traditionally, in certain indigenous cultures, a shaman was someone who had access to the spirit world, and was able to help heal people. but that access was not necessarily just granted as like a divine gift that fell out of the sky. most shamans had to go through a period of initiation, when, to some degree, their system broke down. and in some cultures, it seemed really literally like shamans have visions of their bones being disassembled and boiled. and sometimes it seemed people who tend, as children, to be singled out to become shamans are the ones who were more sensitive, maybe more sickly, often had epileptic tendencies, but there was something in those beings that people could recognize that they could have access to those other worlds. and going through the darkness was part of finding your strength. one of the most distressing things about the disease model of mental illness in our culture, to have any periods of darkness or suffering is wrong, it means you re off
say, and we are splitting up families. i have friends who were born here and don t speak a word of spanish and could be deported and couldn t communicate with anyone. i think putting these faces out there and showing people that immigrants are a vibrant part of civic life, that that is a really important thing for the cause. thanks. thank you for your comments. they are duly noted. commissioners, we are coming to close here. are there commissioners who would like to make any comments? ok. commissioner? first of all, i want to thank everyone who is here tonight. i want to thank the centers. but i especially want to take time to thank the people from the immigrant rights movement who are here tonight and who are not here tonight for other reasons. i think that san francisco anybody who has been here in san francisco for the past six months or year, we have seen a huge battle to really defend what we have won in the past 20 years around sanctuary city. i was glad to hear t
who is truly trying to be awake in their life will go through suffering, because life is sad and difficult and hard. and as you get closer to knowing your heart, you find a lot of pain there and it doesn t mean you re messing up. it just means that you re really committed. this person fell out of the sky with a really similar life story to mine. i met sascha, because i had responded to a version of his life story that he had written and got published. and it was about his experiences with madness, and wanting to live an authentic, adventurous life, and not crash and burn over and over, because of the fragile fire in his brain. i ended up sending him my whole life story and he showed me all these e-mails he had been getting from people all over the country. we were so curious about, what would happen if all these people learned how to use their wings, so we didn t crash all the time? what would happen if we could somehow harness these powers and this vision, and make use of
[music] paratransit is specialized transportation for seniors and people with disabilities who are unable to use the muni system. in san francisco, we re proud that we ve had a paratransit program since 1978 long before it was mandated by the americans with disabilities act in 1990. san francisco is a unique city and our paratransit program reflects this. we have a network of services, including sf access van service, paratransit taxi, including wheelchair accessible ramp taxi and group van which serves groups of individuals going to a single location like a senior center. [music] i m elsa scott and i m a retired federal employee and i m a native of san francisco. i use paratransit because, i ve been using it for about six years because six years ago i had to start dialysis treatments at cpmc. so i m very dependent on paratransit three times a week, coming and going.. my current driver is brian berquist.; he s just such a friendly, sort of a teddy bear kind