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Words with Seattle connections

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I lived in Seattle for five years in the 1980s and it remains my happy place. I’d move back tomorrow if circumstances permitted. Forty years later, the first Christmas image that comes to mind when the holiday nears is multicolored holiday lights reflected from a rain-wetted downtown Seattle sidewalk. My top Seattle lesson is, when the sun comes out, drop what you’re doing and go enjoy it. Don’t ever assume it’ll come out again tomorrow.
-Dave Alden, Petaluma, California (davealden53 comcast.net)

During my childhood in Ohio our family had a goal of going to the Seattle World’s Fair. To help save money towards that we instituted some rules to be followed at the dinner table. Infractions such as elbows on the table, interrupting, saying um, uh, or “yeah, but” were punishable by a fine of a penny or a nickel. A jar sat in the center of the table with the accumulated funds and paper and pencil to record amounts owing. If our parents argued, it was a major fine of five dollars, but we were usually too intimidated to confront angry adults with their penalty and just stayed quiet.

The four of us kids watched each other like hawks for the elbows rule and listened attentively to each other’s speech. To this day I remember the cries of “yeahbut! yeahbut!” when that frequent misdemeanor was committed.

We didn’t manage to get to the fair in Seattle, but eventually applied our savings for a trip to Expo 67 in Montreal. I myself finally got to Seattle while bicycling from British Columbia to California in 1972. It was a vibrant and friendly city then and still is.
-Paul Glover, Smithers, Canada (pglover bulkley.net)

As a small child, while visiting relatives in southern Washington, I was sent to bed early because in the morning we were going to Seattle. Before dawn we piled into the car and headed north. When we got there I grew frustrated trying to identify who he or she was. (I’d heard, “We’re going to see Attle.”)
-Rich Hawkins, Seattle, Washington (getrich206 gmail.com)

Oh, how I love Seattle. We lived in Seattle on and off for several years; to me, it was heaven on earth. Politics and economics forced us to return to South Africa, our home country. The bleakest day in my life was when I boarded the plane in 1986 and left my beloved Seattle forever. I left my heart in Seattle and, to this day, I find it difficult to look at photographs of Seattle; it hurts too much.
-Ray Bowring, Bryanston, South Africa (lesbow icon.co.za)

I lived in Seattle from 2010-2015. I loved so many things about the city, but they were undeniably the hardest years of my life. I’ve actually completed a poetry collection inspired by those five years. Here’s one:

My First Winter in Seattle

I’d swear some painter of walls
has taken his roller
and coated it all --
the land, the clouds, the Sound --
in one flat plane of grey.
The narrow band of light
my eyes perceive has shrunk
to variations of this one shade.
Pewter, steel, and iron.
Shadow, ash, and smoke.

I paint my bedroom blue
to mimic the sky I yearn to see,
trying to fool myself into thinking
these walls are all I need.
-Trystan Popish, Denver, Colorado (trystanpopish yahoo.com)

Growing up just north of the Canadian border it was common to take trips down to Seattle. I fondly remember the World’s Fair of 1962, and many other experiences through the years and friends I’ve made there. It never felt like going to a foreign country. But starting in the late 20th century, border crossings became more involved and intimidating. Then came 9/11, then Covid. Now it’s 2025 and it seems we are all aliens. I miss the old days.
-John Carver, Duncan, Canada (john.carver obloketure.ca)

You paint a glowing picture of Seattle, but it certainly has its downsides: traffic, gloomy weather. I traded the nine months of grey skies for only three months of heat. I couldn’t be happier in Tucson.
-Susan Rumsey, Oro Valley, Arizona (sue.rumsey comcast.net)

I love your city for many reasons, not least that much of my favorite music originated there in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I also love the cool, wet, life-affirming climate. Also, I feel like Seattle has done a reasonably good job in adapting its geography to the combination of mountains and water without adversely affecting the environment. And to those who whine about the car-unfriendliness... get out of your cars, then.
-Dave Shelles, Acworth, Georgia (writesdave gmail.com)

After college I joined the FBM (Fleet Ballistic Missile) Submarine Force. A very important base is near Seattle. People were nice, and liberal. There was great seafood and beautiful country. After a long undersea patrol, I loved to come out of the hatch to see God’s Creation!
-Rocco Wilson, Virginia Beach, Virginia (theatrixproductions gmail.com)

