It's Wednesday, and the Weekly kicks things off for us this week with a grand cover article by Lauren Smiley about the ever growing band of gay nudists who have shown up on the streets of the Castro, in particular in the new plaza at 17th and Market. Lauren uses the obvious lede, "In Chinatown, it may be the Year of the Tiger, but in the Castro, it's almost always the Year of the Cock." And goes on to name names and generally discuss the trend, which is nothing new but has gained a bit more attention of late after citizens like Terry Bennett, whose family has owned Cliff's Variety Store in the Castro for 70 years, have complained. "The Castro's a place that's supposed to be for everybody, and if you're excluding the kids, that's not being accepting of everyone." Um, the Castro's never been for kids, lady, at least not since the 50s. And yes, this would be a situation where strollers and gay male libertines don't really mix. (See also our previous, slightly satirical take.)

Also, Matt Smith writes of San Francisco's rise to political prominence in this election, despite Nancy's demotion, saying, "San Francisco is to state and national politics what Brazil is to soccer." Yeah, that's a little bit of a stretch.

Music: There's a little profile of local electronic outfit Lazer Sword.

Books: A review of Gary Snyder's The Etiquette of Freedom

Food: A review of the Gialiana pizza spinoff, Ragazza, on Divis. "Ragazza is a promising restaurant whose staff just needs to get it together."