Features Feb 5, 2014 at 4:00 am

And It Will Not Give It Back! Damn!

Comments

1
Great read, Charles!
2
Maybe the rich and thriving music scene will get some attention from other cities. lord knows Seattle-ites hate music that isn't displayed to them on a nice radio friendly solver platter.
3
This is your A-game all the way. Beautiful!
4
nailed it
5
Fantastic article Charles, thank you!
6
finally wrote something that wasn't a reach. thank you Charles!
7
an awesome read Charles ... thanx!
8
Seattle is not a weird outlier on the fringe of America. It is situated at the center, geographically and culturally, of Cascadia.
9
I thought this rambled on and on and sort of/kind of/maybe/maybe not tried to make a point about race. In my opinion, sometimes Charles Mudede nails it and writes some really thought-provoking stuff but other times I just read his writing and spend about three minutes mentally scratching my head and wondering what the hell he's smoking. Anyway, thanks, Charles. I don't always like your writing but I'm glad you're writing.
10
The reason Seattle is not a world class city is because most of it's residents choose to live on this proverbial island you speak of. Yes, Seattle is a progressive city in terms of it's politics and social views (which is great). But in my experience from living in Seattle, if your views do not align those of the general population, you and your opinions are dismissed outright without being given any consideration. There is a slight degree of conformism going on in the beautiful Emerald City. True world class cities embrace differing opinions, people, and culture...it's how progress is made. Seattle is definitely on it's way, but in my opinion, still has some maturing to do as a city.

Maybe Seattle feels like it's an underdog to NY, LA, or SF. But until Seattle can get this chip off its shoulder and truly embrace the mindset of others, it will only be recognized as a beta.

http://seattlebubble.com/blog/2014/01/09…
11
Great article. Seattle has garnered a lot of deserved attention and there is much to celebrate.

However, I feel the need to say that Seattle is not a world class city because most of it's residents choose to live on this proverbial island you speak of. To me, it's not a good thing. Yes, Seattle is a progressive city in terms of it's politics and social views (which is great). But in my experience from living in Seattle, if your views do not align those of the general population, you and your opinions are dismissed outright without being given much consideration. There is a slight degree of conformism going on in the beautiful Emerald City. True world class cities embrace differing opinions, people, and culture...it's how progress is made. Seattle is definitely on it's way, but in my opinion, still has some maturing to do as a city.

Maybe Seattle feels like it's an underdog to NY, LA, or SF. But until Seattle can get this chip off its shoulder and truly embrace the mindset of others, it will only be recognized as a beta.

http://seattlebubble.com/blog/2014/01/09…
12
Great article. Seattle has garnered a lot of deserved attention and there is much to celebrate.

However, I feel the need to say that Seattle is not a world class city because most of it's residents choose to live on this proverbial island you speak of. To me, it's not a good thing. Yes, Seattle is a progressive city in terms of it's politics and social views (which is great). But in my experience from living in Seattle, if your views do not align those of the general population, you and your opinions are dismissed outright without being given much consideration. There is a slight degree of conformism going on in the beautiful Emerald City. True world class cities embrace differing opinions, people, and culture...it's how progress is made. Seattle is definitely on it's way, but in my opinion, still has some maturing to do. Diversity of people and ideas are what form a World Class city.

Maybe Seattle feels like it's an underdog to NY, LA, or SF. But until Seattle can get this chip off its shoulder and truly embrace the mindset of others, it will only be recognized as a beta.

http://seattlebubble.com/blog/2014/01/09…
13
Oh god, did I see a "world class city" comment? Fuk I wish this ish would go away.

TRUTH though, "Seattle is different in a conformist kind of way....." You have to be different in an acceptable kind of way.
14
How about you figure out how to not triple post before you flap your sandy pussy at us?
15
Charles!! Wonderful writing.
16
Nice piece, Charles!

As a lifelong resident for 41 years, this current glow certainly seems to outshine the previous ones. Why that is is anyone's guess, however Seattle certainly seems to be emerging as a global force/brand in it's own unique way.
17
I recall a Stranger staffer who wrote a couple months ago that Seattle wasn't just another liberal city, but should be a leading city in liberal ideas-starting the conversations that would be taken nationwide. Between $15/hour wages, a former Pac 10 coach who has melded a bunch of misfits into a Super Bowl team, and a white rapper who acknowledges white privilege, we are leading the way! Go Seahawks! Seattle kicks ass!
18
There's no mention here that our proper, anal-retentive, self conscious, self-inflicted Puritanism of leftish mind control makes it totally weird and extra fetishistic of us to suddenly make a big huge deal about a corporate-driven, money-hungry and not to mention UNSAFE testosterone driven sport. Except that maybe it feels good to for once not think so hard about something and just have some fun.

