You Are Here

If you wander around downtown Berkeley, with your gaze turned downward rather than trained on the always colorful local inhabitants, you’ll soon run across one of several dozen metal medallions that have been fixed to the sidewalks in seemingly random spots. The messages vary wildly. One purports to mark the gateway to a hidden Dwarf Empire. Another commemorates the supposed site of the Berkeley Copywriter's Guild, in which all of the fun, cheeky prose has been lined out, leaving only the most succinctly boring text behind. There’s one on the Berkeley/Oakland border that says: “Welcome to Oakland--We missed you,” on one side, and “Welcome to Berkeley--Now stop doing that,” on the other. Most, though, are like little Zen koans that record some mundane, fleeting moment of human existence and elevate it to the status of a historical event. The person who regretted missing a chance for a witty retort at a dinner party. The neighbors who engaged in years of passive aggressive dispute over a parking spot. The driver who came to a full stop at a stop sign and proceeded lawfully and safely.

If you ever visit Berkeley, look for them. Not only will they make you laugh, but they’ll remind you, if only briefly, that the moments of our lives are not imbued with significance by some committee or bureaucratic office, but by each of us taking the time to notice them before they’re gone.