06__Flash mobs = instant fun + lasting memory

Remember having a pillow fight with your sibling? Or playing dodgeball in gym class? How about Halloween choreographed dance routines in hazmat suits (bye, bye!) Now take any of these already fond memories and bring hundred of people who've never met together.

What you get is spontaneous entertainment. The anticipation builds - everyone is still strangers at the onset. Then in a moment, the crowd breaks down all individual boundaries of space and anonymity to provide 5 minutes of absurd fun that you can't believe you just witnessed. The crowds are controlled - since partaking in these activities outside of the flash mob would probably be deemed a newsworthy assault. "Man attacked by pillow fighting gang! Victim said to be in stable but embarrassed condition."

Last March, on a visit to the city during West Coast road trip 2008, there were rumors swirling that such a mob was assembling. It was happening at 3:15 at the Pike Marketplace. Emails had been traded and forwarded to friends and friends, bringing hundreds to the tourist center of town. Included in the mission was to keep your pillow discretely stashed away until the signal. There was a suspicious attitude on the faces of everyone involved. Does he have a pillow in the shopping bag? Is that guy hiding one under his shirt, or is he just oddly rotund? The heavy cop presence certainly makes me think something is about to happen - but how did they hear about it? It is supposed to be a mob, who's the snitch?

Then 3:15 comes. Everyone is still. They look at one another, wondering if this event was just hype - as there are no pillows to be seen. At the strike of the next minute a yell silences the chatter of the crowd. Everyone opens their bags & backpacks screaming. Unknowing tourists are petrified, scurrying from the pack.



The next 3 minutes flash by, but the memory is priceless.

Seattle has an affinity for these trivial pursuits. Regularly, crowds of 100 or more gather on the tennis courts of Capitol Hill to play 50 on 50 dodgeball. The intensity will amaze you, expect high competition and even taunting in the quest to gain the superiority these "ballers" wish they had in middle school.



Then just today - as advertised in the local paper - a group organized to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson's Thriller. This decked out group of over 100 zombies in full costume and face paint performed in Pioneer Square as part of a global effort of simultaneous reenactments to achieve a Guinness world record. For what, I'm unsure. Most people reenacting Thriller at once? Surely stiff competition for that title. We can't just let the inmates at CPDRC have this one?? Regardless, here's all that face paint in action.



At the end of it all we may still be strangers, but united with a passion...

for silliness.

05__Our Town... I f***ing love that play!

In the ever-so-poetic words of one of my architecture school colleagues, here's some photos of our place. We'll start with my favorite part: the view!! Capitol Hill is to the right of the picture
and Downtown is just beyond the tree line. At the top of the block, you can see the entire skyline.



Here's another glance before the sunset:



Moving inside, our apartment is the top floor of a house. Not one room like before. Take a look at where all our stuff was supposed to fit... at 9' x 10'. Also eye those hardwood floors I helped put in.



We really did luck out with the location of our new apartment. It's an easy drive that takes less than 10 minutes door-to-door for me in the early mornings, at a whopping 3 miles. Even better it's a block away from one of the only bus lines that does not force you to go downtown to get anywhere. Nicole can easily bus to work in less than a half hour - incredible for public transit.

An additional benefit is we're only 10 blocks from the nightlife center of town. The central district doesn't boast an impressive list of amenities within (it's all residences) but the proximity to everything else is perfect. Plus there's a moment when you cross 18th Ave when you're at the crest of the hill. In one direction you see the Seattle skyline, then turn around and to view a gorgeous mountain range. It's quite surreal.

So for the interior of the apartment, there's the kitchen (with skylights)



Plus hardwood floors and tile countertops, which I'd never really considered before but love the look of.



Move to the other side of the stairway and you'll see the living room. These two spaces are relatively open to each other, with half walls between them and the stairs. Check out the coat rack I finished today (in the foreground).



Then to the left of the photo above is the bedroom. We recently found an incredible fabric shop in Capitol Hill. It's inspired me to reupholster chairs for our dining set as well as fabricate an inexpensive and alluring wall covering.



It's hard to see in this image, but it is back lit (with my usual x-mas lights of course - the $2 lighting solution) - providing an ambient glow to relax by. Now if we could finally clean the place up a bit... In time?

Come visit! A nice couch is waiting for you.

04__Ready, set... race! (conference)

It's an annual event featuring lectures and workshops, and might be one of the only places where such a discussion of awful stereotypes and perceptions is confronted so openly.

So much excitement filled the air the night before the race conference. This could have been the group that was together rather than a city-wide feeling (hmm? A dozen Americorp folks who work everyday to promote equality.) For this group, it may draw comparisons to something like the Superbowl. There's the keynote speaker/QB, whose performance everyone has been awing all season. You'll find discussion panels resembling offensive lines and workshop coordinators giving halftime speeches to rally the team for the second half (in this case: the future).

The only problem in this analogy is that everyone involved is playing for the same team. That everyone who would attend the race conference already supports equality among all groups and those who would benefit from such a candid conversation about race in a PC world would never show up, unless forced to attend as part of a job training exercise - more about this later.

One of the workshops asked us to rank as a percentage "how far we've come in promoting equal rights in the US?" We listed basic rights, then the groups who could exercise those freedoms and when they were granted. Obviously the last 40 years have rapidly improved, "but are we there yet?" was the follow-up question. A diverse group in a progressive city (such as Seattle) came to a consensus that we're 20% of the way there. The rights exist, but mostly on paper rather than in practice... and the list of examples where these are still restricted is abundant.

Now shift the conference to a city deeply rooted in the South. Change the dynamic of the audience to a work training session and one without any minorities in attendance. Their answer to the same question most often is 90 to 100%. How can we confront the problem when those who practice racism most think we've solved it?

Obviously it's a tough issue to deal with, but one where awareness is the first way to help. And for those of you who couldn't care one bit about sports analogies, here's your halftime show:



This is what happens when your conference is set in the tourist mecca of the city... you can see one of the blue legs of the space needle in the background of the photo. So this guy can juggle fire - big deal - what else can he do?



He can balance a unicycle on his chin! Now, I'm impressed. Follow this up with a Disneyworld monorail experience (which I did ride part of the way home) and Seattle Center really does have it all. If it all is a trashy theme park.