Jason Truesdell : Pursuing My Passions
A life in flux. Soon to be immigrant to Japan. Recently migrated this blog from another platform after many years of neglect (about March 6, 2017). Sorry for the styling and functionality potholes; I am working on cleaning things up and making it usable again.

Fremont Solstice Parade

June 19, 2007, 12:13 AM

One of the best things about the Seattle is the remarkably quirky character of its neighborhoods... Fremont is perhaps the quirkiest of all of them, and happens to be home for me. I'm increasingly partial to Ballard, but Fremont is the historic heart of Seattle's expressive streak.

The Fremont Solstice Parade is probably the only event in the entire country where political statements, ambiguously nature-worshipping themes, unashamedly contemporary art, well-decorated public nudity, unstructured individual expression, and family entertainment come together all in one place, while remaining mostly devoid of overbearing corporate sponsorship messaging.

If you ever find yourself in Seattle during the summer, you really owe it to yourself to come to the parade. There's nothing quite like it.

(See way too many other photos on Fremont Fair Flickr set).

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Seattle Sakura

April 3, 2006, 10:13 PM

Sakura-branch

A weekend ago we made a trek to Washington Park Arboretum to do Seattle-style cherry-blossom viewing. That means completely devoid of public drunkenness, which would of course be de rigeur in Japan… Seattle style cherry-blossom viewing involves a moderately brisk trek across a large, uncrowded park, perhaps after a dose of coffee.

Sakura-bunch

Seattle’s cherry blossoms tend to be a bit earlier than  most of Japan, but April 4 is sort of the officially appreciated day for cherry-blossom viewing, so my sluggishness in posting these works out to have a slightly commemorative effect.

shidare-zakura

Now, if only we had a little blanket, a lot of shochu, some cold snacks, and no laws against drinking in public parks, we might have a complete hanami experience…