Amy

In a playground on Haight near Octavia
Hayes Valley
Monday morning

***

On the one-year anniversary of my arrival in the Bay Area, I found myself abruptly ousted from my job as a children’s librarian.  I had a library degree, no income, no insurance, an apartment in Oakland, a budding cartooning career, and a couple of babysitting references.  In addition to myself, I was supporting a (then-)boyfriend in grad school and five cats.  I was twenty-seven, stunned, and frightened.

But I’m not a girl to give in to despair.  Within twelve hours of getting fired, I had work as a nanny.  It seemed natural; I’d been a children’s librarian for years, and had picked up odd babysitting jobs in my last few months in Chicago to save money for the move to California.  And so, a date-night gig led to a weekday job in Russian Hill with a happy-go-messy blond toddler.  The fussiest baby ever and I began a Monday routine of walks in Golden Gate Park, naps, and grocery stops in the Inner Sunset.  A little bald girl and I spent afternoons in Alta Plaza Park.  A baby threw up on me in Bernal Heights.  I biked to the Richmond to run in circles with a two-year-old and scream at snakes we drew on paper, and climbed Eureka Valley hills to play bear games with a moppet who would solemnly inform me how many bees were after my honey.  It didn’t take me long to swap my fear of starvation for a new sense of wonder.  Nannying was more than just a good source of income.  After a year of living in Oakland and seeing only tiny pieces of San Francisco, suddenly I was—you’ll pardon the expression—all up in that.

I wasn’t sure I would ever want to go back to librarianship.  I was disillusioned with library work, and losing that job was humiliating.  But the quiet routines of changing diapers, rocking, walks through SF, and washing mooshy cereal off hands and faces gave me, among other things, the professional insight I’d been missing.  I learned what it’s really like to spend hours alone with a baby or toddler.  Think unemployment’s scary?  Try being the only person in a household of two who can provide food, entertainment, and security!  Think of that awful pressure you feel when a houseguest has stayed too long, and on day eight is looking at you with that hooray!-now-what-are-we-gonna-do? expression, and hinting rather loudly that they’re going to want some lunch soon, and you’ve just finished breakfast, and dirty dishes and clothes are everywhere and your own work is being neglected… and by the way this houseguest soils himself repeatedly and needs you to soothe him for at least a half hour before he can go to sleep…  Yeah.  Child care is stressful.  I’d heard that, but never experienced enough to empathize with the stressed-out parents (and nannies) who came to the library for the respite of bright colors, songs, or a story read out loud.

Through nannying, I got to see firsthand that the early literacy skills I’d been teaching as a librarian worked.  When we talk about early literacy, we mean the skills a child learns in the first couple years of life that prepare them for learning to read later on.  Things like learning that sounds make words, enjoying playing with books and being motivated to seek them out for fun, distinguishing text from pictures on a printed page, and hearing the words for objects around them.  Parents teach those skills by singing, talking, making time to sit down with their child and books (even 15 minutes a day is enough!), reading the same books aloud over and over, babbling sounds back at their babies, really simple but really important things.  Research demonstrates that setting those early literacy skills as early as possible—ideally, from birth—can shape whether a child is successful in school, is employable as an adult, spends time in prison.  The skills sound so small but they really are crucial.

So when one little guy wanted to be read Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? and Home for a Bunny ad nauseum, I didn’t mind.  I loved it!  It was thrilling to watch him fall in love with the sounds and the pictures.  And really, it’s exciting when you get to go “BOOM BOOM BOOM! Mr. Brown is a wonder! BOOM BOOM BOOM, Mr. Brown makes thunder!!”  Of course you do a great big lap bounce on each of the BOOMs, and then when you get to “he makes lightning, splat splat splat,” you do a big baby-squish on each of the splats, and watch the giggles follow.

