Kirkland
Read What went wrong?, a book about how Islamic culture lost out to Western culture. The basic premise seems to be that the Arabs and the Turks didn’t know anything about Western culture, and weren’t interested in learning anything about infidels. They borrowed the weapons after they got their asses handed to them, and then after they still had their arses kicked, they borrowed the Western organization and bureaucracies that came with it. Then they still got their arses kicked, because they didn’t do any science themselves and didn’t and couldn’t keep up with the West (again, because they didn’t know enough about Western culture.)
Not only that, the very idea of knowing Western culture was and is inimical to the very idea of Islam (as practiced, anyway). When these guys are by definition unbelievers and inferior, it’s a real kick in the teeth to have to have to borrow anything from them. The biggest problem was not that they couldn’t borrow the technology or the ideas… it’s that the people they sent out to the West to steal the forbidden fruit would come back with ideas that were… not Islamic. In fact, the infected diplomats and emigrants were more of a problem than the West – the West was out there, but it was a thing apart, and defined as ‘enemy’. But any people coming back from the West would be talking heresy from top to bottom, from Women’s rights, to the lack of slavery, to the separation of Church and State.
Then I read Dress Codes by Noelle Howey. An interesting story by an interesting woman, despite the fact that so much of the story is about her reaction to her parents and her grandparents. Noelle’s father is the strong silent type of man, whose only passion is acting. Noelle’s mother is a no-nonsense, practical woman who doesn’t think she’s interesting. Noelle’s father is strong and silent because his big fear is that people will know he likes dressing up in women’s clothing. Then he decides to come out. You’d figure that would make enough of a story, but really the book is about people’s idea of themselves, and the grandmother is a perfect example of this. Noelle, Granny and Mom end up playing roles of their own, and find out that they’re just as restrictive and self-defeating as the strong man Dad tries to be. Especially interesting is how Noelle’s own sexuality and personality is shaped by her father, even without him knowing it, as she reflects on her own sexual needs and beliefs while talking to some seriously disturbed pre-op transexuals just after her father’s operation.
Then I went to the Redmond Brown Bag Cafe for lunch. You must go to this place if you are ever in Redmond – it makes La Note look like a light sneeze. They have food which will make you spherical. You could walk in looking like Fabio and walk out as Pavarotti. It was 2 pm, and so bright I could barely look at my spiral bound notebook. The waitress was extremely nice and kept bringing me coffee and offering encouraging advice “almost there” “nearly made it” I felt like I was on the final stretch of a mile long lap and just putting one foot in front of another, doggedly spooning one mouthful after another of delicious food… too hard to go on, to good to stop. The place is dangerous.
Then I still couldn’t think of what to do, so I drove out to Kirkland to find the factory where they make all the Costco yogurt. I drove past beautiful waterfront property on beautiful waterfront property. Every few miles there would be a spate of ‘house for rent’ or ‘price reduced’ signs on the side, and I would wonder if there was a dead skunk under that particular area or just random statistics. Finally I drove down to a sign that said ‘Denny Park’ (but it couldn’t have been, Denny Park is on the other side of the Sound) and I found a perfect park with little yappy dogs.
Then the Abercrombie and Fitch catalogue showed up. Ridiculously attractive men and women, with actual sixpacks, playing Ultimate Frisbee. I started looking for the Real World cameras when an actual no-kidding aqua ski comes out from across the bay and landed right in front of me. Guy strips off his wetsuit, poses for the cameras, then joins the A & F crowd, one of whom is apparently called Brittney. I swear.
Meanwhile I’m lying on my black(tm) t-shirt, black (tm) jeans, pasty(tm) white(tm) skin turning red, looking down at my chest and counting the packs. I can feel some of the crowd looking at me and I almost reach for the Kierkegaard I keep in my back pocket while I look for the inverted crucifix and the unholy water.
After that, I went for a walk around downtown Kirkland, which is a lot like Sausalito without the tourists. Lots of expensive jewelry shops and art galleries, interspersed with sports bars. They have a memorial near the waterfront that lists the impressive things Kirkland residents have done. Someone won a softball tournament. Another was Miss USA.
There are no bookshops. But there’s a shop in Kirkland which sells nothing but bikinis. They’re even having a bikini contest on the 4th.
I still haven’t figured out anything to do for fun, but I thought of three different things I could do for work.