So I was extremely excited to brag a little about my day yesterday. It was quiet at the shop until LINDA RONSTADT walked in! She bought some soaps, and a nightgown. She hadn’t signed the back of her credit card and I made a little joke like “How on earth are you going to prove who you are?” Or something. I swear it was smoother than that, though. Anyways, she has shopped with me before but it still gives me a mild heart attack. LINDA RONSTADT.
She’s my most famous customer, though one time Danielle Steele’s assistant phoned looking for a full length, zip up cashmere robe. Because, who doesn’t need one of those? And Adam Savage from Myth Busters bought slippers once, but on a day I was out. And my silly 20 year old employee didn’t recognize him. Twenty year olds, I swear.
But so, I was all “I can’t wait to blog about this! This is the most exciting thing to happen to me.” That is, until the gunshots on my corner this morning.
Yep. Gunshots on my corner. If you know SF I bet you can guess where I live. It’s not Hunter’s Point, go with your second guess. This is part of the heart break about SF. I live across the street from a church, and behind the church are the projects. But on my block there are million dollar homes.
Everybody swarmed outside with the arrival of the cops, medics, and fire engines. My side of the street basically 100% white, the other side of the street 100% black. It’s shocking this clear cut division of racial and economic lines. White people = million dollar homes, black people = projects. Like I said, it’s heart breaking.
The shooting happened in our corner store, the ambulance rolled a black man out on the stretcher and loaded him in. An air mask was strapped to his face, so he wasn’t dead at the moment. But we don’t know now.
What I don’t understand is this: how are any guns ever allowed in SF proper? No one should have guns here, there is zero reason except to shoot a fellow human. Self defense argument or not, that means the only reason anyone carries a gun in this city is to shoot another person. We don’t have deer, we don’t have skeet shooting, the closest shooting range is in San Bruno. Again, the only reason a person in SF has a gun is to shoot another person. So it stuns me that the NRA recently lobbied for guns to be allowed in the projects. And they were successful.
That’s it. I’ll get off my soap box now. Argue with me if you want, and I’ll know you are the kind of person who thinks it’s acceptable for a human being to shoot another human being. It’s as simple as that.
3:30 PM UPDATE: the shooting victim died and the suspect is still at large.
Today’s bangles are Paris by Maximal Art, Paris themed charm bracelet from Goodwill, and Hermes Tohu Bohu bangle.
Very Bangled 
Wow Linda!!
also Guns =(
I saw a hilarious anti Governor Cuomo commercial the other day that said he only caters to “elitist liberals in the city. If it was up to him upstate NY would be wiped out! That’s why he banned rifles!” or something like that. Then it worried me because there are idiots around here who will watch that and believe every word.
I get into heated arguments with local dumb dumb’s sometimes about gun control here. They’ll say the NY State Safe Act must be repealed and their rights are taken away and it’s so so horrible and they want to move to another state where they’re not stripped of their liberties. The men I’ve “discussed” this with are always(I mean always) young, white, middle-upper class, country bumpkins who are the the least underprivileged people around I’ve ever met and I’m not sure how they think the Safe Act effects them since nothing has been taken away from them and they’re free to go on hunting.
I’m not familiar with this act- does that mean no guns are allowed in NY? If yes, that’s pretty impressive.
The right to bare arms is one of the most ridiculous amendments,specific to the times and totally irrelevant now a days. Or it should be, but people are so gungho. I just don’t understand.
I went on a bit of a rant on your blog=D The Safe Act doesn’t ban all guns but does impose gun control so that there are background checks for everyone which prevent people with criminal history or mental illness (sometimes) from purchasing weapons. If they’re purchased anyway & illegally the penalties are more severe. It effects hunters & hobby shooters(I made that term up but you know what I mean!) in no way so long as they’ve never been arrested for violence in the past but they keep crapping their pants over the act anyway.
In more rural areas there are signs everywhere “Repeal the Safe Act!” I don’t get it…
I can get so worked up on this topic. That it’s harder to get a driving license than a gun license stuns me. And there’s no age minimum. There’s so little governmental oversight. How do they have so much power and political clout? I’m impressed that NY was able to pass that kind of regulation.
Adore Ronstadt. The most gorgeous, natural voice in popular American music history. I have been wearing bangle bracelets since 1974, when I was 12 and Linda released Heart Like A Wheel. Happy 40th Anniversary to a historic recording!
She is so phenomenal, I totally agree. Thanks for the comment 🙂
I’m with you! The whole gun thing drives me crazy and I am for a complete ban on guns. BTW, I grew up in SF and left for good when I went off to college. It’s not the same city at all. I venture over from the East Bay a few times a month for one reason or another and it’s depressing for this native – particularly the homeless problem but also the influx of corporate stores downtown, overpriced everything, and sheesh! the crowds all over the city. I remember when one could drive down crooked Lombard St without waiting in line and dodging mobs of people taking selfies. (My dad used to take me on our Sunday drives.) OK, rant over.
I applaud your rant. The changes on Fillmore Street and Union are what strike me. They used to be entirely mom and pop type businesses and now, as you mentioned, all corporate chain stores working around our chain store regulations in such devious manners. It’s sad. So few people care about the intimate nature of our community. It seems like a much more anonymous town now. I like knowing my grocer and my bookseller, you know?