From: wang@ocf.berkeley.edu (Albert Sze-Wei Wang)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.anime
Subject: Re: ANIME EXPO '93
Date: 28 Aug 1992 18:47:48 GMT
Organization: U.C. Berkeley Open Computing Facility
NNTP-Posting-Host: hailstorm.berkeley.edu

In article <1992Aug25.213550.2855@sactoh0.sac.ca.us> dscott@sactoh0.sac.ca.us (Danielle M. Scott) writes:



>sure Westin is A LOT CHEEPER to stay than it would be at Parc or Red Lion.
>Sorry to burst your bubble, but not too many fans have a lot of $$$$ to
>spend on a room.

Um Danielle, the hotel contracts haven't been finalized yet.  How do YOU know
which hotel is going to be cheaper?  You don't think the hotel room costs
you would pay during a convention are the normal costs do you?  Gahd, if
every fan had to pay normal hotel prices, we wouldn't HAVE conventions.
A hotel next to the Santa Clara Convention Center having cheaper rates than
the Red Lion??  I think not.  A hotel with more resource would be asking
a great more for them.  I would be interested if the Westin even matched
the Red Lion's Room rates, which are already, believe it or not, pretty
darn good.

>ANOTHER reason, is that the freeway is right there to go up to J-Town
>in SF to show around friends, it might take 30 mins, but don't have to
>worry about toll booths.

SF has prettier sights, and all of the things tourist types want to see.
When family come over here from overseas, my dad takes them to San Francisco,
Yosemite, and Monterey.

>And my lat reason is, that I think I would be a tad embarrased about 
>any of the GOH's seeing what Oakland is like, it's not a nice place to
>show somebody from another contry, knowing them they might think this
>is what a lot of teh cities in the US are like (partly true, but still).

Heh, if I was a writer, the more variety of life, the greater the story
idea potential.  But in all fairness, what dictates safety in all major
cities is the same.  (I finally figured out where the Westin is!)  
Never travel alone at night (esp in New York.  I actually found New York
to be rather pleasant.)  Same dictates in isolated locations where cries
of help cannot be heard.

>I might get flamed for dissing Oakland, but I would not like to worry
>about going out of the hotel at night to go out and get shot at.
>Sterotypical, but true, at least in this case.
>Unfortunatly,I hate to bring that up.

Unfortunately sterotypes exist because it's easier for people not to know
what the city is like and just assume that it's all like that.  Cities get
certain sterotypes because of the types of people who live in them that
cause them.  Then these sterotypes are propagated because it's a 
human thing to do.  Most of the problems in Oakland come from the
impoverished areas.  People who believe they've been victimized by
the system.  Often family problems are solved with beatings, or someone
uses a gun.  Drugs can be involved, and all this is impressed upon the
minds of the children.  The lure of money into selling drugs to using
children to shuttle them back and forth.  And when there is a dispute,
more often than not it is solved by gunplay.  Oakland has its tragic side,
but it is not something that fills the city.  Oakland has large businesses,
banks, government agencies, state and local agencies.  It has a police 
and fire department.  It has honest citizens making a living, some in
Oakland, others commuting to San Francisco and the rest of the Peninsula
and San Jose and the South Bay.  Most of Oakland is a nice place to live.
Just as in Berkeley there are nice places and places to avoid, like all
the left overs from the 60s.  Some of it has to do with street dynamics,
how much street smarts you have, whether you can see if someone is dangerous
or not.  Most of the people are harmless.  And just like in Lake Tahoe, if
you look like you're carrying lots of money, your likelyhood of being
robbed increases, whether it be a strong arm or just having your pockets
picked.

I'll get off this soap box now.  You're all probably sick and tired of
hearing me anyways.  My apologies for this long harangue.  :(


Albert


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