new Christmas tree lights only to realized that he’d bought a huge net of lights, the sort of thing you’d drape over a large outdoor bush, not string around your apartment-sized Noble fir.

It’s fun to share other people’s delight in Christmas, which is probably why we often think Christmas is really for kids. It rubs off on you. Those years with Meg and John made me someone who now can’t imagine going through December without a tree (and I’m terrible about taking it down. Our tree is often still up in the second week of January).

A week or two ago, I visited Meg and John at their home in Marin. As expected, they had a huge Christmas tree in their living room. It was perfectly formed, of course. There were no patches with fewer branches. It didn’t lean to one side. But it was bushier than I’d expected and if I hadn’t known better, I would have sworn it was a Douglas.

Have Yourself a Local Little Christmas

The holidays bring another chance to participate in the 3/50 Project and support local stores and businesses. Just select three local stores and committing to spend $50 locally (that’s $50 total, not $50 in each store).

In San Francisco, there’s little reason to deal with the crowds at the mall when you could visit (or revisit) some favorite local stores. Since so many shops now have a website, I even add locally-stocked items to my Christmas list, essentially enlisting my relatives into supporting some of my favorite local businesses.

Rare Device – So many of my favorite things come from Rare Device, like my bright yellow jacket and my favorite Good Society jeans. It’s a great place for gift items that you won’t find everywhere else with reasonably priced artwork, clothes, bags, jewelry and housewares. I love giving these bright, cheery vases and I have these silver dogwood earrings on my gift list this year.

Omnivore Books – This darling bookstore is devoted to new and vintage food books. You’ll find cookbooks, food memoirs, and books on raising animals and gardening. If you’re in need of pasture-raised eggs, Omnivore’s got you covered there, too — plus there’s a chance you’ll spot local celeb Jonathan Richman picking up eggs, too.

Of course, if you are looking for non-food-related books, you should head directly to Green Apple Books. Green Apple is what a bookstore should be: a rambling house with books stacked floor to ceiling. If that wasn’t enough, hardcovers are discounted and they have the best remaindered book section in the City.

BiRite Grocery – A one-stop shop for the best local food and drink. It’s where I get my current favorite chocolate bar, Alter Eco velvet, but there are also other excellent local sweets like Kika’s Treats and Poco Dolce chocolate tiles. (If you are traveling this season, consider a pack of Poco Dolce to help with airport crowds and airplane food. It was the best thing we brought with us on our flight to Italy).

BiRite also stocks wine from Sutton Cellars, another of my favorite finds this year. I particularly love the Rattlesnake Rose’ and the Sutton vermouth (it goes perfectly with the citrus now in season).

Oh Tannenbaum

Was it me or was November particularly dark? I often struggle with the time change but this year, it hit me hard. When I left work, it felt like nighttime, as if the whole day had passed while I was stuck in a cubicle. Even weekends felt rushed to me: the dark was always coming too soon.

I’m usually a strict No-Christmas-Until-After-Thanksgiving person, but given how dark it felt in November (notice the lack of posts?), it didn’t bother me to see lights up before Turkey day or even a few trees glowing in the windows. I need all the light I can get this time of year.

But at my house, we’re in the midst of our yearly debate about the central Christmas decoration: the tree. There isn’t much debate for me. I love a Christmas tree, but I’ve married someone who isn’t sure about cutting down a tree for 30 days of decoration.

It’s worth considering that it takes years for a tree to grow to even 5 feet tall, and to remember how important trees are, how they suck up some of that excess carbon dioxide that’s changing our climate. And yet, we’re not talking about taking down a Giant Sequoia here. These trees are raised for the purpose of decoration, and I also buy our tree from a forester who plants 10 new trees for every Christmas tree harvested.

There are alternatives to the Christmas tree, too Terrifically hideous alternatives that are as close to a Christmas tree as tofu is close to bacon, but alternatives nonetheless. (There is a reason that tannenbaum in German translates into ‘fir tree’ and not, say, ‘ficus’).

A live tree seems like a good solution initially, but as my parents learned, a live tree will eventually grow too large to haul inside and decorate. My parents were content to simply throw some lights on an outdoor tree and call it good.  It may have been environmentally friendly (perhaps more importantly, it was cheap), but it wasn’t good by any stretch.

My workplace has a fake tree. It’s at least reusable (even though a real tree is reused, too, when it’s returned to the soil), but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s fake. It’s stored in a large green plastic duffle bag that’s unpacked each December, and it’s about as festive as cracking open a costco-sized flat of paper towels. To me, fake trees just seem like a cop out. No one should have to bother with a tree if they don’t want to, especially in this often harried time of year. But if you don’t want to spend the time or money on a tree, get a wreath rather than a pretend tree.

I have some opinions about Christmas trees, as you can see. But this isn’t to say that a tree has to be perfect or that there is one perfect tree — far from it. The best part of a real tree is that there’s almost always something wrong with it, some bare part to face the wall, one side that is bushier than the other. My family’s Christmas trees weren’t always actual trees. One year, it was three branches of cedar tied together. And even I had to admit that once it was decorated with lights and ornaments, you could hardly tell that it was leaning up against the wall and had absolutely no back to it at all.

