As I drove into town Sunday night, the city's skyline made my heart swell, like it always does, with its excellent profiles, black and sparkly against the mountains, a kind of fantasy boyfriend whose vacant eyes are so beautiful you keep forgetting there's actually no one home. From the south, I-5 runs right up its throat, and that's pretty awesome too. It was nice to be home. Seattle may look stunning, but anyone living here knows the spark of Eros has been pretty much snuffed. Public life is as charged and stimulating as an NPR broadcast.
Good neighbors are cordial and cold, never hot or passionate.
Discourse flies toward the purely mental. And if sparks fly, let alone turn to flames, the city feels menaced. I hoped our visitors would bring a little Eros with them. Mayor Paul Schell began the week saying the confluence of WTO and protestors posed no problems. I look on this as a chance for the city to initiate a global conversation.