Duncan, the weather in Seattle is pretty hard to get used to, and fairly depressing. I think that is why the grunge movement, with everyone wearing torn flannel shirts, dirty jeans, and long greasy hair, took hold there first. The reason they drink so much strong coffee is to fight despair with a legal, readily available drug. The summer is short, and there is nothing much nastier than a humid July thunderstorm that knocks out the electricity. The people there are much whiter, generally speaking, than the ones in San Francisco, and a little less racially tolerant, and their Chinatown is not all red and gold and old and quaint like ours. It is impossible to get a really good burrito there, since the subtle Mexican/Spanish underpinnings of life in California did not affect Washington state. They have wonderfully fresh fish and berries, however. Their newspaper is much thinner and less substantial than the San Francisco Chronicle, but they have done very innovative things trying to cure sex offenders with intensive therapy. There is a high tolerance of homosexuality, and a yearning to help people who are homeless or mentally ill. Their substance abuse programs provided by the state put anyone who asks for help in high quality programs, sitting alongside private pay patients. In Seattle the buses are very clean and efficient, and they are free within the inner city. The public housing I saw was well maintained, and there were little backyards where the poor people grew roses.
I don't think you would like it there, Duncan. It is a little too liberal for you, perhaps. |
