bay_area_treasure Sonya The other day I went to the beach and it was completely deserted. I looked out across the bay towards San Francisco. I could see some of the twinkling lights in the distance and I started longing for school to start again. Insanity? Perhaps. I've driven all over this little island and I slowly realized the magic of my place here. John had always told me there was magic in it but I never really saw it. Some people wonder how I can tolerate the dark recesses of the cities surrounding my home, and I have no answer. The only thing I can be sure of is that I do belong here. It's evident to me every time I dip my toes into the cold water of the bay, or whenever I'm on the tattered roof of my building looking all around me at the cramped homes of everyone else. Whenever people stereotype the bay area as either too soft or too busy, I will always look them in the eyes and ask, "You think you know this place? You have no idea what lies hidden here. You can't see it in the crowds, and it's not in the smogged air. You can feel it when you're standing in the middle of Golden Gate bridge looking at the City and the breeze almost makes you faint. You can feel it every time you're walking on the street with your security and you come across a homeless veteran. You can feel it when you're standing in line for hours waiting to see a play in a dingy little theater. It's in me and no label you'd ever slap on this place would ever rob me of that treasure." The bay area is forever. 020107 ... ever dumbening up above fort point in the presidio, there's one of those educational plaques with a diagram of what once was, showing the landscape from several suns past. there was no bay, only a river flowing through the 'golden gate.' but the weather, and the soil, and the fragrances, they were there. here. and they slowly oozed up through those several suns and placed you and me on indian rock, watching. one more grain shaves off under my foot, changing the eternal landscape. and the armies, in whatever form, will come and go. the essence, though, remains. it is gold. it is not gold. 020108 ... x the treasure for me was finding somewhere i belong 031112 ... no reason soft sand? ocean, or water you can swim in, to say the least? that's treasure where i come from. 031112 ... jane i think i should go on a hunt. that hunt is for home. 031112 ... unhinged is going to be my home i'm going to find my own i feel more hope than fear in the situation it must happen a 30th birthday present to myself 110215 what's it to you? who go blather from