Mythbusting Seattle
| LA Metroblog’s Caryn Coleman recently posted about LA-related myths, which got me to thinking about myths related to Seattle.
While it’s true that we do have an awful lot of coffee shops (not to mention roasters, distributors, etc.) in Seattle, it’s not true that everyone here is a coffee addict. (Or even a caffeine addict.) Sure, we have problems with heroin and meth, but, tragically, so do most other major cities, large towns, small towns and villages throughout the US. (It’s true that there are some areas with higher concentrations of drug-related crimes than others, but I know of no place that’s completely untouched.) We don’t all work in technology: there are plenty of us who have never worked for a computer software or hardware company, nor a biotech or aerospace firm. (A couple decades ago if you swung a cat you’d hit a Boeing employee but, boy, those days are over.) It doesn’t rain all the time here and, by the way – we don’t all “love” the rain when it does fall. I accept that having to deal with rain is the price I have to pay to live here and enjoy all the other benefits of my home, but I don’t particularly enjoy the rain any more than I particularly enjoy writing my rent check. (Although I do appreciate my landlord.) We don’t all have hair dyed colors not naturally found in hair, nor are we all tattooed and body-pierced, although some of us certainly are. We’re not all liberals, either politically or socially. What other myths about Seattle have you heard? |
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The most persistent myth I hear about Seattle is that it’s a world class city.
Since you brought up rain, my family is convinced that it rains 290 days a year here. That is a quote.
I tell them that’s what we tell the potential tourists to keep the city charming.
And anyone who doesn’t believe that Seattle is a world class city isn’t looking around….
I live in New York now and whenever I tell people I’m from Seattle the two most common things I hear are “doesn’t it rain all the time there?” or “don’t you guys have the highest suicide rate in the country?”