The Buddha Diaries Recommends

Guilty With an Explanation

We're not quite sure what the author means by this title, but we think it is a perfectly apt description of her readers, who are undoubtedly guilty of spending much too much time perusing her addictive site.

The explanation (uttered to disgruntled spouses and employers, perhaps?) is that HeartInSanFrancisco (HSF) wows her readers day after day with original content, surpassing in breadth and humor almost every other space on the web.

Much of the fun of Guilty with an Explanation stems directly from vitriol, in which the reader laughingly indulges because HSF has spent so much time assuring us of her underlying compassion and sensitivity. When miffed, HSF pulls no punches, which is bad news for those who, say, ram into her with their cart at the grocery store. Her lambasting is often so articulate and spirited that it evokes a deeply satisfying sense of vicarious revenge. This, from 2006.

My neighbor is a hooker. A street ho. A strumpet, harlot, trollop. A tart. I finally figured it out after I saw her in black bra and tiny shorts draped around a lamppost in the Mission, an area which has not yet been gentrified. I doubt she was in the neighborhood for the discount fabric store, as I was.

But I don't hate her because of her morals. I hate her because she's a vile neighbor.

Fans of David Sedaris will enjoy HSF's unsparing portraits of her past. In these entries, HSF's childhood self emerges in hilarious and heart-breaking detail, as the reader becomes privy to those poignant, tragicomic moments characteristic of so many of our childhoods.

And in addition to all of this fun, HSF entertains with legitimately interesting encounters with notable historical figures such as Gracie Slick and Che Guevara.

Bottom line, this blog has something for everyone, and we encourage you to visit.