During my June visit to the San Francisco Bay Area, I visited a number of placs that were meaningful to me from the years when I lived there. I was able to visit many, but not all, during the visit. Here are their URL's, along with a bit of commentary on them. I hope you enjoy!
PACIFIC SCHOOL OF RELIGION (PSR): http://www.psr.edu/
The scenes & buildings are all on the quad, the main area of the campus at the top of Scenic Avenue on Northside.
NEWMAN HALL / HOLY SPIRIT PARISH: http://www.calnewman.org/index.html
Unfortunately, the website is extremely devoid of photographs, something I don’t understand and find highly regrettable. Here is a link to 3 “photo galleries” of “Life at Newman” that people have put together: http://picasaweb.google.com/calnewman
GRADUATE THEOLOGICAL UNION (GTU): http://www.gtu.edu/
GRADUATE THEOLOGICAL UNION (GTU) LIBRARY: http://www.gtu.edu/library
Alums of any of the GTU seminaries are eligible for library cards @ $25 per year.
SAN FRANCISCO CITY HALL: http://www.google.com/images?rlz=1T4GGLL_enUS332US332&q=San+Francisco+City+Hall&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=v9d1TMTHFoW0lQfzqt3wCg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CDUQsAQwAw
Such a beautiful building!
SAN FRANCISCO MAIN PUBLIC LIBRARY: http://sfpl.org/
SAINT BONIFACE CHURCH: http://www.stbonifacesf.org/
Saint Boniface is a Franciscan Parish in the Tenderloin District in San Francisco.
MISSION DOLORES, SAN FRANCISCO: http://www.missiondolores.org/
Parish includes the original mission church; I often stopped here on the way home from work to pray in the months before I became a Catholic. It was a quick walk from Saint Joseph’s Hospital.
BODY TIME: http://www.bodytime.com/
MARIPOSA BAKING COMPANY: http://www.mariposabaking.com/index.html
Don’t you get hungry just looking at these cinnamon rolls?
LA VAL’S PIZZa: http://www.lavals.com/
NABOLOM BAKERY: http://www.nabolombakery.com/
MOE’S BOOKS: http://www.moesbooks.com/cgi-bin/moe/index.html
TASTE OF THE HIMALAYAS RESTAURANT: http://tasteofthehimalayas.com/index.htm
Delicious Indian / Nepalese restaurant on Shattuck Ave. @ Virginia in Berkeley where I ate lunch with Anne Dinkelspiel Howd
GATHER RESTAURANT: http://www.gatherrestaurant.com/
Lovely, new organic restaurant on Oxford Street in Downtown Berkeley where I ate supper with Chris Ettling, my ex-husband
Showing posts with label Trip to Bay Area. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Trip to Bay Area. Show all posts
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Part IV: Bay Area Visit -- June 2010
I had been in the Bay Area for nearly a week & had yet to spend any time in San Francisco, something I was to remedy on Friday, 18 June. The para-transit van dropped me off on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley in mid-morning; for the first time in my visit, the weather that day started out less than perfect. Instead, the skies were gray, the temperature chilly, & there was a bit of a breeze. I had borrowed a jacket from Nancy, since I’d brought only a sweater from Boston, but I still felt cold. It was too early for me to buy a scarf from any of the street vendors – I guess their day doesn’t start until closer to noon – I ended up at Walgreens at the corner of Telegraph & Bancroft, right across from Sproul Plaza, where I purchased both an out-of-season scarf & a shawl. Then I took an AC Transit bus to Downtown Berkeley & the BART Station.
When I lived in the Bay Area, I took the BART – Bay Area Rapid Transit – whenever I needed to go into San Francisco or to one of the suburbs. Early one morning on my way into San Francisco to my job at Saint Joseph’s Hospital, I was a passenger on the first non-test-run train to take passengers through the tunnel under the San Francisco Bay. The system has expanded and grown, adding stations and becoming much more complicated. I discovered that the people who run the BART system have the same attitude toward it as New Yorkers do about New York: If one needs to ask, one doesn’t belong on it / in it. The signage in the BART stations is terrible, especially the signage for elevators. There were few indications inside the station concerning which elevator or escalator one should take to go in the any specific direction. Few station maps were posted in the trains, the expectation being, I suppose, that the traveler should have her or his chosen route memorized.
Despite those problems, I felt a bit of a kick being back on the BART, with its smooth ride, its swiftly opening & closing doors, its sleek-looking stations. My first stop amounted to a bit of a pilgrimage, since I went to San Francisco City Hall, the location of innumerable Gay / Lesbian Freedom Day rallies, a number of demonstrations against Prop 6 and after the murders of Mayor George Moscone & Supervisor Harvey Milk (the first openly gay elected city official in the US), & of Joan Baez’s gift of a free concert a month after those horrific murders. San Francisco City Hall was also where my friends Scott & Alan were married. After City Hall, I visited the new & very beautiful San Francisco Public Library, including its special collection & room on GLBT history.
