Why I Love Living Here - Part MCMXVI

On the way to work this morning, I got behind a truck with what I thought was a rather curious combination of back window sticker and license plate holder. I love reading bumper stickers and other little bits of information that people put on their vehicles, trying to figure out what the driver inside must be like. The sticker in question was one that a lot of Bay Area residents, especially those toward the south end of the greater Bay Area, see fairly often -- a KPIG sticker, with the familiar pig wearing a cowboy hat and sunglasses. KPIG, that eclectic station out of Freedom, CA (south of Santa Cruz and on the way to Monterey) is one of the last free-form FM stations still in existence. It leans heavily toward the alt-country and bluegrass side of modern music, but also plays plenty of rock and roll and blues and all sorts of fare that you won't find on a Clear Channel playlist. In other words, it's what radio used to be like.

The license plate holder, in contrast, read "What Would Voldemort Do?", referring, obviously, to the Harry Potter character also known as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. KPIG and Harry Potter? Okay, sir, fair enough. (What would Voldemort do, anyway?)

At that very moment, on the radio (I was listening to Morning Sedition on Air America, KQKE, 960 AM) I heard this exchange:

Caller: "What's the difference between birth control and gay sex?"

Mark Maron: "What's the- I don't know, is this a joke?"

Caller: "Of course not! I'm a Catholic!"

I don't know either (though I'm not a Catholic). I don't know how this all ties together, it just struck me funny at the time and made me once again appreciate how much I love living in San Francisco. Voldemort. KPIG. Birth control and gay sex. "I'm a Catholic!" Hey, there must be a joke in there somewhere!