Folsom Street Fair September 2008

Folsom's 25th Anniversary from Jerome Espinosa Baladad on Vimeo.

UPDATE:
I move on from having experienced getting one of my videos deleted just because some thought scenes shown in it are disgusting and in bad taste!

You can see the video I made out of the still pictures I took during the 25th anniversary of Folsom in San Francisco. It's now in Vimeo.com, which site has yet to delete it todate. It was originally in YouTube.com where it garnered many hits and views but some viewers thought the pictures were offensive so they reported it to YouTube admin who then deleted it. Well, what can you do with people who never realize that it's critically important to have freedom of expression all the time so that views of extremists among us, who are almost always bullies in many forms, can always be seen side-by-side with the opposite view, which will allow thinkers among us to think more clearly and take action on what's true, great and beautiful in the free market of ideas.

In this light, Folsom is an event where you can express yourself more freely than usual. There was something very mind boggling about being in this event, which started from me seeing Filipino-owned food stands offering meals to the curious foodie who does not realize the food's just made up to cater to local tastes (and I've yet to see a daring Filipino-owned foodstand that just offers what's considered Filipino food without making apologies in street fairs where mostly non Pinoys show up up). And the guys tending the stands were behaving nonchalant with what's ongoing before them, as if Pinoys don't engage actively in sex at all. And, of course, more of the alternative lifestyles that most of us just read about in the papers can be seen during this event. If you've got the chance, make sure you show up even once in your life. Yes, open up spaces in your mind. What you see during the event goes in sum-total beyond the sexual. Period.

Our attendance to this annual event results from a serendipitous cancellation of an earlier schedule to attend a business seminar. Would you believe the seminar was cancelled without giving any reason at all coming from its organizers? Dumbfounded at my disbelief that something like this could be happening, I was prepared in joining my friend, with another friend in tow, and we were supposed to just kill the time while our friend attends to his seminar related to his business. We've soon learned we gotta have to make the best use of our time, after this cancelled seminar, having so much time in our hands. We checked on the website about events happening in San Francisco that weekend. We read about Folsom's 25th anniversary, more about it here! which sounded curiously good and interesting. It reminded me of what I got myself into in one of my volunteer activities back in NYC.

After having spent time doing the typical tourist routes in San Francisco that includes riding the cable cars, visiting the ins & outs of Chinatown, photographing the world's most crooked street, eating in a number of awesome eating places, walking around shopping places, lining up with other tourists to gawk at the city's famous sites and attractions, we waited for the time for Folsom's street celebrations to take place, which would be the next day. We had an inkling that it would be a well-attended event as we had difficulties getting a room at nearby hotels, and other lodging places, as receptionist after receptionist told us "there's no vacancy." But we, nevertheless, & as mentioned earlier, made the most of what we could have as we took time to enjoy what San Francisco can offer us. Gratefully, the weather was cooperative.

The next day, we were in the enclosed streets surrounding Folsom itself. We got in before most of the participants and visitors were ready for the day's overall event and private happenings. We had a very early breakfast at 6am, and had lunch by 11am after enjoying the aroma of the food being cooked and hawked in the food stalls found in the event, way before the participants & visitors arrived. In minutes, we were soon seeing interesting personalities, including one transgendered person with very short pink body-hugging skirt, in stiletto's, and leather jacket. There was soon a man in his bicycle with his bottom naked, and in leather boots. We took the chance to buy ourselves pairs of sunglasses, which turned out to be very helpful, to keep the sun glare away from our ever-wandering & ogling eyes during the event.

We took time to take photos, which shots were made into a short video now posted on YouTube. We were careful to keep away from emphasizing what's obvious, and made an effort to be documentary in approach. We had a mindful of characters we've seen and encountered during the street celebration. It was just perfect sunny weather, breezy towards the late afternoon, which reminded participants that this event can't be happening all year long. Everybody just had to come, join and celebrate. The whole place was steaming with what's beyond the usual that we see everyday. I was happy, and honored to have been able to be around Folsom street celebration's 25th anniversary.