I thought I would make my way to the center of the Mission at 24th
St. thinking that is the other possibility for a parade spot. There was
a police barricade and the street was blocked. I could see a crowd and
a booth in front of the Mission Cultural Center. As I got closer the police
barricades came down and traffic resumed on Mission St. That pretty much
confirmed that I had missed any parade. There were people dressed as skeletons
all over the place. They were all white people. The few Latino's that were
there were watching the white people dressed up to celebrate the Mexican
custom. There are a lot of reminders that many people have died here in
the past two decades. Every thing from leather fetish clothes in thrift
stores to the number of gay men wearing white face for Day of the Dead
constantly drive home that a plague has hit hard.