For the next few weeks, we’ll be observing an anniversary: 10 years since we left San Francisco and moved to Ann Arbor. I’ll repost articles Frank and I wrote at that time for our Ann Arbor blog, aSquared. Bittersweet, very definitely they will be, bittersweet.

‘[It’s aSquared’s First Birthday … we’re celebrating by looking back at events from a year ago … skip these retro posts if you’re not into sentimentality.]

‘I have to admit to being a snob here; I always preferred SF to Oakland, which never really grew on me, its storied past notwithstanding …

‘A note about Oakland

‘It may seem that I’m dissing Oakland by writing about things I’ll miss about the Bay Area (and concentrating most of them on San Francisco). I’m not dissing Oakland, but I’m not fully embracing it, either.

‘I live in Oakland much of the week, and there are things I love about it—its sprawling hugeness, its rolling hills, its vast parks, its hidden neighborhoods, its insistent heterogeneity, its stubborn retention of a certain working-class scarppiness in spite of all of Jerry Brown and Jacques Barzaghi’s efforts to domesticate it. (There are also things I don’t like so much about Oakland, but this post isn’t about dissing Oakland.)

‘But I don’t have a car (right now), and to properly love Oakland you have to have one, without a doubt. To properly love San Francisco all you need are a MUNI pass and two feet.

‘—Posted by Frank at 08:50:09 | 4-Aug-03’