Since the weather had warmed up a bit, I rode from City Hall Plaza to Powell Street where people catch the City’s famous cable cars. I decided to take the BART two stops to Embarcadero and from there to go to the Ferry Building to see the vendors both inside and outside. Outside the street hosts a huge open-air arts fair, with all sorts of mostly very fine works – fabric art, painting, jewelry, and more that I cannot now remember. Inside the Ferry Building, the first floor has a wonderful array of vendors, including Mariposa’s counter (where I bought more g-f baked goods) and, my favorite, a vendor devoted solely to anything and everything having to do with mushrooms! On the way back to the BART station, I stopped to buy gifts for my mother, sister, & cat-caretaker.
There were many places in San Francisco that I didn’t get to on this visit; I’d hoped to go to Ocean Beach to see the seals on Seal Rock. I’d also wanted to return to Buena Vista Avenue to take a look at the buildings that once housed Saint Joseph’s Hospital & nursing school. While the hospital closed in 1978, the buildings have been rehabbed & made into condos. I hope whoever lives there feels very fortunate – they have one of the best views looking East out over San Francisco & toward the East Bay Hills! I had also hoped to get to the Castro District, center of San Francisco’s gay population, & to Mission Dolores where I often stopped to pray after leaving work at St. Joe’s. All of that will be for a future visit.
Instead, I got back on the BART & took it to Rockridge Station. The Rockridge neighborhood is a several block area in Oakland along College Avenue by the BART Station; it has wonderful small shops, including a Body Time store, a comfortable bookstore, & a Trader Joe’s in the building that had been a Lucky Supermarket. In the early- to mid-1980’s, seminarians & faculty of the Southern Province Dominican Order lived in several buildings in the neighborhood just across from the BART Station. Several members of the community came to be very close friends of mine, so I knew the area very well. It was a shock to me when, going down the street where those buildings had stood, I realized that they had been demolished.
I stopped in Trader Joe’s where I bought some flowers and to the Body Time store to buy a gift, then window-shopped before going into the bookstore, Pendragon, where I had brought many used books for both cash & trade. When the van found me to pick me up, I was sitting outside – the clouds had finally dissipated & the sun turned out to be warm & comfortable.
At Nancy’s that evening, rather than go out to eat, Nancy & I put together a simple summer supper of tuna salad, a vegetable salad, & whatever was left over, finishing with ice cream. Bill returned later that evening from his business trip, so I had an opportunity to see him before I left the next day. After 5 days & nights at Nancy’s & Bill’s in Oakland, I would be moving to my friends’ home in Hayward, south of Oakland. Saturday morning, 19 June, I said goodbye to Bill, Nancy, Liz & Natalia, and the para-transit van took me to Sandee’s & Ron’s house.
Sandee Yarlott & Ron Stief & I had met at PSR; they were studying for their Master’s of Divinity degrees & I was studying for my doctorate in Systematic Theology. Sandee, from Iowa, was raising her son & was a single mom; Ron was from Montana. They became my students when I served as Teaching Assistant to Dr. Robert McAfee Brown of Blessed Memory; they became a couple; and the 3 of us became good friends in large part because of our shared commitment to peace & justice, all within a few months. We shared a house in Oakland for 2 years in the mid-1980’s. Both Sandee & Ron had been ordained in the United Church of Christ; Sandee then became a hospital chaplain, director of Clinical Pastoral Education, and, in her final position prior to retirement, director of Pastoral Care at UCLA Hospital. Ron continued his work in economic justice through a number of church-affiliated organizations. For nearly 10 years, Ron had lived in Washington, DC while Sandee had lived in Southern CA. They both had moved back to the Bay Area in the fall of 2009 once Sandee had retired.
A Testimonial: I Have Incredible Friends!! First, Nancy & Bill. Nancy & Bill had invited me to stay with them during my visit before they knew that the weekend I arrived, they would have a “full house,” with lots going on & lots of guests. They made sure I knew that it was fine for me to show up on Monday, even though Nancy’s 2 sons, Jeremy & Daniel, would be there. They opened their comfortable & very happy home to me for 5 wonderful days. Second, Sandee & Ron: In the month of June, Sandee & Ron had made plans to have a short vacation in Hawaii & then to go to Florida for the birthday of one of their granddaughters. Sandee & I had coordinated dates so that I would be able to see them, staying with them beginning the day after they returned from Florida. At the time, they were living in a 2-bedroom apartment in Hayward, 1 mile from the Hayward BART station. Then they found out that a house they had been hoping to rent was available & that their rental application had been accepted. They had barely a week-long window between Hawaii & Florida in which to move, & they would be returning from Florida with most of their unpacking still to be done. They couldn’t pass up the house, so they signed the lease. Sandee emailed me that it would be fine for me to stay with them still, that we could talk while she unpacked. And that’s what we did, since neither of us wanted to miss the opportunity to see one another, nor did I want to bypass the chance to see Ron. I don’t know anyone who would want a houseguest under either set of circumstances, yet my friends welcomed me with incredible tenderness & love. I have incredible friends. Thank you, Nancy & Bill & Sandee & Ron!!!
