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Dairy Queen By Michael Stabile Name: Rachel Sontag ("no, no relation to Susan") Age: 23 Height: 5-foot-2 Sign: Virgo Point of Origin: Evanston, Ill., originally, but most recently from Madison, Wis. Date of Arrival: Sept. 10, 1998 What is the nature of your stay in San Francisco?: Pleasure. Where will you be staying?: I live in a house in Bernal Heights with two friends. [We're] part of a mass exodus of people, B.A. received, from Madison. How long do you plan to stay here?: I don't know. Maybe years. Is San Francisco your final destination?: Maybe. It could be. Sure. How did you arrive?: Via airplane. From Madison to Chicago to Phoenix to San Francisco. $140, four stops. What have you brought with you?: Some cheeses, some excitement. I came with a huge box full of shit that I should have left on a curbside in Madison. And no music, but I got a record player from a garage sale yesterday--it's broken. And lots of dry-freeze cheeses with me from the farmers' market in Wisconsin. Varieties of asiago, wonderful spreads, havarti dill. A special treat in Wisconsin is the cheese curd. I brought huge bags of those, airmail. [My housemates and I] all have really high cholesterol, so now I'm on this [doctor prescribed] San Francisco ricotta cheese diet. Do you have anything to declare?: [Long pause.] Well, I'm hoping to be a dog owner soon. I love the dog parks. San Francisco's a big dog city with lots of these miniature dachshunds, ridiculous-looking dachshunds. That's my declaration: that's why I like this city, OK? The dachshunds. [ San Francisco | MetroActive Central | Archives ]