Spring is around the corner, and it's time for a seasonal installment of our series of on-the-street interviews and profiles of Hayes Valley folk, courtesy of Dijon of Souls of Society.

Him - “We’ve been together about three years. We met at a club somewhere around here. Someone told me a girl wanted to talk to me and it was her.”

“Do you remember what it felt like when you first connected?”

Him - “Yeah, it was awesome. Got us here.”

“What’s one challenging thing you’ve overcome over that three years?”

Him - “Getting used to other people’s way of doing things. If it’s not hard, why not do it her way?”

Her - “Same, working together to find a compromise. Finding a balance that works in the relationship.”

“What’s one of your favorite things about her?”

Him - “She’s awesome all around. She’s pretty, smart, funny, everything.”

“And one of your favorite things about him?”

“He’s genuinely a kind person.”

“How are you contributing to the world being a better place?”

“I’m a really good dancer.”

“What’s the most challenging part of living in San Francisco for you?”

“People have a lot of options, so they don’t wanna get with one person or even think about it too much.”

“Ain’t that the fucking truth. Do you want to date one person?”

“I’ve been single for a while but I wouldn’t mind a partner.”

“What’s your type?”

“I’ve had all different types of boyfriends. I’m older now so I’m getting some younger guys. It was reversed when I was younger. It’s just kind of a natural progression.”

“Why is that?”

“That’s just how it is. But not all older guys can keep it young and fresh like I do.”

Left - “When we met we had instant chemistry. It was a normal conversation and we realized we had a lot in common.”

“What do you have in common?”

Left - “Everything.”

Right - “Probably too many things. Traveling, eating good food.”

Left - “Drinking amazing wine. Adventure. Exploring.”

“What’s one of your favorite things about her?”

Left - “Humility, because she is a performer, but you would never know.”

Right - “Thanks for outing me.”

Left - “See!”

“What about you?”

Right - “Her balance. I’m always trying to achieve some sort of balance and when you’re with someone who is walking in that you realize you have to stop trying in order for it to just be.”

Left - “Communication is really big, if something bugs we talk about it. It’s cliche but once communication leaves, then you’re assuming what I’m thinking and I’m assuming what you’re thinking and it’s never the right thing.”

“Then you’re operating off of patterns and loops.”

Left - “Exactly!”

Right - “It’s like putting an inflection on a text. You can’t do that!”

“I’m from Yazoo City, Mississippi. There was this witch that died there who cursed the place. They didn’t bury her properly and there was all this weird stuff that happened, two floods, and a real bad fire. Then they put chains on her grave and the bad stuff stopped. All I can tell you is this bad stuff really happens.

“My grandfather helped form hospitals there. Back then black people were dying from tonsillitis and other stupid stuff because white people wouldn’t let them in the hospital. He and my uncles also formed a credit union in the community. I come from a family like that. My daddy got killed when I was eight months old. My uncles and them treated my mom so bad after that she was like, ‘To hell with this crap’ and she moved out here.

“I was here in the Western Addition in the '50s when it was fabulous. The OC projects, those skyscrapers ... they gone now. I think the way stuff is changing is just progression. It’s something better. This has totally changed, San Francisco is nothing like it used to be and it’s not going to be the same again.”

“I used for the redevelopment agency, the planning department back in the '70s said they were gonna make this a city for the rich, and they did. A guy once told me, 'If you ever wanna know what’s going on with a city, go to the Planning Department and see what’s on the plan.' A lot of people don’t realize that information is public.

“One thing I like about here is that people vote intelligently. But, there is a lot of corruption going on. I’m newly retired from the City of San Francisco. Treasurer of Tax ... bad bad situation. They run the smart people off, I’m black so they wanted to get rid of me. I’d been there a long time and they couldn’t fire me because I had tenure. They tried to get me on a performance improvement plan. Usually there’s one thing they want you to improve, okay fine, they get you some help and you work it out. But me, I was on a perpetual one. They were just looking for a reason and I had a breakdown. The doctors they sent me to told them they were wrong and to not send me back to those people. They sent me back and I started having panic attacks."

"There was this one guy, and this is an issue that nobody wants to talk about, and I don’t care what people do sexually, but when you have a situation where you have gay males in power that have an issue with straight women, it’s a problem I’ve had too many of my girlfriends have trouble with gay men in power. And I have lot of gay friends, I have one in Vegas I call my gay husband, but what do you do when a man comes after you just because you’re a female?”

“Do you feel like he came after you because he was a gay man in power or that maybe there was just something off about this particular person?”

“I think there was something off about him. I say live and let live.”

“So it’s not gay men, it’s just this guy right?”

“Well I know a gay guy who wouldn’t speak to his secretary for a year because she’s female. No one wants to deal with that because this is the gay capital of the world. White gay capital of the world. Atlanta is the black gay capital of the world. I don’t care what people do sexually, just don’t come at me when I’m trying to do my job. Somebody just needs to say this exists, because nobody cares. There was one union rep who was gonna help me fight all this and she got sent back East. People don’t wanna help because they’re scared of the power structure here.”

“I believe people have a good heart. I’m a Christian woman. I’m not trying to tell anyone how to worship but I know how God saved me. We’re all here together, why not help each other, why you wanna put other people down?”

“What’s one of your proudest accomplishments?”

“Having my babies. I wanted 10 with one man, but I got 2. God said be fruitful and multiply, but now there’s too many people on the planet. Everybody wants to live on the coast and now we got all this global stuff. The planet is changing.”

“What do you want people to say about you and your time here in San Francisco?”

“That I love this city and I’ll love it forever.” 

To meet more souls of Hayes Valley, check out previous installments here, here and here.