mixed up monday: “golden state” playlist

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It was 1992. I arrived in California with the Sunday ChronicleI’d purchased in Seattle tucked under my arm, not knowing much about the City by the Bay. Actually, that’s an understatement. For someone who liked to make a plan and follow it, this was my most spontaneous moment in 23 years. Instead of heading north to Emerson College in Boston, I’d decided on grad school in San Francisco and arrived on a chilly, gray August day, a few short days before my first class.

 

My San Francisco friends had chuckled when I told them the ad for my soon-to-be-home, a 500 sq. foot studio on Hyde St. between Post and Sutter, called the area Lower Nob Hill. It didn’t take long for me to catch on  — this block was the northern border of the shady Tenderloin. It also didn’t take me long to appreciate how this gritty place was exactly where I needed to be.  It was the opposite of my seaside village hometown and far from the southern rhythms of Charlotte, NC and Charleston, SC, my temporary homes.

 

So many things would begin and end before I moved back to New York. I would open up, shut down and be turned inside out by the people, places and ideas hurtled my way.

 

On Friday, I dreamt I was walking down Hyde Street, the late day San Francisco sun sneaking between buildings to land on my face.  Instead of feeling its warmth, I tasted the moment, a familiar but long-forgotten elixir —  California mixed with the unabashed certainty and utter confusion of being 23.

 

This golden state Spotify* playlist was inspired by my California imaginings.

 

Dream on.

 

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