Seattle -- having coffee in a coffee house with a log fire, newspapers, and warmth. Filling up the car with recycled kitchen oil at a community “trust-me” filling station. Playing Bridge (as visitors) at one of the Bridge clubs and being surrounded by engineers from Microsoft and Boeing. (We play a bit better now!) And, of course, Pike Place, to see the fish; and by serendipity, being able to visit the Dead Sea Scrolls which were on display at the time. Wonderful place.
-Robin Fenton, Nontron, France (robinfenton orange.fr)

I have always had a fondness for Seattle. I’ve had family and friends living there most of my life and have enjoyed many visits. I moved to Switzerland in 2002 and said if I were ever forced to move back to the US, Seattle would be on my shortlist of possible cities. A number of years ago, I came across the book Skid Road about Seattle’s first 100 years. I couldn’t resist.
From reading it I learned (more?) about the historic underground. So during my next visit, I took the Seattle Underground tour. In my opinion it is a must if you want more understanding of Seattle’s colorful history and insights into its culture. At the gift shop I picked up two additional books about Seattle (picture attached) written by William “Bill” C. Speidel. He, too, loved Seattle. He wrote several books about Seattle and Washington State and helped promote Seattle’s history, preservation, and tourism. It was he who founded the “Underground Tour of historic Seattle” among other enterprises. Unfortunately, I haven’t been back to Seattle for almost 20 years. I think it is time for another visit.
-Eric Plumlee, Niederlenz, Switzerland (ericfplumlee hotmail.com)

I visited Seattle before there were Starbucks coffee shops everywhere else. It was cool and rainy, and I thought the downtown coffee shops were so nice. I went to the Starbucks near the Pike Place Market and had my first ever latte. I now view that trip as a sacred pilgrimage of sorts. Back home in Kansas City, Borders Bookstore had a new idea: install an espresso bar. I heard someone remark, “Why are they doing that? I don’t know anyone who drinks espresso!”
I thought to myself: Just you wait and see. The rest is history.
-Mary Mathews, Naperville, Illinois (mdmathews gmail.com)

I love Seattle! I lived in Bremerton (across Puget Sound) from 1976 to 1981 and frequently took the ferry to Seattle. So many good memories! It was the first year for the Seahawks playing in the Kingdome, and I had a giant crush on both Jim Zorn and Steve Largent. The weather wasn’t always the greatest - I’m pretty sure it rained every single 3-day weekend for the 5 years I was there. My favorite statistic that I read about it is that people in Seattle buy more sunglasses per capita than any other US city. We joked, that was because every time the sun came out, you couldn’t find your sunglasses because it had been so long since you needed them!
-Carol Culwell, Morro Bay, California (106cac gmail.com)

I grew up in the Midwest and was in college when my father moved from Wisconsin to Bellingham. He had been in the Navy, stationed at Bremerton and I grew up listening to him about the beauty of the Pacific Northwest. I visited him in Bellingham and was smitten from the moment I saw the mountains and the water from the airplane. My Dad drove me up hwy 20 on his motorcycle and that clinched it -- I had to live here. I finished grad school in 1989 and was incredibly lucky to get a job in Seattle. I’ve now lived here longer than in the town where I grew up. I joined the Mountaineers hiking club and have spent 36 years exploring the (in my not-so-humble opinion) most beautiful state in our vast country.
-Britt Tinglum, Seattle, Washington (tinglumbritt gmail.com)

Thanks for your love letter to Seattle, my home town. I often wonder how I could have left it, 50 years ago? Well, that is another story. I am just happy to hear that it is still the kind, nerdy town I grew up in, the town with artists AND engineers, and artists who appreciate engineers and engineers who appreciate artists. (My family has both.) A town that benefited from each immigrant group which came and brought their good values to it.
-Edy Horwood, Oakland, California (almagarden comcast.net)

In the late 1970s, I taught at Seattle Pacific for a six-week summer session. The thing that most impressed me was that as I walked from my rented cottage to the campus, every single person I passed said, “Good morning!” I live in a mid-sized town in New York state, and no one I pass on my walk to town or around town says a word. They’re not unfriendly -- it just doesn’t seem the custom to talk to strangers. The friendliness of the people and the displays at Pike Place Market are the two things that come instantly to mind when I think of Seattle.
-Susan M. Watkins, Professor Emeritus, Apparel Design, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York (smwatkins11 gmail.com)

Email of the Week -- Brought to you buy One Up! -- Playing mind games is wicked fun.

