Living in the Mission

Yes, the Mission is hip. It's where the young people live. The artist types and pseudo artist types and lots of other people too. And still very Latino, though Gentrification's got a pretty good grip on the neck of this neighborhood.

I enjoy being spoken to in Spanish, assumed to be Latina, and I can keep the pretense of my faux racial identity by conducting a short grocery store conversation. At the cashier, the woman will tell me what I owe in Spanish, I process it as quickly as possible in my head, hand the bills over; I can say "no bulsa" and "gracias" and "adios" and feel like my gentrification footprint is a little smaller, or at least, a little less visible.

Of course, anyone who's even lived in this country for five minutes, or watched a Taco Bell commercial for that matter, probably knows "adios" and "gracias" but the key is- using them in conversation, and being in the US and participating in the framework where Spanish is the first language, the language of choice, the assumed language-- makes me feel like I am still traveling a little bit. And I enjoy that.

Neighborhood buildings are covered in amazing, vibrant murals. Neighborhood sidewalks are covered in pigeon shit.

In terms of having a "San Francisco Experience" I am happy I get to live here, and with such cheap rent at that. But if I ever ease my way into being a legitimate resident, with both feet in the door (a rare, rare thing for me), I am kinda looking forward to moving to a new hood.

Well, I'm looking forward to being by the water. I want to hide a little bit when I say it, but to be completely honest, I think I'm a SoCal girl at heart. Venice....I'll get to you, eventually. There. Written in the dotmatrix ink of cyberspace, perhaps it will one day become a reality.