As a nanny, I could teach those skills with one child at a time.  But as a children’s librarian, I could teach many kids, and their parents, and be an advocate for infant and toddler literacy.  And so six months after getting that first nanny job, I decided to become a children’s librarian again.  I’ve been with my East Bay library system for two years now.  I love it more than ever.  I came back to the profession with a renewed sense of purpose and belief in my own abilities, and the knowledge that the work I am doing matters.  It makes a difference when a grown-up tells a child it’s important to read.  I like to be that grown-up, and I like to empower other grown-ups to become that role model for their own children.  Nannying got me into San Francisco, and it got me back into my career. Not bad, eh?

Plus, I like to think there is something uniquely San Francisco about pushing a stroller up a dazzling hill while singing “I Went to Visit the Farm Today” between stops to catch your breath.  Make sure you set the wheel brake, nannies!

Jamie

On Page Street
Hayes Valley
Thursday afternoon

***

After college, I moved to the west coast. I knew that I had to leave the South. Not because I disliked my home, but because if I did not move away then, I never would. I was a city girl in training, and knew I could not run with the big guns in Los Angeles, San Francisco or even Seattle, so I picked Portland. The perfect little city of the Northwest. I walked to work, rode my bike to dinner, took the train to see my uncle, and drove an hour to the beach. Unfortunately, life was so perfect that I became bored. After a couple years I knew that if I stayed, I would sink into the Portland perfection and never get out.

Then I met a boy. A city boy that had lived in Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco and now Portland. Dallas was where he grew up and he never had good things to say about LA. San Francisco, however, was his utopia. He talked of living in the Presidio with the ocean out his bedroom window. He talked of scooter rallies to Point Reyes. He talked about Chinatown and the Castro. Presidio? Point Reyes? Castro? None of these words meant anything to me because I had never been to San Francisco. He recommended that I change that.

This big city boy had also spent 6 months in Thailand before moving to Portland, and he talked about it all the time. Thailand this, Thailand that. In fact, he resented Portland for pulling him away from the Land of Smiles and because of this, the perfection that bored me after two years, bored him after two months. A year after we met, he was anxious to leave, and I was anxious to leave with him.

I still had big city dreams, and New York quickly became my top choice. I had done the west coast thing, now it was time to try the east coast thing. To him, San Francisco was still the place of perfection, so his choice was obvious. We did our due diligence by visiting both cities to weigh the pros and cons. He took me up to Twin Peaks and walked me through the Presidio. I took him to the top of Rockefeller Center and walked him through Central Park. He fed me Mexican food on Mission, and I fed him gourmet food in Soho. He met my friends, and I met his friends. In the end, it was a wash. We could be happy on either coast, and to avoid making the decision we decided to take a hiatus and skip off to Thailand!

For six months we lived the life of an old retired couple in the northern city of Chiang Mai. No work, just play. We ate fresh fruit, had amazing meals for $1, explored lush green mountains on a motorbike, and stared out our apartment window to watch the ice cream man walk by every afternoon. We also sat on the other side of the world while the American stock market crashed and our country went into the deepest recession in decades. When our six month retirement was over, we knew that neither New York nor San Francisco was an option. Instead we followed a work opportunity to Shanghai.

Shanghai is a big city. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the big city either of us had dreamed of. We did enjoy exploring and riding our bikes to unknown places, but the insane work hours and pollution got to us. After ten months, the economy had regained some of its ground and we were ready to leave.

San Francisco and New York were back on the table. This time the decision was much simpler because we knew each other better. We were happiest in Thailand spending our days together soaking up the natural beauty, but knew official retirement in our twenties was not an option. We hated Shanghai because work monopolized our time and pollution filled our lungs, but loved living in the midst of a dense urban place. New York fulfilled our dreams of exploration and professional opportunities, but those opportunities would likely require 80 hours a week on a regular basis. San Francisco, however, had similar professional opportunities at a much slower pace, and is set in one of the most beautiful natural landscapes in America. Like I said, the choice was simple.

On February 7, 2010 we boarded a one way flight to the Golden Gate! We found a furnished apartment near Alamo Square, and took advantage of our unemployment by exploring on a daily basis. Eventually the reality of working for a living caught up with us, and we focused on finding jobs. Since then we have slowly settled into daily life as urban dwellers, but still find new experiences every day. In many ways, our story is like Goldilocks. Thailand was way too soft. Shanghai was way too hard. Now San Francisco is just right!!

