Editor’s Letter: Summer Lessons, Fall Beginnings and Digital Wake-Up Calls

Hey Marin, how was your summer? For me, living and working in Sausalito, it felt like any town north of the Strawberry exit basked in sunshine, while here in Sausalito it was quite chilly and windy — but chock-full of fleece-wearing-fun.

*Cavallo Point Summer Kickoff, Credit Matt Spinetta | Prismic Photography.*

Our Summer Kickoff at Cavallo Point was one of the last sunny days before Karl decided to cool us off while the rest of the country endured a hellish heat wave. Possibly the coldest day was July 4th, where a handful of ambitious friends and I gathered to see fireworks from the Golden Gate. We knew it would be a mission and had plan B, but once we heard from Melanie, part of our posse, that we could park our cars overnight around 7 p.m. the night before, we literally ‘stop, dropped and rolled our camper vans and extra cars, full of coolers, food, decorations and jackets’ to the Travis Marina parking lot.

*Mimi and friends on the Fourth of July*

The next day, we staggered our arrivals. I got there early to set up and made the rookie mistake of trying to go home and come back. At around 4 p.m., our Uber driver ignored the line up of cars that stretched from the bridge exit to Spencer, and angled into the line up, only to be told the road was shut. We were rerouted through San Francisco, which is when the driver’s wife called, “Where are you, have you gone to the store yet?” About half of our original group didn’t make it through the gauntlet, and all had horror stories to share on our group chat. Nonetheless, our group was so red-white-and-blue festive that we were captured by Getty images, which somehow made the herculean effort worth it.

In this issue, along with our Bay Area Private School Guide and back-to-school content, we dive into the ever-present threat of fraud — reported to be the third largest economy behind the USA and China. I realize Marin Magazine is not going to publish the article that will save the entire county from fraud, but I hope it will make a few readers rethink having their bank password be the city and year you were born.

I learned these lessons first hand when my phone was pickpocketed at SFO. Luckily, I realized it was gone within a few minutes and my boyfriend Bryan, who was convinced I had just dropped it somewhere, calmly helped me. My instinct was to scream “I’ve been robbed!” as I imagined a handsome hero with a badge zooming up to me on a segway, already in communication with HQ, where someone else was scouring security footage. Instead, I pulled out my laptop, which thankfully had 3% battery left, logged into Find My iPhone, locked my account and observed, “Mimi’s Digital Addiction” (a name I gave it, in 2010, when I thought the ping of Words with Friends was a distraction) traveling north on 101. My stomach dropped, and the only slight positive of the situation was proving to Bryan that I was right, it was stolen. Then I panicked: my passcode was my name, which was on my business card and tucked into the case. I felt so stupid, for making it too easy for whoever had my phone to get into my entire life.

I watched my “digital addiction” travel back and forth from San Francisco to Hayward to SFO for a couple of weeks. Sadly, the police department was not interested in the screenshots I was sending them. I filed a report and did all the things, not just to get my phone back, but to find the people who would pickpocket a tourist, or anyone for that matter. Alas, I never saw it again.

For some helpful tips on protecting your digital identity you’ll find in this issue Don’t Click, written by Ashley Bess Lane, who interviewed local experts on how to avoid fraud by taking steps like changing really easy to-guess passwords.

As usual, we love hearing from you regarding anything in this issue and beyond. Please send us your feedback to editorial@marinmagazine.com or tag us on the socials.

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