Oh dear. I must confess, I enjoy cooking a little too much. I didn't do much homework last night...at all. Instead, I made a mean pasta dish, (sun-dried tomatoes, ripe tomatoes, kalamata olives, capers, garlic, mozzarella, parmesan cheese, fresh basil, olive oil, and red wine vinegar) for TONIGHT'S dinner. (And the aroma caused one of my lovely housemates to blurt out, "Whatever you're making...it sure smells great!") And then after my literature class today, did I pick up my policy reader and make headway on my readings like a good girl? No. Instead, I did some dishes and put together a baby spinach, strawberry, and toasted almond salad for dinner as well. One of my complaints about Williams-Mystic: There are way too many fun ways to procrastinate with actual work. We chat, we do laundry, we do laundry and chat. We do dishes. And chat. We have to run to CVS to pick up this and that. Whilst chatting. Oh, and of course, let's not forget how we must have lunch in town. Ooh, and then there's the ice cream shop...maybe we'll just stop by for a tiny bit of ice-cream. Just a bit. And oh gosh, maybe we should stop at the grocery store, y'know, cuz we're running low on food, sort of. Being busy like this is a terrible predicament! (But I kinda like it.)
Anyway, to continue with my tales of the Pacific Northwest:
Feb 28, 2010
1945: Today was quite a long day. We crammed a lot of information in. And I suspect every day will be like this. Now I'm glad all my projects/proposals were due last week, before the trip. I want to be able to drink it all in and learn as much as possible without any worries/stress clouding my mind. I shall list out all the things we did today, along with notes about each:
-Went to Port of Seattle conference room for a lecture: For every development made, they "give back" a certain amount of land...?? Doesn't make sense to me. Also, I didn't get much from the presentation because the presenter, who was an environmental planner, stood in the back, behind the projector, while my interpreter was in the front, standing next to the powerpoint slides.
-Went on a tugboat! (Described in earlier entry)
-Pike's Marketplace: The fish throwers had several of us stand directly under the thrown fishes...I got scales on my sweatshirt, pretty funny.
Throwing fish over our heads. Photo credit goes to David!
Top from left to right: Rachel, Anna, Bottom: Elizabeth, me, Ginger
A few of us went to a Polish place for lunch, where I went to 5 years ago, still just as good as I remembered. I also tried honey lavender ice cream at a stall. It twas...interesting? Delicious? I don't really know. And even though Pike's Marketplace is touristy, I still like it a lot. There are so many interesting people. It is a great place for people watching. Plus, it does support the locals and they happen to be so friendly, even while forcing their goods on you. If I ever live here, I will definitely purchase all my fruits/veggies/flowers/what-have-you from here. I love seeing and smelling the mixture of fish, soaps, tomatoes, apples, oranges, lettuce, onions, baked goods, ice cream, fries heavily doused in vinegar, and the list goes on. Sounds like a strange concoction of smells, I know, but I am able to pick out the distinct odors and identify them in the discordant mish-mash.
-Walking Tour of Seattle with Glenn: The man sure knows how to tell stories. He told us about Ivan and Skid Row. I'll try writing about these later, much too tired now, and I ought to get ahold of someone's notes first anyhow.
Glen sharing fascinating info about the statue of Ivan on his right
-Klondike Gold Rush National Park Exhibit: Very cool and a good lay-out of information. I found it concise, and straight to the point. People were spurred into action with the "final frontier" and hoped to strike it rich. Most people failed. Or died. I had a fascination with the gold rush period as a kid, so this certainly fed my former interest. I did remember a lot, which was lovely.
-Fishermen's Terminal: There were so many boats here...trawlers, gill netters. Most head off to Alaska in search of salmon in mid-March. We also saw the Fishermen's Memorial. It was sobering. A hushed silence fell upon our group as we read the names of all who had died trying to fish in Alaska's treacherous waters. Flowers and written sentiments were placed around it. It just made me think about how we romanticize sea life, how people view it as the great escape from responsibilities. Yet, people die for it. We don't think much about that. Between 2001 and 2009, about 70 men lost their lives. Even boys younger than me. It's incredibly sad. I left, feeling disheartened. How do their parents feel? Their lovers? Losing a loved one at sea...swallowed up by a cold, unfeeling beast, never to be seen or heard from again. No remains. It is truly the "deadliest catch."
This one in particular made me sad. Perhaps because it is so recent?
-Burke Museum: This was at the University of Seattle. It was a fantastic, small museum, summarizing much information you might find at the Museum of Natural History in D.C., (in which you could spend a month and still not have read or seen everything). We had pizza and a lecture from a W-M alum of S97. He has accomplished SO much and is now the Executive Director of the Yakima Basin Fish and Wildlife Recovery Board. I thought he was a much better speaker than the first. He raised many interesting thoughts about saving the salmon, including how they have evolved to human impact. If we try to restore the rivers to what they used to be, will that actually harm them? They have changed their way of life around our dams. Would it really help if we were to remove them? Could they evolve back to the way they used to be? Or is the old migration pattern still embedded in their instinct? We really don't know.
We met some other alums as well. It is wonderful to meet others who have graduated from this program. It's fascinating seeing how W-M has impacted their lives; in some, W-M has made a small impact, but still in notable ways, while in others, the impact is life-altering. No matter, W-M makes a mark on everyone. I have absolutely no doubt that it will make one on me as well. I'm already feeling it, actually. I am feeling fresh inspiration and I want to do so much with my life now!
March 1, 2010
0750:
Seattle
Big windows everywhere
like they're trying
to drink up the sun,
overlooking a sprung up city
emerging out of the hills,
born of men who thought
they could move mountains.
But far off behind a veil of
clouds, we can see the rim
of craggy mountains touch
the sky, and then there is
Mount Ranier, a shock of
hardened lava, which sends
a thrill through the heart,
a constant reminder that
nature still has dominion
over sky, land, and the sea.
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