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SO_MISUNDERSTOOD

                                             September 22, 2019

                                                I tried telling this
                                                anecdote the other day,
  One day, I was once out in the early          and judging from the
  evening, walking briskly up Valencia          incomprehending
  street in SF. I was in an an upbeat mood      reactions I think I
  and when something struck me as funny I       flubbed it completely,
  made a comment on it to the person on the     so let me try again.
  sidewalk in front of me, who was also
  looking in that direction: there were two        Of course, it
  SUVs stopped honking furiously at each           could be the
  other near the Elbow Room-- I think one          trouble isn't in
  was backing out of the alley, and the            the telling...
  other driver didn't appreciate having to
  wait.  My amused, incisive remark was
  something along the lines of "Somehow I
  don't have any sympathy for either of
  them."


  The woman I spoke to looked over her
  shoulder-- neither of us slowed or broke
  ranks, we were both walking pretty fast,
  at the same speed-- she gave me a level,
  expressionless gaze for just long enough
  to let me know I was being dismissed-- I
  suddenly thought "wait, did she think I
  was coming on to her?"  I don't think I
  was-- but on the other hand if it wasn't   I don't really have much of a
  this wasn't a nice-looking blond woman,    track record on this, it's
  maybe I wouldn't have said anything?       unusual for me to be in such an
                                             expansive mood that I'll say
  Then we both turned at nearly              something random to strangers.
  the same moment, making a left
  into the Modern Times bookstore.              It is perhaps a problem that
  I sat down in the audience and                San Francisco seems to
  she stepped up onto the stage:                attract freaks that insist on
  this was Rebecca Solnit, the                  declaiming their opinons on
  author I was going out to see                 everything to anyone around.
  that evening.                                 I may have come off as just
                                                one of Those Guys.
  And that's supposed to be the
  funny part: it's something of an
  achievement to be put in one's
  place by Rebecca Solnit herself.       This was around the
                                         time "Hope in the
                                         Darkness" had just
                                         been published:

                                                 DARK_HOPE

                                             Somewhat randomly, I'd
                                             heard her do a radio
                                             appearence about it--

                                             I then went by Modern
                                             Times looking for the
                                             book, and I was so puzzled
                                             that I couldn't find it
                                             there-- it seemed like a
                                             Modern Times kind-of
                                             book-- that I asked the
                                             staff: they pointed at the
                                             gigantic display for the
                                             book that was up front, to
                                             announce this upcoming
                                             author appearence.





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