TresSugar

Overheard in the Street: Love Rants

GiggleSugar — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 09:30:00 -0700

When people think a public audience isn't listening, what do they talk about and what are they saying? Leah Garchik, a popular opinion columnist for The San Francisco Chronicle, includes a tidbit of public eavesdropping in each of her articles. All of the following have something to do with love, dating, and the meds that are helping us cope along the way. For more of Leah's overheard love rants, click here.

"I'm glad you're meeting someone interesting. It must be that new medicine you're on." (Female nurse on cell phone, overheard at Kaiser in San Francisco by Peter Washburn.)
"I'm supposed to meet him here but I can't remember if he's hot. Is he hot?" (Woman on cell phone, overheard on Chestnut Street in the Marina by Mark Pitta.)
"I'm not going there to get laid, but I might have to leave early to avoid it." (Self-assured young man to friend, overheard near the UC Berkeley campus by Marilyn Pon.)
"I'm looking for a green man: high productivity and zero emissions." (Overheard in Macy's in Corte Madera by Jon Dreyer.)

For more eavesdropping fun, read more

"I need to find a boyfriend because I need to argue with somebody." (Woman to woman, overheard on Hayes near Fillmore by Ronn L. Robbins.)
"I don't see us being a girlfriend-boyfriend thing. I mean, we could be, but it's so obvious to me we won't that I felt I should mention it." (Boy to girl, overheard at Jupiter in Berkeley by Dave Bourdon.)
"I'm not a bad guy ... a little creepy maybe, but not a bad guy." (Man to man, overheard walking near the UC Berkeley campus by June Vonich.)
"I don't have a relationship with a man, so I decided to have a relationship with my hair." (Woman at the Fairfax Theatre, overheard by Shae Irving.)

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40 Years Later: Woman in Famous Photo Recognizes Herself

TresSugar — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 07:00:00 -0700

I love this story! The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is currently exhibiting Robert Frank's photographs from his landmark 1959 work The Americans, widely viewed as the photographic analogue to Jack Kerouac's beat classic On the Road. Frank and Kerouac both had similar sensibilities, wanting to show the sprawling, diverse, and melancholy side of postwar America. Kerouac, in fact, wrote the introduction to The Americans. Regarding the above photograph, "Elevator - Miami Beach, 1955," Kerouac asks, "That little ole lonely elevator girl looking up sighing in an elevator full of blurred demons, what's her name & address?"

Turns out, "lonely elevator girl" turned 50-something Sharon Collins saw an exhibit of "The Americans" a few years ago and recognized herself as the 15-year-old in the photograph: "When San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art first opened, I think it was more than 10 years ago . . . I stood in front of this particular photograph for probably a full five minutes, not knowing why I was staring at it, and then it really dawned on me that the girl in the picture was me." To hear what Collins has to say about the photograph, read more

An NPR reporter asked Collins what made her come forward as the elevator girl now and not ten years ago when she recognized herself. She said that a recent San Francisco Chronicle review of the exhibit used this photo on the front page of the entertainment section, and when she told her husband and sons about it, they urged her to call the paper.

Sharon Collins was then 15-year-old Sharon Goldstein, living in Miami Beach and working as an elevator girl at the Sherry Frontenac Hotel in 1955. Her mother was single, so instead of being able to go to Summer camp, Sharon worked to help out. Asked what she thought of the photo, Collins explains what it was she thinks Frank was able to capture in his image and Kerouac in his words:

"I think he saw in me something that most people didn't see. You know, I have a big smile and a big laugh. So people see . . . one thing in me. And I suspect that somehow Robert Frank and Jack Kerouac saw something that was deeper that only people who were really close to me can see, and it's not necessarily loneliness, it's, I don't know, dreaminess."

I've always wondered whether people in documentary photos ever know that they're in museum exhibits. It's fascinating to hear about one woman who discovered that a wistful expression from her teenage years became an iconic photograph in the oeuvre of a major American artist!

Robert Frank/Courtesy National Gallery of Art

Front Page: Fires Rage in Southern California

TresSugar — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 08:00:32 -0700

A relentless fire in Southern California has claimed the lives of two firemen, along with 18 houses. More than 6,000 homes are under mandatory evacuation orders. - LA Times
Jenna Bush has been hired as a new correspondent for the Today Show. - AP
Colombian president Alvaro Uribe has swine flu. - BBC News
Out-of-town couples are not rushing to Vermont now that same-sex marriage is legal. - AP
Kidnap victim Jaycee Lee Dugard apparently played a key role in her captor's printing business. - San Francisco Chronicle

Front Page: GM Goes Bankrupt Owing $172 Billion

TresSugar — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:00:43 -0700

General Motors has filed for bankruptcy today. The company says it owes $172 billion.- New York Times
An Air France flight traveling from Rio de Janeiro to Paris with 228 people on board vanished over the Atlantic. - Huffington Post
Twilight dominated the MTV Movie Awards last night. - PopSugar
Microsoft has launched its new search engine, Bing, earlier than expected. - PC World
In a new interview, Nancy Reagan discusses her lovely conversation with Michelle Obama. She also says that President Obama snubbed her when he didn't invite her to the White House to celebrate the reversal of Bush's stem-cell research ban. - Vanity Fair
It's official: Octomom Nadya Suleman and her children will star in a reality show. - San Francisco Chronicle

