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| Anastasia Ashman Writer, Producer, Author (Tales of the Expat Harem), Co-Creator of Global Niche (photo: Steven Fromtling) |
Digital Nomad
Anastasia Ashman merges social media and global citizenship
By John Zipperer
Some people lose themselves in the world. Anastasia Ashman turned herself into a tour guide to help people find themselves. A Berkeley native, Ashman’s life has taken her around the world, from the development hell of Hollywood to the ruling circles of Malaysia to the ancient streets of Istanbul. Now she’s back in the Bay Area, recently taken up residence with her husband in Russian Hill, and she’s able to say, “We didn’t come here knowing that much about what’s going on in San Francisco. We came here with the intention of finding out and treating it like a foreign country.”
Foreign country? To a woman who grew up across the Bay?
It’s a disconnect between location and identity that is intentional on her part ...
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| The first panelists for Week to Week (from left): Larry Gerston, Debra J. Saunders and Michael Fox Photo: Steven Fromtling |
ZIPPY
Start making sense
By John Zipperer
Blame or credit Dorothy Crain.
I was a teenage political junkie and Dorothy Crain – a longtime family friend – fed my habit by directing me out of the schoolyard-level discussions and arguments toward adult discussions of current events. While I was still in junior high school, she gave me a subscription to The New Republic, which became my political bible throughout the 1980s. When I visited the magazine’s offices in 1991, it was a tiny bit like touring Rome or Jerusalem.
Nerd, I know.
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| The Golden Gate Bridge from the south side. Photo: Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. |
The Living Bridge
Anniversary Events
May is full of things to do, see, and hear to celebrate the Golden Gate Bridge’s 75th anniversary By John Zipperer
Three quarters of a century can change a lot, but they can also hide a lot, adding a gloss of fame and affection for what was a very controversial project. That’s the case for the Golden Gate Bridge, the iconic link between Marin and San Francisco that is the most famous visual shorthand for illustrating the city by the bay. Today, it ranks with the Statue of Liberty, Washington Monument, Sears Tower, and the St. Louis Arch as beloved symbols of specific cities and even representatives of the spirit of the country at large.
Considering its modern fame, how many people know that the 1920s saw a vigorous debate within the Bay Area over whether the bridge should be built at all?
ZIPPY
Blond roots
The Marina doesn’t deserve its rep
By John Zipperer
Can you judge a neighborhood by its enemies? If you read what some people are saying online about the Marina, you can be forgiven for expecting the Marina to be a Beverly Hills-wannabe neighborhood filled with Stepford Wives. The mildest might be SFGate, which says that the Marina District’s “apartment buildings, shops and restaurants seem to be bursting at their seams with beautiful, young and fit 20- and 30-somethings.” Hardly sounds like hell on earth. But apparently it does sound like that to other reviewers ...
