an unadventure to the north
Mar. 16th, 2019 08:42 amI took the bus(es) after work from Seattle to Everett to have pho with ![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
speedie316 and friends. I hadn't seen her in ages.
For those who don't know, Everett is a blue-collar town with a Boeing plant and a naval air station some thirty miles north of Seattle. The buses there take Washington state road 99, which is tens of miles of strip mall and big box hell. To see that is to thank whatever creator you believe in that you don't live too close to it. It's almost the ghetto, stripped of all humanity, walkability, and non-cheez esthetics. I found myself thinking, 'Wouldn't it be fabulous if somebody painted that whole big box store in gigantic rainbow stripes?' It doesn't seem to have occurred to many of the business owners or landlords that monotony is bad, mmkay? I saw a very few apartment buildings and pedestrian overpasses that made an effort.
Since the journey crosses a county line, I had to switch buses there. I can tell you this: the automated announcement lady voice for King County (Seattle) is butcher and more robotic than the one for Snohomish County (Everett). That's about what you'd expect, really. King County has wisely invested in sturdy all-metal seat frames, while SnoCo has bike racks inside the buses. It occurs to me that given Everett's blue-collar crime problem - I know junkies from Everett commute to Redmond to burgle houses - bike racks on the outside of buses are an even worse idea there than in Seattle.
I showed up early. I killed time in a pawn shop. Lots of potent car audio, power tools - even a few pneumatic ones, and musical instruments.
Round trip time to my place? 2:15. Add in the pawn shop time and I spent nearly three hours as an unintentional amateur sociologist.
But! Pho at Pasteur's (really) is good andspeedie316 is charming, cute, queer, and maybe available these days. How queer? One of her straight friends brought out that most tiresome of straight people questions, "Why do you have to use the word 'queer'? Why can't we all just be people?" Our hostess rose to the occasion and pointed out that "queer" and words like it, whether or not they've been used as slurs, are how we build communities. They are how we find each other.
I would hope this isn't necessary here, but I'll say it anyway: you cishets do not have the experience of being born into a family of people - a society of people - unlike yourself who you know can't be trusted with the secret you were born with. If you have such a secret, you absolutely must find people who can share that secret or you're fucked. Reducing our ability to do that hurts us. Sure, it would be super great if we could trust you all, but that's not going to happen overnight if ever, perhaps because it's 100% on you.
speedie316 and friends. I hadn't seen her in ages.For those who don't know, Everett is a blue-collar town with a Boeing plant and a naval air station some thirty miles north of Seattle. The buses there take Washington state road 99, which is tens of miles of strip mall and big box hell. To see that is to thank whatever creator you believe in that you don't live too close to it. It's almost the ghetto, stripped of all humanity, walkability, and non-cheez esthetics. I found myself thinking, 'Wouldn't it be fabulous if somebody painted that whole big box store in gigantic rainbow stripes?' It doesn't seem to have occurred to many of the business owners or landlords that monotony is bad, mmkay? I saw a very few apartment buildings and pedestrian overpasses that made an effort.
Since the journey crosses a county line, I had to switch buses there. I can tell you this: the automated announcement lady voice for King County (Seattle) is butcher and more robotic than the one for Snohomish County (Everett). That's about what you'd expect, really. King County has wisely invested in sturdy all-metal seat frames, while SnoCo has bike racks inside the buses. It occurs to me that given Everett's blue-collar crime problem - I know junkies from Everett commute to Redmond to burgle houses - bike racks on the outside of buses are an even worse idea there than in Seattle.
I showed up early. I killed time in a pawn shop. Lots of potent car audio, power tools - even a few pneumatic ones, and musical instruments.
Round trip time to my place? 2:15. Add in the pawn shop time and I spent nearly three hours as an unintentional amateur sociologist.
But! Pho at Pasteur's (really) is good and
speedie316 is charming, cute, queer, and maybe available these days. How queer? One of her straight friends brought out that most tiresome of straight people questions, "Why do you have to use the word 'queer'? Why can't we all just be people?" Our hostess rose to the occasion and pointed out that "queer" and words like it, whether or not they've been used as slurs, are how we build communities. They are how we find each other.I would hope this isn't necessary here, but I'll say it anyway: you cishets do not have the experience of being born into a family of people - a society of people - unlike yourself who you know can't be trusted with the secret you were born with. If you have such a secret, you absolutely must find people who can share that secret or you're fucked. Reducing our ability to do that hurts us. Sure, it would be super great if we could trust you all, but that's not going to happen overnight if ever, perhaps because it's 100% on you.