The 2-story house Sandee & Ron rented is truly wonderful. Set high in the Hayward Hills, it has a view of San Francisco Bay facing west & a view of the hills facing east. It has 4 bedrooms, one of which is now Sandee’s study; 3 full baths; a great kitchen; a patio out the back door; a working fire place in the living room; a laundry room; & big garage. It also has fruit trees – apple, lemon, lime, apricot – vegetable garden, herb garden, & even grape vines! In the front by the house is a small tiled area with 2 chairs & a table for morning coffee, framed by a statue of St. Francis of Assisi. With its big windows & high ceilings, it is filled with light. I could see why they loved it & couldn’t pass it up; I loved it & could have stayed there a very long time.
Late that morning, while Ron went to 2 farmers’ markets & to the airport to pick up Janet, Sandee’s sister (who I knew from the time Sandee, Ron, Sandee’s son Ryan & I shared a house), Sandee gave me a tour of the house & got me settled. Then she & I talked, getting caught up as we unpacked boxes. We continued talking & unpacking boxes, adding Ron & Janet once they arrived, finding items that were needed (such as towels). Then, in the early evening, Ron grilled fish & we all prepared & ate a delicious dinner, finishing with more conversation in the living room.
The next morning the 4 of us went out to breakfast to mark Fathers’ Day, eating at a terrific restaurant at Jack London Square in Oakland. Once we finished eating, we headed for the large farmers’ market that stretched for several blocks. We bought some terrific tomatoes, a round green squash to grill, cucumber for salad, and a bunch more stuff. We then returned to Hayward where Ron worked on the watering system for the gardens & Sandee, Janet & I helped unpack & set up Sandee’s office. Later, we made dinner & talked for a long while about all kinds of ideas & topics – pets, families, writing, ministry (Janet is a retired military chaplain), my eventual move back to the Bay Area. It was a quiet and very supportive evening for my last evening in the Bay Area.
The next morning, after a quick shower & breakfast, I finished packing & waited until the para-transit van showed up to take me back to Oakland Airport & my flights back to the East Coast. Saying goodbye & leaving were very difficult & painful, saved only by the thoughts that were going through my mind: “I’ll be back. One of these days, I’ll come back for good; this is home for me, & I’ll be back. I love this area, these cities, these streets; I love the people who are my friends, my community, who live here, the ones I saw & those I didn’t get to see on this visit. I’ll be back to visit, &, someday, I’ll be back for good. I don’t know when, but I’m coming back, coming home.” I arrived home at 1:45 a.m. Tuesday, 22 June, after a 2+ hour delay at the airport; my cats, Spooky & Geoffrey, were ecstatic to have me back home. And I was definitely very happy to be back home with them.
Note: Along with incredible friends, I have an equally incredible mother, sister, & brother-in-law. The original idea for me to visit the Bay Area came from my sister, Andi, who lives in Seattle, WA. She & my mother decided that the trip would be their gift to me for my 60th birthday. My mother financed the venture, and Andi, with help from her partner, Stuart, did tons of research, made my airline reservations, & provided tons of logistical information, help, & support. Thank you, Mom, Andi, & Stuart!!!! I love you!!!! I definitely have an incredible family!!!!
This is the end of the "travelogue." Within the next couple of days, I'll be posting some closing thoughts about the trip and include some links to a number of the places I mentioned, e.g., Pacific School of Religion, Newman Hall / Holy Spirit Parish, etc., so anyone reading will be able to see the places I've been. I apologize that it didn't occur to me to do that as I wrote the story each day! Thank you for reading about my Bay Area adventures; I hoped you've enjoyed them! Much Shalom and Blessings to All.
When I lived in the Bay Area, I took the BART – Bay Area Rapid Transit – whenever I needed to go into San Francisco or to one of the suburbs. Early one morning on my way into San Francisco to my job at Saint Joseph’s Hospital, I was a passenger on the first non-test-run train to take passengers through the tunnel under the San Francisco Bay. The system has expanded and grown, adding stations and becoming much more complicated. I discovered that the people who run the BART system have the same attitude toward it as New Yorkers do about New York: If one needs to ask, one doesn’t belong on it / in it. The signage in the BART stations is terrible, especially the signage for elevators. There were few indications inside the station concerning which elevator or escalator one should take to go in the any specific direction. Few station maps were posted in the trains, the expectation being, I suppose, that the traveler should have her or his chosen route memorized.
Despite those problems, I felt a bit of a kick being back on the BART, with its smooth ride, its swiftly opening & closing doors, its sleek-looking stations. My first stop amounted to a bit of a pilgrimage, since I went to San Francisco City Hall, the location of innumerable Gay / Lesbian Freedom Day rallies, a number of demonstrations against Prop 6 and after the murders of Mayor George Moscone & Supervisor Harvey Milk (the first openly gay elected city official in the US), & of Joan Baez’s gift of a free concert a month after those horrific murders. San Francisco City Hall was also where my friends Scott & Alan were married. After City Hall, I visited the new & very beautiful San Francisco Public Library, including its special collection & room on GLBT history.