***

You can see a slideshow of Jamie’s photo shoot here.

Jamie’s blog: www.jamiesinz.com

Jamie’s San Francisco Streets photo series: www.jamiesinz.com/san-francisco-streets

Aynne

On the foot of Ecstasy
Patricia Square, Hayes Valley
Thursday afternoon

***

There is an invisible city. One of people and data that is all around us. Information being transmitted by devices, social networks, people and things.

I am drawn to San Francisco because it is the epicenter of innovation, new things related to technology and new modes of thinking about urban living.

I feel so fortunate to be in the middle of this exciting time in our city’s history, the time of the true fusion of design, art, social innovation, technology, sustainability and emerging forms of pervasive computing that is happening right here, right now.

This is my home. There have been others: a flirtation with Chicago, a fling with Seattle and an ongoing affair with Paris… but San Francisco is my first and only true love.  No matter where I go in life, I will always return to this city by the bay that I call home.

Now here’s my pitch, where I ask you to do something. 
I want you, dear reader, to do something nice today for a stranger. Give up your seat on the bus to someone who looks like they could use a rest, ask someone how their day is, or simply genuinely compliment someone.

We are all neighbors sharing this special space together.

Aynne Valencia is a Design Leader specializing  in creating next-gen products and services that center around social interactions and mobility.  She presents on topics related to design, social networks, and pervasive computing. 

She is also an artist and writes short stories.

Her professional website: 
http://www.avalen.com
Her personal site: 
http://www.sanfransocialite.com

Stuart

Tuesday afternoon
On Fillmore Street
Hayes Valley

A lot happened that summer. I saw scores of great shows and I read a lot of books. I explored thoroughfares and alleyways, learning the difference between avenues and streets. I made a few true friends and a hell of a lot of acquaintances. I fell in love for the first time and I saw a dead body up close and personal for the first time too. I thought I found a career path and later learned I was wrong. I also thought I’d forever stay the person I was then. I was wrong about that as well. But more than anything else, the most significant thing that happened to me that summer was that San Francisco chose me.

By the end of that summer I knew I’d end up living here again. It also helped that the girl who I’d fallen for was here, so I’d have ample reason to come up and visit my future home. Not that I really needed any reason.

Sometimes it feels like a lifetime has passed since I first felt San Francisco’s pull. Various women and friends have come in and out of my life and I’ve spent much of my time over the past few years living out of a bag, sometimes half way around the world. Plus I’ve fallen in love once again; San Francisco is a wonderful city in which to be in love. But of all the things that have within me and without me, one thing has remained constant; my affection and admiration for this city. No matter where I am in the world, I’m always proudest when I say San Francisco is my home and I see someone’s eyes light up. It’s then that I know The City has chosen that person too.

***

You can see a slideshow of Stuart’s photo shoot here.

Stuart is the author of Broke-Ass Stuart’s Guide to Living in San Francisco
He has also written a NYC version. If you “enjoy shit talking and cheap stuff,” make sure to visit him at www.brokeassstuart.com.

Jill

On Hayes Street
Friday morning

• Feeling the wind against my cheeks as I run through Golden Gate Park, and get to my destination, the Pacific Ocean.
• Lounging at Baker Beach with my friends, on a clear day with a fantastic view of the Golden Gate Bridge.
• Hearing that damn Muni bus go up and down my street.
• Eating at my favorite restaurants: A16, SPQR, Delfina & Beretta.
• The Warfield & the Fillmore.
• Walking in to the lush courtyard of my apartment complex, entering my building and getting to my amazingly cute apartment.
• Scoring big time with some new Louboutins for dirt cheap at CRIS on Polk Street. (That one is going to be tough to get over.)
• Night time views of the City from Alamo Square.
• Crazy conversations with sane people over San Francisco politics.
• Driving up and down the steep hills.
• The streetcars!