Police Blotters – November 2009

• 7:23 p.m. – A caller reported an upstairs neighbor kept dumping water on her when she went on her balcony to smoke. {the water dumper is my hero}.
• 7:33 a.m. — A caller reported a man was wearing black sweats that had been cut out and “showing his private areas.” He said his pants had been cut due to a medical aid call and he was given a ride to get new clothing.
• 1:14 p.m. — A woman wanted to know if the Bay Bridge was open. She was advised of the proper usage of 911.
• 3:58 p.m. — A woman reported someone used a permanent marker to draw a phallic symbol on her daughter’s vehicle that extends the length of the vehicle.
• 6:00 p.m. — A caller reported as she and her husband were arriving home, three teen girls were walking up the driveway. When the couple pulled into the garage, they found paint smeared all over the walls, windows and floors, with hearts, footprints and the word “Sorry” painted on the walls as well.
• 9:19 a.m. — A caller dialed the 911 emergency number to find out if it was Friday, Nov. 20, and said it was not an emergency. When an officer called back, the woman said she had misdialed and didn’t mean to call 911.
• 11:24 a.m. — A caller reported someone had defecated on the playground equipment at an elementary school.
• 7:36 p.m. — A caller reported a man in camo pajamas was demanding the caller’s shoes and had a bag of marijuana. A woman called at 7:43 p.m. to report the same man was “being creepy and saying strange things.” He was counseled on his behavior.
• 6:02 p.m. — A woman reported her daughter was hysterical after the woman’s boyfriend called her fat. The boyfriend had earlier thrown a telephone at the woman.
• 10:48 a.m. — A caller reported a man was “casing” the bus stop when juveniles get out of school, and he appeared to be carrying a screwdriver. No crime was found to have occurred.
• 2:26 p.m. — A caller reported a “dog-propelled wheelchair issue.” The person was waiting for the bus.
• 1:57 p.m. — A man reported someone came to his residence and took a 1970s-model travel trailer held together with duct tape.
• 9:52 p.m. — A caller reported the strong smell of burning bones in the area.
• 1:01 p.m. — A woman reported a vehicle with teens who wished her a happy Thanksgiving. She was concerned they were casing the area.
• 1:03 p.m. — A caller reported graffiti on a brick wall at the church that included the word “Satan” in large letters.

Alumni of Bookshop Santa Cruz

I didn’t particularly love my time at UC Santa Cruz. Aside from its small but devoted journalism department, my experience at UCSC was more summer camp with extensive journaling than rigorous academics. But I stayed in Santa Cruz in large part because I got a job at Bookshop Santa Cruz.

Bookshop Santa Cruz is a Santa Cruz institution. It’s been on Pacific Avenue since 1966. It survived the 1989 earthquake (it continued operating out of a tent when the quake destroyed its building) and it survived the infiltration of chain bookstores that attempt to put it out of business.

Bookshop is an unofficial information center for Santa Cruz.  In summer, people from ‘over the hill’ would call the store to ask about the weather or the surf. People stopped in to ask for directions or for restaurant recommendations. Just about anyone who visited Santa Cruz made their way through Bookshop Santa Cruz. I once ran into my 6th grade teacher while I was working there.

It wasn’t necessarily an easy job. Working with the public is always a challenge, but it was even more difficult in Santa Cruz, where the store, like the town, attracted crazies like moths to a flame. (A customer once told me I looked like a ‘peaceful dolphin’.) But in the 10 years since I left Bookshop, I’ve looked back on it fondly. My work there felt more meaningful than any job I’ve had since, certainly more important to me than making wealthy people wealthier. I believed in Bookshop, in the importance of  an independent bookstore, a place with personality and determination. It’s an endangered species these days.

It isn’t nostalgia that’s made me look back on my days at Bookshop Santa Cruz, though. Rather it’s the news that my old employer is ‘going rogue’ (to quote a certain Alaskan nutter) and selling copies of Sarah Palin’s new book with a pack of nuts — and not just any nuts, “Sarah Palin’s Just Plain Nutz”. The online offer states that the nuts are also sold separately: “A bag of Sarah Palin’s Just Plain Nutz is also available for $3.98 to those who can stomach a 1 ounce bag of walnuts, but can’t stomach 432 pages of Sarah Palin’s writing.”

This isn’t Bookshop’s first stab at creative bookselling, but it is one reason that I’m proud to be an Bookshop alumni.

Update: Green Apple Books, my favorite SF bookstore, has another option. Buy the Sarah Palin book at Green Apple and the store will donate the proceeds to the Alaskan Wildlife Alliance.

Rave: Presidential Flickr

On this one year anniversary of the election of Barack Obama, I’d like to highlight one of the things I appreciate about this administration. It isn’t Michelle’s focus on fresh, local food or her awesome sense of style, nor is it the President’s commitment to health care reform or repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Instead, it’s decidedly less political: it’s their willingness to have their life and work at the White House documented and shared with the public through The White House Flickr photosteam.

It doesn’t sound exciting, I know. I had pretty low expectations myself. The day-to-day workings of government seem kind of boring, even if you’re the president. Cabinet meetings and speeches don’t seem like they’d make for compelling photos, but this administration doesn’t just show us the official events or meetings with world leaders. Peppered throughout the  Flickr photosteam are pictures like this one that show such a human side to the President.

President Barack Obama bends over so the son of a White House staff member can pat his head during a family visit to the Oval Office May 8, 2009. The youngster wanted to see if the President’s haircut felt like his own. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza).

Of course all U.S. presidents have had a life of their own while they were in office, but for the most part, we the people didn’t get to see much of it and that’s part of what makes The White House Flickr photosteam so interesting. There are the meetings, of course, and then there are the pictures that show the President is just another dad playing with the family dog or watching his kid’s soccer game.

Some of the pictures give the sense of seeing the DVD extras, the outtakes from the Presidency, like Obama joking around in this picture, or the unusual interview, shown below.

If you haven’t seen the pictures yet (or even recently), head on over. I can almost promise that you’ll be charmed.