Since the weather had warmed up a bit, I rode from City Hall Plaza to Powell Street where people catch the City’s famous cable cars. I decided to take the BART two stops to Embarcadero and from there to go to the Ferry Building to see the vendors both inside and outside. Outside the street hosts a huge open-air arts fair, with all sorts of mostly very fine works – fabric art, painting, jewelry, and more that I cannot now remember. Inside the Ferry Building, the first floor has a wonderful array of vendors, including Mariposa’s counter (where I bought more g-f baked goods) and, my favorite, a vendor devoted solely to anything and everything having to do with mushrooms! On the way back to the BART station, I stopped to buy gifts for my mother, sister, & cat-caretaker.
There were many places in San Francisco that I didn’t get to on this visit; I’d hoped to go to Ocean Beach to see the seals on Seal Rock. I’d also wanted to return to Buena Vista Avenue to take a look at the buildings that once housed Saint Joseph’s Hospital & nursing school. While the hospital closed in 1978, the buildings have been rehabbed & made into condos. I hope whoever lives there feels very fortunate – they have one of the best views looking East out over San Francisco & toward the East Bay Hills! I had also hoped to get to the Castro District, center of San Francisco’s gay population, & to Mission Dolores where I often stopped to pray after leaving work at St. Joe’s. All of that will be for a future visit.
Instead, I got back on the BART & took it to Rockridge Station. The Rockridge neighborhood is a several block area in Oakland along College Avenue by the BART Station; it has wonderful small shops, including a Body Time store, a comfortable bookstore, & a Trader Joe’s in the building that had been a Lucky Supermarket. In the early- to mid-1980’s, seminarians & faculty of the Southern Province Dominican Order lived in several buildings in the neighborhood just across from the BART Station. Several members of the community came to be very close friends of mine, so I knew the area very well. It was a shock to me when, going down the street where those buildings had stood, I realized that they had been demolished.
I stopped in Trader Joe’s where I bought some flowers and to the Body Time store to buy a gift, then window-shopped before going into the bookstore, Pendragon, where I had brought many used books for both cash & trade. When the van found me to pick me up, I was sitting outside – the clouds had finally dissipated & the sun turned out to be warm & comfortable.
At Nancy’s that evening, rather than go out to eat, Nancy & I put together a simple summer supper of tuna salad, a vegetable salad, & whatever was left over, finishing with ice cream. Bill returned later that evening from his business trip, so I had an opportunity to see him before I left the next day. After 5 days & nights at Nancy’s & Bill’s in Oakland, I would be moving to my friends’ home in Hayward, south of Oakland. Saturday morning, 19 June, I said goodbye to Bill, Nancy, Liz & Natalia, and the para-transit van took me to Sandee’s & Ron’s house.
Sandee Yarlott & Ron Stief & I had met at PSR; they were studying for their Master’s of Divinity degrees & I was studying for my doctorate in Systematic Theology. Sandee, from Iowa, was raising her son & was a single mom; Ron was from Montana. They became my students when I served as Teaching Assistant to Dr. Robert McAfee Brown of Blessed Memory; they became a couple; and the 3 of us became good friends in large part because of our shared commitment to peace & justice, all within a few months. We shared a house in Oakland for 2 years in the mid-1980’s. Both Sandee & Ron had been ordained in the United Church of Christ; Sandee then became a hospital chaplain, director of Clinical Pastoral Education, and, in her final position prior to retirement, director of Pastoral Care at UCLA Hospital. Ron continued his work in economic justice through a number of church-affiliated organizations. For nearly 10 years, Ron had lived in Washington, DC while Sandee had lived in Southern CA. They both had moved back to the Bay Area in the fall of 2009 once Sandee had retired.
A Testimonial: I Have Incredible Friends!! First, Nancy & Bill. Nancy & Bill had invited me to stay with them during my visit before they knew that the weekend I arrived, they would have a “full house,” with lots going on & lots of guests. They made sure I knew that it was fine for me to show up on Monday, even though Nancy’s 2 sons, Jeremy & Daniel, would be there. They opened their comfortable & very happy home to me for 5 wonderful days. Second, Sandee & Ron: In the month of June, Sandee & Ron had made plans to have a short vacation in Hawaii & then to go to Florida for the birthday of one of their granddaughters. Sandee & I had coordinated dates so that I would be able to see them, staying with them beginning the day after they returned from Florida. At the time, they were living in a 2-bedroom apartment in Hayward, 1 mile from the Hayward BART station. Then they found out that a house they had been hoping to rent was available & that their rental application had been accepted. They had barely a week-long window between Hawaii & Florida in which to move, & they would be returning from Florida with most of their unpacking still to be done. They couldn’t pass up the house, so they signed the lease. Sandee emailed me that it would be fine for me to stay with them still, that we could talk while she unpacked. And that’s what we did, since neither of us wanted to miss the opportunity to see one another, nor did I want to bypass the chance to see Ron. I don’t know anyone who would want a houseguest under either set of circumstances, yet my friends welcomed me with incredible tenderness & love. I have incredible friends. Thank you, Nancy & Bill & Sandee & Ron!!!
