It's time for another installment of brief on-the-street interviews and snapshots taken around the Lower Haight by our friend Dijon of Souls of San Francisco.
“I’ve been in San Francisco a little over 4 years. I came from Germany because of my wife. We met in Santa Barbara, decided to get married and moved out here.”
“What do you do here?”
“I work at Apple, retail… just slaving away. Selling people Apple stuff. Could be worse…”
“What is your personal dream outside of working for someone else?”
“I love records, I love music… I had a good friend pass away recently and I’ve been thinking about what life’s really all about. I think community is what it’s about for me. Investing in community and valuing each moment that you have and not neglecting it for your own good. Being invested in friends and family.”
“Do you have any goals that you’re working towards in your life right now?”
“I guess I can always work on being a better husband to my wife. We had, not a big fight, but a bigger fight last night. I was acting like a douchebag. So, to be better in that aspect. And also not giving up on the dreams that I have, never thinking that something else can stop me from going somewhere I wanna go.”
“I move here from Egypt to be with my son. Egypt very bad. You know how much one chicken costs?”
“How much?”
“15 dollars. Life very hard there but now I here. I work hard. Love my son.”
“I moved here a week ago.”
“Welcome!”
“Thank you. I just started working downtown in the tech industry doing contracts for Salesforce.”
“What’s your dream for your time here?”
“I want to explore the city and get to know it better. It’s a good place to hike, and I like the bar scene.”
“San Francisco is really cool. I think you’re gonna have a great time. I’m interested in what makes you you though. Is there something you’ve overcome that has had a big impact on who you are?”
“Yeah, my mom raised me, she was my best friend. She died when I was 10. We’re from this area, she got me to love this city because we always used to go to shows here. I’ve always wanted to live here because I feel a lot of her presence here.”
“What kind of things did you two do together?”
“Well she loved seafood so we used to always go to oyster bars. Every Christmas she’d let me get all dressed up and we’d go see the Nutcracker.”
“I grew up without my dad, he’s still alive, but he wasn’t present in my life. I know that definitely affected my relationships with men… and women. How do you feel like growing up without your mother affected your development?”
“I’ve always been more standoffish, I don’t trust people very easily. I think that’s a relationship thing on a deep level. I guess my relationships have kinda been affected by it. She didn’t have the greatest marriage history. I think that affected me more than I even knew as a kid. I think I’m dealing with those repercussions even more as I’m getting older. I don’t know, for what she did, I think she did a great job and I think she’d be really happy with where I am.”
“I think she would too. Thank you for sharing.”
“What type of legacy do you want to leave in your wake?”
“I want to be a person remembered as very humble and kind. I want to be an employer so I can give out jobs empowering people to give back to the community.”
“You do seem very humble and grounded to me. Are there things you’ve overcome that have brought you to that state of being?”
“Being homeless, sleeping in my car for months.”
“When did you get out of that situation?”
“About a month ago. I met a woman that works at West Oakland Bart, she’s very attractive, I hit on her, asked to see her again, we started dating, and once I told her my situation she asked me to stay with her.”
“That’s beautiful.”
“What do you like to do in your free time?”
“I build remote controlled model airplanes, anywhere from 6-8 ft. You can actually google me. Google ‘Rob Thomas - Stamford Advocate.' A guy back in Stamford saw me and ended up doing a story about me.”
“So you attract this type of attention of a regular basis?”
“Yeah, but I don’t want to be arrogant about it. It’s just a gift man, it’s more like an anointing.”
“You do have something going on. Can you articulate what your gift is?”
“I believe I’m gifted spiritually with my hands because I can build a model airplane with my hands from scratch. Just from foam board, wood, scratch paper, poster board...I can make some serious planes.”
“Did you always know you were gifted or was it something that came to you?”
“When I was 11 years old my mom used to have bible study at her house. A few of the teachers prophesized that God was going to use me in a big way one day. After all these years I’m starting to see it now."
