BAUMBLOG: Mission Ramble #2

 

Subscribe to My Blog! AUGUST 7, 2020 MISSION RAMBLE #2 PREVIOUS BLOGS: TERRYBAUM.BLOGSPOT.COM PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO ANYONE WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED. IF THIS WAS FORWARDED TO YOU, YOU ARE NOT SUBSCRIBED. My friend Elizabeth announced she wanted to go on a walk with me. She drove up from Menlo Park with her little dog Paisley. So the two of them and the three of us headed out to explore the Mission. I warned my friend that I would be stopping very frequently to snap photos, which can be very irritating to others. I mean, I wouldn't be able to STAND walking with ME. I somehow neglected to take ANY photos of Elizabeth & Paisley, so here's the two of us in our maskless life. This must have been after a performance of HICK, because I'm wearing make-up. Elizabeth is a serious jock. She was doing triathlons into her 60s. So she can outwalk me any day, which is great. Because as I continue my wandering ways, I have fewer friends to wander with me. Just a sign of hope, like all the other signs of hope. But somehow this one got to me -- simple, graphically strong. Also, I am myself seeing signs of hope everywhere. So many people, especially young people, seem very clear that they're not interested in the restoration of what we had, with all its injustices. I am hearing different voices speaking on the radio -- young women, who know what's wrong and have ideas about how to transform our society. It's exciting. I heard a conference on KPOO Radio ... I didn't write down anything about it... but a woman was speaking who was so brilliant and radical, tearing off one veil after another to reveal the truth about our world. It was mind-blowing. And other women were speaking who were just as brilliant! This is not 2016, folks. Since the election of Trump, many new organizations have arisen: Indivisible (Dec. 2016), Swing Left (Jan. 2017), the Sunrise Movement (2017). Our Revolution was founded in August 2016. All these groups are focussed on electing people to political office who share their ideals. They have had MANY SUCCESSES so far! Oh yeah. We're walking. The Mission is an art gallery. I'm praying Dance Mission Theater survives. This is the fulfilled dream of Krissy Keefer, who in the 70s was a member of the Wallflower Dance Brigade, an outrageous, funny and feminist dance troupe. Krissy is devoted to the alchemy of art and politics. I have had many special moments in that theater. Mission & 24th Street BART Plaza is jumping, 'demic or no. This house is out of a dream. Elizabeth pointed out the sneakers on the torch-bearing girl on the right, AND that someone had taken the time to carefully paint the WIRING on the outside of the building. Elizabeth is an artist herself and she notices details that I miss. So she is a perfect companion for a photo walk. Below is one of her watercolors, which graces my living room. Back to the Mission. Above is a particularly wonderful visual statement. Both "No Justice No Peace" AND "Know Justice, Know Peace." Wow. And what a POWERFUL face George Floyd has. The Mission has many little alleys with one garage door after another, that have become fabulous mural museums. Balmy is the famous one. I believe this is Lucky Alley. But it might be Cypress. Left, Loulou & Paisley try to make a friend. "Grow Always." Lovely Nice that Prodigy got a mural when he died. He looks like he's pretty sad that he's gone. This one of Amiri Baraka really bugs me. "Poet Activist Teacher." Wait a minute, he was a PLAYWRIGHT before he was any of those other things. He was a FAMOUS PLAYWRIGHT! THEN he was a poet, an activist and a teacher. Sheesh! This a mural in memory of Chata Gutierrez. Above right is the list of credits. Directly right is a Go Fund Me page that was obviously successful in raising the money to create this beautiful tribute. Below is text about Chata: "Help us raise money to paint a mural of legendary SanFrancisco DJ Chata Gutierrez in the Mission! Chata was a child of the Mission who gifted us with her salsa show “Con Clave” on radio station KPOO for over 40 years. She influenced our community and the entire Bay Area with her love of music and she stuck with us through thick and thin, battling her own illness to bring us music from the heart. Mission native and muralist Carlos Kookie Gonzalez painted the beautiful poster for Chata’s fundraiser in 2009 – now we want to turn it into a public tribute and a landmark." What a transformation from that poster into the gorgeous mural! Two mentions of KPOO in this blog without even trying!  This mural is very hard to get at and so has remained un-graffittied for many years.  Images on top of images on top of images, with a box covered with images in front. I took lots of piks of the different parts, but then decided the overwhelming mish-mash was better. X-Ray visions of dogs --- and why not? Just in case you're wondering, this is: 151 Lucky Alley! Images of lesbians are surprisingly rare. Left is part of a big scene in a grocery store. I wonder if Chata was a dyke. This is the photo from her obituary. I would say a Friend of Dorothy's And on that note, Bloggelinis, I shall say fare thee well and get this bloggy sent on its way. That's about one-third of the photos I took.... no, 1/5.... no, 1/10..... Suffice it to say there's a LOT to see in the Mission. I'm very excited to have discovered Chata Gutierrez from writing this blog! Terry