My parents purchased their Seattle house in 1972. It’s a peaceful community not too far from downtown where yesterday violence took to the streets. Tomorrow is June in the year 2020. The Briarcliff Development was created in June of 1925 as an addition to the City of Seattle. As far as I can tell there were two Briarcliff phases:
Briarcliff 1 – 122 Planned Homes
Briarcliff 2 – 40 Planned Homes
The Covenants for the developments defined the community. It was ok to have a dog or a cat but it was not permissible to have livestock on the property. In addition it also read; No person other than of the White race shall be permitted to occupy any portion of any lot in this plat, or of any building at any time there on, except a domestic servant actually employed by a White occupant of such building. – Note – White was capitalized.
There are over 500 of these deeds on records with discriminatory language. The Briarcliff language was all inclusive. Some were specific and included Hebrews, Semitics, Ethiopians, Asiatics, Negros, Malay, Turkish Empire, Japanese and Chinese.
When we arrived in 1972 the Covenant most likely still contained the language making it illegal for my adopted sister from Korea and her friend Tiffany an adopted African American, to live in the community. It is doubtful it would have been enforced yet it was still permissible until 1968 for covenants to have these type of restrictions.
Here is the kicker. In many covenants the language remains to this day.
I grew up in White Privilege and I continue to benefit from White Privilege today.
Murray Marshall would have loved this! Dad loved to travel. If he had not gone into the ministry then he would have been perfectly happy running a travel business. He enjoyed the anticipation and experience of air travel when it became the norm. But trains, he loved trains. I only understood this as I grew older. If there was one thing I could do with my Dad it would be to ride a train to somewhere.
This video takes you on an overnight trip from Montreal to Halifax, Nova Scotia. At ten minutes long it’s a perfect mini vacation. If you are reading this in an E Mail click on the picture for the video.
My bike tires start rolling, a right then a left and I slip off the steep hill. Less than two minutes and I’m in the village. It is quiet with a few people wandering about in not much of a hurry. They don’t desire to be back in their quarantine homes either. The village is small and the stores mostly empty. Nothing to see today, nothing to stop for and nobody I know to give a smile to. My ride takes be back up a hill on a divided street lined with trees. Parked cars make the narrow street even more so, a car comes up behind me and I squeeze to the right to let it pass. My pace is good and I glide through the intersections always checking twice for the distracted driver.
Not long ago the city resurfaced Thorndyke Avenue. My 20 mile per hour glide is smooth and I float for almost a mile. I barely hear the tires spinning. After the road flattens out I make a sharp right past the Barber Shop and down to the trail along the tracks of the Balmer Yard run by BNSF Railway. Everyday is different along those tracks but always the sound of the massive diesel locomotives. When the yard is busy I listen as cars driven by gravity are slowed by the Dowty Retarders. The sound is a distinctive clack clack clack and then the boom as the car couples with another. Sometimes the wingless frames of Boeing 737s are on specially built cars. They are green in color, treated to weather the elements. There are fewer now after negligence at Boeing killed 346 people. Orders dried up and still there is not a fix for the software flaw in the system.
Roots from trees make the narrow path uneven. Heading south the smoother side is the left. It would be nice if the city could shave down the bumps but even so the roots will alway win. More people are riding and walking the path and I’m forced back to the uneven side. I ride by rail cars built to transport oil, coal, goods, grain, cars and waste. Always something going on in the yard.
Expedia’s new headquarters is still under construction. Seems like it’s been years since building started. 4,500 employees are expected. It came with an upgrade to the waterfront path. Someday I’ll stop and explore the new landscaping and enjoy the views. At the height of the work the bike route detoured and at one intersection I met Preston who directed traffic. We always waved and shouted out best wishes but I have not seen him for a while now.
Now I need to be careful along the path and keep my speed to 15 miles per hour or less. Only when the path is empty do I go faster. The multi use trail is typically crowded unless the weather is poor. A grain ship takes on its load at the Pier 86 terminal. 8,000 tons of grain transferred from the silos to the first vessel to take on a load in 1970 just after opening. Grain cars fill the silos and the silos fill the ships. When a ship first docks the water mark rides high and then it eases down into Elliott Bay from the weight of the grain.
At the other end of the trail before I exit onto Alaskan Way there is the Olympic Sculpture Park. My favorite work is Echo the 46 foot tall slender meditating head. The park is a part of The Seattle Art Museum.
To head up to the Pike Place Market it is best to head over the train tracks then make the right to ride up Elliott. If the crossing gates are down I’ll watch the train if I’m not in a hurry. Sometimes they are long. There is a way around by going south and I’ll cut up Western Avenue after the train has entered the tunnel.
It is quiet in the market these days. Some stores are open but only for take out. My tires roll over the cobble stones. In the middle of the day the main street, Pike Place, is too crowded for me to ride. Few people are around now so I ride. Some people still come down to take pictures in front of the original Starbucks. There’s another larger store a block and a half away and many tourists mistake it for the first store. Sometimes I let them know.
