Blogs Nov 5, 2015 at 12:43 pm

Comments

1
Seattle should have a Museum of The Bum

Seattle is a Town built by, for, and of the bums.

We are a county of Bums.

We wait around all day, for work to show up.

We hope to get that call for the contracting job. And at the same time we don't.
Because it detracts from hanging out.

We do our piecemeal work.

Then we drink. Coffee. Booze. Orange Juice.

The Bum life is what we crave. The Bum built Seattle. He claims his seat on buses, and sitting on a moldy couch in a water-logged home in Ravenna, watching Star Trek re-runs. The bum Stands His Ground, on corners, in public places.

Grunge is music made by Young Bums.

We are not in Picasso's paintings.

So we need a Museum of The Bum

(No British jokes here, either.)
2
I appreciate the attempt at a counterpoint -- vigorous debate being essential to healthy discourse and all -- but no. THE GUM WALL IS HORRIFYING AND IT MUST BE KILLED.
3
Don't think the gum wall should be replaced at all! It's great public art by the People, for the People! There's some legitimate concern about sanitation, but that is easily addressed. Someone just go out there and spray it down regularly with some kind of disinfectant. And let the People continue to stick their gum there.

That entire alley, by the way, should be cleaned, regardless. It's pretty damn disgusting, not because of the gum wall, but because the street is never cleaned. Why doesn't the City create some jobs that serve useful purposes like street cleaning in these alley areas. And when they go into the alley to clean, they can spray down the gum wall, too.

They also need to hire more people to clean the public restrooms more regularly in the public parks. Doesn't this city at least care about what kind of bathrooms children are using?

Short of that, the only other suggestion I have for the gum wall is to spray it with some type of material that permanently protect the gum. Only problem with that, people will continue to stick it on top of whatever adhesive protectant was used. So I would just let the project continue!
4
@1 I don't know if it's pills you're taking, or pills you need to take, but do something.
5
The blood running through your veins is blue, of course. It doesn't redden till it it makes contact with air.
6
Does the gum wall need a defense? Without it people can continue their guerrilla warfare by sticking gum under the tables of every Tom Douglas' chain of
restaurants. Or under metro bus seats. All of which is gross and probably illegal. And if it's illegal, it's best if you are black, brown, or poor to be in a different country like Canada while this is going on.

Anyway, my point if this was a Paris icon, we'd be allocating $5 millions and asking the feds for matching grant to erect such wall in every Seattle neighborhood and pay $325,000 to the top Seattle branding firm to call this the Seattle Gum Walls. And have an online survey to see which gum suits the gum walls best. (My fav is neon pink Double Bubble, 2 at a time.)
8
Eh... I applaud any and all attacks on Charles, but this post reads like something I wrote for the college newspaper back in the day.
9
"Incredibly educated"? I want to hope that that was ironic but it comes across as a "half-joke" to me.
10
@6: Paris just rid itself of some equally asinine democrashmaltz on the Pont des Arts.
11
@4, I guess he doesn't like bums.

@5, have you ever bled underwater? All (human) blood is red.

12
@10, but of course! Einstein once said gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love. But a million tokens of love will doom a bridge.

Such is the paradox of French democracy. Liberte, egalite, fraternite, and realite... We have much more in common with France than just the republican ideal, we share similar reality from their banlieues to the Arrondissement de Passy. The city of light and its many shades.

13
@5: His blood line refers to Mudede's Marxist political beliefs, not his actual blood hue.
14
@5 False. Blood is red in your veins too. The subcutaneous fat in our skin only allows blue light through, making veins appear blue under the skin.
15
@14: This is correct. Deoxygenated blood IS darker than oxygenated blood, but it's still red. Just closer to maroon than to crimson.

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