The 2-story house Sandee & Ron rented is truly wonderful. Set high in the Hayward Hills, it has a view of San Francisco Bay facing west & a view of the hills facing east. It has 4 bedrooms, one of which is now Sandee’s study; 3 full baths; a great kitchen; a patio out the back door; a working fire place in the living room; a laundry room; & big garage. It also has fruit trees – apple, lemon, lime, apricot – vegetable garden, herb garden, & even grape vines! In the front by the house is a small tiled area with 2 chairs & a table for morning coffee, framed by a statue of St. Francis of Assisi. With its big windows & high ceilings, it is filled with light. I could see why they loved it & couldn’t pass it up; I loved it & could have stayed there a very long time.
Late that morning, while Ron went to 2 farmers’ markets & to the airport to pick up Janet, Sandee’s sister (who I knew from the time Sandee, Ron, Sandee’s son Ryan & I shared a house), Sandee gave me a tour of the house & got me settled. Then she & I talked, getting caught up as we unpacked boxes. We continued talking & unpacking boxes, adding Ron & Janet once they arrived, finding items that were needed (such as towels). Then, in the early evening, Ron grilled fish & we all prepared & ate a delicious dinner, finishing with more conversation in the living room.
The next morning the 4 of us went out to breakfast to mark Fathers’ Day, eating at a terrific restaurant at Jack London Square in Oakland. Once we finished eating, we headed for the large farmers’ market that stretched for several blocks. We bought some terrific tomatoes, a round green squash to grill, cucumber for salad, and a bunch more stuff. We then returned to Hayward where Ron worked on the watering system for the gardens & Sandee, Janet & I helped unpack & set up Sandee’s office. Later, we made dinner & talked for a long while about all kinds of ideas & topics – pets, families, writing, ministry (Janet is a retired military chaplain), my eventual move back to the Bay Area. It was a quiet and very supportive evening for my last evening in the Bay Area.
The next morning, after a quick shower & breakfast, I finished packing & waited until the para-transit van showed up to take me back to Oakland Airport & my flights back to the East Coast. Saying goodbye & leaving were very difficult & painful, saved only by the thoughts that were going through my mind: “I’ll be back. One of these days, I’ll come back for good; this is home for me, & I’ll be back. I love this area, these cities, these streets; I love the people who are my friends, my community, who live here, the ones I saw & those I didn’t get to see on this visit. I’ll be back to visit, &, someday, I’ll be back for good. I don’t know when, but I’m coming back, coming home.” I arrived home at 1:45 a.m. Tuesday, 22 June, after a 2+ hour delay at the airport; my cats, Spooky & Geoffrey, were ecstatic to have me back home. And I was definitely very happy to be back home with them.
Note: Along with incredible friends, I have an equally incredible mother, sister, & brother-in-law. The original idea for me to visit the Bay Area came from my sister, Andi, who lives in Seattle, WA. She & my mother decided that the trip would be their gift to me for my 60th birthday. My mother financed the venture, and Andi, with help from her partner, Stuart, did tons of research, made my airline reservations, & provided tons of logistical information, help, & support. Thank you, Mom, Andi, & Stuart!!!! I love you!!!! I definitely have an incredible family!!!!
This is the end of the "travelogue." Within the next couple of days, I'll be posting some closing thoughts about the trip and include some links to a number of the places I mentioned, e.g., Pacific School of Religion, Newman Hall / Holy Spirit Parish, etc., so anyone reading will be able to see the places I've been. I apologize that it didn't occur to me to do that as I wrote the story each day! Thank you for reading about my Bay Area adventures; I hoped you've enjoyed them! Much Shalom and Blessings to All.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Part I: Visit to San Francisco Bay Area this June
Two months ago today, I'd just returned from my first visit in over 20 years to the San Francisco Bay Area. The time I spent there in June of this year was wonderful -- seeing friends, meeting people, visiting old haunts, discovering new places. People have asked about the trip & I've told everyone, "It was wonderful." Now that I've been back for a couple of months, I want to write about it here. I'll mostly go chronologically, although I'm sure that I'll include some diversions. So, here goes Part One of my blog about my Visit to the Bay Area from 10 - 21 June 2010.
Flying Southwest went very well, until we arrived in Denver & learned that our Denver to Oakland flight would be delayed by 2 hours. That meant arriving in Oakland at 5:15 PDT, rather than 3:15 -- something that really threw my schedule for a loop. Still, the flights went well; little problem getting my wheelchair when we arrived in Oakland. (My electric wheelchair traveled in a special place in baggage.)
