Date: Fri, 25 Apr 1997 06:04:38 -0400 From: Charlie Ford To: TYPE2@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM Subject: The Seattle Ponderings To those of you that have been wondering where I am and what I am doing these days I will try and catch you up as best I can. Over the past couple of weeks I have been doing quite a bit of thinking and reflection. I seem to have encumbered a heaviness as of late. It may be the weather of the Pacific Northwest which is mostly rain and/or gray clouds that not only loom in the atmosphere, but also tend to loom in ones soul. Tobin Copley, a listy who lives in Vancouver, BC, labeled it most correctly by calling it "the wet coast". I left Portland two weeks ago after staying a week there with a friend of mine who I have worked National Service (AmeriCorps) with for the past few years. I will try and write more about Portland later as I will be going back there around mid-may to pick him up and head out to Mount Hood for a few days camping. In all honesty I really didn't see much of that city in my short visit there. I did learn one little tidbit of trivia about Portland though. It seems that Matt Groenig, the creator of The Simpsons is from Portland and in fact attended Lewis and Clark College. Many of the names you see in the program came from Portland. There is a street named Springfield, and one named Burnside, etc. I thought that was pretty cool, especially since I like the Simpson's. Here I am 40 years old and enjoying cartoons. What a great way to spend an adult life! Anyway, here I am in Seattle. I drove up and much to my chagrin it rained all the way up Interstate 5, which if your coming to Seattle from Portland is the only way to make it without weaving you way all over hell and high water. The land is great, what you can see of it anyway. Mt. Saint Helens is visible from 5 on a good day, but since the clouds had rolled in I missed it. I saw it once or twice while in Portland, but since it blew it's top it looks sort of out of place as compared to Hood and Rainier with their jagged snowcapped peaks. I arrived early afternoon and called Michael Lewis, a listy that had invited me to crash in his yard for the time I would be here. I had contacted him earlier in the week and explained to him that the State of Mississippi had sent me an E mail and was requesting me to fly down and do some training for their National Service Conference scheduled for the first of May. I asked him could I stay a couple weeks and he offered a resounding "yes". Michael and his family welcomed me into their home and although I can't write much about it now, I will say these are great people. He is just one of the examples of goodness that I have seen from the members of this VW list. Michael is a scholar and a gentleman and that is enough said for now. Don't want to embarrass him. David Raistrick, another good list member had told me about a cousin of his that lived here. He said that if I needed some work while here his cousin might be able to hook me up for a couple weeks. I am finding that even if I don't need the money I enjoy the work. Being on the road at times can get a bit boring. The fact is that one can only sleep so much, or eat so much, or lay around and watch TV and read so much. I am basically lazy, but I'll be damned if I like boredom. The work offers me a chance to meet several new people, and get to know a bit more about the culture of the city I am calling home for a while. I met Ron ( David's cousin) and he explained that it would be difficult for him too help me out. Not any fault of his, it was just that the type of job he had didn't offer much in the way of temporary opportunity. He is a resturaunt manager and a helluva nice guy. The day I met him he brought a friend of his along. Shawn, a young man from Jacksonville Florida had come out here a few years ago and had loved it so much that he stayed. We all had a beer and some good conversation, a good time was had by all. Seattle was seeming like a very nice place to be. After dropping Shawn off at his place, I headed for Michael's place in West Seattle. This part of Washington State is extremely beautiful. On sunny days you can look to the south and see Mt. Rainier, which is a majestic site to behold. the city is surrounded by the Olympic Mountain Range to the west and the Cascades to the East and south. These mountains are all snow capped and offer Seattlites some very stupendous views on clear days. I am sure the summers are nice here. If I lived here I would ride my bike everywhere I went. They say that Seattle has the highest suicide rate in the country. Psychologist seem to contribute most of this to the gray days. Most of the folks I have gotten to know say that you find ways to get through the rain, at least none of them so far have killed themselves, they haven't said anything about it to me if they have. Most of the folks here are deeply reflective, thoughtful, and seem to have developed much of their careers around things that you can do indoors. Many have hobbies to dissipate the