Greetings From Sane Francisco

Postcards from a silly, hilly city

A reward for those who understand what is valuable

Someone posted this blurry picture in the Discussion channel soon after I first set it up on the Telegram app. It might have been the second post in there. There weren’t any response emojis available at the time but from behind my screen I could hear everyone laugh out loud on the inside, but wryly.

Hello! I am the founder of Sane Francisco, and I do other things too.

In early 2021, even though I felt uncertain about whether I could continue to live here (mostly for financial reasons), my emotional and practical ties to SF led me to establish a loose and decentralized network for this place I call home. I hoped to alleviate the social isolation many of us had felt at the beginning of the — ahem — “global health crisis” and figure out ways for our small group to become larger, all the better to support each other in the crazy days that we knew were looming.

What began as a necessary remedy to weather the incessant insanity that engulfed anyone who right away saw what was actually going on has now become a lifestyle for a growing number of us. #sanelife

Sane Francisco started off as an email list with 20—25 likeminded folk and today has 900+ (if you add up my both email list with those in the Telegram group), and it continues to grow. I’m chuffed to report that I succeeded in the initial part of my mission, which was to connect “Sane Franciscans” (aka concerned citizens who knew that something was seriously amiss with the mainstream narrative) as quickly as possible.

Did you know the sun gives you free Vitamin D which naturally strengthens your immune system?

Staying Sane certainly has become quite the all-consuming life for many of us and for me in particular. There is barely a day that goes by where I don’t find myself talking to friends and collaborators about various Sane Matters, or strategizing better ways to support the Sane community in the fight against non-stop nonsense, and even more importantly, a happier, healthier life. 

Don’t get me wrong. I’m no activist wannabe martyr; I was motivated by the purest of selfish reasons: I love so much about this city and I want to keep on living here for as long as possible. Things were not perfect in SF even before the madness descended but I have a deep love for this place overall as it is here that I found my true calling, my way as an artist.

In short, I don’t want San Francisco to devolve into its worst nightmare whilst the majority of its denizens opt to remain asleep, never seeming to notice that the tyranny of today is a little bit worse than yesterday’s, and completely oblivious to how — by complying and by not questioning inane policies or speaking up — they are throwing themselves and the rest of us under a bus. I get it and I can empathize: without having fully connected all the huge glaring dots (something I myself had not ever done until, tout d’un coup, all the mess, all the chaos, made perfect sense) most cannot fathom the awfulness of the totalitarian technocracy hurtling our way. And they certainly can’t even conceive that once the globalists’ new operating system (euphemistically known as The Great Reset or Build Back Better) is fully installed, it might take the force of a thousand massive earthquakes — metaphorical and perhaps literal — to remove it.

Again, I love so much about this city. I feel happy here. I moved here 20 years ago from Paris because it was the first place on this Earth where I felt “free.”

(So much so that I even made a book soon after I relocated titled “Free Beige Alien.” Well, technically it was a portfolio of my work, and the “Free” section referred to design work I hadn’t charged for. I liked the sound of those three words together, but I didn’t fully appreciate the significance of the first one until two years ago.)

Like many, I’ve experienced my fair share of woes and hassles in this city but overall I used to love living here.

Hang on... to be fair, I still do love it here, were it not for the glaring issues both before Our Times of Covid, and after: my home, my work, my community of friends and neighbours, my street and my 'hood in particular (which has its own sunny micro-climate), the activities I love (the walkability especially), the landscapes, the diversity of nature and the spontaneous, magical fun that manifests every now and then to remind me why I made this city my home.

Replace “YOUR” with “MY” if you feel the same. (Photo by JA-MNP.)

San Francisco is my home, but for how long?

However, I don’t know how long I can continue to live here…

I mean, how did someone like me, an artist you’ve likely never heard of, a so-called nobody who, for the last two years has lost the little ambition she had in the first place to “get to the next level.” Wot, me?! How did I get to keep living in the most expensive city on this Earth, doing what I do, scraping by each month, freelancing, entrepreneur-ing, hustling, iterating and reiterating, and always improvising. On good days, when I am flowing with art and community, it feels like a beautiful #sanelife.

I’ve been fortunate to have had many magical experiences in the Bay Area. I don’t know if it was due to the place, the time, or because I allowed my curious heart to lead me. It could have been the combination of all three, but I have lived in a few other places in the world, and really there is something about this one, the one that I went out of my way for to choose as a home. For me in this city, it’s turned into the hills, parks and streets I love to walk. But more than anything, the people I’ve gotten to know and love.

Wherever you are, be here now

So whilst I remain here, whilst I still get to walk around and enjoy the occasional treat, I’m wholly invested in this silly, hilly city of mine, and its peeps.

San Francisco, I’m not too shy to say “I love you, and I’m here for you." ☀️

Thank you for reading my first Substack post! What is keeping YOU Sane in this mad city, or the mad city you live in? Feel free to comment below, or just say “hello.”