Mukilteo Musings

Only in Seattle

A couple of things have come to my attention that I find fascinating so I think I will use my "Only in Seattle" format to talk about them.

1. I have mentioned previously on this blog that Seattleites relish discussing and analyzing themselves. So Only in Seattle was an entire story in the Sunday magazine section devoted to analysis of how icy, aloof, and inward we are. I enjoyed every word of it because it is so true and since I consider myself a Seattleite, I love reading about us. There are so many great quotes in this article that I do not know where to begin. I have said many many times that we are extremely polite here--we do not honk our horns; we wave people into traffic and expect a thank you wave; we are terribly polite in elevators--but beyond these situations, we are not overtly friendly. I have described how in Nashville, friendly touchy feely store clerks completely overwhelmed me to the point I had to take a few steps backwards. But, but, I would say, if a Seattleite is friendly after you get to know such a creature, the friendliness is completely sincere--it just takes a while to get to know us. We may even respond with a hug. And now for some quotes from this story entitled, "Seattle N (ICE)! Our Social Dis Ease" by Julia Sommerfeld: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/pacificnw/2005/0213/cover.html

a. "Seattle is 'a city of the mind . . . a city of geeks. People here . . . they totally blow you off. And these are good friends, right? They just don’t call you. It’s unbelievable.' "

b. "Ouch.
You've just experienced the infamous Seattle Freeze. It's the flip side of Seattle Nice. Welcome to Seattle . . . Now please go away.
Seattle's long been described in contradictory terms. The weather: Is it mild or dreary or mildly dreary? The politics: Progressive yet torpid. Progressing toward torpor? The attitude: Tolerant — of all like-minded people.
But the dichotomy most fundamental to our collective civic character is this: Polite but distant. Have a nice day. Somewhere else.
We're the ideal seatmate on an airplane. [ I LOVE this--so true] We slide in, exchange a smile and a succinct pleasantry, then leave you be for the rest of the flight. Alaska Airlines should capitalize on this with ads that promise: 'Uninterrupted service from Seattle — and we mean it.' "

c. "One theory points to the cloistering effect of cloudy skies. Another has it that the Seattle Nice/Ice phenomenon is rooted in a historic intersection of Nordic-Asian reserve. It may be the influence of weekend mountain men or the influx of socially disinclined tech workers. It could be a trapping of mid-sized citydom — small enough to manage on your own but too big to care about your neighbors.
Or perhaps it's all of the above: some confluence of factors that has created a perfect storm of antisociality."

d. "....when Seattleites say, 'Let's do something sometime,' what they really mean is: 'Let's never do anything ever.' "

e. "Here in Seattle we do a lot of things alone. We live alone: Two out of five households have a single occupant — one of the highest rates in the nation. More than three-quarters of people participate in an individual sport but only 13 percent play on a team. We ride bikes alone; go on walks alone; troll bookstores alone, then go home and read alone. "

f. "Even Gabriel Tevrizian is more or less a Seattleite now. Since arriving from Argentina, he's turned down the volume on his laugh, no longer reaches out to hug friends and has even stopped wearing his favorite loud red pants. Those first lonely years in the Northwest even gave him a bit of a taste for solitude. Last time he went back to Buenos Aires, he found himself overwhelmed by his own exuberant culture. 'I didn't connect that well anymore. I couldn't get any time alone. People were in my face all day long,' he says. "

So there you have it folks, we'll hold the elevator for you and help you with your suitcase with a smile but please don't invite us to get a latte because then we will have to have an actual uncomfortable conversation.

2. Only in Seattle do we believe we live in paradise. A great picture of Mount Rainier, our beloved mountain in the paper today: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/home/ It was a little frosty again today and I had a little trouble with "death hill" again. Here is the view from the top of the hill taken yesterday--yea, right, "Watch for Ice" and notice the little truck on the incline which really means, "You may very likely lose complete control of your vehicle heading down this road and if you do, you will kerplunk off of a 50 foot cliff into the cold cold waters of Puget Sound!"



3. And finally, my favorite Seattle Times columnist, Ron Judd, who writes eloquently about a variety of topics ranging from digging rocks out of his backyard to covering Olympic athletes like Apolo Ohno wrote about his dog today. Only in Seattle do my favorite writers seem to have a dog that they love like a child. Maybe it is all of the time alone Seattleites spend that causes us to bond with our dogs. We do not have to engage in an uncomfortable conversation with our canine friends. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/traveloutdoors/2002181982_nwwtrailmix17.html

I was sobbing into my French pressed coffee this morning as I read this. And a quote from Ron Judd:

"At the risk of spoiling this fine melodrama, it should be disclosed that Mabel is a dog — as splendid an example of the progeny of a yellow lab and golden retriever as you are ever likely to find. She's just a long, furry, happy animal, but over three years of joint cohabitation, mentoring, frustration and tennis-ball tossing, she has come to be my most loyal companion. "

Well, bye, I am off to walk my Apolo, alone. But maybe I'll shoot off an e-mail to Ron Judd, first!