Can You Enter Same River Twice?
You may have heard the saying – first proclaimed by Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher born in 544 B.C., “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”
I thought about this during the last week when I was considering whether to go out to photograph the colorful crowd during the events which started last Friday and took place in different locations throughout San Francisco, and culminated with the LGBT’s Pride Parade on Sunday on Market Street. Two years ago, I went to all of those spectacles and you can see some of the images on my website. This time I decided to skip the event since it seemed that I have already “stepped in this river” before. On Sunday I had to drive close to the downtown area. For the convenience of parking, I took my wife’s Smart Car.
While there, at the spur of the moment, I decided to try to get closer to Market Street. Since the car is very small, I managed to park it on 9thstreet, close to Mission Street (her license plate says Parkable).
This year, the LGBT’s Pride Parade celebrated their 48thanniversary. The parade started at 10:30AM, and over the next five hours, there were at least 50,000 participants, and according to the organizers, about one million people gathered at Civic Center Plaza, after the parade.
Just a reminder, according to the 2016 Census, San Francisco’s population was 870,887, and out of them the LGBT community is about 6.2%, according to a count published in March, 2015. You do not have to be a mathematician to realize that all of those “extra” people arrived here from somewhere else, and many came here just to have a good time. This event has also become popular among corporations.
Despite San Francisco’s reputation as the birthplace for the Gay rights movements, the Pride Parade actually started on June 28, 1969, in New York. In many countries around the world, May 17 had been officially labeled the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.
I found all of this trivia on the web, and the reason I am sharing it with you, this event is part of our city’s colorful life, which draws a lot of people who contribute to everyone’s wellbeing, regardless of anyone’s sexual orientation.
P.S – There are a lot of images and videos onlinefrom this year’s parade. My four images are just to make a point that the last time I photographed different people (and different dogs), I was definitely a different person. It was before my book “42 Encounters with Dog Lovers” was even in my head, which you can pre-order now at www.encounterspublishing.com
Enjoy and share.
Do Not Keep Me As A Secret!
Smile and Please Share It
With a Friend!
Cheers,
