Six weeks off

I’ve been back in Seattle for six weeks, yesterday (don’t ever use Uhaul, ever — please contact your congressperson to revoke their corporate charter), after a year in Berkeley attempting to go to graduate school in Santa Rosa. The strange (and beautiful) thing about Seattle is that I’ve gotten back into the groove here so quickly, perhaps because there’s something about the Emerald City that’s more in line with the natural flow of things. Well, it’s still a work in progress, anyway.

At least in my perspective and circle of friends, the emphasis here seems to be on friends, family and community, rather than busy work schedules and limited time. I’m relishing every moment of new life here, fresh with the perspective of my year in California. I arrived in Berkeley right before the recall election (my former governor was on cable last night, in Eraser) and was immediately struck by the fast pace of the Bay Area. I used to be able to handle all the noise in Chicago in the early 90s, but discovered most of the energy in both cities seemed to be busy work — people were so busy there didn’t seem time to develop solid friendships outside of scheduled activities. On the other hand, my time in graduate school allowed me to make several friends and enjoy some festive nights in Sonoma County, and enjoy the Bay Area’s amazing array of food and drink, as long as global warming keeps at bay.

And then there was the Mint. Good times, good times.

So much has happened in the space of six weeks, starting with the best speech of any convention by Illinois Congressional candidate Barack Obama. And plenty of political commentary about Bush and Cheney, including insights from Paul Krugman (The Arabian Candidate), Ron Reagan (The Case Against George W. Bush), Graydon Carter (Bush by Numbers: Four Years of Double Standards) and Iraqi footballers. Will Ferrell’s White House West video is among the best I’ve seen, and Bush’s Brain, a movie about Karl Rove, met limited nationwide release. Lynne Cheney’s out of print Sisters was among the strangest items to emerge from obscurity, but 1.3 million more people in poverty remains prominent. John Kerry was traced back to royalty.

While there was much talk about the Swift Boat veterans, not much was said about the Rowboat Veterans for Truth, but then not much was said about Andrew Card saying that Bush believes America to be a 10-year-old child that needs protection.

But not all the news seemed hopeless. Al Franken got a new TV-show this week, a one-hour edit of his weekday shows on Air America Radio. Others asked, Is Zell Miller the evil emperor from Star Wars? Michael Moore is attempting to get Fahrenheit 9/11 on DVD before the election, as new movies attempt to subtly comment on the current administration. New economic models and new sources of power are becoming more acceptable.

The roller coaster of events around gay marriage continued, as California annulled its gay marriages, as New Jersey’s governor outed himself in a formal press conference as did a representative from Virginia.

While the assault weapons ban is likely to be lifted on Monday, the gun firms connected to the sale to the Washington Sniper agreed to pay $2 million to settle.

And from the strange-but-true category comes people passing around $200 bills in Kentucky, a 480-pound woman died after rescuers attempted to free her from the couch she had grown into, Costco discount caskets, retro mobile phones, a programmer outsources his own job to India, sleep pods for busy executives in New York, and how Microsoft lost millions over eight pixels.

I decided to get more involved in the community, and have become a pollworker for the primary and general elections in King County. I’ve never done this before, but will see what happens on the 14th. If this website and this one are an indication, I’m a little concerned, but the saving grace of the King County Primary voters guide is that they run candidate statements unedited. Note to contenders: hire a proofreader and do a spell check.

Welcome to Berkeley

Wow. I’m here — is it like living in Wallingford? Not exactly. There’s a slightly chemically-induced relaxedness to Berkeley. I’m normally a somewhat relaxed person, but here I’m a positively-stressed-out type A. What’s really mind-boggling to me is that the new apartment I live in is the same geographic distance from San Francisco as Seattle is to Seatac.

Immediate observations:

  • Pedestrians are generally surprised and happy when I stop at an intersection to let them walk past. Drivers behind me are surprised and unhappy, but then they see my Washington license plates.
  • People are busier here. Everyone seems to be in a hurry to go somewhere, but maybe I’m just imagining that since I’m sort of in limbo until Saturday when the rest of everything I own gets here
  • The second time around has been a lot better mentally for me. Last summer, I moved here without really knowing anyone except Diana, and now I know dozens of people, and feel a bit part of
  • I’ve found karaoke in Berkeley.
  • Gas, rent, utilities are about 1/3 higher here.
  • BART rocks. Seattle’s monorail should be even nicer, when and if it gets built.
  • Would it kill the Bay Area to have a decent bowling alley? A man’s gotta bowl, you know.

All in all, it’s just the waiting to get set up here that’s the most stressful thing. I do miss Seattle and my friends and family, and the gang at Molly’s and the Twilight Exit. That, and Mom would have been 62 today. By this time next week, I should be laughing maniacally about the whole thing, if they haven’t come to take me away by then.

In other news, it seems that KB Toys is selling a George Dubya action figure with flight jacket, and people in India are boycotting and smashing containers of Coca-Cola and Pepsi because the drinks are contaminated with pesticides.

Potlucks for Peace? Meh.

The Seattle Times front page headline says, “US Commanders willing to pay ‘very high price’ to take Baghdad”. Of course, none of their sons and daughters lives are on the line – not only had the diplomacy been a failure, the war plan seems to be heading in that direction, too.My friend Jillian’s in town for a couple of days with her friend Carrie from New York. I met three people who are moving to NYC in a few weeks. When I asked them why, they said “Seattle has a populace that’s hard to get excited. There’s so much apathy and complacency.” While he’s right about the first part, I strongly disagree with the rest. We had WTO, and although most of the protestors were imported, it set the stage for a mostly-peaceful protest environment.

A local writer, Clark Humphrey, opines: “Around here we don’t have to escalate Bush-bashing protests into disruptive confrontations, because we’d rather try to send a more positive message out to the world.”

He might be right, but it seems that having “potlucks for peace” is too passive a stance to take with a world at war.

NYC “inevitable”, say Seattleites

A big gathering at Molly Maguire’s tonight, and I meet two more people who are moving to New York. Something’s catching.

“You know him. He was the guy who used to walk around downtown capturing crows in a cardboard box – the guy whose girlfriend led him around with a dog collar at the Catwalk?”
Overheard on Capitol Hill

Pundits are declaring the Iraq war “inevitable” again, and the terror alert has been reduced to “Elevated”. I think I’m going to turn off the media for a couple of days for a well-deserved break. Like homework, for instance.

Seattle to Bangkok, 90-day trial

My cabaret singer friend, Julie Cascioppo, just got a 3-month contract in Bangkok at the Hotel Plaza Athénée, starting in July. Most everyone I know in Seattle seems to be heading out this spring. Have we as a city collectively squeezed everything we’re going to get out of it, and then leave? Won’t that only leave Microsoft employees behind? Yow.

SEAtoNYC.html

My friend Raya’s back in town – she’s spent the last six months around the world, living out of a backpack. She’s moving to New York in mid-March and sort of feels in limbo – she wants to plant some roots after being adrift for so long. Like me, she has good feelings towards Seattle, but the call of a larger, more diverse city is too strong to ignore.