Community Irritations

"Nothing good ever comes out of South Seattle."

 

Those were the words I heard from a security officer at the Homecoming Dance on Saturday night and it unfortunately reflects the opinion of far too many people in this area. I love this city with all my heart, but Seattle is snobby. I have, more than once, received "the look" from people who live in Seattle when they find out that I don't live within city limits. Aside from the neighborhood snobbery, there is a definite cold shoulder given to the south end of the city itself...which happens to be where I teach.

I hate this attitude. I deal with it all the time; from comments on local news stories that happen to mention my school or the neighborhood I live in, to people in the grocery store who hear where I teach and give me the raised eyebrow and the sympathetic head shake.

You know what comes out of South Seattle?

• First generation college kids whose parents are immigrants who didn't graduate from high school and don't speak a word of English
• Kids who help opposing players on the football field and basketball court back to their feet after a hard hit, and then compliment them on a great play
• Somali refugees who arrive from a country with no functional government and one of the lowest literacy rates in the world and leave as high school graduates who then return to help others in their community
• Girls who finish high school with a baby on their hip, even though their mothers didn't make that same choice
• Kids who choose their teacher to be their "parent" at a recognition, because their parents are working three jobs in order to support their family and allow their kids to go to school instead of go to work
• A football team that has learned a hard lesson about picking themselves up and getting past a seemingly insurmountable hurdle....and has learned how to lose gracefully
• Kids that have learned how to accept blame, learn from their mistakes, and move on
• Kids that can clearly articulate problems in the world today and suggest solutions that make sense
• Kids who graduated from my school 5 or 10 years ago and come back to teach there again, because they went away, grew up, and came back to give back to the people who made them who they are
• People that are funny, beautiful, quirky, diverse, and compassionate

Now to be fair, there are some problems in South Seattle. Just like there are problems in North Seattle, in Magnolia, in downtown, and on the East Side. But labeling an entire community like that irks me...especially from someone in a position of authority.

So here's to ending snobbery, keeping an open mind, and looking for nontraditional beauty in the community you live in.

What I Did on my Summer Vacation - Bainbridge Island

Sometimes, especially on glorious summer days, I am nearly overcome with a love for this place. I truly love living in Seattle. I can't, at this point in my life, imagine living permanently any other place. Yes, I love to visit other places, but from the first time I came to Seattle in junior high, I have known that I wanted to live here. I don't even feel this way about Oregon, where I grew up. I love this place. It has been a long winter, and I won't soon forget that, but in all honesty, the incandescent summers here make the grey and drizzly springs a distant memory.

Today mom and I went to Bainbridge Island. I have never been there and it seemed to be a place that would be pretty cool to wander around. It was, with a few caveats...all of them on my end. We left late, so waited in line for the ferry for a really long time. In addition, I thought you only had to pay one way for the ferry, but you have to pay both ways, which was unexpected and expensive. All together, we paid almost $40 to go there and back. The main drag through downtown is under construction, which was not attractive, but it still worked. Parking on the island is free and easy to find, which was nice, and the people were really nice. There is an obviously concerted effort among business owners to promote themselves as a group and to work hard together to attract customers. That being said, I would like to go back when it is not a Saturday, not the middle of summer, not a holiday weekend, and not with a car, but I would like to go back.

This is the ferry terminal in Seattle, with the Bainbridge ferry pulling in.

The wash from the ferry

Looking east towards Seattle

One of the businesses on Bainbridge Island...I liked the ivy

Mt. Rainier, which is south and east of Seattle

What I Did On My Summer Vacation - Museum of Flight

It's hardly a stretch to put a pretty decent flight museum here in Seattle, after all, this is the home of Boeing and one of Seattle's nicknames is "Jet City," not to mention that this was the home of the Seattle Supersonics until 2008. Mom and I went to the Museum of Flight today, and I would recommend it, even if I did spend most of my time reading about flight attendant fashion rather than engine specifications and windspeed.

This is looking down the nose of something. Seriously, I didn't really read any of the information. Since I am a history teacher, sometimes going to museums, especially military history museums, is a bit difficult.

View of the planes suspended from the ceiling of the main hall. They all are facing the same direction and it looks very much like they are flying away.

The original Boeing manufacturing building (1917-1919) is on the grounds, and it is a very cool wooden building where they later designed and built specific parts of the planes. There is a timeclock on the wall that I thought was really nifty looking.

This piece of machinery was also in the original building. No, I don't know what it did.

Across the street was a retired Concorde jet, a retired Air Force One, a 747, something from NASA that wasn't labeled, and a few other planes. The shot below is a shot of the walkway going to that part of the museum.

The Concorde was not fun. Most of it was closed off, and they had put plexiglass over all the seats in a curved shape that made it almost impossible to walk through. I don't really get claustrophobic except underground, but that made me very much so and I left fairly quickly. I did get this shot, of a prime example of government spending habits.