I grew up in the Midwest. Then one day in 1976, I put everything I owned in a backpack and stuck my thumb out on the Turner Turnpike. I headed west, to where, exactly, I didn’t know. But my last ride dropped me off at the bottom of Yesler Way, the original skid row, next to Pioneer Square. I had $90 to my name. I walked across the street and checked into a dicey-looking flophouse called the Yesler Hotel. The next day and for the next four or five months, I scraped along working odd jobs by day and exploring the nooks and crannies of Seattle in the evenings. The city was like a beautiful, fascinating woman and I fell in love with her. But I was too young and impetuous to settle down, and soon I pulled up stakes again and thumbed my way down the West Coast to a new home in California. Today I live in Boise, Idaho, and it’s a convenient relationship. But I never fell out of love with that beautiful woman with mountains in her hair. And when it rains, I still think of her.
-David Rothermich, Boise, Idaho (hawkowl kr-group.com)

My husband and I flew in to Seattle in March 2023 to visit our brand-new great-granddaughter in Moses Lake, WA, over on the dry (Eastern) side of the mountains. We saw many parts of your beautiful state on our trip and the one thing that stood out to me, besides the monumentally lovely Mt Rainier of course, was that I never had a bad cup of coffee! Truly impressive.
-Debbie Wolf, Lansing, Michigan (djwolf51 yahoo.com)

We celebrated Christmas on Orcas Island and were in Seattle before and after. Found great vegan and gluten-free food, wonderful coffee and chai and loved exploring the city!
-Alice Russell, Santa Cruz, California (aruss526 gmail.com)

At one time we lived in south Oregon. One day my wife looked at me and said, “Let’s take a vacation.” We decided to head north and spent one week in Seattle. We came home and a week later she said, “The boys and I are moving to Seattle. Want to come?” I did. One of the best decisions of our lives. Such good times, such adventures! Raised two sons there, acted in plays, discovered craft beer, hiked both Big and Little Si mountains, worked for Nintendo, built a business ... all on a whim!

A country boy at heart (now in Seaside, OR), it would be extremely hard to go back to the big city...but if I had to...Seattle gets my vote.
-Thomas Ryan, Seaside, Oregon (beergod1948 gmail.com)

We abandoned Seattle and the PNW when, for various reasons, I stopped gardening. Once I did that, the “cost” of the rain increased significantly, as the rain was the price I paid for spring, summer, and fall gardening. Now in Green Valley, AZ, built for retirees, and it’s a terrific place to be. (It’s only hot if you go outside!) I have owned $2 million homes in Seattle, but due to my place on the economic totem pole, not when I owned them. I miss many things about Seattle, from the scenery, to the Pike Place Market, to the theater scene, to close friends, to, mostly, the pleasure of being there. But not the traffic, so constricted by geography.
-Robert Sanford, Green Valley, Arizona (rh.4.sanford gmail.com)

I am a 5th generation Seattlite. My great-great-grandfather’s house still stands on 29th Street; he, who noted his profession in the 1890 Census as “Miner, gold.” My people went to the Klondike from here, built ships on Lake Union, and helped apple orchardists in Wenatchee. I love the region deeply, but I do not romanticize it. Egregious errors have been made in civic planning; traffic is a nightmare and we failed to create a central park (“The Commons”) when we had the chance. Perhaps I am that cliche witness of change in the old saying “Every old man dies a stranger in his hometown.” That said, I am grateful for those like you who have come here and enriched the culture and developed a love for the region that may help protect its beauty and guide its future. I love your work and I thank you. (I also am a former board member of Humanities Washington and think you should get involved with our state humanities efforts!)
-Mary Pembroke Perlin, Seattle, Washington (marype nanosoft.com)

I’ve only visited Seattle once, but I recall it being a lovely city. Down here in Santa Cruz, a smaller city but of similar spirit on a different part of the Pacific coast, we have a Squid Row.
-Colin Gerbode, Santa Cruz, California (cgerbode gmail.com)

I love Seattle! The Coast Guard sent me there in 1985 for two years aboard the USCGC Polar Star, Pier 36. I returned in 1998 until 2001, and then again in 2003, staying until 2005 before moving south to Portland. The Northwest suited me well. The people, the weather, the nature, and the flannel. But when the Coast Guard sent me to Philadelphia, I met a girl and ended up retiring here. I lost my heart on the East Coast but my soul remains in the Northwest, surrounded by the Olympic Mountains, and perfectly content with the rainy days meant for writing and reading.
-Christopher Alden, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (calmichigan gmail.com)

