Classic American Cities - Seattle

Downtown Seattle from Gasworks Park (Mine,public domain). Above: Pioneer Square, 1917, C.F. Todd

I grew up just across Lake Washington from the mighty metropolis of Puget Sound. This city, renowned for it's coffee, it's hippies, and it's software and businesspeople, has a complex personality at once laid back and pretentious, hot-headed and calm, Western and modern, rebellious and traditional, and both outspoken and quiet.

Courtesy of National Parks Service. Public domain.

The downtown area of Seattle was originally a tideflat with islands. In the center of the above picture is a triangle of three streets, known as the Denny Triangle. That triangle was an island that the first part of downtown Seattle was built off of. Today, you have to walk several blocks to the water and the docks. Garbage and landfills were used to fill the tideflats, depositing additional land off of the triangle for more city to be built. In addition, Seattle, in 1907, destroyed a hill and deposited the dirt that was contained in it across the lowpoints. Denny Regrade:

Public Domain. Courtesy of Wikimedia

The hotel in the background still stands, known as the Josephinum, at 1902 Second Avenue. To this day, the attitude of being able to shift mountains and proudly, perhaps even foolishly, see no obstacle is a major part of Seattle's character.

The University of Washington has been a part of Seattle since 1861. It's original campus was on University Street in Downtown, although it is now located near the Montlake Cut about 5 miles Northeast. The University, according to William Spiedel in his book "Sons of the Profits," was fonded off of leasing a land-grant contianing nearly the entirety of the Lake Washington shoreline. The land was leased out for building of industrial facilities too large for a homestead, and lead to the development of Seattle's Eastside off of industry (of which almost none remains today, except at the North and South ends, Kenmore and Renton.)

Ballard is a Scandinavian ethnic neighborhood to the Northwest of downtown.

Ballard from the air, Walter Siegmund. Gnu License 1.2

To this day, the Ballard high school mascot is the Vikings, and many Ballardians are commercial fishermen. The area has a very different social ambience to it, a feeling more down to earth then the rest of Seattle, very welcoming, and very humble. The scandinavian immigrants are part of why Western Washington is different from any other Western State, and you will find them throughout the state, but make sure, when you are in Seattle, to take a trip to Ballard, the epicenter of it. And don't be surprised when you hear hymns in Norwegian at church.

One of the many fine Scandinavian traditions carried over to Seattle is celebrating Midsummers Day, also known as the summer solstice. In Fremont, a traditionally hippyish neighborhood near Ballard, they have a nude bicycle race every summer solstice.

Seattle does have a tradition of Seattle Nice, and Washington State being partially Scandinavian and partially Scots-Irish, it can be considered roughly a mix of Minnesota and Colorado. The very happy side to their nature is they do tend to be welcoming and open. The dark side to their character is they have a tendency to expect people to be perfect and emotionless. And their "nice" does not cover you when you say extremely stupid things, or what they pereceive as such - nor does it prevent them from trash talking. They do have a sense of honor, however - witness people working in Seattle and you will see some of the most dilligent and motivated workers you have ever seen. And despite their tendency to trash talk, both aggresively and passive aggresively, they And they can be very free-spirited and entrepreneurial, though some of that is now disappearing.

Seattle is, unfortunately, effeminizing right now as every shop and business has decided that if they paint the walls pastel, create a painting of a wineglass somewhere and sell tacky merchandise they will make more money. Add to this some recklessly bad transportation policy (like charging $6 to get in to the city from the Eastern Suburbs, and wasting billions on a rail system expected to carry 20,000 passengers) and it comes down to this: If you want to Seattle, hurry, it may not be there tomorrow.

They will learn eventually, though. :(

Georgia Tech - Portrait of an Engineering Mad House

Georgia Institute of Technology, 1898, Courtesy of Wikimedia

After this next post, I will be taking a break for the next couple weeks as I first buckle down for finals and then close out my dorm room. But as I prepare for the Big F's (not really), I decided to take a moment to reflect upon the stimulating, fun, industrious, and nerve-wracking school that I affectionately call Tech.

You know that I did not grow up here because I was willing to name my blog "Hailing from Georgia" despite being a Tech guy. To me, Georgia is where I live, and although I will most certainly chant "To Hell with Georgia" at our school's football game, along with large numbers of red-faced fans that are both angry at Uga for being Uga and me for not being angry enough, I guess having not grown up here it's hard for me to really dip in to that rivalry. But do know that it is a very important part of our school, embodied by our unofficial school motto:


Courtesy of Photobucket and user brandontara

The motto itself is also somewhat symbolical of where GaTech is located. Being in the heart of Atlanta, it is located in a part of the state that has always, going all the way back to Reconstruction (1865-1876) and maybe before, been at odds with the rest of Georgia. There are even occasional calls for secession. The student body, however, has it's 60% of in-state students coming from all over the state, so you definitely will not miss your rednecks.

In addition, GaTech will attract applicants from all over America, ant the World. I have friends from Massacheutsets, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Alaska, and California, as well as Iran, India, China, Cameroon, Haiti, Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil (why major in "foreign cultures" when you can go to Engineering School?) and I myself am from Seattle. Ranked at 4th for America in Engineering overall (US News & WR), 1st for Industrial Engineering, 3rd for Civil, and within the top 10 for all Engineernig Majors except Nuclear (also US News & WR), Tech has a reputation to live up to, and Jimmy Carter believes it tougher then the Naval Academy, always a good sign.

