September 29, 2007
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Miscellany
My good friend Tracy
Book lists are a fun way to get to know someone. I found a few good reads for Hannah here, and I just now finished poking around Tracy's.
I have to tell you about Tracy. When I first moved to San Francisco I knew nobody. So I started thumbing through publications and sending out résumés -- this was San Francisco P.W. (pre-web, if such a thing existed). Tracy was art director of The Bay Guardian back then, and I called him cold one panic-stricken morning, since my job prospects were rapidly going south. No-one was interested in hiring me. He made time for me (that was surprise number 1, number 2 was that he was a boy), and we talked for a solid half-hour or more. The good feeling I left with carried me into my first job at the Oakland Tribune. From there I went to the San Francisco Examiner (where I met Tracy again), then left newspapers for the web at salon.com.
Tracy is the happiest person I know. I like how enthusiastic he gets about the things he loves, like his blurb on THE Romare Bearden book. Everyone has a Romare Bearden story. Mine is the $1500 lithograph I should have bought at the Bomani gallery on Post Street, which at the time seemed like a ridiculous amount of money. In Tracy's words: "It might as well have been eleventy zillion dollars, since I didn't have anywhere near that much cheddar."
Tracy and I share the same birthday. I remember when he told me his, I was convinced he had discovered mine and was pulling my leg everywhichway. And, boy, are we alike. Simultaneously messy and organized to a fault. We start a million projects, get enthused about anything under the sun, and we both just know we'll make it big someday. We'll champion any worthy cause and give the lint out of our pockets. Though I think Tracy has done that oh way more than I ever will.
And we both draw too :)