I grew up in SE Idaho, and Seattle was always the emerald city on the horizon. My cousins lived there, and one summer when I was 12 I stayed with them for a couple weeks. The city was so mysterious. Bongo drums on the shores of Lake Washington late at night. Streetcars to the market and the comic shops and old pawn shops. Street walkers. Black people. It was everything I didn’t know, and somehow everything I wanted. I moved to Seattle for college, and in my second year I got a job driving a bus during the early morning shift. I’d get across Lake Washington to Bellevue to pick up my bus each morning when the mist was lifting from the lake and the rowers were out practicing. Two or three hours later I’d be done and off to class.

I stayed after college for a year, wondering what to do next and too happy with my part time bus wages to change. But the idea of working in publishing, and the draw of an even more mysterious city drew me to NY. I left with my bike and a suitcase and a new Brooks Brothers navy blazer that my dad bought for me. Never looked back. Though I sometimes visited, and I often wondered what my life would have become had I stayed. Seattle lit a fire in me that still burns. Or should I say smolders? Building a fire in the Olympic mountains was never easy -- but once started it can last a lifetime.
-John Squires, Great Barrington, Massachusetts (johnspencersquires gmail.com)

More than half my eight decades saw residence in the Pacific Northwest, with numerous forays north to Seattle. In 1969 Perry Como released “Seattle”, a song whose lyric included, “The bluest skies you’ve ever seen are in Seattle.” (video, 3 min.) That’s a fair claim, but the implication is that they’d be often. Wikipedia says, “The Seattle area is the cloudiest region of the Continental United States, due in part to frequent storms and lows moving in from the adjacent Pacific Ocean. Seattle is cloudy 201 days out of the year and partly cloudy 93 days.” That’s not to, um, rain on your parade, Anu. I agree with all your positives and celebrate your good fortune. However, to drop the title of a Louis L’Amour book, I’ll stay Over On The Dry Side.
-Lee Barker, Redmond, Oregon (barkerbass bendcable.com)

I spent about 10 months in Seattle, interning with the Seattle Repertory Theatre. The perpetual clouds and drizzle meant that it was a rare occasion that someone might mention that “the mountain is ‘out’”. While Seattle had mountains to the east (the Cascades) and west (the Olympics, which made for occasional breathtaking sunsets), we immediately knew that “the mountain” in question was the majestic Mount Rainier, about 60 miles southeast of Seattle, always gasp-worthy.
-Tim Mooney, Imlay City, Michigan (tim_mooney earthlink.net)

We spent two pleasant days in Seattle in 1995. Among my notable memories is a conversation with a local on a beautiful warm sunny day. When I remarked on the view of Mt. Rainier he said “Yes, we use the mountain to predict the weather: if you can’t see it, it’s raining; if you can see it, it will rain tomorrow.” The next day we departed on our bus trip of the northwest, first stop Mt. Rainier. It was raining.
-Dick Oswald, Ridgewood, New Jersey (ddoswald verizon.net)

I’ve spent about four months in Seattle over the years and just got back from another visit. Beyond your list of virtues that make the city so stunning, are the crows, crows and more crows (and Steller’s Jays)!! Oh, and if you’re vegan (or not), you must try The Wayward Vegan for breakfast. Sooooo good!!
-Gabriele Schafer, Brooklyn, New York (gaby ratconference.com)

I visit Seattle every day -- via Frasier!
-Simon Howard, UK (simon.howard1 btopenworld.com)

Seattle hosted my play The Romance of Magno Rubio down the street from the wonderful Asian Art Museum a few years back. I loved every minute I was there. Carlos Bulosan, the great Filipino writer landed in Seattle from the Philippines. Mabuhay!
-Lonnie Carter, Falls Village, Connecticut (lonniety comcast.net)

