Surprise! What You Don't Know about Your Mayoral Candidate
From UFO sightings to sewing skills, little-known facts about the men and women who want your vote
David Chiu Rock Violinist
San Franciscans probably don't know that I was once an aspiring professional violinist. My father handed me my first violin when I was 8, and I played pretty seriously throughout high school and college. I even made a little extra spending money playing weddings and other events around Boston. I still have my violin and occasionally pull it out when I have a moment to relax. From time to time, I have thrown on a pickup and played electric violin with my roommate's alt-rock band at gigs around San Francisco. David Chiu, rock violinist? Something to fall back on if this politics thing doesn't work out.
Joanna Rees Sewing Maven
Most people don't know that I sew. I started when I was 11 years old. My dad was in one of his phases of not having a job and my family was very tight on money. I wore the same outfit every day, and the other kids teased me. I came home and cried to my mother, thinking she would take me shopping for something new. Instead, she signed me up for a sewing class. I didn't get my new outfit right away. In fact, it took me weeks to learn how to make my first wrap-around skirt. The desire for new outfits honed my sewing skills so much that I often picked up a piece of fabric on my way home from school and would make a new outfit that night to wear the next day.
Bevan Dufty Skunk Wrangler
Most people know that I grew up in New York City and that Billie Holiday was my godmother. But what you may not know is that as a 9-year-old living in the Big Apple, I had a pet skunk. A local merchant had given it to my mother after she prevented a knife fight between gang members. Mom taught the shopkeeper to blow cayenne pepper into the eyes of the troublemakers. It averted a fight, and to thank my mother, the merchant gave her a skunk. She promptly gave it to me and I never gave it a second thought.
Al Miller UFO Believer
When I was a 9-year-old boy I lived on a small cow farm in North Carolina. I was walking to the main barn at about noon one day in the summer, and a spaceship flew over my head about 100 feet up. I saw a man with a very big head and big eyes, and I waved at him, but he just stared at me. I kept yelling and waving at him, and he finally raised his right hand. So as mayor, I will tell the public everything I know about UFOs.
Wilma Pang Operatic Songtress
I learned to sing Cantonese opera from organizing seniors to play music at Portsmouth Square in Chinatown on the weekends. It was not easy. Peiling Zhou, at right in this photo, was busted for singing in the park back in January. She was holding a microphone, and the park police cited her for not having an amplification permit. She doesn't speak any English, and when she spoke loudly to the officer, she was cited for "inciting a riot." She was scared to death. I was out of town and had to assure her it would be OK.
Phil Ting Family Man
People find it surprising when I say that I think going home to be with my family most nights makes me a better elected official than if I went out "on the circuit" every night like most politicians. We want our elected officials to be "real people," but parties and receptions and even endless community meetings are not very "real" in the end. Changing diapers, looking for good schools, figuring out how to start funding the 529 college plan — all those things are probably better training for representing the real San Francisco than another night with the 500 insiders.
John Avalos Devoted Father
Our first child, Rene Elena, is a bit of a survivor. She was born on Christmas Day in San Luis Obispo halfway through a trip to Los Angeles. Rene entered the world four months early, weighing in at one pound three ounces. With the support of family, friends and not a few total strangers, my wife and I spent two months in San Luis Obispo. We slept in a borrowed RV close to the hospital, where Rene fought for her life under 24/7 care from talented doctors and nurses. Rene had many harrowing close calls before stabilizing enough to be transferred to UCSF, where she stayed another two more months before coming home.
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