i got involved in the alice b. toklas democratic club. i ran for the democratic central committee in 2004. i ended up sharing the committee. it was a gradual process for me. by the time i started thinking about running for supervisor, it made sense because of my involvement in the community and in politics. >> what did you learn from campaigning for supervisor? >> i learned a lot. i knocked on about $15,000. -- i knocked about 15,000 doors. i met a huge number of people. that is the best way to learn about the neighborhood, the city, and what people want and what their concerns are. i feel i can do so much more than before and started campaigning. -- i feel like i know so much more than before i started campaigning. we're all part of the left on the national standard. i am a good liberal democrat. in the san francisco spectrum, and probably considered more middle of the road. -- i am probably considered more middle-of-the-road. i am very independently comes to the issues. i do not vote the party line. a judge each issue on its merits. tha

alice b. toklas was her lifelong partner. they had several different homes.e know about their home in paris, the famous salon. you get a taste of what their domestic life was like. >> one thing recreated is the fabulous wallpaper. the black-and-white photos do not convey the color. >> in doing a lot of research, you discover a little tidbits. with an exhibition, at the find ways to make it come together. we found beautiful photographs of the interior of their home. then we found a tiny scrap of the wallpaper. we saw how blue and vibrant it was. we had a designer recreate the image of the wallpaper. we had it made into wallpaper so we could all experience what it would have been like to be in their home. it is dynamic and fantastic. they seem very monochromatic because you only know them through black-and-white photographs, but they had such a vibrant life. that is what the exhibition is also trying to show. the third one is the art of friendship. picasso and matisse were part of their second family. there were people she admired and worked with. we introduced

. >> reporter: one friend she did keep was her companion, alice b. toklasature of this exhibit. >> gertrude and alice fell in love, and eventually alice moved into the apartment of leo and gertrude. it was gertrude who continued to bring artists into them. >> reporter: but gertrude stein wanted to be more than a collector. >> she liked collecting, but after awhile, her public image as a patron and collector bothered her. she wanted to be known the same way picasso was known-- for her creative work, not just for her collecting of others. >> reporter: stein thought of herself primarily as a writer, whose work, corn contends, has come back into fashion. >> she was always just a little outside the mainstream until, really, feminism rediscovered her and began to look at her through a completely different lens. >> reporter: in addition to writing several books, including the best selling "autobiography of alice b. toklas," stein composed the libretto for a cutting-edge opera composed by virgil thompson, "four saints in three acts," with an all-black cast, produce