To ease into life in the city of San Francisco, I found myself volunteering at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. I figure clutching to the Jewish community will help with the transition from a month in Israel. This morning, Cycles, a film featuring characters whose lives are interwoven by time, love, and family called for a 12pm showing and us volunteers were asked to arrive at 10:15. Always on the early side I took a stroll around the Castro neighborhood, imagining each storefront as Harvey's first home. You know you're in the Castro when you walk into a store sans theme save the color scheme (all of them colors) and find a mix of sassy greeting cards, toast imprints (to give your breakfast attitude) and chenille sticks which is an alternate term for, pipe-cleaners. I'm not kidding.
At around 10 am. I walked to the Castro Theater, a beautiful old fashioned building, quaint with antiquity and fully adding to the charm of the neighborhood, to find a small yet solid woman with pixy grey and white hair and a cane. Her name was Murial and she too was volunteering. Excellent. A Jewish motherly type figure to bestow her best wishes and guidance on my still open-ended future. Shortly after I introduced myself to Murial a young woman who happened to be the coordinator found us to apologize for her mistake in asking us to be here a full hour early. Instead of asking for the manager so that I might inquire about replacing her, I joined Murial for a cup of coffee down the street and we got to know each other. Murial is probably a mother to someone, but certainly not me as we jumped into the political, economical, and moral state of our jaded and apathetic nation. Murial has little faith in America and originally from New York and a former resident of Spain, Italy and France, her cultured and world view brings fear that the entire world is laughing at us. Murial is fiery and passionate and most of all, severely disappointed in the state of affairs but she is retired after all and happy to gripe. I was thankful for the "Where We At 101" rant because honestly, the only politics I've been aware of was the big parking lot controversy over in Jerusalem between the conservatives and...everyone else.
Eventually Murial and I returned to the theatre to take tickets, escort people to their seats and enjoy the film called Cycles. I'd like to say the free movie was worth the volunteering but what really made it was the quality people-watching opportunity. San Francisco is full of some of the most friendly faces but every now and then you get a prick who doesn't deserve to be around other people. I wish Murial were by my side for the times I said, "enjoy the film" to blank faces to trip them with her cane. Maybe next time, I have a few more shifts to fulfill.
Welcome back, Maddie!
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