I for one am thinking: please, God, let it be a real fissure in our culture, and please let more of this pour through. Go hawks!!
19
What makes Sherman "very" black? By what metric?
20
Please don't add "our new gay mayor" into things that make Seattle "freakish". Ed Murray is an establishment toady, and Seattle may remain freakish despite of him, but never because of him.
21
Seattle is wonderful, but it's younger people can be totally insufferable. I'm sure that's the case in any almost world class city, but the vibe in Portland is so much more open and relaxed. Get over yourself already and learn how to be open and kind and accepting. Edgy and hip and painfully conformist only go so far. Sooner or later people have to learn how to be human.
22
Spot on!! Thank you, Charles Mudede.
23
PERFECT.
24
Thank you Charles - what a thoughtful and inspiring piece.
25
Wow. I hadn't seen all those disparate events put together like that. I didn't expect to agree so much by the end of the article. Well done, Mudede.
26
Generally (was going to use "normally"), all I send to people outside the PNW are pictures to show why this place is special---mountains with snow, trees that are old, and water that moves. Thank you for the words that convey some of our other special qualities, the people.
27
Charles, I think you 'get' your adopted city. I especially liked the Darwin, island evolution metaphor. Well done.
28
I'm glad Seattle took home the trophy. This is a wonderful state full of wonderful people and we are very proud of our team and the hard work that they put into bringing this title home.. Sherman along with the rest of the team are amazing players. Football is a game where adrenaline gets pumping and sometimes testosterone takes over. If I recall there was a game where a player from another team who lost his finger and he did not realize it until the game was over due to adrenaline. Media wants to call Sherman names making him out to be a THUG for how he chose to react after a very intense game against the 49's! Take a look around at other teams and the way they choose to use their free time. Thugs don't donate free time and money to a better tomorrow and providing today's children with smiles.
29
Very nicely done, Charles! It does feel as if Seattle has turned a corner somehow...

I just hope we can find a way to make sure that we don't keep pushing all the less-than-60k/yr folks out of the city, as is so rapidly happening now. We won't be much of a world city if only richy-riches can actually LIVE here...
31
Oh shit, @30, you're right. I guess mine ran away again and somehow is off tarnishing our city's image.

Dude, seriously. Nothing you say ever makes sense.
32
#2 you apparently haven't lived here very long.
33
Just to reiterate other commenters, great article, straight from the opening line: "With that interaction, Seattle stole the nation's microphone and, to this day, has refused to return it to its proper owners—NYC, DC, LA." I'd have to add SF to that list, but I appreciate Charles's astuteness in including DC. (The recent concentration of wealth and power in our nation's capital--because it is our nation's capital--is a story unto itself.)

I like that idea of Seattle as an island, but the only way Seattle has managed to lodge itself in the national and global consciousness is through a traffic of humanity and commerce and ideas between that island and everywhere else. The island is separated but not isolated. I'm a big believer in the concept of innovations coming from people crossing disciplines, and Seattle is just different enough and just protean enough that, when we assimilate pieces of the larger culture, we manage to produce something that's just different enough to be new.

And I don't think it's a coincidence that Richard Sherman came from Compton, that it was a rapper from Compton that Macklemore was driven to apologize to, that Pete Carroll became "Pete Carroll" while coaching at USC. Seattle has appropriated LA in ways that LA itself never could.

(Now if we can just get around to building a better subway system than LA has.)
35
Transformation? Seattle has been in a transformation since the 90's. Then it was Nirvana, Microsoft and the Sonics. Now it's Macklemore, Amazon and the Seahawks.
36
It's funny reading this article about how socially progressive Seattle is right after reading the comments to Jen Graves' article about the naked statue on the women's college campus.
37
Seattle is well above Minneapolis or Denver, or ST. Louis, and not up to the par of NY DC SF chicago.

Any city that constantly asks itself is it world class, isn't.

Believe me in NY and DC and LA -- folks do not wonder if those cities are world class.

I had a seattleite pal give me the usual let's celebrate ourselves smugtalk about all the great restaurants here in seattle. yup, we got more restaurants here, we are moving up most def. but then he said it was like paris.

it's not.

it might be if what you know is boise and spokane, from that pov seattle looks like paris.

but it's not paris. it's an up and comer, it's young, it's vibrant it's gaining stature but it's sort of marred by a countersteak of nativism, isolation, and the penchant to believe that somehow out of all the other 200 top cities in the world we alone are quirky and unique, as if the other ones are all the same. This as we get more and more like them. and our smugness -- the attitude that "we manage to produce something that's just different enough to be new." -- usually this refers to bill gates and what he did in arizona, howard schultz from brooklyn, and jeff bezos also from somewhere else, and believe me there's plenty of new innovative stuff coming out of paris, london ny dc and chicago. seattle is no longer the pesto of cities, a momentary fad, it's more than that, and it's maybe in the top ten in the usa. I'd say they are NY LA Chicago DC boston SF then Miami, you need one from somewhere down south right? then Seattle is about equal with San Diego. Culturally it beats Dallas or Houston and philly is sort of in decline. it's like number 8 and when there's no other contender for 900 miles in any direction inside the usa that looks like world class or paris, but how many level 8 cities are world class? my pal thought if you're in top ten you're world class, to me this means yo're in the top 100 worldwide and only the top ten worldwide are worldclass. ny la london rome paris moscow berlin beijing mombai shangai seol rio buenos aires mexico city ...sure if caracas is world class, so is seattle.
38
We live in a city where hundreds of people will protest the death of a black male by a Hispanic guy in Sanford Fl but not the mob mauling of the Tubaman which resulted in no jail time for the lynch mob. If the races were reverse the media coverage and condemnation would have been a million times greater than it was. Apparently being a progressive city means turning a blind eye to barbaric mob lynchings, even when the victims are elderly, if the perps look like they could be Charles kids.
39
Holy Shit!

Mudoodoo actually wrote something worth reading!

Am I in the Twilight Zone?
40
@38 hayden c: I am deeply saddened by the unprovoked and undeserved mob mauling and death of the homeless man who once played live low brass music in front of the Kingdome, Michael a.k.a., the Tubaman!
Both Michael's and Trayvon Martin's senseless deaths are equally sad.
It's a shame that George Zimmerman and the punks responsible for Michael's death are still out causing trouble.

However, what does this have to do with the Seattle Seahawks' amazing NFL Championship victory in East Rutherford, NJ at MetLife Stadium?
41
Charles, you are on a roll.

Sherman and Lynch's challenges to media idiocy made it a lot easier for me to embrace football again.

Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.