DEAR WILLIE BROWN, I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU!

The former mayor of San Francisco, Willie Brown, now writes a column for the San Francisco Chronicle called Willie's World. Now Willie Lewis Brown is not particularly a hero of mine but I in my opinion he is cooler than Gavin Newsome. The point I am attempting to get through to with all this is that I read his column sometimes and although his attempt at writing can be is kind of stiff, he can be witty, he has a large warehouse of truisms and he talks about interesting things that are going on in San Francisco that I wouldn't know about in any other way. Well, the otherday I noticed at the bottom of his column is his Email address and an invitation to contact him with questions. Right away it entered my mind to ask him a late bloomer question; I'm the guy who just got his Master's Degree from San Francisco State University in Creative Writing on my 69th birthday, right! And, the question rocks out somewhat like this: a few years ago, probably when I was 60, I got the notion to ask the VA for a fertility test. Well, the bottom line was yes I could have more children but that they would have to be test tube babies. Then following that information, I found an article in a newspaper that said children born of older men frequently are special education kids. So, I guess that information, and the fact that Kamaroh didn't have a wife or a girl friend, took him the rest of the way out of the loop. No more kids and no grand kids, the end of the line for heroes. But, I understand that Willie Lewis Brown fathered a child when he was 60-ish. At the time I read about it, I thought that was pretty cool and I vowed to keep myself informed about it.

---So, I decided that I am pretty sure I will not get around to Emailing Willie Brown with my question but why didn't I go ahead and post it right here on my blog!!!!:

Dear Mr. Brown,

I read in the Chronicle some years ago that you and your lady friend of the time had a daughter.

My question for you sir, as one late bloomer to the other, is "What is going on with that child? How old is she now. And, with my best wishes, is she in good health?"

Cordially yours,

Kamaroh P. Jones

USMC; SWIMMING WITH SHARKS!

I met up with a fellow in the 'check out' line noon Thurs-- at the Upscale Mart near my house; my goal being to buy French Onion soup for the pot roast I was preparing for dinner; I noticed on his faded red power tie he had an unpolished Marine Corps tie clasp and a bad knot; and, I could help but inquire of him if I was seeing true, was that a Maine Corps tie bar? At the same moment, I also noticed that he was wearing a faded red baseball cap with a Marine Corps patch on the front of it. In retrospect, I realize that there was a lot of faded about the man.

---It turns out that he is a member of a local Marine Corps social group. He seemed to have difficulty processing the fact that Kamaroh could possibly have been a Marine (me too sometimes actually). The only ID I had to present to him was the bulldog tatoo on my arm, which I then did.

---He seemed to have difficulty deciding if he thought Kamaroh qualified to attend their social function at nearby Hi-End City; but, I guess my informing him that I was a member in longstanding of the Presbyterian church in that hamlet seemed to help and he agreed to Email me the information on the meeting this coming Saturday morning.

---Being on steroids it is very easy for me to be miffed off in interactions with other men on the norm, and as I left with my french onion soup, his uppity attitude bugged me, and I wondered how anyone who--looking at his dangling ID badge--was an employee of the County Hospital down the street could elevate himself so! Man! am I glad I now have Kaiser Emergency Room privileges and don't have to worry so much about being sent to County when the VA clinic is closed.

---It soon dawned on me, given that I haven't been in normal social intercourse with the Marine Corps body of troops in forty years, that maybe they all believe they are an elitist group nowadays....

---So, basically all day I pondered if I wanted to cancel my previous plan for Saturday morning and go hang out with a bunch of former Marines; and enjoy the networking and comradely payoffs to that; and, surely, the venerability I would be exposing myself to 'cause it is unpredictable who you are going to again meet up with--Marines don't always put down grudges very well.

---Anyhow, as profound insights (give or take 'profundity', that is!) always present themselves in the middle of the night and wake you up, I woke up in the middle of the night last night and I knew that attending this social function of former Marines required a different mind set than attending a Mens Breakfast at my church and that more information, more time, and more caution would be required (my paranoia that the Marines install in you very early in boot camp); and that I surely was not going to go to this.

---Serving in the Marines was not easy for Kamaroh even though I also bask in the current popularity they have earned; however bear in mind that not only am I a hero but I an old and experienced salt who is fully aware that hanging out with Marines can be like swimming with sharks, likely invigorating, but the only comfort to it being that you are likely safe from attacks by packs of wild dogs. #

GAVIN NEWSOME IN NAME ONLY!

As I see it, the constant rub for folks in San Francisco is that Gavin Newsome is out of Dodge a lot. Talk is that he is frequently on the jet to Switzerland (why anyone would want to frequently go to Switzerland, Kamaroh doesn't know?); and that the Google jet takes him one place and the Getty jet takes him another; and that likely there are other planes that take him cool places under the public radar. So, folks are saying that in reality he is the mayor in name only. He is not here to run the place. I want to be very clear here that Kamaroh does not endorse Gavin's run for govenor. No way. I actually would rather see Heather Fong as a candidate but I probably will get shouted down for that if I mention it yet another time. Anyhow, I understand that she is a very private person so who is to say if she is a Republican or a Democrat. anyhow, Willie Brown kind of sticks up for Gavin; Willie's response to all the flack is, "Just let me say that home cookin' in my opinion has always been overrated."

DESTROY THAT CHRONICLE!

Given that Kamaroh is a man of means, he has plenty of time to read the newspapers he finds about. So, the idea is, that he heard voiced in The San Francisco Chronicle, that if you purchase a copy and read it and then deposit it in a public place so as another reader may pick it up, you are screwing up; make the next guy buy his own; force that individual to make his or her own contribution to the survival of the San Francisco icon. I remember when they used to roast coffee imediately below the bay bridge; when there was a flower stand on Market Street between I think 3rd and 4th; and I remember things such as when when Melvin Belli used to be in the news a lot and when Ricearoni was the San Francisco treat. And, I was the last man standing when cable cars used to be a Powell Street tourist must see.