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Rachael Herron

(R.H. Herron)

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Change Is Good

September 17, 2004

I know, it couldn’t be much further from the last skin, could it? But I’m feeling rather…. industrial. Industrious, no. But I’m lovin’ hard on Oaktown. This is part of the freeway called the Maze*, and I drive under it every day. Something about that concrete makes me happy. More gray, for the skies that are coming. I am mad for fall and winter.

* This is another part of it:

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At one point, there are eight different overpasses flying over and under each other. Modern-day buttresses, people. I love that I know where all the exits lead and how to find my way through and around the city streets, and I love flying on the top level, the 980 split to the 880, past the Greyhound station, looking left to the Oakland skyline and right to San Francisco lights. Home is good.

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Comments

  1. maeve says

    September 17, 2004 at 7:22 pm

    wow – i’m always impressed with how you seem to be able to find beauty in the (seemingly) most unlikely places. thanks for reminding me that there is beauty in everything – even a concrete freeway overpass. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
  2. claudia says

    September 17, 2004 at 8:00 pm

    Except, even now when I drive under freeways (highways here in MA) I think of that very unfortunate freeway sandwich incident…you know, *earthquake*.

    Reply
  3. Steph says

    September 17, 2004 at 9:14 pm

    Love the new look. I’ve been working on mine since I finished the Ph.D. but I’m not there yet.
    However, I am now inspired to have a good look at my surroundings and see what’s out there.

    Reply
  4. Jon says

    September 17, 2004 at 9:45 pm

    I think it’s pretty. Want to take a stab at redesigning my site? I’ll buy you presents!

    Reply
  5. Celia says

    September 18, 2004 at 4:24 am

    O-o-o-o-o! Purple! And transportation infrastructure! Baby, you’re talkin’ my language!

    Reply
  6. Ginny says

    September 18, 2004 at 4:31 am

    I’m sorry you didn’t get your condo. God has plans for each of us, and he has somewhere else that you are supposed to be. I love your new look! You definitely have a flair for photography.

    Reply
  7. Julie says

    September 18, 2004 at 5:35 am

    Hi Rachel!
    I love the new look! It does look more winterish. And I can see why you find those highway so soothing. A bit like poetry made 3d.
    Anyway, I too love fall and winter, accaully, I’m practicly in love with those two seasons. When you smell that first cold breeze of dead leaves and comming snow! Mmmmm
    ehe, sorry to go on and on, I love the look!
    Julie

    Reply
  8. Em says

    September 18, 2004 at 6:02 am

    Love the new look. And the new pictures. LOVE them. Very industrial, very sleek. Very Kraftwerk.
    I’m sorry you didn’t get the condo, but I love your attitude about it. You’ll get there.

    Reply
  9. Becky says

    September 18, 2004 at 7:56 am

    Change IS good. I love all the looks you debut!

    Reply
  10. marielle says

    September 18, 2004 at 8:23 am

    Fall, winter, grey, urban, industrial – some of my favorite things!

    Reply
  11. alison says

    September 18, 2004 at 9:44 am

    I love this look. Love it. And you’re absolutely right: Home IS good. (And when your next home is ready/perfect for you, you’ll find it.)

    Reply
  12. marta says

    September 18, 2004 at 10:13 am

    Looks a lot like an interchange we call “the mousetrap.” Clover things and big overpasses. It’s slowly being re-vamped to be easier to navigate.
    I LOVE gray – we rarely to never get gray skies here. This look suits me fine – especially the fabulous photo of the little girl with just the perfect spot of hot pink.

    Reply
  13. Stella says

    September 18, 2004 at 11:26 am

    Oooooh…. architecture AND structural engineering appreciation! Very nice, couldn’t agree more. I like the big new curve that cuts over 80 when I come from the Bay Bridge, you know which one I mean?
    Don’t be taking pictures while driving, girl!!!

    Reply
  14. Sharlene says

    September 18, 2004 at 12:18 pm

    Hey, you’ve got all us City girls craving home now. ๐Ÿ™‚ I too love the grey foggy days of winter in the City (and summer in the City) but I love the fog accompanied by thick wool sweaters, heavy thick-soled black boots, and the rush of a caffeine buzz while walking the streets.

    Reply
  15. spaazlicious says

    September 18, 2004 at 1:40 pm

    Your blog always makes me homesick for the Bay Area, even though it wasn’t our home for very long. Perversely, I felt a stab of it when I saw the pic of the maze and it reminded me of one of my husband’s friends from work, driving home on the maze. A suicidal woman jumped from one of the upper levels of the maze and landed on his car, on the hood. If she’d hesitated a half second longer, she’d have gone through his windshield and taken him with her down the road to death. If she’d jumped a second later, she might have missed him entirely and he might never have known how close he came, with the body of a desperate woman plunging down in the darkness just another thing in the rearview mirror.
    It’s just something very Oakland, Berkeley, San Francisco to me.

    Reply
  16. froggy says

    September 18, 2004 at 1:50 pm

    great new look. i love it.

    Reply
  17. Kathleen says

    September 18, 2004 at 4:09 pm

    Love the new look. There is something warm about the cool tones and the Venice lady is adorable. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
  18. ladycynthy says

    September 18, 2004 at 7:00 pm

    p-u-r-p-l-e!! love it. concrete is good (light/reflective); macadam is bad (dark/heat absorbing).
    hate gray skies though…. gotta have my blue skies. “that’s what I like about the south!”

    Reply
  19. Teresa says

    September 18, 2004 at 7:47 pm

    Rach…love the new look!

    Reply
  20. amy says

    September 18, 2004 at 8:27 pm

    You are just too darn creative my dear.. Love it when you show your city ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
  21. mindy says

    September 20, 2004 at 8:23 am

    Very Bauhaus. Next thing you know, you’ll be trading in your Kyoto for police barrier “Caution” tape (100% plastic and day-glo yellow, .2 st/in) or knitting Teflon robot cozies for Survival Research Laboratories.

    Reply
  22. Silvia says

    September 20, 2004 at 10:35 am

    Very cool new look, chica. I love that flyover section too, because you can just look over and the most gorgeous SF skyline ever. I also love those huge dock unloader dealies, they look like those Return of the Jedi things. Ya know?

    Reply

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