Peeve: "Poor Have Too Much"

When I talk to middle-class people, sometimes I hear complaints like, "It isn't fair that poor unemployed people don't pay income taxes." Or, "Gee, it must be sweet to never have to pay a mortgage, rent, or house payments. I wish I had it so easy."

They really get worked up when they find out that some poor and homeless individuals have had good fortune. When a homeless guy wins the lottery, I have heard housed people bitch, "It isn't right, that they win big while I have to work for a living," even as they're putting a dollar of their own down for a shot at the same good luck.

It would totally suck that poor people have the occasional good fortune if their lives were a bed of clover aside from it.

A case of misplaced poverty envy occurs every year when the Seattle Seafair Torchlight Parade goes past Anitra's room, and we open the blinds and watch it from the comfort of bed. The other parade observers outside on the street often make comments to the effect that we have it too good. Ha! One evening a year, maybe!

So many poor people live in Pioneer Square because decades ago Seattle made the decision to sweep all of its poor into this neighborhood and forget about them. That it was discovered to have historic charm and turned upscale around me is not my fault. That they route the parade past our bed is not our fault.

Once the parade started people turned and watched the parade instead of us, and I took some videos.

This first video is ironic, in that the sirens heard at the beginning are just a reminder of the sirens we hear every 20 minutes on average all year round, 24-7. So we're supposed to regard all those sirens at once as a treat?

Hot Cycles



Anitra says a bad word. I respond by bad-mouthing clowns and poking fun at the lederhosen-ed. Before anyone gets their panties in a bunch, I clown in print and I'm part German myself. So ease up.

Color Commentary



The ability to live in a neighborhood where dragons may often be sighted is also a benefit of living in the Iron Triangle.

Torchlight Dragon