This was on the side of the thing from NASA, a lot of people signed it. As I stated previously, I have no idea what it is, or why everyone signed it. But it looked cool.

 There was a traveling exhibit on planes used in World War I and World War II. Mom was getting really tired so I didn't go upstairs to the WWI planes, but I spent several minutes trying to get a decent shot of these.  

 This sticker was on nearly every propeller blade in the entire WWII wing and I liked the way it looked on the black wing. Unfortunately, it was also quite dark in the exhibit, so I had a hard time getting this.

I thought that Air Force One was really cool...it was the plane that was used by Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, and was the one that Nikita Khruschev used on his trip to the US in 1959. It was also the one that was used by Johnson to fly to Dallas to be sworn in after the assassination of JFK. No, I didn't get any pictures of it. There was lots of plexiglass and not much room to maneuver.

Let it Rain.....

I live in an apartment. I have lived in several different apartments over the last 10 years. There are positives and negatives to apartment living, but I do like this one fairly well. One of the things that I like about this place is that I live about 50 feet from the Green River. There is a trail that runs around my apartment complex and through my town, between the river and the actual apartment property. This is what it looks like.When the water is high, it looks like this.

And as of yesterday, it looks like this.

I'm not sure how these sandbags will affect the property value.

Here's the backstory. Last winter, when we had all the heavy snow and rain for so long, the Howard Hansen dam was damaged and while the Army Corps of Engineers did attempt to get it fixed, it hasn't happened yet. In addition, according to my mom (who watched the news a lot while she was here the last two weeks), when they created the banks of the Green River, "they" (whoever that is) did it incorrectly and they have been attempting to fix it ever since.

So for the last few months, there have been news stories, community meetings, mailings, and so on, all about what might be happening this winter if it rains too much. The dam can't hold as much water as normal, so there is a distinct possibility that if it rains too much, they will have to let water out...which would flood this area. And I mean flood a LOT. As much as 10 feet of water OVER the banks. In order to prevent massive flooding, for the past week construction workers have been cutting down trees along the banks, clearing out the brush, and when I got home from school yesterday, there was a line of sandbags, as far as the eye can see in either direction. (Granted, I have poor eyesight, but nonetheless...)

Me? Well, I subscribe to the point of view that if we prepare, nothing will happen.

I hope.

Reasons 5986 and 5987 Why I Love Seattle

One of the places I don't get to NEARLY as often as I would like is the Fremont Sunday Market. There is an incredibly eclectic mix of everything under the sun, including some amazing jewelry and seasonal (generally organic) fruits and vegetables. If you want something a little more...unusual....just keep looking. We saw everything from vintage men's platform shoes to pants that (apparently) make you think you're naked. I'm not totally sold on the advertising for those, but I guess if that's what floats your boat, so be it. Fremont itself prides itself on their collection of free public art, and it is everywhere you look. This particular piece was part of an installation outside of a Quizno's restaurant.

Another place that I love is the Center for Wooden Boats, on the south end of Lake Union. Although you have to pay for parking, the center itself has no charge and consists of an absolutely beautiful collection of sailboats, rowboats, and a few tiny (5-6 seater) steamers. Also parked nearby are some much larger ships, including the Duwamish fireboat and the Virginia V steamship. If you pass a test, you can rent sailboats to take out on Lake Union and every Sunday afternoon, the center offers free rides around the lake. I call this "boat candy."Seriously, doesn't this place look awesome? Seriously underappreciated, in my opinion.....

School starts in a week and a half, and staff development starts this coming Thursday....Summer is almost over.

Spoiler Alert...Maybe.

UPDATE: I am thinking that maybe this guy is one of the contestants on the next Bachelorette instead of the actual Bachelor. Who knows? Maybe he has issues and hired a camera crew to follow him around. Don't the Bachelorette guys wear red roses in their lapels? He had one of those.
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My mom is here visiting me and we ended up in the Market before 9 this morning (the best time to visit, in my opinion). At the fish-throwing place, we saw this guy....

...being filmed by a small crew (they filmed him like 6 times being "frightened" by a monkfish. The rumor is......he's the new Bachelor.

Learning to Relax

Something about this school year was different than any previous year of teaching for me. Normally, I look forward to the end of the year with breathless anticipation, and relish those last few days of finals. This year was such a terrible year, and I counted down, counted down, counted down, and then the end of the year reached out and smacked me across the face. I don't really remember the last few days and the last day of school didn't really seem like the end of the year. It was weird.

Due to that, and the visitors I had two days later, I have really struggled to find my rhythm this summer. Last summer was so busy, and the summer before that was such a nightmare that I don't really know how to relax this summer. This is the first summer I won't be hanging out with my two best friends in the world. I don't really know what to do with myself.