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Front Page: Pirates Build the Case Against Captured Pirate

TresSugar — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 08:00:37 -0700

US prosecutors say Somali pirate Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse was a brazen ringleader, despite his young age and skinny, 5-foot-2 frame. If convicted of piracy, he faces a mandatory life sentence. - AP
More than one billion people are expected to celebrate Earth Day today. - CNN
President Obama is spending Earth Day in Iowa, where he will stress clean energy. - USA Today
The rate of breast cancer deaths has reached a record low. - BBC News
The acting CFO of mortgage giant Freddie Mac was found dead in his home today. Police think it might be a suicide. - LA Times
The IMF says the US economy is shrinking more slowly, but positive growth won't happen until next year. - Reuters
San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom announced his candidacy for California governor yesterday on Twitter and YouTube. - San Francisco Chronicle

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Front Page: Best Picture Slumdog Millionaire Wins 8 Oscars

CitizenSugar — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 07:51:18 -0800

Slumdog Millionaire won Best Picture last night, bringing home a total of eight Oscars. - BuzzSugar
Hundreds of people watched the Academy Awards from San Francisco's Castro Street Theater last night, roaring with a standing ovation when Milk won awards and cheering during Sean Penn's politically charged acceptance speech. - San Francisco Chronicle
A British resident held at Guantanamo Bay for over four years has arrived back in Britain. The Ethiopian-born detainee says he was tortured while in custody. - BBC News
The attorney for a Pennsylvania fifth grader who allegedly killed his father's pregnant girlfriend last week has asked a judge to move the case to juvenile court. - Fox News
A British couple has been saved after 40 days stranded in the Atlantic. - Guardian
North Korea has missiles capable of reaching the US, according to a new report from South Korea. - CNN

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Front Page: Cuba Is Ready to Talk With the US

TresSugar — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 08:30:18 -0700

Cuban president Raul Castro says he's ready to "discuss everything" with the US, including human rights, freedom of the press, and political prisoners. - CNN
President Obama unveiled his plan for high speed rail across the country. States will compete for funding. -San Francisco Chronicle
Ashton Kutcher beat CNN to become the first "Twitter millionaire," the first person with more than 1 million followers. - Fox News
Unlike other US presidents, Obama appears to be treating Mexico as an equal. - CNN
The only gunman caught after the Mumbai attack last November says his confession was coerced out of him. - Washington Post
A new poll shows that 75 percent of Texas would rather not secede from the United States. - Rasmussen Reports
Britain's Got Talent star Susan Boyle will not be getting a makeover. - Mirror
The only captured Somali pirate may face trial in New York for holding Captain Richard Phillips hostage. - Reuters

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Front Page: Treasury Unveils $1 Trillion Plan For Banks

CitizenSugar — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 07:49:10 -0700

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner unveiled a complex plan today to end the nation's banking crisis. A new federal entity would help private investors buy as much as $1 trillion in devalued real-estate assets. - New York Times
Fourteen people died after a plane crashed into a Montana cemetery last night. - CNN
JPMorgan Chase, which has received $25 billion in bailout funds, plans on buying two luxury corporate jets and a luxury aircraft hanger at the cost of $138 million. - ABC News
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez says comments from President Obama have made him reconsider his plan to send an ambassador to Washington. - Reuters
Three police officers were killed and a fourth is brain dead after a shooting in Oakland, CA, this weekend. - San Francisco Chronicle

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Marijuana Might Be a Wonder Drug For California's Budget

CitizenSugar — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 10:30:59 -0800

Marijuana might make a smoker mellow, but one lawmaker hopes it will stimulate the economy. California State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano has a plan to legalize and regulate marijuana with the intention of creating $1 billion in tax revenue and thousands of green jobs.

The San Francisco Chronicle broke down the specifics last week. The law would allow people over 21 years old to grow, buy, sell, and possess cannabis. There would be a $50-an-ounce tax on retail sales. A report shows that it would drop the price by 50 percent and increase consumption by 40 percent. There would most likely be a drop in prison population, thus saving the state money, too.

In an interview with Salon, Ammiano explained why he wants to legalize it: it's the economy, stupid. He said:

There's gold in them thar hills! We have one of the worst budget situations we've ever had, and it's a $14 billion industry that's not going away. Everybody knows this and nobody has wanted to go after it. I, frankly, think the time has come.

Do you think economic benefits make legalization of marijuana a good idea?

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Check This: Barack Has No Love For Gavin

LibertySugar — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 12:02:24 -0800

An interaction, or lack of interaction, that took place four years ago between Barack Obama and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, still bothers the San Francisco politician. While Newsom was in the center of national outrage over his authorization of same-sex marriage in San Francisco, Obama allegedly declined to have his picture taken with the pro gay-rights mayor.

Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown told the SF Chronicle:

I gave a fundraiser, at his (Obama's) request at the Waterfront restaurant. And he said to me, he would really appreciate it if he didn't get his photo taken with my mayor.

Willie Brown continued to say that he doesn't blame Barack, who was in a Senate race in a somewhat conservative Illinois. Wilie just wishes Barack's camp would fess up to the snub. As for Gavin, who continues to stump for Hillary Clinton, aids say he's still cool on Barack.

Was Barack simply being cautious and practical - predicting attack ads linking him to controversial Gavin? Or did Barack let close-minded people dictate the conversation, while gay citizens were, and are, being denied rights?

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