From Writing
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Smells Like Seattle
A blog about a Torontonian in Seattle
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Let’s go Canada!
Not sure I really understood what being Canadian was until today.
For more than three decades, I’ve been incredibly proud of my home country; it’s humanitarianism, it’s politics, and it’s landscape have all been something that have shaped my entire worldview. But I’ve never been blindly patriotic.
I’ve never before been inspired to wear red and white to a sporting event. I’ve never spontaneously sung the national anthem in a bar. And I’ve never rung a cowbell in victory until now. Most relevantly, I’ve never really been a hockey fan.
Living in Seattle (an American city without an NHL team) and watching Canada play the United States in a game invited by Canadians, on Canadian soil was, as a result, the most surreal, and patriotic moment of my life.
Few at the bar knew the rules of game. Cheers happened too late and were often in response to our chants of “Let’s go Canada.” The game though was understood to be a great one. And everyone appreciated the quality of play.
But unlike Canada, the streets were quiet and our hoarse cheers were greeted with the distance normally reserved for the crazy ones.
Which, for once, may have been the appropriate response to these Canadians in Seattle.
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Two years on
This week, I began my third year in Seattle. Since I’ve written so little about my time I thought I’d use the anniversary as an excuse to fix that situation. Unfortunately, I’ve come to realize I’m no travel writer.
Previous drafts of this post came across as too snarky or too saccharine. None managed to capture the essence of it all, so I’ll fall back on a handy writer’s crutch: the bullet list.
12 things about Seattle
In no particular order:
- There are really only two seasons: the rainy, mild, “winter” and the absolutely perfect summer.
- The beauty of the mountains ranges and giant, volcanic mountains on every horizon seem almost cliché but will regularly cause you to stop what you are doing and soak it all in.
- A monoculture has developed (thanks to the influx of thousands of monied workers all employed by the same few companies) that’s rolled over the rougher edges that were the heart of city’s character — the first skid row was in Seattle, after all.
- The architecture is vanishing as blocks of the city are converted into generic condos.
- The side streets of two of my preferred neighbourhoods (Capitol Hill and Ballard) are being revitalized by independent shops, record stores, cafes, bars, and restaurants.
- Everyone drives so transit is horrible…or vice versa.
- Those few who bike treat it as a fitness-inspired lifestyle, not merely a mode of transportation.
- Happy hour means two pitchers can be had for the price of one Toronto/New York pint.
- The coffee (with a notable exception) is the best I’ve ever tasted.
- When in doubt, Linda will provide a good venue.
- Multiple music festivals — be they street-closing, downtown, or in a gorge — provide the best and cheapest way to see some incredible bands.
- From the city, it’s is a three-hour drive (or, even better, a four-hour train ride) to either Vancouver, B.C. and Portland, OR.
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Canadian political slander
One thing that has become quite apparent about living in the United States is how different the tone of the political campaigns are. Being in Seattle during the country’s presidential election has given me a first hand-look at the rhetoric I had only before experienced second-hand.
Now I find myself watching the Canadian election second-hand at the same time as the Obama vs. McCain American election. The experience is surreal, and I have decided to keep track of some of the ways Canadian politicians insult one another as gleaned from the scant coverage I get.
- October 10, 2008:
- Prime Minister Stephen Harper suddenly spends $25-billion to ease pressure on Canadian banks. It is not a bailout, he claimed.
- October 9, 2008:
- CTV airs embarrassing footage of Liberal leader Stephane Dion stumbling a question about leadership and the economy; the footage quickly becomes fodder for the Conservatives
- October 7, 2008:
- Supporters of some Liberal Toronto candidates are being threatened and harassed with phone calls and vandalism; some have even had their car brake cables and phone lines cut
- September 30, 2008:
- A Harper speech urging Canadians to send troops to Iraq was directly copied from a speech by the Australian prime minister. The plagiarist has resigned, but the Conservative’s foreign policy integrity is being questioned
- September 19 – 29, 2008:
- Various resignations from candidates caught doing silly things in the past (I debate stopping this post for lack of anything interesting)
- September 18, 2008:
- The Prime Minister stands by Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz despite Ritz’s joke about the food-related death of 17 Canadians and his hope that an opposition member was one of the dead
- After a government staffer insinuated aboriginal protesters were drunks, the Conservatives issue an apology
- September 17, 2008:
- A founder of the Marijuana Party of Canada has resigned as a Vancouver NDP candidate over questions about his role in selling coca plants
- September 12, 2008:
- Failing to block the Green Party leader from the debate, the Canadian broadcasters schedule the leader’s English debate for the exact same night as Sarah Palin debates Joe Biden in the American election
- September 10, 2008:
- The “progressive” Bloc Québécois separatist party is called a clone of the left-wing New Democratic Party
- September 9, 2008:
- The governing Conservative party creates an ad showing a bird pooping on the shoulder of the Opposition leader, a Liberal
Yes, the title should probably read “Canadian political defamation” because the items cover both libel and slander, but since these won’t be legal defamations I felt okay about referencing the more conversational term “slander.”
