Post by Brad Nelson on Apr 27, 2022 6:18:22 GMT -8
I'm about 46% through Closer to the Ground. It's the story of a family that has moved from urban Seattle to the bedroom suburbs of Bainbridge Island. And, yes, this is an island right next to where I live, more or less (dead in between Seattle and Bremerton). Been on it hundreds of times.
This is where I have to try to not be an asshole. The author and his family sound like splendid people. He's a mostly engaging writer as he talks basically about his experience of being a hunter-gatherer in and around the island.
Nearly everything he's talked about I've done at one time: Freezing my ass off while fishing in the cold morning mist on Puget Sound for salmon; pulling up shrimp pots on Hood Canal; hunting clams and that truly unique Northwest thing, the geoduck; picking berries (and, in particular, picking strawberries on Bainbridge Island); salvaging firewood from fallen trees; eating crab. His descriptions are a unique compendium of all things Pacific Northwest.
Reading this brings back a lot of good memories. And it's certainly a bonus to read someone who understands the area. Hell, I may have even met the gentleman or done business with him, although the name, Dylan Tomine, does not offhand ring a bell.
You have to understand that there is some history here between Bainbridge Island and the rest of the area. Although they are technically (and not by their choice) a part of Kitsap County, Bainbridge Islanders prefer to think of themselves as a suburb of Seattle. It is well known that the islanders tend to be snobbish.
None of this speaks to this specific author who seems like a good chap. But there seems to be much left that is unsaid. Basically we all know the story of the liberal urbanites who escape the problems of the big city (problems that they helped to create) and move to other lands...and bring their problems with them. I don't know that this fine fellow, the author, every voted for any of the wacko communists who sit on the Seattle City Council. But this council, and others, are currently making parts of the city unlivable, especially with the plague of "the homeless." Let's face it. If you elect people whose solution to crime is to get rid of the police, you are part of the problem and moving to the suburbs to pick berries is not facing up to that problem.
In this book we marvel at the abundance of nature. But never is God thanked as the source of all this. This is clearly (or seems so) a secular family who belong to The Church of Global Warming. We get buzzwords like "sustainability" and "carbon footprint." We even learn from the author that a University of Washington egghead says (during one very cold summer) that one of the signs of "global warming" could indeed be cooler temperatures. Etc. Etc. Still, I do like this fellow. And his description of his two children are repeatedly charming. There's no villain here.
But there is a backdrop. And that (surely liberal) backdrop peaks through. When talking about the history of strawberries on the island, the author writes:
No, it wasn't "the federal government" that did this. Is was the product of the liberal Democrat idol, Franklin D. Roosevelt, via executive order. Is this just a slip of the tongue or does it go to show the subtle denial of liberals for their own policies?
This fellow makes a great case for living in the Pacific Northwest. And there's no doubt he's a splendid fellow. But you have to wonder if, besides learning to shuck an oyster, he also needs to learn about the consequences of his own politics and worldview, or at least those of his kind. Don't expect Bainbridge Island (or anywhere) to remain "sustainable" while liberals are running amok, never learning the lessons from the destruction they leave behind.
This is where I have to try to not be an asshole. The author and his family sound like splendid people. He's a mostly engaging writer as he talks basically about his experience of being a hunter-gatherer in and around the island.
Nearly everything he's talked about I've done at one time: Freezing my ass off while fishing in the cold morning mist on Puget Sound for salmon; pulling up shrimp pots on Hood Canal; hunting clams and that truly unique Northwest thing, the geoduck; picking berries (and, in particular, picking strawberries on Bainbridge Island); salvaging firewood from fallen trees; eating crab. His descriptions are a unique compendium of all things Pacific Northwest.
Reading this brings back a lot of good memories. And it's certainly a bonus to read someone who understands the area. Hell, I may have even met the gentleman or done business with him, although the name, Dylan Tomine, does not offhand ring a bell.
You have to understand that there is some history here between Bainbridge Island and the rest of the area. Although they are technically (and not by their choice) a part of Kitsap County, Bainbridge Islanders prefer to think of themselves as a suburb of Seattle. It is well known that the islanders tend to be snobbish.
None of this speaks to this specific author who seems like a good chap. But there seems to be much left that is unsaid. Basically we all know the story of the liberal urbanites who escape the problems of the big city (problems that they helped to create) and move to other lands...and bring their problems with them. I don't know that this fine fellow, the author, every voted for any of the wacko communists who sit on the Seattle City Council. But this council, and others, are currently making parts of the city unlivable, especially with the plague of "the homeless." Let's face it. If you elect people whose solution to crime is to get rid of the police, you are part of the problem and moving to the suburbs to pick berries is not facing up to that problem.
In this book we marvel at the abundance of nature. But never is God thanked as the source of all this. This is clearly (or seems so) a secular family who belong to The Church of Global Warming. We get buzzwords like "sustainability" and "carbon footprint." We even learn from the author that a University of Washington egghead says (during one very cold summer) that one of the signs of "global warming" could indeed be cooler temperatures. Etc. Etc. Still, I do like this fellow. And his description of his two children are repeatedly charming. There's no villain here.
But there is a backdrop. And that (surely liberal) backdrop peaks through. When talking about the history of strawberries on the island, the author writes:
But the Island's strawberry industry didn't last. When the federal government forced Japanese-American farmers into relocation cams during the war, the farms suffered and the cannery was abandoned.
No, it wasn't "the federal government" that did this. Is was the product of the liberal Democrat idol, Franklin D. Roosevelt, via executive order. Is this just a slip of the tongue or does it go to show the subtle denial of liberals for their own policies?
This fellow makes a great case for living in the Pacific Northwest. And there's no doubt he's a splendid fellow. But you have to wonder if, besides learning to shuck an oyster, he also needs to learn about the consequences of his own politics and worldview, or at least those of his kind. Don't expect Bainbridge Island (or anywhere) to remain "sustainable" while liberals are running amok, never learning the lessons from the destruction they leave behind.