My experience with Seattle started when, in Dec 1959, I arrived from New York at Fort Lewis (just south of Seattle) as a brand new Second Lieutenant. It was dark at around 4 pm, it was raining like mad, and two days later they called out troops to rescue people from flooding. It was not an encouraging start! But a few days later, the clouds parted and I first saw Mt. Rainier! And that suddenly changed my entire outlook. I’ve seen it in its many moods over the years, and it’s always inspiring to me. I never went back to Washington to live, but my three children all eventually migrated there, and I’ve spent many summer vacations with them, camping, hiking, backpacking, sailing, and scuba diving. It’s kind of a second home!
-Robert Robinson, Lawrenceville, New Jersey (rgr0813 aol.com)

Thanks for your reverie about Seattle. I visited the city almost thirty years ago, and as a Dutchman I also felt at home: clean, close to the sea, spacious, agreeable climate... and that enormous mountain, Mount Rainier, keeping watch in the back. Many thanks for your enjoyable comments on the English language.
-Leonard Blussé, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (l.blusse gmail.com)

My wife and I are long time residents of Charlotte NC, but we have enjoyed a number of visits to Seattle. I am especially fond of the whimsical public art (some photos attached). Not pictured is one of my favorites, the Fremont Troll under a bridge devouring a VW bug.

Angie's Umbrella

Hammering Man

Typewriter Eraser, Scale X

Yarn-wrapped trees

-Don Abernathy, Charlotte, North Carolina (cdadyj earthlink.net)

I visited Seattle about 20 years ago and loved it. The things that stood out were how very friendly people are! We were in a drugstore and asked a woman where a bus stop was and she said she’d show us and walked out the door with us, down the sidewalk until we could see it. And speaking of buses they were sparkling clean. The weather was fun, we were there in Apr and it poured in the morning and then the rest of the day was crisp and beautiful. I have got to go back! Oh, and fabulous restaurants!
-Nancy Edman, Atlanta, Georgia (collegemama19 gmail.com)

The Seattle Metro area never used to have many snow plows, and to this day, when a few flakes start to fall, Seattleites run for home and businesses close, declaring a Snow Day, Snomaggedon or a Snowpocalypse. Done with a wink now as the city is better equipped, but I have lived through a few of the nightmares of the entire hilly area being paralysed by a foot of snow. Cars abandoned on the highways and bridges, making them impassable. I once did 11 hours (in Dec 1990, I think) on a city bus from downtown to the Eastside, sitting on the floor next to the driver, a route that normally took 30 minutes. Riders passed a hat to collect money for the driver, who navigated 2 feet of snow and let passengers off in the middle of six-lane freeways at 3 am. The friend I had lunched with didn’t make it home for two days, and his wife still doesn’t let us forget it! So memories of Snowpocalypses past fuel the frenzy to close up shop after a flake or two fall.
-Tamara Krautkramer, Nairobi/Seattle (tamarakk mac.com)

The first time I visited Seattle, by train in the mid-1970s, I recall a lot of homeless people everywhere. It was considered a “bad” place, but it had an amazing marketplace -- Pike Place Market -- which seemed quite unique and incredibly wonderful to me at the time. I visited again, by plane, in the late 1980s/early 1990s, and except for the marketplace, it seemed like another place entirely. Now Pike’s was famous for Starbucks, and the people on the streets were either gone or obscured by all the tech bros (maybe then they were called yuppies). Farmers’ markets had popped up all over the country, but Pike Place still seemed special (although Ann Arbor now has a fabulous market too, and New York’s Union Square market has really blossomed). I suppose the progress is positive, but I feel that when things that were grubby become shiny, something precious is lost even while much is gained. I say this as a New Yorker who remembers when the theater district was all peep shows and shady characters (beware of pickpockets!), and now it’s Disney. Safer, brighter, but not entirely better in terms of human-ness. Who knows what effect AI will have on the future of that?
-Joan Reisman-Brill, New York, New York (jreismanbrill gmail.com)

What strikes me most about Seattle as an Easterner transplanted to the area (about three year ago) is the impossibility of finding a bad cup of coffee there. A big and welcome contrast with much of the rest of the USA.
-Jonathan Rickert, Bainbridge Island, Washington (therickerts hotmail.com)

I lived in Seattle 1946-1953. My Dad moved our family to Seattle via train from Brooklyn NY. I was almost 6, my brother was 11. We lived on Angeline Street/14th Ave South. Our Grocer called my Mother “Brooklyn.” We walked everywhere having no car. My dad was a Mail Carrier and walked house to house in West Seattle. He came home with sore feet after taking two buses to get to work.