Flying from Denver to CA on Friday, 11 June, I was able to see Lake Tahoe and knew when we were close to the CA coast -- the hills, green in the winter, had already turned golden-dry. That was my first hint of home. After we landed & I went into the terminal, I had my next more-than-hint, from the advertisements & vendors, as well as the "Welcome to Oakland, CA" sign. By this time, having had little sleep Thursday night & being tired & excited, when it hit me that I was, really, finally, in California, I cried. I'd re-scheduled my para-transit van pick-up for 6:30 pm, so I sat outside waiting for it to arrive. Once it did, I was on my way down the freeway to Berkeley & the first place I'd be staying overnight: Benton Hall, a graduate student residence on the campus of my graduate school, Pacific School of Religion (PSR) on Berkeley's Northside.
First impressions on the ride from Oakland Airport to and then through parts of Berkeley: The dire fiscal condition of the state revealed itself to me almost immediately, in the condition of the freeways and city streets. TERRIBLE. Worse, really, that parts of Hartford, where we deal with damage from winter, salt, sand and asphalt & concrete shrinking & expanding due to extreme changes in temperatures. I bumped & bounced all the way from Oakland to PSR. And I was in tears a good part of the way, too, seeing familiar signs and signposts, familiar buildings and street signs. Oddly enough, & I'd never realized it when I lived there, one of the most visible & recognizable buildings in Oakland is the Oakland Court House, scene of numerous Black Panther demonstrations.
When I reached PSR, I just sat in my wheelchair for a few minutes, taking in the green, the buildings, the chapel -- so familiar from all those years ago. The PSR campus has remained the same -- no new buildings since Mudd was built in the early 1980's, & nothing to obstruct the view across the quad or over to the Golden Gate Bridge. The Benton manager showed me my room, gave me my keys, & I was on my own.
After stretching for a few minutes, washing up, & deep breathing, I decided to poke around Northside for a bit. I knew I needed some seltzer to drink -- I drink plain seltzer & almost any kind of tea, & that's it -- so I grabbed what I needed & went out & about -- for a new experience: seeing Northside in my wheelchair. While there were several restaurants open on Euclid, I didn't feel like eating, & the ice cream shop that had been there when I lived there was gone, so I stopped into Seven Palms, got a bottle of Perrier, & then rode around a bit. Up passed the Franciscan School of Theology (FST -- now painted dark green, I think), then up Le Conte to Le Roy and by the Jesuit School of Theology building and its HUGE new addition. Whatever were they thinking??! The addition, to the left of the old building, is twice as big as the original building & a completely different architectural style. It looks really strange. I couldn't figure out whether the new building houses offices or serves as a large dormitory for Jesuit seminarians, & no one was around who could tell me. The best part of the addition: A ramp for people with disabilities! No more climbing up that huge flight of stairs from the sidewalk to the front door.
I went down a block on Virginia Street & then turned back onto Le Conte, passing the old GTU admin building -- no more bookstore! terrible. When I reached the front of the Unitarian Universalist School (Starr King School), I stopped still, hearing singing. Of course, I had to explore, so I went in. Turns out it was the Friday night Women's Spirit Sing,open to any woman who wants to attend. Something to remember for my return... I stayed for a few minutes, until my cell phone rang. On the phone was the PSR Housing Coordinator who wanted to make sure I'd gotten in to my room. She'd just begun a break from her evening Church History class, so I went over to Mudd to meet her & say hello. After that, realizing that I was really tired, I went to my room. And crashed.
I hadn't expected to feel so completely exhausted the following day. It turned out to be a day when temps reached into the 90's F, however, I didn't know it at all; I was so wiped out that I cancelled my lunch plans with Russ, a friend & co-PSR alum, & his husband & my later afternoon plans to see my friend Judy from Boston. :-( As I lay there in bed, drinking Perrier, I kept trying to convince myself that the trip was NOT a mistake, that I would feel better the next day. It took a lot of convincing; luckily, I believed myself. By evening, I was able to shower, go out for more Perrier, and sleep, rather than crash. When I woke up the next morning, Sunday, I still felt shaky, however, I knew I would make it through the day. Plans for that day: Mass at Holy Spirit Parish / Newman Hall in Berkeley, where I was Baptized, Confirmed, & received First Eucharist, and, that evening, dinner with several very close friends, two of whom I'd know for over 30 years.
Mass at Holy Spirit: When I was Baptized, etc., @ Holy Spirit Parish, it happened at the 12 pm (noon) Mass. No more Noon Mass, though. Now, it's at 11:30 am. I rode across the UC Berkeley Campus, truly enjoying the journey; I will still contend that this campus is one of the most beautiful in the US. Past the carillon & its bells, past Dwinnell Hall, past Sproul Hall, through Sproul Plaza -- location of some of the most famous student protests in US history, & location of several protests in which I, too, participated, including one against apartheid in South Africa, at which Alice Walker read several of her poems. Then down Telegraph Avenue and up Haste Street, a right on College Avenue and keep going on College to Dwight Way. On the Northeast corner of College & Dwight is Holy Spirit Parish / Newman Hall
Built of poured concrete in that era of building, it forms a large, hulking presence off of the large open space in front of the doors. Inside and straight ahead through another set of doors is the chapel. Very modern with its massive Christ figure and almost bare walls, its unmovable altar & ambo that seem to grow organically up from the floor. I love this chapel, this worship space, perhaps because it was the first Catholic Church in which I was welcomed & completely free to worship & to pray. I prayed for several minutes, then went to find Judy.
