Image: Benjamin Heath for The Bold Italic
This week Joe’s Daughter is going to feature some concrete ways of approaching living life well, from whatever stage you are at and whatever point you are coming from. Precisely because we’re in the San Francisco Bay Area. How could we not? This is a place that not only wants to talk tech, food and community, but it's also comfortable chatting, endlessly, about who we are, what we do, and the shape of our lives. It’s a place that wants to have those naval-gazing, soul-searching, meaning of life conversations, that subscribes to an idea of not just a life style, but also a life practice.
San Francisco puts it out there: There are a multitude of ways to learn in the city and the bay area, publicly and in company, practical and real techniques for being in the world, whether that’s through lectures, courses or conferences, and even cooking together (which we’ll get to later this week). Maybe it’s a hippie/bohemian hangover, maybe it’s a receptivity to ideas, but in SF there are individuals, organizations, companies and academic institutions that provide public programs dealing with life issues, running the spectrum from kooky to scientific, whether for the walking wounded or the worried well.
Entering a classroom gives us the opportunity to not only share information but also stories. Sitting in a lecture hall allows us to consume at a distance, and to ask questions when ready. Joining a group gives us a chance to connect with others who may just get you, and your situation. So when you are tired of reading and one-on-one relationships, the alone time and the monologues, get out there.
San Francisco is a city that gets to the heart of the matter. That explores it, twists it, analyses it; the actual bleeding liberal, what-makes-us-tick, emotional center. Because, even in, or particularly in, SF, the hipsters, the hippies and the homebodies are all figuring things out, sometimes in public and sometimes together. What’s not to love?