boredom brought on by being inside. Most have learned to cope with the precipitation by doing what they would normally do on any sunny day to relieve stress. You see folks riding bikes, taking walks, and basically enjoying life as usual. Umbrellas are easy to come by here, even convenience stores sell them. Tans are hard to find, I have seen more white skinned folks here than anywhere else I have ever been. I am sure that melanoma brought on by sunburn is not that much of a concern here. I saw a couple the other day that were so pale they looked yellow. To top it all off they were wearing black shorts. On the first weekend I was here I got a bit bored and called Shawn. He invited me to come over to his place and hang out. I drove into town, arriving at his downtown apartment in the early afternoon. Shawn is 20 something years old and I quickly found that I was the oldest person in the room, and yes, the only one that spoke with a hard-core southern drawl. His roommates, who by the way mostly dressed in black, had all apparently just seen Slingblade (the movie). They all got a kick out of my southern cliché's and were constantly asking me to "say something". I gave them my best, which in the end had them all asking me what I just said. I felt so special. : )> One of Shawns roommates, Travis, works at a production company. They furnish sets for conferences and such around the area. Travis asked me if I needed some temporary work while I was in town, I said yeah, and he said to give him a call and we could set something up. He immediately offered me ten bucks and hour which ain't bad money. I called him on Tuesday of the following week and two days later I was once again unloading trucks, only this time it was into a warehouse of production sets. I wasn't unloading boxes either, I was unloading walls, and trusses, and sound and lighting towers. For those of you that know nothing about this, if you have ever been to a concert and seen the tall towers with lights hanging from them, that is what I am talking about. It was back breaking work, but that is alright by me, I need the money and the exercise. THE JOB AND SOME THOUGHTS PRODUCED BY IT....................... The people I am working with are not exactly of my generation. They are all between 20 and 25 and are the type kids you might see in Haight Asbury these days. Young hippie types with a 90's reason to be that way, whatever the reason may be. To each his/her own I guess, but this is the source of my concern at the time of this writing. In the 60's we had the Vietnam war, I had friends fighting and dying for a cause none of us really understood. I had just entered high school at the time. Family friends went and fought and died there. Even those of us that were still in school knew that Communism was bad, but we weren't sure why. We knew that our country was mostly free and we loved it enough to fight and die if need be to ensure that other countries shared that same freedom. Then we came face to face with the true injustice of war. TV brought it into our living rooms each night at 6:00 PM. It was broadcast on the evening news with Walter Cronkite and Huntley and Brinkley. At that point we knew we had to get our boys back home, so we started fighting here for the withdrawal. Most of the people fighting were young college age, then it poured over to the high school kids. People took to the streets to protest. The protesters were at times met with unconditional violence much like what was being seen overseas. We saw kids shot by the Military at Kent State we saw buildings seized, professors taken hostage. America was fighting itself. people were not protesting because they didn't want to be American, they just knew so many young men dying must be wrong. I saw first hand the civil rights movement along with all the injustice that went with it. The news footage, from places that were just a few hundred miles from my house. Footage of black people and white people fighting for what each of them thought was right. That was the first time I saw my Grandfather cry and ask the question "My Lord what is happening to our country?". My grandfather was a man that did not allow the "N" word to be said in our house. The 60's had boys dying in Nam because of mortar fire and rifle bullets, today we have kids killing themselves and each other because they can't see a future or find anyone to place trust in. We have gang's that control our streets. We have children that are having children. We have teachers that cannot teach and parents that don't care if their kids are committing crimes. We have militias that are blowing up things and people. Enough is enough! In many circles today, if you are young and are not liberal you are passed off as being not up to date with the times. America's culture is constantly evolving, and today that evolution is occurring at an accelerated rate. One trend ends and another begins. A leader emerges then they are brought down. Our multi-party system, our religious beliefs, our fundamentals as a nation are all coming under