Sir Francis Drake

                           My Sir Francis Drake/NorCal Conundrum

 Byline: San Francisco, Oct. 3, 2018                   
                I first encountered Sir Francis Drake in August of 1989, on my first (and only) resort vacation in Virgin Gorda, in the British Virgin Islands.  Drake’s name seemed to be everywhere and there were still all kinds of stories about the famed flamboyant British privateer/pirate circulating.  A hero in England’s defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, Drake had gained fame long before that as a tormentor of the Spanish Empire and the first captain to survive circumnavigating the globe (1578 to 1580).  While I vaguely knew those facts, our trip to the San Francisco Bay Area renewed my acquaintance with Sir Francis, as he is quite the “big deal” in these parts.  Major thoroughfares here are named for him, pubs and inns bear his moniker, hotels and high schools herald the man.  He is inescapable in San Francisco and Marin County.  And this caused me to wonder if (and/or when?) this excruciatingly liberal bastion of political correctness was going to begin thinking about renaming all the “Sir Francis Drake” roads, buildings, etc. 

               Sir Francis Drake, after all, was a pirate!  Literally.  He may have been the guy who invented buried treasure!  He made a career of not only bedeviling the Spanish but also running with John Hawkins, generally considered England’s first slave trader!  Indeed, Sir Francis was a partner in some of Hawkins’s slave dealings.  So, while Sir Francis was a hero in England --- specifically for that bedeviling of the Spanish King and his imperial forces --- he was something of cad, at best an amoral and oft-times self-aggrandizing individual.  There was no doubt he was quite fearless as a young man and that led to his “discovery” of the San Francisco Bay and claiming it for England.  That his name is inescapable around here, among all the other Spanish appellations present, seems ironic and incongruous.  It feels like yet another attempt to promote the “Anglo” over all else, despite the rich Spanish/Mexican history that clearly stamps California.

               Of course, if it’s not a big deal to Californians, why should I care, right?  And I don’t, particularly.  In fact, I only bring it up because, after doing some cursory research about Sir Francis he does not match, at all, the characteristics of the folks we’ve met --- and know --- in the Bay Area.  That is, (particularly from a craven New Yorker’s point of view) the people out here are not just “nice,” and “laid back,” they seem genuinely kind and friendly.  Two things that strike you right away about California are (1) the extreme courtesy drivers exhibit toward pedestrians and (2) the equally extreme awareness of being “environmentally conscious/friendly.”

            If you have not been to California recently, particularly if you are from New York, you might find it a little maddening when you are trying to get somewhere in a taxi (or an Uber, or a Lyft).  Even if the light is GREEN drivers will not only stop for jaywalking pedestrians but they will stop if someone merely steps off the curb!  It’s like an entire city being driven by Mother Theresa!  (Ironically, the old radical Jerry Rubin ---Abby Hoffman’s sidekick--- who, while not a native New Yorker certainly acted like one {he was from Cincinnati by way of Oberlin and Berkeley} died in Los Angeles at age 56 as a result of jaywalking.  The first car he walked in front of swerved to not hit him (of course) but the second one saw him too late!  Bye-bye Jerry.  But that was L.A. )  From what I’ve seen here in the Bay Area, nothing like that is going to happen in these parts.  If you fake stepping into the street, against the light, cars come to a screeching halt here.  I’m betting Sir Francis Drake was not the kind of guy who would even tap his brakes, yet he’s revered everywhere.

                 And then there’s the environmental stuff.  If you’re shopping in San Francisco and, god forbid, you don’t have (or forgot) your own shopping bag, you will have to pay 10 cents for a paper bag.  Don’t get me wrong; I think this is a great idea.  It’s actually seeing it in action that is striking if you’re coming from the East Coast and are used to hearing “paper or plastic?”  In the same way, it’s not just recycling that happens it’s the sorting.  There’s not one can for trash --- or even one for trash and one for recycling.  No, you’ve got three receptacles, with printed/pictured signs that are labeled “landfill,” “recycle,” and “compost.” (see photo, above) The pictures on the signs show what goes where.  When we visited Marin Academy on Monday (a prestigious private school in San Rafael) we probably shouldn’t have been surprised to see the labeled “compost” receptacles on the counter in the faculty lunchroom (but we were!).  Sir Francis Drake, who tore through the local native population here, probably wasn’t a big recycler/composter.

            I’ve already mentioned the high gas prices here.  That’s the result of taxation designed to move folks toward electric cars.  I saw a television ad yesterday for a Solar Panel installation company offering to pay your electric bill (up to $1000) while they install their panels on your home.  Again, I’m not complaining or mocking what’s going on here --- in fact; we should all wish that California were pointing the way toward a kinder and more eco-balanced future for all of us.  It’s not perfect, by any stretch, but it’s certainly making the effort. 

               I’m just having trouble picturing Sir Francis Drake  in this landscape.