SAN FRANCISCO

When I decided to write a blog about San francisco I was struck by how difficult a task this would be. My intention has always been to give San Francisco a fair and just representation. I thought of the quote by Ibn Arabi that says "you cannot scoop up the whole sea with a jug, but whatever you scoop up is also the sea". Well, this blog is my small metaphorical jug and I hope that over the next 49 days I will be able to give you a taste of what makes this place so special for me.

To understand San Francisco is to appreciate not just its beauty but also its uniqueness, music, food, art, people and history. It is to know that there isn't just one San Francisco but indeed that there are many. It is to acknowledge that all of these different variations are in a constant state of change. San Francisco is a 7 miles by 7 miles Grid that represents a microcosm of the United States but is also a strange and demanding creature of its own. San Francisco is poetic and cosmopolitan. It is bohemian and highly spiritual. It is a tourists trap but also a place where life is vibrant, immediate and palpable. Like Rome we were born in the hills. Like ancient Greece we are a city of villages. Like Paris we are a place to get lost, fall in love and learn what it means to be alive.

For all intents and purposes this blog is about me and about My San Francisco. This City has changed for me from a once cold and foreign place to a now faithful and patient friend. Like many people here I am a transplant, someone who came here looking for something that cannot be fully explained nor understood but that can only be found among so many others who have fallen together and who have also chosen to call this place home. 

Please understand this blog is not about history or architecture (although at times they are aspects that need to be included for depth and added perspective). It isn't about listing facts or telling you things that can be found with a quick Google search or in a Wikipedia entry. These next 49 Days will be 49 days of experience and everything that that implies. It is an experiment and as such nothing that happens here is a sure thing except perhaps that I will share all things that need to be seen and felt in San Francisco in the best way possible.

Living here has been the simplest and clearest time of my life yet it is impossible to convey in words what this city is to me. I did not leave my heart in San Francisco. San Francisco IS my heart. Maybe at the end of these 49 Days this blog may encourage some of you to come and discover your own personal San Francisco and in the process perhaps become part of its narrative. So please come back often, comment on the postings and come and join me on a stroll (or a hike) through the Streets of San Francisco. You won’t be disappointed.