Christianity

I am a NW woman. I was born and raised here, went to college and got my first fulltime job with benefits here, got married and had children here.We did live in Florida for one and a half years, which was culture shock in several ways.
1. People/neighbors can be super nice. Super super genuinely nice. I attribute it to a strong influence of midwest values, since no one I met was born in Florida. They were all from somewhere else.
2. Correct spelling is an option on public signage.
3. Recycling is a bad word, and it is okay to throw garbage out your car window. If you are a smoker, go ahead and dump your car ashtray out the window at stop lights.
4. Christianity was not the grace in the background of your life that kept things together. It was to be used as a tool to confront.
Florida was the first time I ran into the type of Christianity I had read about in books or seen on feisty tv.
I worked with a gal who one day was ripping into homosexuality while sitting at her desk. I think it is ridiculous to hate who another individual loves when it is not your flipping life. I also have the deep seated suspicion that men and women that are rabid anger spitters about the sins of being gay are themselves drawn to same sex love. But obviously not comfortable with themselves or that lifestyle so vilify others. Anyway........I told this gal I thought it ridiculous. She said gays were pedophiles. I told her it is primarily heterosexuals that are pedophiles. Our conversation rolled into extreme (what I will call) bible thumping. This was my first foray into the bible being used as a tool of hate. There is alot of crap in the bible that we no longer use. There is alot of guidance in the bible, also. Here is my NW sensibility coming in. We think about things. And we are supposed to let things slide off our backs... live and let live type of mentality. I have argued about Faith. As in, I have been told having faith means you don't question. It just is. But see, that faith is based on a human interpretation at any given time. And humans are notoriously fallable. And we intrepret with the knowledge and background and fears and strengths at that point in our lives, within the framework of our societal times.
Why spend more time trying to control another individuals thought process and belief system rather than focus on your own beliefs and how that works in a larger global framework. Building community, faith, support and christianity are not bad words. My co-worker and her ilk were making them so.
Oh, and she also spread the rumor that I was gay throughout the office, which was considered a big insult and a bad mark on my name. I laughed. She needed to get out more, see things, and not look for Satan in the Proctor and Gamble logo (that was our other argument on another day.) Grace and faith are not determined by a book with gold edges held above the heads of others and used as a weapon. Stop that crap.

Dreamin'

Being in the divorce mentality I had a dream last night.
In it, I was remarrying my soon-to-be ex. The traumatic part was that about an hour before the ceremony I realized I had gotten all the food ready, and guest list, and place etc etc but I had no wedding dress.
So pulled out my original wedding dress from 1994. It was a teeny bit tighter. Ha. All the people who have been included in my life the last 30 years were there. It was a potluck. I love potlucks. It was about 30 minutes before the wedding, and I thought "HOLY CRAP, what am I doing?" I can't do this again. I deserve much better than this when I venture back into a relationship.
And called off the wedding. Although, before my alarm went off to wake up, I remember telling everyone that we could still have the food potluck party, since there was some amazing dishes....
I think I was hungry.
This came out of another bloggers query about getting married. As in, how did you do it, how did your husband ask, etc etc. and I began thinking about all of that.

Seattle

Mid pic: Tacoma bridge fee booth traffic. Not really a Seattle pic, but clooooose.

Top pic: The curved portion of the Seattle viaduct with its patchwork of metal plates holding it together. This is the weak link in the whole thing. Nothing really underneath this supporting, since the waterfront was filled a kajillion years ago (okay, about 100) and the worms have eaten through the wood. This bridge is not made of wood,obviously, the stuff under-under the pavement is.

Bottom: Back to SoDo. When I was a youngster, Seattle's Interstate 5 freeway had oodles of bridges that went to nowhere. They just ended in mid-air....(they were blocked off... so no risk of taking an airborne ride.) Great planning on someones part, since the infrastructure was created before the cars came. Interesting, since that is not usually what happens in our wishy-washy can't make a decision without three years worth of public meetings where the dog chases its tail over and over and over. This is one of the former overpasses that 'went to nowhere' now going somewhere. And you can drive on it. Risk free.

Old Industrial Seattle - SODO

These were taken before I quit my job, when I was still scurrying to and fro around Seattle. I am driving through road construction in the SoDo district of Seattle. (See below for SoDo description)
This industrial part of Seattle used to be fraught with danger by large work trucks. Literally, you would be in the extreme minority when driving through here during the week in a car with only 4 tires. Seattle has changed, the heavy labor industries, grit filled industries are all disappearing, and the old cedar beam constructed workshops and buildings are being converted or torn down. The one on the bottom is my favorite. That building has been sinking or twisting or leaning more and more with each passing year. When you walk in it, the woodwork is amazing. Not that it is fine woodwork in the carpenter sense, but it has timbers so large all I can think of is "we don't even have trees like that anymore anywhere in this state." And we are the Evergreen State. The trees cut down for these buildings were local. The wood is amazing. Sometimes I see it go by on Craigslist, someone has a beam and is parting it out for big bucks. Things change. I know. I also know I am in the minority when I look at a tilting building and get all nostalgic. Looking at an old building to me is like reading a book, or people watching. Look at it closely top to bottom, left to right, and you can see remnants of all it has been through. Cedar gutters? Loft accessible from the outside? Old staircases? Blocked off doors or windows? A prohibition era speakeasy in the basement? Look long enough and it will all appear.
SODO: This neighborhood is competely sitting on fill added to the mudflats of Seattle during the last turn of the century. Another hot spot in Seattle you don't want to be when the earthquake hits.... this area will liquefy, which means shake like jello in a bowl and turn to sloppy sinking sand. I am actually pretty sure that geologists have a better definition for liquefaction, but mine is more food friendly.
The newly named ("newly" means within my old lifetime) SoDo (meaning, cutely, SOuth of DOwntown) ( I don't even want to know how much the acronym folks got paid for that one)
centers around the old Sears building, now the Starbucks headquarters. Another clever acronym in Seattle is the S.L.U.T. (South Lake Union Trolley/Transit) T-shirts were quickly printed up with "Ride the SLUT." That one was quickly changed to SLUS... 'streetcar' instead of 'trolley.' I can't tell you how many times I made our poor transportation historian define trolley vs. streetcar vs. tram vs. train vs. elevated train on and on. Plus add in historic timeline. I can just tell you my former volunteers were amazingly patient.

Images: Top, always construction going on in Seattle dangit... gotta tear something down! Mid: Blue building example of Seattle heavy industry that used to abound in SoDo.

Bottom: Sad sad red building across the street from the Sears building. Trust me, it is cool on the inside. Well, okay. Cool if you are into old tilting things.