Way Out West: Initial Observations

The first thing that's apparent is that the water is on the wrong side. I'm a New Englander. Boy, am I a New Englander! Some of my maternal ancestors came over on the Mayflower in 1620. They spread out to Maine and later to Connecticut where I was born, but for nearly 500 years we've been New Englanders. That's why the ocean here is in the wrong place. In the natural order of things west is inland and east is toward the ocean if not in it already. Yet, though I've lived in Bellingham, Washington for 4 years now, the ocean is still, definitely on the wrong side.

Also, in New England there are no active volcanoes. Here I live in the shadow of Mt. Baker. It's beautiful. It's impressive. It could erupt and wipe out this city and everyone in it, kind of like Pompeii. That's different too.

Before moving here I spent most of the last 25 years in Salem, Massachusetts. Yes, it's the Salem of the 1691 Witch Trials and home to quite a number of firsts in this country. On my way to the train that took me to work in Boston I regularly passed a half dozen or more houses built before 1700. You don't hardly find that here. To be sure, the Native American history of Bellingham extends back centuries before my illegal immigrant ancestors came ashore at the place on the Massachusetts coast they called Plymouth. But a lot of that history has been obliterated by later in-migration and the rest tends to be guarded as the proprietary information of the present tribes. That heritage is certainly the property of the peoples whose ancestors lived it. Sharing some of it more freely would help promote more general understanding, I think. Yet I understand the need to horde resources toward rebuilding a culture that my ancestors spent nearly 500 years trying to obliterate.

The history of European settlement does get back into the 18th Century but the parts that are that old tend to be shrouded in mystery for the average person. The official memory here extends back about 125 years. In 2004 the City of Bellingham celebrated its 100th Anniversary. Salem was 100 years old when George Washington was having his 4th birthday. That's different too.

Apart from the historical and geographical differences I have to say that this is unquestionably the most beautiful place in which I've ever lived. The beauty of the natural setting is just breathtaking. I've long believed that poetry only happens near the sea or in mountains. With both in close proximity there is no end to the poetry of and inspired by this place.

That's enough for now. I'll write more about the contrasts later.