Opinions of a Wolf

Hello my lovely readers!

You may have noticed a recent surge in librarianship posts this week.  I was so energized and excited about my career after MLA12 that I decided to post up my notes from the various sessions I attended here.  It helps me organize my thoughts about them, but also gets the knowledge out there for others to see.

But enough about the conference, I know you guys are wondering about Seattle!

My first day I made it to Pike Place Market.  It’s a famous market in the Puget Sound.  Unfortunately, it’s kinda well-known for how the fish sellers throw the fish around.  Obviously, being a vegetarian lady I wasn’t too keen on watching dead bodies of innocent creatures being thrown around, so I avoided that particular sector of the market.  I did find some things in the market that entertained me in their own way, though.  The very first Starbucks, complete with its topless lady logo.  I stopped to listen to a band of old men jamming (they were very talented).  I met the giant carving of Sasquatch that Seattle is evidently very proud of (although I was never in the woods, so, alas, did not meet the real Sasquatch).  I also managed to find an adorable independent bookstore called Left Bank Books with quite possibly the best bookstore logo ever: Read a Fucking Book.  Also they had an entire animal liberation section that warmed the cockles of my heart.

Looking up through Seattle’s sidewalk.

The next day I somehow managed to squeeze in the Seattle Underground tour around the conference.  Basically, Seattle burned down back in the day. They decided this was a good chance to solve the whole sewage constantly in the street because of lack of proper drainage problem. But the merchants didn’t want to wait the 7 years it would take to elevate the ground, so they built their building at regular level, but made the pretty entrance on the second floor. That way as the city built up the retaining walls and filled in the street and such, the first floor became the basement, and the second floor the first floor. So we were wandering around underground on what used to be the above-ground sidewalks. Confused yet?

My final day in Seattle, I went to the EMP Museum (Experimental Music Project).  I wasn’t so into the main museum itself, but they were having a special exhibit called “Can’t Look Away.”  Besides learning more about the sociology and history of horror, I also saw: an Alien from Alien, the monster’s boots from Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, the saw from Saw, the axe from The Shining, models used in special effects from The Fly, Freddy Kruger’s glove, the interrogation chair from Hostel, and much more!! It was totally bad-ass. I was in heaven.  Also they gave me a list of the 100 horror films to see before you die.  I’ve seen 29, which is pretty good for being 25 myself.

So beyond the touristy stuff, what did I think of Seattle?

The Cool:

• Buildings hand out free “umbrella bags” so you can bag your umbrella and not drip everywhere.
• Buildings also have overhangs so most of the sidewalk is not actually out where you get rained on.
• Super hilly, which is good for the legs.
• Skid Row term originated there.
• The history is skeezy and fascinating.  All the stuff I love about the old west.
• The accent is pretty adorable.  Kind of a softened version of Midwest with less niceties.
• Legal happy hour.

The Annoying and/or Odd:

• Getting called ma’am all the time.
• Having doors held open for me even when it’s not necessary or particularly helpful.
• Way too many homeless people.
• Omg the smoking.
• Seriously, where the hell are the pizza places and why did the two I found not sell by the slice?
• The Space Needle is seriously underwhelming.
• The fashion is. Well. It’s like Berklee threw up on people.

Really, though, I had a wonderful time at the conference and being a tourist.  It’s not like it surprised me that I wouldn’t want to call Seattle home.  I’ve known a very long time now that Boston is my city soulmate.  But I had fun visiting and definitely would go back as a tourist again.  I just would skip Pike Place Market and spend a lot more time in Pioneer Square.