Searching for Home in an Inhospitable World

Picture of the Day

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Sunday
September 7, 2014
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		I try to be wherever I am. Sounds simple but sometimes it isn't. The past year has seen the kind of radical shift that used to be common for me. From 1994-1998 I lived in five places in five years--Prague, Brooklyn, Baltimore, Manhattan, Seattle. Then after 15 comfortable years at Fremont & 39th we suddenly uprooted to Maui in a hurry to flee a 21% rent increase and take a job as caretakers on an isolated farm property. But in April we reaffirmed our commitment to the Northwest and joined a co-op on Capitol Hill, a place to call home at last. Sarah's been bouncing back and forth to work on Duwamish Revealed but this was my first return since last Thanksgiving. Despite the drawbacks of city life it feels great to reconnect with the community that makes Seattle home. There's no substitute for old friends. It was nice to get on a bike for the first time since I left and coast downhill through our new neighborhood, all the way down to the secret practice space on Westlake Ave where 4Shadows have met to jam once a week since 2008. I like this view from the Melrose Connector even though it's full of badness--the interstate that destroyed neighborhoods and split the city is shameful and today's construction crane ballet is a sign of further rampant insensitive development. But though life isn't perfect it's good to be a part of it.