Seattle's super villain Rex Velvet, who I've lovingly redubbed "Sexy Rexy" struck again this morning.
Have I told you how awesome I think he is? Or how SPECTACULAR our city is? Seattle just continues to be the coolest city ever. If you missed the first 2 installments of Rex Velvet, check them out here and here. And here he is on a local radio station.
How many cities have not just 1 but TWELVE superheros and its own villain?
But that's not all, even Rex Velvet has his own arch nemesis now...and it's NOT Phoenix Jones. Everyone, meet Mr. Grim:
He's not as good as Sexy Rexy but he's certainly helped create the trifecta. We now have the equivilant of Batman, The Joker, and The Penguin (you remember...the villain who totally sucked but still added a dimension to the story).
I talk about how much I love this city a LOT. Am I disappointed in some of the things that happened on Tuesday? Yes. But I adore this city. The creativity, community, love, economic development, and ingenuity that comes out of this town keeps me in a continuous state of awe.
I told myself I wouldn't do this today. But I'm just so disappointed in, well, everyone.
Yesterday Seattle was host to May Day protests hosted peacefully by Occupy Seattle. Unfortunately, the protests were infiltrated by Black Bloc and quickly turned violent. If you don't know what Black Bloc is, look it up on Wikipedia. I'm not linking it here because, honestly, I want nothing to do with giving them free SEO.
By 2:30 our Mayor had issued emergency clearance for police to confiscate any items that could be used as a weapon. He did this to ensure that the planned 5:00 PM protest and march, again hosted by Occupy, would be peaceful.
One of the great things about Seattle is that we're a protest friendly city. Our local government respects our right to assemble and exercise our freedom of speech. Hell, our culture encourages it here. There aren't very many large US cities who handle it as well as we do. Oakland, New York and Chicago are also known for their demonstrations but the outcome is rarely as peaceful.
Unfortunately, there's usually some kind of violence.
verb /ˈeskəˌlāt/ escalated, past participle; escalated, past tense; escalates, 3rd person singular present; escalating, present participle
Increase rapidly
- the price of tickets escalated
- the escalating cost of health care
Become or cause to become more intense or serious
- the disturbance escalated into a full-scale riot
- we do not want to escalate the war
Do you have ANY IDEA how annoying it is to be stuck behind people who get on an escalator and then just stand there?!? I don't recall seeing a sign that says, "Please, rest here. You look winded." The whole point of an escalator is to get somewhere faster...not hold up everyone behind you who is obviously more capable of critical thought than yourself.
There are exceptions, for sure. But those exceptions typically take the elevator or at least stand to the side so those behind them can pass.
Henry Rollins said in his spoken word that airports make him insane because of the human sidewalks. "It's like humans...on display."
This video sums it up very well:
::expression of disapproval::
In other news, there's a riot outside my office. Again. Damn protesters. As if the Occupy movement didn't create enough of a shit-show downtown. Now there are May Day protesters outside. Hundreds of them. And police force. And apparently the protesters bashed in the windows of the Federal Courthouse.
So. Annoying.
Update: Buildings on our block are being vandalized. The BoA building, Federal Courthouse and Chase Bank are going into lockdown. Westlake seems to be demonstrating peacefully so hopefully it's all under control by the time I leave.
I should be used to this stuff by now, for sure. But I can't help my heart from palpitating a little when I look out my office window and see that kind of stuff.
**I should mention that, while Occupy Seattle provided the peaceful protests, they did not provide the anarchists and violence. Their invitations did not say BYOA. That was allBlack Bloc.**
I'm not sure what it is about Seattle and our trees. I know that we're super into nature (though not as obsessive as Portlanders). I'll be the first to admit that REI is a dangerous place for my paycheck. But honestly...
Hey I just realized I haven't told you about my excursion into long distance, financially charged, quasi guardianship.
My office is in the heart of downtown Seattle. That means that we're all super busy, smug, office-obsessed aholes between the hours of well...always. But it also means that we all have a pretty well developed guilt complex. This makes downtown a PRIME location for outreach representatives to do business.
While most of the country would say, "so what," Seattlites act like it's the GD end of the world. And, even though the reaction is wholly overblown, I suppose we do have some valid reasons for the hysteria:
