Notices by Nina (bluestocking@sfba.social)

@skinnylatte This tracks. I went to a place in Brooklyn last weekend where you can smell niche perfumes and it was SO busy and just packed with queer folks. I’m so envious of the sheer amount of options available to folks who live there!

@skinnylatte the main one I think about, which I share often so you might've heard it already, is from when I was working at the Whole Foods on Franklin in SF. this lady came in who was clearly a tech worker--she definitely had the money to buy whatever she wanted at Whole Foods with no issue.

anyway, she asks me if I can recommend a pasta sauce to her, because she's been eating the basic Whole Foods-branded marinara and she's bored of it. I start trying to make recommendations and gauge her taste--maybe a vodka sauce? or arrabbiata if she'd like something spicy? and she wrinkles her nose like those sound disgusting and says no, she doesn't want those. I continue getting more and more basic in my recommendations and she shoots them all down, until eventually basically her only option is the same sauce she said she didn't want. I say "oh, well, you can always customize it with any herbs or spices you have at home." "I don't have those." I'm pretty sure I made an actual error noise when she said that tbh

@skinnylatte like I'm not about to sit here and claim the Mexican food I prefer isn't very Mexican-American, or that the versions I make at home are super authentic but! where do they think jalapenos are from! who do they think invented flour tortillas! this is going in my list of "weird rich white people food opinions" that rattle around in my brain all the time forever!

@skinnylatte I was looking at Mexican places to go to when my mom was in London earlier this month (generally not a cuisine I really try to seek out in the UK, but we're Mexican-American, so I figured it was worth a shot) and there was this LONGGGG review of one place just ripping it to pieces. some of the criticism seemed possibly justified, but it was hard not to disregard their opinion entirely as soon as they said "ugh, it definitely wasn't Mexican food, they used FLOUR TORTILLAS instead of corn!!" and "there were jalapenos on things--what would those even be doing there???" (while also complaining it wasn't spicy enough... not that fresh jalapenos are particularly spicy but like...)

I just stared at my phone blinking for a while

@skinnylatte Cream Dream seemed like it would be a nice spot to sit and relax for a bit! I didn’t check out the upstairs area but the seating in the downstairs dining area was comfy.

@skinnylatte when my mom and I met up in London last month I got to take her on her first double-decker bus ride and sit on top right in the front and she had SO much fun. buses really can be so great!

Also, this is a good reminder that weird shit happens all the time and it's good to be prepared. If you're able, I highly recommend taking the free Neighborhood Emergency Response Team (NERT) training through the fire department the next time it's available. You get great training on how to respond to different emergencies. Once you've completed the entire course (which takes place over several weeks, with one class per week), you also get linked with the NERT group in the neighborhood you live in. There will be additional trainings that come up for both your smaller neighborhood group and all the NERTs citywide that you can join to keep your knowledge and skills fresh.

I just checked the website and there are spots open for training in January!

https://sf-fire.org/nert

This feels like a good time to share some info about the years-long movement to get PG&E out of San Francisco and establish citywide public power: https://www.publicpowersf.org/

If you're wondering why San Francisco doesn't already have public power: we actually do! SFPUC provides power to the airport, MUNI, and numerous other public services and buildings in the city. SFPUC also runs Green Power SF, which individuals can opt into in order to get renewable-powered energy delivered to their home instead of getting energy from PG&E.

Unfortunately, PG&E owns the majority of San Francisco's power grid, and has blocked and slowed efforts for the City to buy PG&E out. But the louder San Franciscans are about getting PG&E OUT of San Francisco and getting public power instead, the more likely it is that it will actually happen.

Other cities in California have already done it, including larger cities like Sacramento. (SMUD is pretty great and has quite low rates!) There's no reason that San Francisco can't, too!

“so what was 2007 in the Bay Area like”

it’s very special to me that I have friends who will listen to me say things like “I’m pretty sure Yorgos Lanthimos is an emetophile and here’s why” and 1) absolutely hear me out and 2) corroborate with additional examples

typing "where do lesbians buy pants" into google

fat men and mascs: where do you buy your pants? asking for a me

@meganL @skinnylatte I mean, I can taste a lot of flavor and texture nuance in stuff other people find really bland and it brings me a ton of pleasure but it’s things other people would absolutely describe as disgustingly flavorless.

cool things I've found while contacting libraries today: the New Orleans Public Library has a tool library, a seed library, menstrual care supplies, and a cake pan library under their "Library Lagniappe" umbrella. (I also learned the word "lagniappe" today!) also, they give out bike locks to patrons so you can lock up your bike while you're at a library branch and then return it when you leave. all super cool programs! I love libraries so much 🥹

i love* living in a city with these guys

*am terrified by

https://newrepublic.com/article/180487/balaji-srinivasan-network-state-plutocrat

love living in a normal city with normal death threat-laden discourse

and also, once again, journalists are referring to Garry Tan as a “moderate” who supports “moderate” causes, which is simply factually inaccurate. honestly if I could change one thing about San Francisco politics, it would be to to get SF journalists and political movers to actually use the term “conservative.” at this point it feels like journalistic and political malpractice to carry water for ideas like tax cuts, slashing welfare programs’ budgets or doing away with them entirely, drug testing welfare recipients, pouring more funding into cops while pushing for less regulations on their actions, etc etc etc, by calling them “moderate.” those are not moderate positions! what are we doing!

https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/sf-garry-tan-x-threatening-peskin-police-report-18637813.php