43 lines
1.7 KiB
Markdown
43 lines
1.7 KiB
Markdown
---
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created_at: '2012-09-27T16:26:26.000Z'
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title: How the Internet ruined San Francisco (1999)
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url: http://www.salon.com/1999/10/28/internet_2/
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author: mshafrir
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points: 84
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story_text:
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comment_text:
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num_comments: 129
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story_id:
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story_title:
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story_url:
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parent_id:
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created_at_i: 1348763186
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_tags:
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- story
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- author_mshafrir
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- story_4581415
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objectID: '4581415'
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year: 1999
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---
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My best friend who died of AIDS moved to San Francisco in 1976. It was
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through his then-girlfriend that I met him back in Wisconsin, for he was
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still living as straight. He moved to San Francisco in part because I
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was around --- and in part, I now realize, because he needed to come
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out, and San Francisco was where he knew he'd be able to do it. I
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remember the day we were trying to decide which apartment on Russian
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Hill he should pick -- the studio or the one-bedroom with the views of
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Treasure Island and the Bay Bridge and the kitchen with the
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black-and-white tiles, for the slightly more expensive price of $300 per
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month. We had time to decide; I urged him to go for the beauty one. And
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until he moved back to Madison to die there he remained, in the place
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where he could sit in his director's chair and brood out the window for
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hours, drink bad white wine and, when the spirit moved him, paint good
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pictures and make room-enhancing sculptures. All supported through
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groveling at tables less than 30 hours a week, which gave him the free
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time to explore San Francisco --- which in his case meant both its art
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worlds (he took me to the first performance piece where I saw people
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wearing black) and its gay worlds (it was at a diner in the Haight where
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over dinner he finally came out to me because he had finally toppled for
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someone).
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