Seattle Has Parks, Reads Books, Still Wears Plaid According to National Media
Texting Queen | Seattle, WA by [ Graham Lee ] from the Seattlest Flickr pool. Just look at all that plaid! Typical.
This week, Seattle has been all over the map. Or at least, all up in the pages of some national publications. Aside from Frank Bruni's much-publicized Northwest crush, it seems as though plenty of others have caught on to the wonders of the Pacific. Seattle has recently been selected as a destination in Vogue, as well as awarded one of the Best Cities for Families by Parenting Magazine. And yet, all of said wonders seem to be left out in the startlingly mundane outsider perspectives of our quirky, multi-faceted city.
According to Vogue, the best way to blend in in Seattle is to don "Timberland boots, a Marni nylon jacket, an A.P.C. plaid shirt, and Uniqlo leggings." Unfortunately, of course, there is no Uniqlo in Seattle. But that's besides the point. And we won't bother breaking down the rest of the piece, becsause it's oh-so-predictable. A nod to Pike Place. A mention of Nevermind. A recommendation to eat at Flying Fish. Perhaps Anna Wintour should come out West herself and see what's shaping up?
As for Parenting Magazine, who named Seattle the 8th Best City for Families (after Washington DC, Honolulu, and Des Moines, IA), at least they got some parts right. Like when they called us a "hotbed of reading," and informed readers that if they "want to raise a book lover," this is the place to do it. The list was based on several qualifications, such as low housing prices (ha!), low crime rates and amount of park space--and to be honest, we're pretty sure it was just the parks that got us in. As our own Rob Ketcherside points out, it's likely due to the fact that there won't be any children at the aforementioned parks to pressure newcomers into delinquent behavior--Seattle's under-18 crowd is a small one. And while they did mention both Starbucks and Amazon, they mercifully left out an "Sleepless" references.
So, there you have it. The rest of the country still sees us as a land of rolling hills, coffee, nerds and don't-give-a-damn grunge lovers. And you know, if that keeps them from moving out here, we don't really mind.
