Sterling Terrell

recovering economist

Tenderloin, San Francisco

Tenderloin, San Francisco

I can’t say that I have been to Tenderloin, San Francisco – but I am unsure.

I think I have driven right past it, or thru it without realizing it when I spent a day in SF some years ago.

We drove in from Lake Tahoe in the morning and spent all afternoon exploring the city.

We hit up Pier 39, Lombard Street, and Ike’s Sandwiches, and drove over the Golden Gate Bridge.

Tenderloin sounds beautiful though. 🤣

I’d come to Silicon Valley in 2000 and ended up living in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco. It’s the one part of the city that locals will implore you to avoid. Without trying very hard, you can find someone pulling down his pants and pooping in between parked cars or encounter some deranged sort bashing his head into the side of a bus stop.

-Ashley Vance, Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future (Amazon)

Rural America Knows You, You Don’t Know It

Rural America Knows You, You Don’t Know It

Rural America is not “provincial.”

Provincial literally refers to rural regions that are “unsophisticated or narrow-minded.”

But Erickson is completely right here.

I know many people in rural America with graduate degrees, who read The New Yorker, and vacation in California, New York, and Europe.

They have sat around in Brazilian cafes late into the night, seen the Tokyo lights, and honeymooned in Banff.

Few urbanites have never even seen the rural USA though.

As I have said, this is the last tolerated form of bigotry.

If you want my advice, get out and see the world!

No matter where you happen to live…

That is a common error made by people who have never spent any time in rural America and who often describe us as “provincial.” We’re not provincial. They are. We read their magazines, attend their movies, and listen to their news broadcasts. We know a lot about them. They know nothing about us.

-John Erickson, Story Craft (Amazon)

Sterling Terrell