whatever weakly
I wrote this piece and submitted it, to have it returned within an hour stamped with a big HELL NO.
Whatever. I changed a bit, me and publications don’t want the same thing, I know this. And now I’m posting it instead. This is why I love my blog.
The thick skin is growing. Back to work now.
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We’ve heard it all before. The economy is down, unemployment is up and generally it just sucks for everyone who isn’t really freaking rich. While résumés flood the market, everyone is sitting inside, hiding the little money they have in cookie jars, waiting for an interview invitation. No one can afford the daily chai teas, nice dinners and shows every weekend. Going out and dropping bills on clothes and music every payday isn’t a reality any more.
All this negativity about markets and values has done one good thing. Instead of spending cash, people have had to learn how to entertain themselves. It’s made people move. Not move as in move away from Seattle, although it would be interesting to know if everyone’s leaving yet. Since no one can afford to go out like they used to, people have started picking up hobbies and finding other free or cheap things to do.
One young woman, whose employment has been shaky since autumn ’01, got herself a bike last year. Now she rides all around town and is in the best shape of her young life. A twenty-something guy, one of the many unemployed recent graduates, joined a baseball league with old high school teammates. Another picked up a basketball and started playing hoops again. But it’s not all about sports.
Granted, and clichéd, every time the sun comes out the parks around here are flooded with fluorescent skin. But even this past winter, more people were layering up and braving the cold to go walk around outside. Just walking, it’s as simple as that.
Another over-exposed Seattle phenomenon: computers. Everyone in town has a portfolio of what they can do. Full-on web design, every computer language from here to Redmond, software gurus galore; it’s ridiculous really. Seattle fulfills the stereotype on that one.
The best thing is that the arts and music scenes are blowing up. Good bedroom and garage productions can be found, if looked for. Cheap shows with local musicians (lucky city to have so much talent) run weekly, if not daily. There’ve been cheap shows with big headliners too. Free DJs and bands, the ever-crowded First Thursday Art Walk, packed art shows and openings. With no work, artists get busy. And they really get to play up that starving role.
Then there are the cute girls at fabric shops and hot guys at art supply stores. And they’re making cool stuff! Have you been to I Heart Rummage lately? It doesn’t get much better than this. Crafty, sporty, artsy, whatever; just learn how to do something, rather than pay for someone else to.
While it doesn’t seem any good for money to be so tight, it pushes people to stretch their imaginations. What can we lose from that?
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