The family expecting a new baby, we moved to Beacon Hill (lived at 16th Ave South) very close to Jefferson Park/Golf course where my big brother worked as a caddie. He started at Cleveland Senior High School where football games and cheering meant cow bells ringing for the team. I walked to Beacon Hill school and proudly wore my new rubber boots and carried my new umbrella. Seattle was rainy! We could look out our living room window at night to see the SEARS sign light up in green.

Years later we were told Sears building was now the STARBUCKS building! No more green lights to tell us: “Good Night!” Thanks for letting me share a wonderful childhood in Seattle. Our neighbors were our family and we still stay in touch. Amen.
-Rose Bartholomew, Richardson, Texas (randrbart aol.com)

I moved out to Seattle from abroad, with two small children, because my sister had established herself there several years earlier. I remember in the first few months of living there, walking my daughter to the end of the road to get the school bus. It was pouring rain, again, and I just wondered where on earth does all that water go? Then I looked up and saw 3 inches of new growth on every needle of every branch of every one of the tall trees above me. Question answered! I retired to the south of France last year. One major reason was that I just needed fewer gloomy days. I do miss sushi though, and pho. 😊
-Elizabeth Sandel, Cheval Blanc, France (bethjsandel hotmail.com)

The mountains. The waterways. Those are the indelible imprints on my mind. I was fortunate to have a Seattle job that required driving the northwest quadrant of Washington, touching on the San Juan Islands. At times it was very difficult to focus on the business aspect of my travels. One particular memory involves business associates visiting from Texas. As we were heading north from Seattle-Tacoma airport on a weather perfect day, I exited the freeway onto a flyover interchange heading to the little town of Mukilteo. That word, to Chief Seattle, meant gathering place. The crest of that flyover provided a 360 degree panoramic view encompassing Mt. Rainier, Mt. Baker, the Olympic and Cascade Mountains -- all capped with snow. The Texans were agog with the natural beauty. One of them grumbled, “What do you have to do to get a territory like this?” And then came the ferry ride to Whidbey and Fidalgo islands.

My memories include many nautical miles on our sailboat plying Puget Sound and north through Deception Pass. If we timed our Seattle leg with the high tide we could sail through the Ballard Locks, into Lake Union, all the way to Lake Washington. Within a day’s sail north were dozens of enchanting islands to gunkhole along the US/Canada border. And, of course, never a drop of rain... there goes my credibility.
-Steve Osterholt, Goodyear, Arizona (oster747 sbcglobal.net)

When I was in college -- U of Illinois Class of ‘69 -- hitchhiking was an acceptable way to get around... across campus, up to Chicago, even across the country. Maybe it was Jack Kerouac who popularized the footloose idea of traveling that made the free and easy idea of hitchhiking popular. In any case, I put out my thumb and made it to California several times. On one of those trips I continued up the coast to visit a friend who had resettled several hours north of Vancouver. While hitching wasn’t exactly legal it didn’t shock people to see a young man on the side of the road, thumb out. Even the police who would stop to check things out were pretty accepting. Still, it was just outside of Seattle that I met a cop who thought it best that I start the Seattle leg of this adventure at the Greyhound bus station.

From here my memory of Seattle gets both foggy and somewhat magical because I can’t remember how or why but I believe I ended up that night in my sleeping bag on the enclosed porch of a home on Lake Washington. I also believe there was a girl involved but I didn’t leave the next morning with her phone number or any other information. What I did leave with was the amazing image of a sunset still locked in my memory as it set across the lake. Since then I’ve been to or through Seattle several times -- alone and with others including my family in a car, by airplane, and even in a 27 foot RV. I never really got to know the city but I wish I had seen more of it on that trip back in the late 60s. My primary impression of Seattle isn’t as a huge city with a needlelike tower, or a fun marketplace where whole fish are tossed around in a show of fishy dexterity. Baseball and football teams are part of this city but they hardly register for me. Instead it’s the mystical sunset across a silvery silent lake that lingers in my memory and makes Seattle so special.
-David Kravitz, Chicago, Illinois (djkcreative gmail.com)

One of my main hobbies is calligraphy. Here’s my rendering of Chief Seathl’s testimony, which is where your quote comes from.
-Michael Poxon, Norwich, UK (mikethestarman gmail.com)

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Blind faith in your leaders, or in anything, will get you killed. -Bruce Springsteen, musician (b. 23 Sep 1949)

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: