San Francisco has a population of 820k and 704 violent crimes per year, or 1 violent crime for every 1164 people; Oakland has a population of 400k and 1993 violent crimes per year, or 1 violent crime for every 200 people. Oakland was, for a brief spell, the per capita murder capital of the United States. read more
In Western culture, falling in love is considered "The Happy Thing"—two people find each other and the story ends, the curtain drops, the credits roll. The problems of loneliness, desire and attachment have been solved. This is a deeply satisfying narrative, but as many of us experience in our actual lives, it is often less straightforward. read more
The ghetto areas in the southern fringes of SF are the truly bad areas. It is ironic that I've heard many people from the roughest parts of East Oakland say that they would never go to Sunnydale in SF because its too grimey. But bad stuff happens all the time in the southern half of SF. read more