To be honest, fashion and blogging are not exactly in the forefront of my thoughts this week. Although I had posts for last week I actually spent 2 days in the hospital recovering from an assault that happened at 9 AM on a huge busy street here in San Francisco. I think it was a crazy homeless guy who had been harassing me on the bus, he followed me off and punched me. It gave me a concussion and I have no memory of the actual incident. I was lucky, I needed some stitches in my top lip and lost most of my top two front teeth, but it could have been much worse. Initially I had a lot of memory loss, I remembered I was married but was really happily surprised to find out my husband had moved in with me. I also kept asking my husband what had happened, he told me he didn't know, and I asked over and over again "wait, I have my ring? I have my purse?" He said yes to both, and over and over I shook my head and said "Amateur..."
I finally remembered the guy who did this, and I have called the San Francisco police department over and over again to tell them, telling them specifically what information I had - that a crazy guy who assaulted me in broad daylight was sure to do this again and maybe next time the poor person hits the ground so hard they never get up. And over and over again I have gotten transferred to phone lines that aren't answered, once someone talked to me and she said my report had been misfiled in the fencing department. I have no idea how that happened, but it certainly doesn't give me any peace of mind that they know what the hell they are doing, or that they give a damn.
I always thought these crazy homeless people were something like a benign nuisance, but never again. This is not a PC thing to say, but let's be honest, most of them are mentally ill and untreated and therefore completely unpredictable. The city of San Francisco does nothing to protect it's citizens, and MUNI? That's the SF public transportation system, and it's such a joke, forget it. I would guess that less than half the people I ride the bus with each day ever pay a fare. But MUNI is too stupid and slow to bother doing anything about their system, and they bleed money and have the nerve to cry that they don't know why. I don't know, how about entering this century with their systems so that people actually have to use a ticket to get on. Crazy, I know. I grew up on the South Side of Chicago and took the bus my entire life, but there no one gets on a bus without paying. Which of course makes a huge difference as to who rides the bus. I'm not saying bad things don't happen there, but you are much less likely to have a homeless person sit next to you on a bus there than here, where it's pretty much a rule.
Anyway, I am so dedicated to fashion that from my hospital bed I forwarded an email on my blackberry to my sister about a sale at eLuxury, with the shoes I have been wanting to order. I asked her to order them. Concussion or not I love shoes, and my sister took this as a sign I would be just fine.
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6 comments:
That's unbelievable. I'm really glad you weren't more seriously injured. All the best for a continued recovery.
Also, you should absolutely file a complaint with the police and with the city council. It's unpardonable that the police department hasn't been more on top of this kind of situation.
This is horrible. I hope you get better soon. I can't believe it. I wish there had been other people around. I'm so frustrated that the SFPD has been so inept. I wish there were some way to publicize this.
As for the homeless people, I agree with you. I have always said that SF homeless people are scary precisely because you don't know what they might do, since many of them are literally crazy.
I imagine there must have been other people around. I guess they did not lend a hand in any kind of meaningful way. I am so sorry to hear that this happened. I wish you a speedy recovery back to full strength.
If you google "violence by homeless people San Francisco" you get a whole bunch of sites about "violence AGAINST homeless people." Indicative of the mind set in the Bay Area - they're so scared of demonizing homeless people that any problems they cause are swept under the rug. Of course, the majority of homeless people are peaceful, as are most of the mentally ill. But there are also far too many problem cases on the streets in San Francisco and Berkeley who need to be handled proactively. Harassment and threats on public transit qualify as warning signals.
There were people around, a motorist driving by stopped to ask the crowd of people what happened, and he took me to the hospital in his car. It was very kind of him. I have his phone number, but I have no memory of any of it so I don't know who saw what actually happened.
Hey Elena-
My mom just told me what happened. I'm so sorry you had to go through that. I just wanted to let you know that you are in our thoughts and prayers. Thanks so much for your dedication to fashion even in your time of pain. :)
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