Berzerkeley Memories

Have you ever heard of Berkeley California? You know that place with the University of California campus. The one notorious for its hippy culture and leftist politics.

Well I lived there for two years, while going to college in San Francisco. I miss it now of course, what with a huge organic produce and health food store down the block from me. Great restaurants to frequent and lovely weather during the spring and summer seasons.

But living there was intolerable at times. The "hippy-ness" in my opinion was seen in the way they let vagrants and homeless roam about freely, which I guess they are allowed to do. When you first go to Berkeley you see a homeless person and feel bad for them. Yet, after living there a while you see the same homeless person in the same spot over and over. And you begin to wonder whether giving out your change is going to actual change anything. I won't go into the whole debate of how to help the homeless here. I just want to point out that Berkeley is one crazy place on many levels.

It's so crazy and liberal that there is a parade where people try to show their "Berkeley-ness". Everyday I read the San Francisco Chronicle daily and it always brings back memories when I read the rants of Bay area people arguing over local stuff. So it is that I encountered an article about how this parade has been canceled due to the Berkeley government disagreeing with some of the things expected to go on during the parade.

"The city saw a bunch of long-haired people having fun and they said, 'Uh-oh,' " said organizer John Solomon, a retired Berkeley restaurant owner. "The city is being very controlling. They want to turn this into the Solano Stroll."

But what was more fun was reading the commentary. One thing about living in the Bay Area was that people loved to sound off their opinions on stuff like this.

"Solano Stroll"...I'm still laughing! This is like something KCRA, channel 3 in Sac. would highlight. Their live reporter would interview a local merchant who sells massage oils made from locally grown lavender or something, kids can get face-paintings and pretend their a different kind of brat-for-the-day while they text their friends about how bored they are.

This really sucks. As a Berkeley resident, I was planning on taking my kid this year and every year. We have enough sanitized events like the Solano stroll. Sanitized events are just an excuse to go outside and buy stuff from the same merchants who set up at all the farmers markets. HBCYB will be missed.

Isn't every day a parade in Berkeley?

 After going through my memories of living in the Bay Area I can't help but feel it would be nice to have some kind of liberal patch of existence out here in South Korea. I can feel it sometimes when I go to Hongdae or Itaewon, but of course it isn't exactly the same. However I didn't come out here to find familiar things.

Yet it would be wonderful to experience a more liberal Korea coming to life, if this is even possible. Anyways, if you are ever in America I suggest a tour around the Bay Area and to check in with Berkeley. I still wonder if that homeless guy on the corner, near the entrance to the BART station, is still there. (If not I hope he is in a better place.)