Seattle - the Emperor's New Clothes
some random thoughts that have been brewing in my head lo these 4 years I've lived in Seattle. no offense to Seattle dwellers, of course - some of my best friends are from here....
(sorry so long)
1. "It's so green here, because of the rain."
Has anyone who says that ever been east of St. Louis? Most of the populated areas of the country are green, virtually as green as Seattle (I'll give Seattle that 2% advantage). Boston and Seattle get the same amount of precipitation a year - 36 inches. It's just that Seattle's is distributed across more days, as misty drizzle. You don't need 260 cloudy days a year to get green. I'm guessing that many of the people who say that have only seen California - and in contrast to California, Seattle is indeed green.
2. "Everyone here is so outdoorsy."
I lived in Boulder, Colorado for 6 months. It was the most active, outdoorsy place I've ever seen. It's very hard to do things out of doors in Seattle because, well, it rains a lot. Contrary to the image of the populace here, I don't see tons of people braving the wet and riding their bike or jogging in the rain. A few, but not many. And only a tiny fraction of the people I would see in Boulder, 365 days/year. There is a reason that Seattle has one of the highest movie-viewing rates in the country, and that studios use Seattle as a test market for new films.
3. "It's so beautiful here."
What is beautiful to you? Noble old buildings can be beautiful. There are precious few noble old buildings in Seattle. Compared to most East coast cities, Seattle architecture is very, very new. It is also very 60's/70's. Some people like that. That's great. But I would wager a bit more people like old architecture as well, and there is more of that back East.
I can see the Olympic mountains from my apartment. But in the winter, I probably glimpse a tiny slice of them for a few moments a month. Point: it is beautiful in Seattle, during the windows when you can see anything.
4. "It's so diverse here."
Diversity in sexual orientation, certainly (and far more so than any other place I've lived). But ethnic diversity? From Asian countries, yes. But Cambridge, Massachusetts has just as wide a variety of ethnically diverse restaurants as Capitol Hill or Rainier Valley do here - Haitian, Ethiopian, Portuguese. I'm sure all these ethnic groups are represented in Seattle, too. But they are also in *many other cities*, and in significant proportions. Seattle is not any more diverse than most other large cities in the U.S.
5. "People here are so nice, so genuine."
Seattle has the most sarcastic, cynical population I've ever met. My repeated attempts to get to know people have been met with blank stares, politeness, and caustic looks. I've experienced some profoundly traumatic events in my life, and yet I don't respond to people this way. Do people here care that much about privacy? Are they tired of getting to know people? I can understand a whole spectrum of interest in engaging with other people, but in Seattle that whole spectrum is shifted several notches to the introverted side.
6. "People here are so tolerant."
Of some things, compared to other cities, yes - varying sexual orientation, ways of dressing, spiritual and usually religious beliefs. Political, for the most part. But people here can also be overly sensitive. If I talk loudly, I'm not sending you negative energy. If I drive a little more assertively, I'm not trying to kill you. If I get excited or boyishly enthusiastic about a subject, that means I like it, not that I'm being naive or unhip. It's almost as if Seattle is the polar opposite of Texas - tolerant of all things feminine, but uncomfortable with expressions of masculinity (I'm using masculine/feminine here as convenient, well-known descriptions, not generalizing about male/female behavior).
7. "I like the weather, it's relaxing."
Weather is perhaps the biggest contributor to what makes Seattle, Seattle. What distinguishes Seattle weather isn't lots of rain - it's lots of clouds. But they're not really clouds - when a child draws a cloud, they don't draw a boundless white monolith, they draw puffy, discrete bodies in the midst of a blue sky. Seattle doesn't have clouds, it just has whiteness. An omnipresent, monocolor sun-blocking shelf has no noticeable benefits, but for most people it does have costs in spiritual health.
If you want mild, go to Northern California. It's mild there, but also sunny. You don't need to sacrifice sun to get mildness.
If you want rain, most of the rest of the country gets thunderstorms. You don't need to sacrifice sun to get moisture.
If you want green, I've already covered that.
Someone once commented to me that she liked the mildness of Seattle weather because "it seemed to exist outside of time". What is so scary about experiencing the passage of time through the changing of the seasons? I like seeing snow in winter, leaves in fall, and warmth in summer.
Perpetual cloudcover may be the most fitting climate for passive-aggressive Seattle, but to me, it is less natural (ironic considering how 'natural' Seattle is supposed to be), and somehow more unsettling, than fluctuations in weather by day and by season.
, plus I have family there.