fire, not from other countries but from it's own citizens. In so many ways I see us as a nation with as much or more division than ever before. It appears to me that these days we define ourselves solely by the trends we see emerging each new day. We latch on to this or that and hope it is the solid foundation we search for to carry us to the future, only to be dismayed by it falling away, leaving us once again deeply searching. I am troubled by this, I worry that the generations of today seek to discover some shangrila lifestyle that just can't be found. We the finite constantly searching for the meaning of the infinite by throwing out the wisdom that has been passed down to us through the ages. I remember so well my days of finding myself, making my decisions on how I felt about God, country, and the American life I wanted to live. I think I am still on that journey in so many ways. I hope the kids of today can find peace with America, these guys are the ones that will lead when I am 60. Am I wrong to want leaders that are patriotic and dedicated to the freedoms of all of the people and all of their beliefs. Some of the younger people I have worked with lately are not so dedicated to this appreciation of diversity. But enough said on this.....................Pardon my soapbox sermon....it is a product of my search for the beginning of wind. : ) ................................................meanwhile back at the ranch...............: ) THE MOTHERSHIP..................... While here I have worked on my bus, The Mothership. I figured since I am grounded at the present and eventually heading east through Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming I should make sure all is right and well with her. She is running great. I got a new temp sensor, and have done a tune-up on her. She seems to be enjoying the attention. I discovered I need a couple of rear tires which I should be able to easily find and hopefully at a right price. I had an engine mount that loosened and was causing a shimmy when I engaged my clutch on an incline. Doug at Doug's VW (one of the best here) in West Seattle tightened it up and all is fine now. I met Matt Zipeto who also lives here in Seattle. Matt seemed like a heck of a guy and announced that he is about to be married to a good lookin' woman named Carolyn (I saw the photo). Matt was driving his bus, which by the way is very colorful to say the least. Anyone passing through should contact him to get advice on the use of leftover house paint. I liked the purple the best, it served to bring out the green much better. A very creative guy he is. : ) Seattle is a fine city. Jobs seem to be plenteous here and it tends to produce some pretty deep thoughts as you probably by now have noticed. The people are nice, but it is very much a city of diversity. If you can't handle and accept different styles of living, I wouldn't recommend it at all. The biggest drawback would be the rain, rain, rain, and more rain. On the days you don't have rain, you have clouds, clouds, clouds, and more clouds. I have slowed down tremendously since being on the west coast and now the wet coast. I seem to be thinking more about the direction my life should take after I have made full circle and completed my trip. I find myself lost in confusion as to what I want to do with my career. I am not sure I will ever live in Georgia again. I really don't have anything there that makes me want to stay. In many ways I feel like this trip has offered me a new perspective on things and it is only half done. I hope the second half is as much of a learning experience as the first has been. So many new acquaintances and people I now call "friends". Folks from so many places around the country, that before had only been names on a computer screen, or imagined personalities from regions and cultures I had never known. The other day I was reading back through my post and noted the stress levels that at times were so evident in the writing. Even with my latest burden of concern I feel more in touch and relaxed than I have ever been. These days I can think with more structure than I could when I left Georgia on that rainy and windy night in January. I have spent so much time alone yet I am not lonely. I have had stressful things happen, only to handle them in stride, not "reacting", but "acting" to find the solution to fill the need. Things are not perfect, but I also realize that this imperfection is a key component of being alive. It gives one something to work for. I think that may be what brings excitement to the years we spend here on this earth. On this trip I have served others, but I have also been served by others. Life is good tonight in Seattle, Washington. Say a prayer for me if you will. Thanks for tolerating my rambling's. Charlie Ford PS: Sorry for the sermon "79" Transporter, dressed for the road The Mothership The"Turning 40 Nostalgic VW Service Tour, and Search for the Beginning of Wind". http://www.armory.com/~y21cvb/charlie/charlie.html "Wider still and wider.....shall thy bounds be set"