Before I move on there are two breweries to visit. It is carry out only and the people at Cloudburst and Old Stove are grateful to see me and they thank me for wearing a mask.
I’ll take my time going back and maybe it will be by a different route.
May 1, 2020 – 8 Lessons are now up on the course website. I’ve enjoyed the interaction with several individuals who signed up and I’ve learned quite a bit myself in the process. If you are interested you can start anytime. There is no cost and it is learn at your own pace. Here is a link to the Course Invitation and the Syllabus.
Aswath Damodaran is a Professor Of Finance at NYU Stern School of Business. If you watch this video from minute 12:45 to 17:40 you will gain insight into why I have so much interest in valuation and working with privately held businesses. Valuation is forensic in nature. It is for numbers people and storytellers. Aswath is incredibly generous. He posts many of his courses online via YouTube. He is a significant influence in my understanding and utilization of valuation.
Pay special attention to his second question about company growth.
How did my mind wander here and back to my early years in New York City? The guilty party is Lisa Jenness. Her husband Mike does the work on my two E Bikes. The other day Lisa decides she would like to get an insight into the history of my musical tastes with one of those “I nominate you to…..” threads on Facebook. It did start me to thinking about my early years and music.
This may have been the first record I ever owned. I remember playing this over and over on my 45 record player.
Thinking of this reminded me of always listening to Musicradio 77 WABC. It was the top 40 station in New York City. Mom and Dad did not listen to this station.
So I will give you a few links if you would like to reminisce about those not so peaceful times. The links below after The NY Times article are lists for the top hits of 1967 to 1972. The songs, the artists. Memories! Who can forget Gary Lewis and the Playboys singing “Sealed With a Kiss?” – So we gotta say goodbye for the summer…..
Greek words for time. One measures time in minutes, the other measures in moments.
When we are born we are given Chronos time. My Father was given 43 Million minutes and a few more. Paul my cousin was given not quite 28 Million.
All of my memories of Dad and Paul are captured and held by Kairos time, the moments. I’ve nothing more to add to this observation. Just tossing this out to everyone. Stay safe!
When Paul and I drove to see the eclipse in Madras, OR it was an interesting time. Many entertaining people present. When I see a full moon I always think that the position of the moon is on the opposite side of the earth in relation to the sun than it was during the eclipse. I always think of that day pretty much anytime I look at the moon.
This picture, taken of a sign in Madras, given the current world situation might add a bit more perspective. Very clever!
Wow, this is a word for today right? Courage, I sure feel like I could use some. For many of us it may feel like we could use some courage just to get out of bed in the morning. So much easier to pull up the covers and forget the world for a day, a week or for months.
When I formed my list of words to explore during this time of COVID – 19 courage wasn’t one I jotted down and I am not sure why. Just an oversight I suppose. Today the word courage puts images in our head of the firefighter running into the burning building or the first responders of 9/11. But this is not what the word originally meant.
Brené Brown talks about courage. The original definition was, ”To tell the story of who you are with your whole heart.” In Latin Courage meant “of the heart.”
Courage means you are going to have to get vulnerable and admitting and telling people you need help. Courage is the ability to admit you are afraid. I’ll tell you straight up, I am afraid and I worry about what is to come.
Tell the story of who you are with your whole heart.
Note – If you have not had the pleasure of experiencing Brené Brown she is worth taking the time to get to know wether it is via YouTube, her books or podcasts. If you can’t find her shoot me a note and I will get you some links.
My friend! I am back in that part of the dusky day, leaving the light behind heading into the night. The days are quiet now. We sit alone in our thoughts. What would I say to you on the phone today? Happy Birthday doesn’t quite seem right with all the trouble around us. We would talk about our concern for our family and friends. We would speculate about life after the virus. You would tell me you vision for your church knowing what we know now.
You would have many calls today, wishing you well. Yes they would be calling you for your birthday and they would also be calling with the hope that the sound of your voice could give them some hope and a smile. That would be your gift to them.
Happy Birthday just doesn’t seem the most appropriate thing to say. If you were alive I would call today and say “I am grateful for you.” I would say “Thank you.”
Paul Thompson would have been 55 today on April 5, 2020. There are many people who could use his smile, his laugh, his love and his encouragement today. Be safe, be smart.
This is a utility word. To persist means to continue to do something, to continue to try. If you persist you have not given up. As the fatigue of the isolation, the uncertainty and the tension sets in really all we can do is to continue to persist.
Early in my career in the insurance business I was told, “Plan your work and work your plan.” There is always the temptation to just give up. Take it one day at a time and persist. In another post, in fact the first post, I focused on the word “help.” Sometimes what we need to enable us to persist is to ask for help. Help because we need some encouragement to go on.
Start by doing one thing that you can do everyday. Don’t try to do everything because that is overwhelming. Persist in doing one thing. Stay focused and persist. If you need the encouragement to persist in something you know you need to be doing you can call me.
jdougmar 