In my other life, I sew. I make things to sell, although that's not going great right now, so I thought about it for a while and decided that one of the things that might relax me a bit is sewing for me. So I am focusing on me this week. I am trying not to go anywhere or do anything...just focus on me for a while.

Fireworks last night...were interesting. Last year K and I went to Gasworks. This year, I didn't feel like fighting the traffic, so I stayed home. And it was then that I realized that Seattle is SERIOUS about their fireworks. From where I sat on my balcony, I could see 6 different legal fireworks shows (all south of Seattle) and there were all kinds of illegal family shows going on just in my complex. It was crazy. I am not so great at the photos at night, but here are a few....This one is from the large show just across the river.

And these were of the family setting them off about 30 feet down the sidewalk. Proving that even "small" fireworks can be pretty neat. I did wish that the older boy setting them off was capable of aiming up instead of DIRECTLY at the dead grass right in front of us.

Hope you had a happy and safe 4th everyone.....

Tripped

Friends have come and gone and I am gearing up for a few short weeks of summer.

We toured Safeco field (very cool and TOTALLY worth the $9 we spent - and I don't even LIKE baseball!) This picture was taken from the roof.
We went to Snoqualmie Falls to see J's aunt, I had never been there. It's pretty cool, although I do like Sahalie Falls and Silver Falls in Oregon better. I did manage to hike all the way down and all the way back up to the top - kind of proud of myself for that.
We went to the EMP - Experience Music Project - in Seattle, they have a Jim Henson exhibit going on right now that is pretty cool. Outside the EMP is an impromptu Michael Jackson exhibit. I myself did not listen to Michael Jackson at all while growing up, so have no real connection to him. I am pretty sure my students had been there though....since he will apparently be "remered."This is from inside the EMP Sky Church. This picture is apparently supposed to represent a dog....any guesses on what kind of dog? My guess is for some heretofore unknown hybrid of dog and duck - A doguck, perhaps?

Sickies and Baseball

Last night three friends flew into Seattle to hang out for a few days and escape the 100+ temperatures in Texas (it's averaging 70 here for the last few days....). They decided to stay at my house last night and then stay in a hotel for the rest of the weekend, partly because one friend is wildly allergic to cats and I have two furry death bombs. She knew, I asked her if she was going to be ok, and she thought she would be ok for just one night.

Unfortunately, in the middle of last night, she started getting really sick. As in, we took her to the urgent care place this morning. Here she is looking kind of pathetic...it must have worked because they bumped her to the front of the line. I don't think the cats made her sick, although they probably didn't help, but I still feel really bad. Also, I know that it is miserable to be sick and not at your own house.

So....she spent today sleeping and trying to get rid of the bug or food poisoning or whatever it is that she has. I feel bad for her. =(

The other two and I went to the Mariners game today. It was a nice day, and the Mariners won for a change, so that was kind of nice. Parking was not so nice, but that's another issue. I am not a baseball fan, I think it is too slow, but we had pretty good seats and I learned some things. Like that Ichiro Suzuki is pretty stinkin' awesome. Seriously. We saw a lot of foul balls popped into the stands, and almost got hit by a couple of balls hit into our area. We also saw 2-3 home runs and some nice plays, which even I, a baseball idiot, can appreciate.

The house specialty at Safeco Field is garlic fries. These fries are probably a ratio of 50% potatoes and 50% garlic. They are pretty strong. I can only eat about three fries. After the game we poked around Pioneer Square for a while, went to my favorite toy store (Mighty Mouse Toys), and then home..

Hopefully C will feel better tomorrow.

Rainy Tourists

My friend S came to town again in a research visit for a possible move to Portland and we hung out downtown for a couple of mornings. I would show pictures of us all together, but it has become apparent to me that I do not take pictures of people. I don't know why. I did take some pictures of the other stuff....between the SNOW AND RAIN. Seriously, it is MARCH!!!!! Time for some sun!!!

Here are some reasons I Heart Seattle.

Where else will men fling dead fish into a crowd of tourists and not be beaten to death by an angry mob?

It's here that you can find gorgeous, brilliant fruit from every corner of the earth And on every corner, street performers, musicians, jugglers, and balloon artists.....no matter what the weather. Here you can find ostrich eggs, goose eggs, and quail eggs....all on a bed of multi-colored chicken eggs.It's a place where everyone puts their spare change in a giant brass piggy bank and kids wear the back smooth and glossy by riding the pig....and across the street? Another pig, made of coffee beans, and affectionately known as "Pork and Beans."It's a place where you can get donuts the size of your head
...and fruits and vegetables like brociflower and pluots There's something about the light here that makes even the mundane beautiful.....
...like when you can see sun and rain at the same time.
And nowhere else in the world are they as self-consciously aware of their own idiosyncracies. (Why yes, this IS a set of full body, adult sized, tie-dyed, drop seat pajamas)