Cultural gentrification

First issue of the NYR

The New York Review of Books was born during a newspaper strike in New York, when even the New York Times Book Review was not available.

I remember well that first issue in February, 1963, with an all-star lineup of American intellectuals, most of whom I first read in The Nation, The New Republic, or in monthlies and quarterlies.

I inadvertently let my NYR subscription lapse recently. While in North Beach a few weeks ago, I picked up the latest edition at City Lights and was shocked at the cover price---$8.95! $9.71 with the tax!

In a blow up of the picture above, you can just read the original cover price: "Twenty-five Cents."

The one review that still puzzles me: Mary McCarthy on Naked Lunch, which, on her recommendation, I read later. Utterly mystifying. It wasn't the sex that bothered me, but even the word salads tucked in between the sex and violence were incomprehensible.

Getting deeper 2

There have been recent stories about human shit on city streets and in city parks. What about dog shit? There are more dogs than children in an increasingly gentrified San Francisco, and their poop is also an environmental problem, not to mention hazard for pedestrians and would-be picnickers. (I would hesitate to throw a blanket down on the grass at Alamo Square---aka, "Dogshit Park"---for example). (Why dog poop matters).

There seems to be an extensive social network for dog owners in the city, even those specializing in specific breeds.

How many dogs in the city? The count more ten years ago was 120,000, but now it may be closer to 200,000.