Dec 21, 2021
Kim
Shuck's parents met on Market Street in the late-1950s
when her dad wrestled an ocelot away from its grips on her
mom.
In this podcast, the San Francisco
poet laureate emerita talks about the five generations of San
Franciscans on her mom's side. Her dad joined the Navy partly to
get out of Oklahoma. He was "career" for a while, but then left
that to become an electronics engineer in Silicon
Valley.
Her San Francisco grandparents
(maternal) met at the Polish Hall in the Mission. Kim spent
significant time with both sets of grandparents—both her in The
City and in Oklahoma.
When she was young, Kim's mom
started working as a special needs para at a school near their
home. She was also a founder of Noe Valley Nursery School, one of
the first such co-ops in The City and also where Kim went to
nursery school. Kim tells stories of the no longer extant Noe
Valley Street Fair, which was a fundraiser for the
school.
Kim spent most of her years growing
up in the Mission, Noe Valley, and the Castro. She lists the
different public schools she went to. She reminisces about growing
up in the Sixties and Seventies in San Francisco, with an emphasis
on the way people used to paint houses in The City in vibrant color
and with many hand-painted details (see our episode with
Bob "Dr. Color" Buckter--Part
1 /
Part 2)
We eventually get around to stories
about outdoor music shows and her memories of seeing the San Francisco Mime Troupe when she
was young. We also spend a good amount of time talking about her
love of roller skating (see our podcasts last week with
David Miles, Jr., of the Church of 8
Wheels—Part
1 /
Part 2).
Ruth Asawa was a neighbor and
(probably) Kim's first art teacher at Alvarado Elementary School.
Later in her life, Kim did origami and became friends with Ruth
again.
Like so many guests of this show,
Kim went to college at SF State. She recounts all the academic and
social movements that have origins at the school, including ethnic
students, free speech, and the American Indian takeover of
Alcatraz.
One theme Kim keeps coming back to
is the cyclical nature of things, especially pertaining to
creativity and art in San Francisco. "One step forward, one step
back. We're cha-cha-ing."
We end Part 1 with Kim going into
her Cherokee heritage
and then more of the story of her decision to stay in town and go
to college at SF State. Check back Thursday for Part 2 and our last
podcast of 2021.
We recorded this podcast at Kim's
house in the Sunnyside in December 2021.
Photography by Michelle Kilfeather