A few good things to do in SF if you're feeling retraumatized by the SCS

For many people, the holidays are over now — but not for people who study the ancient Mediterranean! WE still have the annual meeting of the Society for Classical Studies this week. I count it as part of the holidays because: it happens every year; it’s full of people you want to reconnect with; and it inevitably resurfaces old trauma.

Normally I’d make a joke here, but the truth is, nothing is a bigger joke than the lack of mental health support in academia. And the trauma of these annual conferences is real, actually! Let’s for one moment not make light of it or wave it off with a sarcastic quip, shall we?

The 2019 SCS in San Diego was, of course, particularly infamous for its multiple incidents of flagrant racial profiling. Most of the time, the stuff that happens isn’t the kind that gets covered by intellectual magazines, but it’s still very real. Every damn year at the SCS, people I know are forced into situations where they are in contact with people by whom they have been sexually harassed or verbally abused in the past (not to mention some of the shit I’ve seen happen at the conference itself). Most have also been part of the dehumanizing experience that is interviewing year after year for an abysmal job market. The conference is inherently challenging for disabled people and a nightmare for the immunocompromised. And even if none of that resonates with you (how?!), academia is absolutely chock-full of undiagnosed, unhealed neurodivergent people, and getting a thousand of them in one place can kind of be a living nightmare.

If you’re in San Francisco this week for the SCS and you realize that your nervous system needs a break from the madness, here are a few of my local suggestions.

Transamerica Redwood Park

Trees ALWAYS help. Even if you don’t have time to make it up to Muir Woods (or the redwood forest in Oakland, a less touristy option that I love), there’s a small redwood grove just a 20 minute walk from Union Square. You can duck away from the conference for an hour and get some of the tree time your nervous system probably desperately craves. And then you’re right near Chinatown! I recommend House of Nanking, the kind of restaurant where you tell them your dietary restrictions and then they bring you food and you trust them that it’ll be delicious.

Drink & Draw at Mother on Tuesday night

If you’re queer, introverted, and artsy, there is no better place to spend your cash on a Tuesday evening. While you’re in the Mission, visit Dandelion Chocolate, which is far superior to Ghiradelli.

City Lights Bookstore

An institution for a good reason, and if you go during the day it’s easier to enjoy the murals on the street.

Exploratorium or CalAcademy Thursday evening

Two of my favorite science-y museums in the city have adults-only hours on Thursday evenings. Shed your uncomfortable conference attire and reconnect with the wonder of your inner child (without having to deal with the noise made by actual children).

Case for Making

I’m sorry, did you think I wasn’t going to include an art store in this list? After I wrote this? There’s a Blick right in Union Square that I will undoubtedly be stopping at, but if you’re up for a bit of a trek for a hidden gem then go to Case for Making, an adorable store that sells handmade watercolors. They also do online workshops that are a lot of fun. Last Halloween I hung out with my overstimulated anxious senior bulldog and took an art class where we made these beetles with ink:

How cute are those?

Escape room at the Palace of Fine Arts

I have a friend who does an escape room every time she visits a new city, and I can vouch that the Palace Games ones are really, really good. There’s also a balloon art exhibit nearby that I’ve heard is fun.

---

Enjoy your visit to our amazing city. I promise there’s a lot more going on here than dystopian tech companies. And please remember to be kind to yourselves and each other, friends.