Keep [LOOK AT ME! LOOK At ME!] Weird

The "Keep [Blank] Weird" trend supposedly started in Austin, but has spread like eczema across the cultural epidermis. So sad.

Maybe it was original the first time it was used, but now it is hardly unique or creative.

To me the whole idea of weirdness is that the subject in question is out of touch with common reality and somewhat unaware of their own weirdness. Rotary Club meetings are weird. Most of the small towns in southwest Washington State are weird. The Tea Party is weird. Cats are weird. People who wear bicycle helmets indoors are weird. Silverware is weird.

Actually most of life is weird. But among the things that are not weird are cities, or entire states, that jump up and down and shout "Look at us! We're weird!" That's not weird, that's just marketing, which is pretty mundane. Since my motto is "Drabness is Goodness," I can hardly complain about this "Keep ... Weird" ad campaign, so I'll embrace the paradox as part of normal pop culture.

Phone photo 2470

This obscure spot next to the railroad tracks just outside of Longview, Washington has a sign marking the area as the site of the 1852 Monticello Convention, where settlers who lived north of the Columbia River in the Oregon Territory created a petition to form their own political subdivision because they wanted to have the freedom to pump gasoline into their vehicles on their own. This was the beginning of what later became Washington State.

Postcard - Seattle, Washington

"The Downtown Business District of Seattle, Washington. The towering 600 ft. (183 m) Space Needle is seen in the foreground, the Kingdome on the right, and majestic, snow-covered Mount Rainier is clearly visible in the distance, 100 miles (160.9 km.) away."

Taken in the late 1970s or 1980, when I lived in Seattle. Such a great city. I prefer it to Portland, although I know that is not the hip way to think these days. But look at our histories and you'll see Washington is a much more progressive state.

Favorite Movie Quotes: Bad Girls

"Grand territory, Oregon. I spent a couple of years there, once. A lot of rain, a lot of logs. I don't like either."

This film would've been more appropriately entitled: Bad Movie

Phone photo 1578

Part of a mural series by Joe Knowles in the Monticello Hotel, Longview, Washington.

The first portrait portrays that one-eyed genocidal pirate, Robert Gray.

The man with the long white hair is Dr. John McLoughlin, an important figure in Washington State history on many levels. Oregon likes to claim the Doc (they even have a statue of him in Salem), but he really belongs to us Washingtonians.

Phone photo 959

Mouth of the Columbia River, Oregon/Washington border, as seen from Chinook, Washington

I'm Back!

Went down to Oregon on a secret mission for a couple days. But now I'm back and meaner than ever!

Tsunami Warning System, Ocean Shores, Washington

Our thoughts go out to our neighbors in the Pacific Ring of Fire, to our brothers and sisters in Japan, Hawaii, and Alaska. Meanwhile, Washington and Oregon are on tsunami advisory/warning.

Photos taken last month while visiting the west side of our county, at Ocean Shores, Washington.