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Noticing differences
When asked about the differences I’ve seen with the U.S. and Canada, my response has not been about the money, the accents, or the milk containers, but rather it involves the level of cultural tolerance.
Leading the American news this morning was an accusation from a religious leader that a U.S. presidential candidate was distorting a key religious text. As a not-so closeted political junkie, I tried to recall a time in Canada’s political history when something remotely similar happened. In fact, Canadians fervently (if occasionally, wrongly) believe the words of one the country’s longest-serving leaders: “There’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation”
Now I have just read that Heinz has pulled an advertisement featuring two parents kissing as one of the two heads off to work. Apparently the 200 complaints received by Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority were enough for Heinz to pull the ad. My first thought was to wonder how many of the complainers actually saw the ad on television; this morning, afterall, I had received a spam from the American Family Association. The so-called “Action Alert” read in part:
We suggest you forward this to all your family and friends letting them know of the push for homosexual marriage by Heinz. This ad is currently running in England, but no doubt can be expected in the U.S. soon. It is the kind of ad which we can expect to see in California as they prepare to vote on homosexual marriage. Homosexual marriage is illegal in England. [Ed.: That last sentence, while legally accurate, is essentially false: since 2004, civil partnerships in the United Kingdom have given same-sex partners the same rights as a civil marriage does.]
The spam then urged me to take action by emailing or phoning Heinz, with the implicit message I should urge it be pulled from the air.
This week also happens to be Pride Week. In Toronto, the event and parade have become a city-wide party in which everyone is welcome to — and most often does — participate.
In Canada, I had almost forgotten why it was needed.
In the U.S., even in Seattle, I am constantly reminded.
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Arrived in Seattle FAQ
Three months today, we finally took occupancy of our new home in Seattle, and it’s finally time to answer some common question we’ve gotten since arriving.
(Sadly the updates to this site about our time in Seattle have been less frequent than planned, but that’s only because we’ve been spending exploring a lot of our time exploring the city.)
- How did the move go?
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Once our stuff finally cleared customs (it took a week longer than expected), it went very well. Unpacking seemingly took forever but we are all settled in now. Our place feels more like home than almost any of our past residences.
- How are you liking it?
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Seattle is definitely the best place we could have moved to here in the U.S. The climate is good (and when it is, the views are spectacular); the people are friendly intelligent, and politically akin to our fellow Torontonians. And the dog loves it here.
- Are you missing Toronto?
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Some days, extraordinarily, when Jason Collett and his band serenaded us with some songs from our old neighbourhood, and when we want nothing more than hang out with good friends at places like Sweaty Betty’s. But it does help that Toronto had near-record snow this winter.
- How has the weather been?
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Honestly, except for the end of March when it snowed just as a good friend from Toronto arrived for a visit, the weather has been more better than I expected. A few days ago it was 27°C and sunny. Typically, it’s been in the mid-teens, and the rain never really lasts. Compared to the Toronto weather patterns, Seattle’s are, to us, unpredictable and brief.
- What’s different?
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A lot, and not a lot. Biggest thing that has surprised us is how cheap it is. Everything, even with the dollar at par is cheaper than it is in Toronto: food, drinks, clothes, appliances, and transportation. That Seattle’s recycling program is horribly antiquated in comparison to Toronto (and Ontario).
- How is the commute?
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We live close enough to the Microsoft campus that my commute (on a company shuttle, with Wifi, no less) is about half-an-hour each way.
- Will you get a car?
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Probably not. But everyone in Seattle seems to love their cars. Which is strange, consider own environmentally friendly they seem.
- How is public transit then?
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Public transit as means of getting around town, though, is less than ideal. With the exception of very short streetcar line (dubbed the SLUT) and a dead-end monorail, it is all buses that mostly into downtown and back out. And the payment system…we still struggle with that on occasion. But, it is cheap.
- Hilary or Obama? …Or McCain?
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Can’t vote here yet (which has made living in the U.S.’s current political climate a bit strange).
- When are you coming back?
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To visit? This summer — in the first week of June. If you are in the city and would like to meet-up, let me know.
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