FROM SNOWBOUND SEATTLE

My Street

Seattle, Washington

Day 1

"The Storm of 2008"

Photo by Merritt Scott Miller

Well, hello again, from snowbound Seattle. It’s been real fun here the last week or so and I imagine a lot of you in other parts of the States, in Canada, the U.K., France and California can relate to that.

It doesn’t snow here that often and this is the most ambitious I’ve seen in the 18 years I’ve been here. There were two memorable ones before that but they were single storm occasions. We’ve been slammed by three so far and snow’s expected until Saturday.

We’re built on seven hills, two lakes and a bay. To our backs are the Cascade Mountains. To the west, across Elliot Bay and our portion of the Puget Sound, there are the Olympic Mountains of the peninsula of the same name. Beyond them lies the vast and mighty North Pacific. North and south, along the I-5 corridor, which runs from the Canadian Border to the Mexican, there is the Fraser River Valley of British Columbia, a funnel for the Chinooks which barrel in from the Arctic. To the south, the mighty Columbia River and then Oregon beyond.

I was partly raised in high mountain snow country and I’ve spent several winters deep in the Cascades, once in a rough timber and plywood shack with a corrugated tin roof and a Fraser potbelly stove for heat. No electricity, running water or telephone. Two Coleman lanterns and a Coleman stove for backup. An am/fm radio for company and the nearest town, Canyonville (pop. 500) about an hour away. I had a 1984 VW Bug and I worked as a ranch hand.

I’m no stranger to this kind of weather and I admire those who can adapt to it as well as my neighbors have. Something happened the other day that made me laugh and admire them both.

Our local NBC affiliate, KING5 (link) showed a predawn clip of a Seattle Police cruiser, with chains, make two unsuccessful attempts to drive up one of our seven hills. I admired the dedication involved but then I got to thinking. (Yep, you’re way ahead of me.) Burglars watch television too. And some of them come from places way colder than this.

Nope, the crime wave never happened, which tells me that even a burglar wouldn’t go out in weather like this. I’m from a family line that produced a couple of them and that is saying something. Trust me on this, folks.

It’s hit us hard, too. In some ways, but not in all. Our emergency services were prepared for this and I’ve got nothing but the highest of praise for them, my dig at the Seattle Police Department notwithstanding.

I live across a ship canal from Seattle, in the University (of Washington) District. Our mercantile establishment has not shut down and though we may not be able to drive to a mall or to one of the prestigious department stores downtown, we can still make a good Christmas and now we have another reason for cutting back besides being either laid off, let go or worried about our jobs. We can blame it on the weather. And knowing us, we probably will.

As of this writing, Sea-Tac Airport is closed, stranding thousands of people. Considering the weather where the majority of these flights come from or connect to, that’s not such a bad thing. Those folks in that airliner in Denver were very, very, very lucky. Nothing’s flying in and out of Seattle but nothing’s crashing and burning either.

Our buses still run, though not always on schedule. But it’s better than a couple of storms past when they ran on the freeway during a blizzard and then had to pull off finally and give passengers a choice between walking to a place where they could be picked up or waiting in a cold bus.

Nobody’s going to lose their job for not showing up to work or being late. We’re host to more than several international corporate operations here, a dozen reputable colleges and universities, some of the finest medical research and hospital care facilities in the world. Those who work at these places know how important it is to be there. Those who employ them know how important it is not to lose them. Adjustments are made.

It’s likely that before this is all over, this will also be our state’s Katrina, when it’s taken into consideration the massive flooding we experienced behind torrential rains in October and November. But I doubt it will be publicized as such and I would be very surprised if Governor Christine appeals to the federal government for help.

Despite all the industrialization Boeing and the Second World War, and Weyerhaeuser and Microsoft have brought to Seattle, we still haven’t been a city long enough to acquire the sophistication of New York, the Dixie charm of Atlanta, the totally rowdy and go for it attitude of Dallas-Ft. Worth, the dedication to the heartland of Chicago, the gritty glitz and glamour of Los Angeles and the "what box do you want me to think beyond now?" attitude of San Francisco.

We are, however, a small megalopolis which has more to teach about "community" than it has to learn. I suspect most of you can profoundly relate to that.

Take care, stay well and God Bless.

Rusty

TWO GENTLEMEN FROM ILLINOIS: Springfield v. The Space Needle

Space Needle from Capitol Hill

Seattle, Washington

Photo by MS(R)M

Well, first, I want to thank those of you who responded to my invitation for a forum on hard times. I’m waiting now to see how much of that input is getting out there through the popular media and I’m very encouraged by what I see in these regards.

I’m also pleased with what President-Elect Obama has done so far. He’s keeping it simple and non-partisan. He’s choosing the best people for the job. I’m also enjoying his relationship with the media. He’s got a sense of humor and doesn’t mind making jokes at his own expense. It reminds me of what Grandpa Seamus used to say about paying attention to the wolf who shows its throat. I hasten to add that I see nothing predatory about Barack Obama. I admire his strength and a self-confidence. I also appreciate that he doesn’t talk up or down to me.

He seems, as well, to understand ~ perhaps better than any of us ~ that a several score percentage point victory in this election does not mean he has the mandate of the entire nation. I sense he knows full well that there are people waiting for him to falter, stumble and fall on his butt. I don’t believe that keeps him up late at night, though. He’s got too much to do to worry about failing. He’s also got a dynamite significant other and a real nice family. He’s probably been vetted more thoroughly than any president-elect since the McCarthy era and I appreciate not having to worry about surprises up the road. The man’s honest.

Apparently that’s not true of the Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich and as bad as I feel about that, having friends back there, I don’t imagine I’m nearly as outraged, embarrassed, ashamed and generally extremely PO’d as they are. What got me was the sheer arrogance of the man. Chicago may yet be the Land of Daly but the capital of Illinois is Springfield, the Land of Lincoln. The fact that he joins a short list of crooked state chief executives probably doesn’t make the average Illinoian feel real good either. It’s been suggested that those who live in the Land of Lincoln have become cynical and ‘grease’ whatever palm which requires it. I, for one, don’t buy it. Not for a country heartbeat.

It’s also ironic, considering where I live. We’ve got several Port of Seattle employees up on fraud charges now and several executives have resigned. It didn’t go on very long and when it was discovered, it was acted on swiftly. One of our elected officials said today on the news, with reference to the Illinois governor scandal, "We don’t let that kind of thing happen in Seattle."

Well, no, but we’ve had Rodney King Verdict marches, the WTO riots, anti-war protests and marches, gay pride demonstrations and parades, et al ad human rights. For all our reputation as being Birkenstocks-and-wool-socks-in-winter-laid back, we’re just as reactive as anywhere else in the country.

We’re a community of busybodies and we pay attention, collectively, to everything that goes on. That’s also why it takes us longer to get things done. EVERYBODY not only has an opinion, it seems like everybody’s got a mouth to go with it. Nice part about that is, though, once we decide, it’s pretty much then just a matter of getting it done.

We’re also extremely patriotic. It generally rains on the Fourth of July but that has never compromised the fireworks. Primordial humans may have invented fire. Seattleites some while back learned the value of waterproof matches.
Until next time, then eh? And thanks for the ear.

Rusty