super urban

this afternoon on the charter bus to the starr king track meet i sat next to a cool little kid who moved here from mexico. i asked him which he liked better and was surprised to hear he liked san francisco better. he said there was not much to do in mexico. EXCEPT go fishing and hunt deer and salmon with a bow and arrow. miles' eyes bugged out of his little city boy head.

things have been super busy, a blur of iep meetings, pta meetings, science fairs. today was my day off with maya and it all slowed down. we walked big brother to school. took the car to the mechanic across the street and while we waited for a repair we walked to dynamo donuts. on the way we met a lady from pennsylvania and her cat scooter. we found a wierdly fresh-looking easter basket full of fake grass and plastic eggs. maya oohed and aahed over the fantastically beautiful houses on york street. we got the chocolate rose donut and split it, while reading a book about donuts. on the block long walk back a man pruning roses cut one and gave it to maya. "that's a nice rose" i said. "that's a nice MAN" said maya.

maya and i went and saw some city and farm animals and the amazing view at the randall museum and then came home and gardened and then i took miles to his school track meet.

i had imagined this event taking place at a big stadium somewhere but a bunch of kids in starr king t-shirts got on a charter bus playing loud r and b and headed to the heart of the tenderloin. there were cool tall coaches and assistant teen coaches in purple and yellow tracksuits. these were all volunteers through parks and rec and various tenderloin youth groups. and a ton of people from starr king, which i guess is one of the few elementary schools with trekkers, which is basically kids running laps around the yard for tiny prizes.

it was a little confusing and i was assigned to the start of the 50 yard dash. which i realized was going to be on eddy street. buses and cars were flying by, crack addicts all around. there were two police barriers blocking part of the road off and another volunteer and i took matters into our own hands and pulled some more out, blocking the street completely. blocking that street felt awesome. the 5o yard dash then proceeded, with kids at the starting lines in groups of 4, a real starting gun which scared the crap out of some kids, and people in purple and yellow track suits with sharpies writing down each kid's time on the sticker on their shirt. older toothless women walking saying how cute it was. inside the rec center there was a softball throw, a long jump, and hot dogs, bananas and o.j. for all. there was a raffle which every kid won. miles won a brown fake wool scarf and a baseball. there were trees to climb and the grand finale was a parent and coach relay race.

a mini track meet in the heart of the tenderloin, about as super urban as you can get.