On Friday, May 7 at 12 p.m., I stood at the intersection of Van Ness and Market with a pen, notepad, and die in hand. The pen and notepad were used to capture discernable language overheard, while the die served to dictate the initial direction of my walking as well as the decision made at each new intersection. The following is a transcription of one-hour of that journey—eventually the die led me to the ocean—or an attempt to quilt together found language from San Francisco’s streets.
Van Ness: “Bastard! Mother fucking wrinkle-ass… jump on the girl…”
Fell: “…are you serious!?… “ “…I don’t know what happened yesterday…” “…no, the reason it’s an awkward…”
Franklin: “Oops, sorry.”
Hayes: …
Van Ness: “…not at all, not at all…”
Polk: “… get a phone number from this person…” “…that lady got on my nerves…” “Yeah, yeah, uh-huh, yeah…” “Hello sir, how are you? I’m handing out information; it concerns worker’s rights.” “I just wanna be like…” “…uh-huh…” “Hey, Sweetheart: let’s get breakfast…” “…know what I’m sayin’?”
Turk: “…that’s like all the banks…” “…so anyway, they said all you can do is get me the…”
Larkin: …
Eddy: “…what if when I’m really saying, it, it’s really time…” “…donde estas…” “…really spazzy in the car…” “Mami!” “Huh!? Huh?” “…what you talking about?” “Tattoo with color… in five minutes… we be walking down right now…”
Leavenworth: “I double dip! Take two, two, two, and two…” “Wussup, wussup, yo?” “I didn’t forget about… I forgot…”
O’Farrell: “…and it’s Divisadero… hit Taylor and… “I think she said it… Isadora Duncan…” “From my understanding the Isadora building is… uh…” “And sometimes this one…” “Hey, Eddy…” “Hi, I’m here…”
Taylor: …that’s not like… give me a hug!… c’mon!…
Eddy: “…lemme talk…” “I’m gonna help you out: get to the point…” “Bitch-ass nigga…” “Make sure I don’t get up—you better knock me out…” “Did you just fall down? Want me to call someone? Want me to call 911?” “…I think that’s a good idea…” “She fell twice…” “Put all three of our names on the guest list…” “…it’s hopeless…” “…uh, just left…”
Market: “…15 years…” “That’s part of it in, yep…” “…last time, oh yeah…” “Oh my god…” “…then I gotta put the locks in…” “Excuse me, you know where Macy’s is?” “Uh-huh, back that way and…” “…it’s okay… no, I’m excited!“”…she, she…” “Five o’clock? Alright, bye…” “…but I think it’s all…” “So where we going?” “…so you pay like what?” “…yeah, that’s true…” “…very pragmatic person, and then he got this bad rap…
Kearny: “…but I like it…” “I don’t…”
Geary: “I’m sure she has…”
Market: “…oh, you know, we need a crew here and…” “…my congratulations…”
New Montgomery: “…it’s not me…” “Oh, I know…” “…and she just, oh I don’t know…” “Will that fit in there? Yeah, all right…”
Mission: “…which, I don’t know, maybe people just fuck you know?” “…two a month, two a month…” “so this is where this place is…”
3rd: “…it’s at 3rd and Howard… this is 3rd…” “Goddamned people…” “I appreciate your work, when you gonna…” “…he’s from Utah; he’s Mormon—looks just like a city boy… he’s popular: all the girls want him… hard body; hair all tweaked up… I know! That’s what I’m sayin’…”