You, me, food, and the sea
It’s different when you’re swallowing sandwiches at the edge of land and sea.
Hi, everyone-
One of the first places I ever visited when I moved to the US was the San Francisco bay.
It was a tech hub already at that point. It was also a place where people scarf down clam chowder while inhaling fishy ocean air. And, a place where seagulls circle above neglected french fries on the street.
But before all that, there’s a deeper reality to this place:
Millions of homes stood around the San Andreas Fault Line, that once tore open the city over one hundred years ago—ripping bodies of land apart in a violent earthquake.
Growing up along the Ring of Fire, I learned one thing about earthquakes:
They come in waves.
For the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the foreshock lasted about 25 seconds. If that doesn’t feel that long, imagine looking straight at the sun for longer than two seconds.
The eyes would know: it’s long enough.
Twenty seconds of the earth rumbling is also enough to spill the entirety of your clam chowder into the sea, along with your fries, wallet, and car key.
The main shock is usually never what’s imagined. Windows would shake as if an airplane took off directly above the roof. The ground and the main frames of the house don’t usually shake … until seconds after. In the case of the San Francisco earthquake, the main shock lasted about 42 seconds. And that can feel very much like being inside a jackhammer for 42 seconds.
The ears would know: it’s also long enough.
This was in 1906, before the Richter scale was even established. But scholars later predicted that the earthquake was a Richter scale of 7.8 to 8.2.
If you were sitting and eating by the bay, there’s yet another danger: the water.
Earthquake-induced tsunamis have only impacted the San Francisco Bay a handful of times. But it doesn’t mean that it can’t do more damage. And one of the places that can be hit is a food hall sitting right where land and sea meet:
The Ferry Building Marketplace
But I think this is where meaning can be found in the fault lines.
Something about food vendors lining up side by side—at the edge of everything—reminds me that fronting doesn’t always have to come in the shape of steel and spears. It can come in the form of sandwiches, sweets, and salt.
And so, the Ferry Marketplace still sits to to this day:
At the edge of the Pacific Ocean and the San Andreas Fault line.
A gate for seafarers bearing spice and silver.
A sight to clarify worth: company as measured by sustenance.
A last stop for folks journeying the entirety of America’s east to west.
A last chance for land and food to front quakes and waves.
And a ballad for home away from home, finally sung.
I hope this somehow deepens the meaning of any forward-facing fault lines you might be dealing with this week.
-Thalia
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-Thalia
23 inches..schools were already closed for what we called “records day”. The day between semesters where teachers finalized grades from the fall semester & updated winter class schedules as needed based on grades from fall. Mom had to go in since she was either a math/Science teacher or Counselor. She started teaching in 1958 & had a double major in college math & science. She completed MA in counseling and retired as a counselor all years were at the same high school..Uni. Of Chicago was about 1/2 mile away
I posted a picture of the Chicago snow storm on 1967. I tried to copy here but it wouldn’t take, probably since I’m not an author in the Substack world.