I generally skip Mark Morford's columns on SFGate. I find his writing shrill. He's especially over-the-top as he sings the praises of San Francisco ("perfectly climated"? come on!) but it is still a good read that captures a lot of what I love about living in the Bay Area.

A lot of what Morford has to say about SF is also true for the more dynamic and spirited parts of the East Bay. Let's not forget that Oakland beats the pants off the City in terms of diversity, and that Berkeleyans can wonderfully outweird their peninsular cousins any day of the week. We have better movie theaters and better pizza over here, too. And much less of that damned fog.