San Francisco Saturday Night

[susanstinson]

I'm going to miss Friday of the Femme Conference, but I'll be there most of the day on Saturday, and I think, some of Sunday.

beccawrites, I sent you an email last night, but got a message that delivery was delayed, so if you didn't get it, let me know! I was thinking, maybe lunch Saturday, if you're free?

I'm scheduled to be up second at the Saturday Evening Cabaret, which is at (correction) 9 pm at 12 Galaxies (free if you're at the conference; $15 if not).

I had a great big beat influence when I was first forming an identity as a writer, mainly because I was studying in Boulder, where the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics was run by Allen Ginsberg (among a bunch of other folks, I'm sure), and went to things like their conference for the 30th anniversary of the publication of On The Road. So many wild folks were there: Anne Waldman, Ken Kesey, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Ginsberg, of course, Diane DiPrima, Gregory Corso, and Herbert Huncke, who the internet is snotty about, but whose stories made me cry. Oh, I think Robert Creeley was there, and I know Tom Clark was, well or he, sponsored by the university writing department and Ed Dorn, did a "this is not that conference" reading about Jack Kerouac, too.

Anyway, I know that most of those people aren't femmes, but part of what those influences gave me was a reverence for (but no direct knowledge of) San Francisco poetry cultures. It definitely influenced my reading style -- whether I'm reading poetry or fiction (I'll be reading from Venus of Chalk Saturday night) -- and my sense of reading as this vulnerable, alive and profound moment of connection with the people who are there, listening -- it feels kind of like an altered state to me -- but bookstores are much more home territory for me than bars are. And, there is, there is something about the context of a femme conference that, for me, anyway, seems to bring up traditional connotations of beauty, flashiness and struggles around that, for all that it's very clear that the organizers have critical analyses of those forces. Plus the mix of media -- literary fiction with burlesque performances. It's a lovely challenge, just frightening enough to be interesting, and when it's done, I want to drop back deeply into eighteenth century New England for a concentrated writing push. That might be hard, but it's very important to me.

All that by way of saying that I will very delighted to see you if come to the performance or if we run into each other at the conference.

Right now, though, I have trike to the laundromat to wash clothes for the trip. And, once I'm gone, I'll be away from lj until September or so.

PS And, does anybody have suggestion for a good, inexpensive place to swim laps near 24th and Guerrero in the Mission?

Comments

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

oh, I'll still be at work when you are reading. heh. This has happened before! My housemate doesn't go on until 19th or so.

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

That's okay, you've heard me read from Venus of Chalk before, at A Different Light, I think. And going early is so much better for me and my east coast inner clock.

I was just thinking that I probably wrote about the echoes in my head from all of those Beats from twenty years ago before I read at Writers with Drinks last year.

[amarama.livejournal.com]

Hey! I'll be there.

Where to swim:

Garfield Pool, 26th and Harrison/Treat. You can take the 48 straight down 24th or just walk.

http://www.parks.sfgov.org/wcm_recpark/Pool/GarfieldPool.htm

Let me know the holes in your schedule when you can, and if you still have them, for a meal or coffee or whatever!

xoxoxo

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that's great! I'm so glad that you're going to be there.

Thanks so much for the pool info!

I will do the schedule figuring out soon, and email you. Definitely would love to see you.

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

And, so, maybe, if you're free, we can all have lunch on Saturday?

[amarama.livejournal.com]

That would be LOVELY.

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

SO GOOD! 12:15 in the lobby.

Do you happen to know the best public transportation way to get to the hotel from 24th and Guerrero? I figured out that I can take BART to the Civic Center and walk, but maybe there's a bus that goes right there?

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

the 49 (mission and 24th) goes right to the Cathedral Hill Hotel. It runs on Mission, crosses market when Mission turns downtown, and then travels on Van Ness which is the street the hotel is on.

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I can tell a map is called for, but do you happen to know about how long that might take, and what the bus going the right direction would say on the front? (Or maybe Mission is one way -- can't remember!)

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

I can't remember what it says (maybe Van Ness?) but it will go North on decreasing street numbers. 24th, 23rd, 22nd etc. You'll catch it on the east side of the street which is also the odd number address side.

hmmmmm, 20 minute ride once you catch it? something like that. It runs about every 12 minutes in the middle of the day.

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

That's what I needed to know -- thanks a lot. I tried googling and never found the right site with bus schedules.

[beccawrites.livejournal.com]

i didn't get your e-mail, thanks for the follow-up! lunch on saturday sounds wonderful.

and i'm psyched to know about that beat poetry connection! it makes me think of your fatso (so fat?) poem. i don't know if that counts as beat poetry, i don't feel like i know much of anything about poetry, but that is definitely a poem with a beat, in my opinion. :) and it wouldn't be the same reading it as it is hearing you perform it.

anyway, yay!

xoxo

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

Yay! Maybe meet in the lobby at noon on Saturday? The email has my cell phone number, etc -- I should send it again if it doesn't show up.

[beccawrites.livejournal.com]

sounds great! and i just got the e-mail, i'll reply. xoxo

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

Got the email -- and 12:15, perfect.

Now all I have to do is figure out how to find the hotel...

[little_star]

oooooooh that school sounds like it was divine.
i'm so looking forward to spending time with you in SF.
i've got no agenda other than seeing folks and that includes you!

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

Yay! Sounds good -- got to figure out when and all... So glad that you're going to be there.

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

Maybe, if you're free, you'll have lunch with me, and (I hope) ama and becca on Saturday.

[little_star]

i'll be there with bells on!

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

Me, I'm jingling already...

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

12:15 in the lobby. Yay!

[little_star]

there's a pool at the hotel
http://www.cathedralhillhotel.com/hotelamenities.htm
but maybe it's not a lap swim kinda pool.

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

Hm. It's pretty. Maybe not laps, but it might work as a place to help loosen up my knee. Probably you need a hotel key to get in, which I won't have, but maybe I'll try to remember to bring my suit there, in case there's a good moment for that. Thanks.

And, yeah, I should just get in touch with the hotel and ask them about those convenient buses...

[little_star]

You're welcome to swim at the hotel when we're there.

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

Thanks, hon. Might take you up on that.

[angiereedgarner.livejournal.com]

And, there is, there is something about the context of a femme conference that, for me, anyway, seems to bring up traditional connotations of beauty, flashiness and struggles around that, for all that it's very clear that the organizers have critical analyses of those forces. Plus the mix of media -- literary fiction with burlesque performances. It's a lovely challenge,

You just NAILED it. Can't tell you how much I enjoyed seeing and hearing you!-- thank you again and again.

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

Thanks, hon. You were so sweet to come praise me and my dress -- it meant a lot. When you did that, I was sitting with amarama, beccawrites, bounce_n_jiggle.