So I am in the University of Washington's library right now. I feel like an outlaw. Although I was thinking today, it should totally be ok that I'm here. Aren't all centers of research and knowledge allied in the fight for knowledge? I figure as a student of another state university I have the right to use their internet and quiet study areas. Wouldn't it be cool if that was like a real thing? All universities united, students welcome at any of the campuses? Maybe it is? I don't know, but this library and campus sure are more grandiose than the University of Iowa's. I have to say I'm jealous.
How I came to be here is a slightly different story. I been readin' and writin' and trying to get all smart in my time out here so I went out to a a coffee shop to get a cup and some quiet. The first one I went to was called Sureshot: Coffee and Pinball. There is no pinball. It was fairly nice, they played music a little too loud but that didn't bother me too much. I did overhear two people behind me talking about how a female friend of theirs nearly overdosed this weekend because different people kept shooting her up with heroin, so that's...uh...neat. I listened to them for awhile, then occasionally watched this other guy writing on his laptop in front of me, who would occasionally tweak out, and was bobbing his head to a rhythm other than that of the song playing, and then I turned around to see a wiry fellow with thin facial hair just sitting and staring ahead. I went back to my work, turned around about a half hour later and realized this guy was still just sitting there staring ahead. HMMMMM. Quite a bit of character I tell ya. I was done with my brew and needed some grub so I headed out, not exactly sad to be heading towards a new location.
I went and got me a burrito, then walked down towards the water to eat it. There was nothing down there, but the burrito wasn't bad. There were all sorts of people who seemed to not realize that the 90s were over, and that Kurt Cobain is no longer singing with Nirvana, smoking cigarettes and basically darkening good space with their dyed black long hair, beards, and leather jackets. Cool.
I went back to a different coffee house I thought looked nice, and it was. Lots of space indoors and a nice little deck outdoors to read and study on. I got me a coffee, prepared for me by an extremely cute barista. She complimented my drink, then we talked about muffins. OH YEAH! Then I went to sit outside. It was nice...for awhile. The table of young U-Wash students was studying diligently, and I sat reading the Qur'an (yup) until another, just getting off a workout arrived. Then loud talking began. I am not good at zoning out of these things, and tend to listen, I can't help it. It was like an episode of the hills. Who hooked up with who, what they were wearing to the upcoming party, what they thought of this couple, and so on. I didn't appreciate it, but I am sure I'm guilty of doing that with my friends from time to time to, so no big, I just did my best to zone it out. THEN, reminder I am on an outdoor balcony thing, this guy come up across the street, sidles up to the corner with his guitar, and just starts belting out tunes. He's not singing nicely to the passerbys, he he BELTING tunes for the entire downtown area to hear. His tunes were cute, and mostly based around how much Seattle sucks, which I was glad to hear, but MAN he was loud.I couldn't put out him and the others at the same time, I had to go inside, BUT there were no seats inside, SO I decided to go all outlaw to the U-Wash library, which I haven't regretted for a moment.
BUT, I think I am learning something more about Seattle. It is very liberal, very alternative. COOL, good for it. BUT I have been noticing something that may be at the root of the tension I see in every Seattleite. There's this guy belting out tunes in the street, real cute, alternative and fun BUT extremely inconsiderate at all the people outdoors just trying to have nice conversations or read. Yet, the people at the table say things like, "oh how nice" or "I like it" but then go on to insult the person doing it, apparently they know him. Also, I'm at Barnes and Noble the other day, and theres all sorts of people just laying down in the stacks reading books. As you pass by trying to find your book to purchase, they lightly move their feet, but still, they are in a store, lying on the floor, reading a book they haven't bought. Not just one or two either, many many many. People pass them by and look at them like "oh how cute and alternative of them, they're doing something different and unconventional, good for them" This is everywhere. There seems to be a mentality that nonconvention is intrinsically good and shouldn't be interfered with. I think at the heart of these people they are extremely annoyed that everyone has some crazy hairstyle or fashion sense, or lays down in aisles of stores, or belts out songs inconsiderately loud in the streets, or does things in other non-sensical ways. YET, something about them being a Seattleite makes them think, yes this should be cherished and nurtured, different is good. These two things are at tension with one another.
It's like this, (purely hypothetical situation) I walk down the street and see someone with a tattoo saying "praise" on their forehead, they are wearing leopard skin tights, a black leather jacket, a bright red silk shirt and a mohawk.
I walk by them and think to myself, "wow you look like a jackass" but then I remember, hey, he's just expressing himself, I'm sure that ridiculous outfit has a lot to say about who he is and is a very important of defining who he is as a person. Yet, there is still that part of me that's like, "seriously though, you look like a jackass" This creates a tension. If I had to live with that for years and years I think I'd go crazy. I think that's what Seattle's problem is. It prides itself on the alternative, but it secretly burdens them on the inside and they can't exactly place why there is such a pride in it, because they know deep down they want to ask that guy at the corner to just sing a little bit quieter to be considerate of all those around him, but as a "Seattleite" that would be suppressing the alternative.
I'm going to go with my gut on this one and say, yeah there's people who do things differently out there, that's ok with me, but if your idea of being different is "oh I like to fart openly wherever I am, that's just who I am" I am going to tell you not to fart near me. Or if you idea is "to express who I am I like to scream everything I say in a public place" I am probably going to ask you not to scream in a public place. There's different, and then there's stupid. Let's not be stupid people.
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