Pride!

Today was the SF Gay Pride Parade and it was definitely like nothing I’ve ever seen before in St. Louis.  The most prevalent things I saw were: 1. Shirtless men, 2. Drag queens, 3. Men wearing briefs or hot pants, and 4. Topless women.  Despite the nudity, I had an absolute blast and thought everything was hilarious.  My friends and I really didn’t fit in with the crowd today, though, as we were all wearing our normal attire and everyone else was wearing tutus, feather boas, rainbows, or glitter, all with as little clothing as possible.  Here are some pictures from the fun day!

The busiest I’ve ever seen the BART station

Crazy crowded downtown near the Civic Center

A collection of Drag Queens:

A collection of shirtless men:

My favorite- the men of the “Miler Lite Bare Chest Calendar”

A collection of clever signs/shirts:

Lady Parts Automotive Servies!

Self explanatory

We’re Here, We’re Queer, We’re Buddha

Once again, the picture says it all

Whole Foods employee tees: “Ohh Baby, we like it RAW.  Wanna taste?”

Gay Astronaut Association sign: “Next Mission: Uranus”

Hey look, it’s Nick Verreos from Project Runway Season 2!

The festivities continued after the parade

All in all, today was so fun, but it made me think.  I wish the LGBT community could have the same rights as everyone else in America and were accepted in more parts of the country.  I understand why so many gays and lesbians live in San Francisco now; they’re not viewed as outcasts and everyone seems so supportive of them.  I wish that St. Louis and other areas were more welcoming to the LGBT community.  Today was so eye-opening and I saw first hand how fun, free-spirited, confident, friendly, and loving gays and lesbians really are.  I mean, everyone there had at least their midriff showing!  I would be way too nervous to walk around in some of the outfits I saw today.  And I saw so many loving gay and lesbians couples; a lot of them together for decades and with children of their own, which I think is so amazing.  It was so cool to see companies like Google, Bank of America, and Whole Foods, celebrities, and politicians come out to support Pride.  I really hope that some day everyone will have equal rights, including the right to marry.  I support equal rights for LGBT and I can only hope that those reading do, too!

Alcatraz!

Hi everyone!

Today we went to Alcatraz Island and toured the prison.   Although I didn’t think that seeing a prison would be exciting, it was actually really fun!  We got to take a huge boat over to the island with so many people on it, and the view of San Francisco and the Bay was amazing!  Once we got to the island we walked up to the prison, which was comparable to the walk up a 13 story building.  We took an audio tour where we learned about all the different areas of the prison, the officers, the prisoners, and the different escape plans that took place while the prison was open.  They also told us about a huge standoff that occurred between a few prisoners and the officers they took hostage while trying to escape, and how the Marines were even involved.  But... it was kind of creepy because they lead us to all the places where people were killed during the ordeal.  At the end of the day I got my haircut in Union Square, so that made everything better!  To top the day off, I just got a crepe with Nutella and peanut butter but a homeless man started following us on the way there... ahh, a normal day in Berkeley.

Transportation to Alcatraz

Karla, Laramie, and I on the boat

San Francisco from the boat

There it is!

Baby seagulls that were super cute

The nicest showers ever

I wish I lived here

Just using the prison toilet

Locked up

San Francisco and the Bay from the island

Monterey and Santa Cruz

On Saturday, all of the Amgen Scholars traveled to Monterey Bay and Santa Cruz for our big, all day field trip.  We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which was an opportunity to see lots of marine creatures that live in Monterey Bay.  Sea otters, sharks, seahorses, and jellies were just a few of the animals we saw.  Take a look!

Monterey Bay

A crazy seahorse

The cutest little sea otter.  All of them slept on their backs in the water!

Afterwards, we walked along Cannery Row, which reminded me of the book by the same name by John Steinbeck.  It was actually kind of gross because it is where all the sardine-canning factories are located.  I was more excited about Santa Cruz, where we headed next.  We went to the beach boardwalk and rode on the Giant Dipper, the sixth oldest roller coaster in the United States, ate greasy fish and chips, and laid out in the sun, although the temperature was in the sixties.  I wanted to swim in the Pacific Ocean for the first time, but all I could tolerate was dipping in a foot for about five seconds because it was SO cold.  I hope that I get a chance to go swimming in California at least once!

 

A view of part of the beach boardwalk