George Kelly takes blame or credit (you decide), for the “No there there” Oakland, California videoblog, home to but a single posting as of this morning. May its content increase.

(re. “No there there…” somewhere there is someone who has not heard the origin of this phrase. For that under-served and non Bay Area person, for that person who was probably raised in the years after Herb Caen’s unfortunate tendency to drag out little bits of lore and Bay Area rules like “It is called San Francisco, and don’t call it Frisco,” for that person who is ironically enough seeking a sense of place in a place that is no place (but not to be confused with Indianoplace or Minneanoplace), yes — for that person alone I’ll tag on the attribution associated with the perhaps less than famous but oddly familiar phrase uttered by Gertrude Stein when speaking of her childhood home of Oakland, California. “There’s no there there,” she said. And now I’ve said it too.

Ms. Stein was more famous for “A rose is a rose is a rose,” from which we can glean that she was into repetition. Her partner, Alice Toklas, was more famous for hash brownies.

[tags]George Kelly, Oakland, Gertrude Stein, No there there, Not here there[/tags]