Judy & I had met when we were both members of the Paulist Center in Boston, MA; we both sang in the music ministry & both had grown up Jewish. Judy had decided to become Catholic, & I was on the RCIA team the year she received the Sacraments of Initiation. She then moved to Berkeley. It was terrific to see her! She'd cut her hair, looked wonderful, & was doing well. We didn't have enough time to talk; a friend from many years ago who I'd known from my first days at Holy Spirit had waited to see me, & the 3 of us talked for 20 minutes, until just a few minutes before Mass. Then, I needed to go in to make sure that the presider, George Fitzgerald, CSP, & someone else I knew from those earlier days, knew that I was there & that I would need a gluten-free host. Big, happy greeting from George; yes, everything is set. Then, wonderful surprise, big hug from Heather Skinner, a woman I've known for many years through the parish; she, her husband, & her mother-in-law had come to that Mass at Holy Spirit knowing I would be there! What a lovely welcome!!
And it felt like home. Quiet, low-key Mass, fitting for the almost beginning of summer; it felt very familiar. Of course, there's always something that I would do differently... and I would have chosen different music... Mostly because I didn't know most of the tunes the congregation sang.
After Mass, George & I had a little time to talk, then I went back down to Telegraph Avenue. Outside of the now-closed Cody's Books, I found a florist & purchased some beautiful deep purple iris for Jose's house where our Sunday evening dinner was to take place. Stopped at Walgreens to pick up some toothpaste -- the travel-size one I'd brought with me was no good, too old -- & then back across campus & at Seven Palms stopped for more Perrier. Then I took a ride down another few streets to the house where I had lived during the last 2 years of my PhD studies at the Graduate Theological Union, on Virginia Street. I knew the house immediately by its bottom-floor on-street windows. I had put my desk under those windows so I'd be able to look outside when I studied. Thought about that house for a few minutes, then went back up the hill to my room to rest.
Dinner & the next part -- tomorrow.........
Flying Southwest went very well, until we arrived in Denver & learned that our Denver to Oakland flight would be delayed by 2 hours. That meant arriving in Oakland at 5:15 PDT, rather than 3:15 -- something that really threw my schedule for a loop. Still, the flights went well; little problem getting my wheelchair when we arrived in Oakland. (My electric wheelchair traveled in a special place in baggage.)
Flying from Denver to CA on Friday, 11 June, I was able to see Lake Tahoe and knew when we were close to the CA coast -- the hills, green in the winter, had already turned golden-dry. That was my first hint of home. After we landed & I went into the terminal, I had my next more-than-hint, from the advertisements & vendors, as well as the "Welcome to Oakland, CA" sign. By this time, having had little sleep Thursday night & being tired & excited, when it hit me that I was, really, finally, in California, I cried. I'd re-scheduled my para-transit van pick-up for 6:30 pm, so I sat outside waiting for it to arrive. Once it did, I was on my way down the freeway to Berkeley & the first place I'd be staying overnight: Benton Hall, a graduate student residence on the campus of my graduate school, Pacific School of Religion (PSR) on Berkeley's Northside.
First impressions on the ride from Oakland Airport to and then through parts of Berkeley: The dire fiscal condition of the state revealed itself to me almost immediately, in the condition of the freeways and city streets. TERRIBLE. Worse, really, that parts of Hartford, where we deal with damage from winter, salt, sand and asphalt & concrete shrinking & expanding due to extreme changes in temperatures. I bumped & bounced all the way from Oakland to PSR. And I was in tears a good part of the way, too, seeing familiar signs and signposts, familiar buildings and street signs. Oddly enough, & I'd never realized it when I lived there, one of the most visible & recognizable buildings in Oakland is the Oakland Court House, scene of numerous Black Panther demonstrations.
When I reached PSR, I just sat in my wheelchair for a few minutes, taking in the green, the buildings, the chapel -- so familiar from all those years ago. The PSR campus has remained the same -- no new buildings since Mudd was built in the early 1980's, & nothing to obstruct the view across the quad or over to the Golden Gate Bridge. The Benton manager showed me my room, gave me my keys, & I was on my own.
After stretching for a few minutes, washing up, & deep breathing, I decided to poke around Northside for a bit. I knew I needed some seltzer to drink -- I drink plain seltzer & almost any kind of tea, & that's it -- so I grabbed what I needed & went out & about -- for a new experience: seeing Northside in my wheelchair. While there were several restaurants open on Euclid, I didn't feel like eating, & the ice cream shop that had been there when I lived there was gone, so I stopped into Seven Palms, got a bottle of Perrier, & then rode around a bit. Up passed the Franciscan School of Theology (FST -- now painted dark green, I think), then up Le Conte to Le Roy and by the Jesuit School of Theology building and its HUGE new addition. Whatever were they thinking??! The addition, to the left of the old building, is twice as big as the original building & a completely different architectural style. It looks really strange. I couldn't figure out whether the new building houses offices or serves as a large dormitory for Jesuit seminarians, & no one was around who could tell me. The best part of the addition: A ramp for people with disabilities! No more climbing up that huge flight of stairs from the sidewalk to the front door.