There is a split admissions preference though, between the in-state students and the out-of-state students. For out-of-state, admissions are tough, taking an average GPA of 3.7 and a SAT average of1280 (Math + Verbal, no one cares about the Writing test.) For in-state, however, to keep that high percentage, they must submit to state-mandated Soviet admissions standards.

Tech is also a school of many traditions. In particular students love to hijack the T from this tower:


Brooke Novak, from this website, under CC 2.0

They also love to race tricycles:


Photo Courtesy of Apringstone, public domain

And build moving contraptions of dubious engineering:



Retrieved from CU Tigers message board.


And although we work hard, we also play hard, sometimes too hard:



Sebastian Paquet, cc 2.0


What really impressed me most about Georgia Tech, besides it's spectacular location in the heart of the South but admist city lights, was it's attitude. I don't believe there is any better way to communicate this attitude then with our school song:

"I’m a Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech and a hell of an engineer,
A helluva, helluva, helluva, hell of an engineer,
Like all the jolly good fellows, I drink my whiskey clear,
I’m a Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech and a hell of an engineer.

Oh, if I had a daughter, sir, I’d dress her in White and Gold,
And put her on the campus, to cheer the brave and bold.
But if I had a son, sir, I’ll tell you what he’d do.
He would yell, “To Hell with Georgia,” like his daddy used to do.

Oh, I wish I had a barrel of rum and sugar three thousand pounds,
A college bell to put it in and a clapper to stir it around.
I’d drink to all good fellows who come from far and near.
I’m a ramblin’, gamblin’, hell of an engineer."

At a time when colleges from sea to shining sea are forcing you to apply for your major, are instituting curfews and mandatory service hours, and are indoctrinating their students with shameful partisan propaganda, Tech continues to tolerate good ole fashinoed chaos and an atmosphere that allows a true individual to excel by his own merits and will. We don't mandate, we don't force, we don't coerce, we let people grow and find for themselves how they want to be.

Come to our school as a momma's boy, and our high standards and lack of external direction WILL tear you to shreds until you can either find the integrity to push yourself, or the door. We don't just tolerate individuality, we WON'T tolerate anything less.

Adios!

Generation Zombie

A zombie astral, in voodoo, is a soul at the command of a sorcerer. Sometimes I wonder if my entire generation is such.

They obsess about awkwardness, live their lives to appease others, have no vision of their own and do the bidding of their parents, teachers, and government without any passion. They push drugs to glassy-eye themselves and fall in to trances. They have no real root, and no real destination, they seem to wander the earth forever. They invent nothing, and imitate much. They are spoken harshly to, as otherwise nothing will happen, and seem to respect nothing but force.

Teachers tell them to love multiculturalism, and they do. Teachers tell them to love socialism, and they do. Teachers demand "volunteer hours," forcing them in to manual labor, and they comply. Teachers tell them to be liberal, and they are. And if the press says a man is a "great leader," they line up right beside him.

They don't fight, don't even really seem to whine much. They just sit there, until someone screams at them. They don't seem to speak, don't seem to think. They just sit there, until someone tells them what to do or what to say.

Good sorcerer, whoever you may be, please, release them from your spell.

Good Redneck Parents Movie List

You know, whether it's my own post on "Redneck America" or the country classic "What the World needs now is a few more rednecks," or any other piece protesting the deredneckification of America, I've come to realize, it's really very silly. See, we just sit around complaining about something that is happening around us, maybe earning a little coin on the side, and we aren't doing anything about it. So, enough talk, let's talk about how you raise em' right.

This list of motion pictures, complete with accessory of popcorn, is perfect for redneckifying your little ones (these films being quality, the moonshine is strictly optional):

- "Second Hand Lions" (McCanlies, 2003)
- "Serenity" (Whedon, 2005)
- "The Lady Vanishes" (Hitchcock, 1938)
- "The Quiet Man" (Ford, 1952)
- "The Longest Day" (Annakin, 1962)
- "Gettysburg" (Maxwell, 1993)
- "Gods and Generals" (Maxwell, 2003, Prequel to Gettysburg)
- "How the West was Won" (Ford et al., 1962)
- "Sweet Home Alabama" (Tennant, 2002)
- "High Noon" (Zinneman, 1952)
- "Death to Smoochy" (DeVito, 2002)
- "Deliverance" (Boorman, 1972)
- "Tora! Tora! Tora!" (Masuda, Fukasaku, Fleischer, 1970)
- "Troop Beverly Hills" (Kanew, 1989)
- "October Sky" (Johnston, 1999)
- "We are Marshall" (McG, 2006)
- "Smoke Signals" (Eyre, 1998)

These you may wish to show when they're a little older:

- "Rocky Horror Picture Show" (Sharman, 1975)
- "The Patriot" (Emmerich, 2000)
- "The Birds" (Hitchcock, 1963)
- "Brokeback Mountain" (Lee, 2005)
- "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (Forman, 1975)
- "A Clockwork Orange" (Kubrick, 1971)
- "Dr. Strangelove" (Kubrick, 1964)

If anyone else has any suggestions, say them.