by Scott Muoio

Nearly another lifetime ago, I, Scott Muoio, lived upon the banks of the Pacific Ocean. Well, maybe not The Pacific, more like Elliott Bay. Well, not exactly Elliott Bay, more accurately Lake Union. And not really on the banks, per se, but, well, you get the point!

In 2001, I spent 9 months doing my thing in Seattle, Washington while chronicling my days and nights reporting on the peculiarities of my new home away from home. I would call out oddities such as the plethora of espresso shacks dotting the neighborhoods and freeways of Sea-town, the towering V.I. Lenin statue in the self-proclaimed “Center of the Universe” of Fremont, as well the exorbitant, ironic price of apples in the fruits’ homeland. Although in the end I would retreat back to The East Coast after those 9 months, forever would those sounds, images, and memories linger in my mind of that strange, unique, and glorious Emerald City of The Pacific Northwest.

But alas, 5 ½ years later I am back and ready to unleash a new set of observations of this bizarre land on the world. I am prepared to take you deep into the secret life of The Jet City even as Boeing no longer completely calls Seattle home. I am ready to challenge and/or promote preconceived notions of Seattle as a second-rate city, tree hugging, progressive, and oh so lush and vegatationous. Yes, I made up that word “vegatationous,” but something about this triumphant region makes a person scramble for new and exotic vocabulary and I’m happy to oblige.

So this is it: my observations on the great city of Seattle, Washington, the highs, the lows, the search for home in this land of plenty. Enjoy!

August 29, 2007, Seattle, WA

Cruising out of Downtown Seattle, August 22, 2007

View from Kerry Park, Queen Anne hill, Seattle, July 13, 2008