I went down a block on Virginia Street & then turned back onto Le Conte, passing the old GTU admin building -- no more bookstore! terrible. When I reached the front of the Unitarian Universalist School (Starr King School), I stopped still, hearing singing. Of course, I had to explore, so I went in. Turns out it was the Friday night Women's Spirit Sing,open to any woman who wants to attend. Something to remember for my return... I stayed for a few minutes, until my cell phone rang. On the phone was the PSR Housing Coordinator who wanted to make sure I'd gotten in to my room. She'd just begun a break from her evening Church History class, so I went over to Mudd to meet her & say hello. After that, realizing that I was really tired, I went to my room. And crashed.
I hadn't expected to feel so completely exhausted the following day. It turned out to be a day when temps reached into the 90's F, however, I didn't know it at all; I was so wiped out that I cancelled my lunch plans with Russ, a friend & co-PSR alum, & his husband & my later afternoon plans to see my friend Judy from Boston. :-( As I lay there in bed, drinking Perrier, I kept trying to convince myself that the trip was NOT a mistake, that I would feel better the next day. It took a lot of convincing; luckily, I believed myself. By evening, I was able to shower, go out for more Perrier, and sleep, rather than crash. When I woke up the next morning, Sunday, I still felt shaky, however, I knew I would make it through the day. Plans for that day: Mass at Holy Spirit Parish / Newman Hall in Berkeley, where I was Baptized, Confirmed, & received First Eucharist, and, that evening, dinner with several very close friends, two of whom I'd know for over 30 years.
Mass at Holy Spirit: When I was Baptized, etc., @ Holy Spirit Parish, it happened at the 12 pm (noon) Mass. No more Noon Mass, though. Now, it's at 11:30 am. I rode across the UC Berkeley Campus, truly enjoying the journey; I will still contend that this campus is one of the most beautiful in the US. Past the carillon & its bells, past Dwinnell Hall, past Sproul Hall, through Sproul Plaza -- location of some of the most famous student protests in US history, & location of several protests in which I, too, participated, including one against apartheid in South Africa, at which Alice Walker read several of her poems. Then down Telegraph Avenue and up Haste Street, a right on College Avenue and keep going on College to Dwight Way. On the Northeast corner of College & Dwight is Holy Spirit Parish / Newman Hall
Built of poured concrete in that era of building, it forms a large, hulking presence off of the large open space in front of the doors. Inside and straight ahead through another set of doors is the chapel. Very modern with its massive Christ figure and almost bare walls, its unmovable altar & ambo that seem to grow organically up from the floor. I love this chapel, this worship space, perhaps because it was the first Catholic Church in which I was welcomed & completely free to worship & to pray. I prayed for several minutes, then went to find Judy.
Judy & I had met when we were both members of the Paulist Center in Boston, MA; we both sang in the music ministry & both had grown up Jewish. Judy had decided to become Catholic, & I was on the RCIA team the year she received the Sacraments of Initiation. She then moved to Berkeley. It was terrific to see her! She'd cut her hair, looked wonderful, & was doing well. We didn't have enough time to talk; a friend from many years ago who I'd known from my first days at Holy Spirit had waited to see me, & the 3 of us talked for 20 minutes, until just a few minutes before Mass. Then, I needed to go in to make sure that the presider, George Fitzgerald, CSP, & someone else I knew from those earlier days, knew that I was there & that I would need a gluten-free host. Big, happy greeting from George; yes, everything is set. Then, wonderful surprise, big hug from Heather Skinner, a woman I've known for many years through the parish; she, her husband, & her mother-in-law had come to that Mass at Holy Spirit knowing I would be there! What a lovely welcome!!
And it felt like home. Quiet, low-key Mass, fitting for the almost beginning of summer; it felt very familiar. Of course, there's always something that I would do differently... and I would have chosen different music... Mostly because I didn't know most of the tunes the congregation sang.
After Mass, George & I had a little time to talk, then I went back down to Telegraph Avenue. Outside of the now-closed Cody's Books, I found a florist & purchased some beautiful deep purple iris for Jose's house where our Sunday evening dinner was to take place. Stopped at Walgreens to pick up some toothpaste -- the travel-size one I'd brought with me was no good, too old -- & then back across campus & at Seven Palms stopped for more Perrier. Then I took a ride down another few streets to the house where I had lived during the last 2 years of my PhD studies at the Graduate Theological Union, on Virginia Street. I knew the house immediately by its bottom-floor on-street windows. I had put my desk under those windows so I'd be able to look outside when I studied. Thought about that house for a few minutes, then went back up the hill to my room to rest.
Dinner & the next part -- tomorrow.........
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