ipl-logo

Summary Of Seattle Freeze

1077 Words5 Pages

In “Our Social Dis-ease: Beyond the smiles, the Seattle Freeze is on,” author and Seattle Times writer Julia Sommerfeld argues that Seattleites are a lot less friendly than everyone thinks. In passing situations, like an elevator, people in Seattle will be polite and make small talk with you. But, if you try to make further plans with people you just met, they freeze up. As Sommerfeld puts it, “You’ve just experienced the infamous Seattle Freeze. It’s the flip side of Seattle Nice. Welcome to Seattle…Now please go away,” (pg 1). Throughout the article, Sommerfeld interviews people who moved to Seattle and felt that they didn’t fit in and professionals who tried to make sense of the nature of Seattleites. After these interviews, a few …show more content…

The area that is described in “Our Social Dis-ease: Beyond the smiles, the Seattle Freeze is on,” is much more than just this view of Seattle. The actual City of Seattle is 83.9 square miles and houses over 612,000 people. But, the Seattle Metropolitan Area is over 4,400 square miles and has a population of over 3.6 million people. When Sommerfeld uses the word “Seattle,” she should define it as the entire Seattle Metropolitan area, not just the city. In the article, she uses examples of Bainbridge Island and Kirkland, which are both a long drive over a bridge away from Seattle. If the Seattle in the article represents the entire metropolitan area, there are numerous different neighborhoods and communities to account for. Every area you go to will have a different social dynamic, so categorizing them all as being “antisocial” does not seem …show more content…

By choosing the word plastic to describe the way that people generally act in Seattle during passing situations is insulting. Plastic implies non-genuine or fake. As a “normal” Seattleite I can assure you that we are not being fake, we genuinely want you to feel happy to be here. Maybe it is because we have a lot of pride in our town and want you to like it as much as we do, or maybe it was just the way that we were raised. I, personally, have never experienced living long-term in any metropolitan area besides Seattle. I was surprised to find out that in other places, people don’t smile at you on the street, or let you cross in front of their cars. In Seattle we may not instantly invite you into our lives, but we will go above and beyond with common courtesies. This friendly exterior/reserved interior seems like a better face to present to the world than a tough exterior/intimate interior, but maybe I’m

Show More
Related

  • Wes Moore Street Culture Analysis

    454 Words  | 2 Pages

    How well Wes Moore describes the culture of the streets, and particularly disenfranchised adolescents that resort to violence, is extraordinary considering the unbiased perspective Moore gives. Amid Moore’s book one primary theme is street culture. Particularly Moore describes the street culture in two cities, which are Baltimore and the Bronx. In Baltimore city the climate and atmosphere, of high dropout rates, high unemployment and poor public infrastructure creates a perfect trifecta for gang violence to occur. Due to what was stated above, lower income adolescent residents in Baltimore are forced to resort to crime and drugs as a scapegoat of their missed opportunities.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Year Of Silence By Kevin Brockmeier

    993 Words  | 4 Pages

    People really didn’t know how to react. Some people were so affected by the silence, they completely changed their way of life but in over time, the majority of the residents realize the silence has brought about a new sense of meaning to their lives and a sense of peace falls over the city. In

    Read More

  • Blizzard Of 1977 Essay

    792 Words  | 4 Pages

    For those Buffalonians who are old enough to remember it, the Blizzard of 1977 is a memory that has been seared into their consciousness. January 28th 1977, began as a normal day for the city of Buffalo, but by twelve noon the wind picked up, snow began to fall, and visibility became dangerously limited. As the wind began to intensify out of the west and sweep across the frozen wasteland of Lake Erie, it carried with it the lightly packed snow that had blanketed the frozen lake. An event of historical proportions was beginning to unfold in rapid time right in front of people’s eyes. Accumulating more and more snow as the wind moved eastward, the wind was carrying so much snow that it created white out conditions in the city and surrounding area.

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative: My Life In East Oakland

    545 Words  | 3 Pages

    I have lived in East Oakland my whole life. To the majority of people, the mention of East Oakland evokes thoughts of violence, shootings, and gangs. I was one of the people who believed in these stereotypes, and for a particularly long time. I was one of the people who saw Oakland as a wasteland, a place with nothing to offer me, and a place I had nothing to offer to.

    Read More

  • Geographic Location's Influence On The Victims Of Crime

    545 Words  | 3 Pages

    In society, there are certain individuals that are more susceptible to be victims of crime than others. There are several different factors that influence this susceptibility, and these factors generally revolve around the individual’s geographic location and their daily activities. Geographic location is a typical factor that comes to mind when discussing crime. It is a common thought by society that there are certain areas that have higher crime rates than others because there are areas of poverty, or it is in a “bad area” location wise. While poverty stricken areas and other areas with high crime rates are a definite influence on individuals who become victims of crime, there are also other factors and theories that help to understand why

    Read More

  • The Great Blizzard Of 1888

    358 Words  | 2 Pages

    he Great Blizzard of 88 Our natural hazard is blizzards. Blizzards are a severe snowstorm with high winds and low visibility. Blizzards can form when warm air must rise over cold air. There are two ways this can occur when winds pulls cold air toward the equator from the poles and it brings warm air toward the poles from the equator. Cold and warm air brought together forms and precipitation occurs.

    Read More

  • Working Class White Analysis

    1225 Words  | 5 Pages

    Racism is alive and well in our modern day society. The fact that racism is a prominent form of social justifications cannot be neglected. On the contrary to this, Angeline Price’s article titled, “Working Class Whites,” she argues that racism is gone but this idea of “classism” would be the “last available method of prejudice in our society.” However, Michael Omi and Nell Bernstein think otherwise.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Code Of The Streets By Elijah Anderson

    932 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Chapter 12 of Readings for Sociology, Garth Massey included and piece titled “The Code of the Streets,” written by Elijah Anderson. Anderson describes both a subculture and a counterculture found in inner-city neighborhoods in America. Anderson discusses “decent families,” and “street families,” he differentiates the two in in doing so he describes the so called “Code of the Streets.” This code is an exemplifies, norms, deviance, socialization, and the ideas of subcultures and countercultures.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Gentrification

    502 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gentrification is the process of renovating and improving a house or district so that it conforms to middle-class taste. Real Estate investors usually take low-income places that they feel have a chance to prosper economically, and turn them into areas that attract the middle and upper class workers. In doing so they feel like the low-income areas will be safer and more appealing, attracting more people to visit and live there. An improvement to a poor district sounds beautiful, but is gentrification as great as it’s sought out to be? Many residents have their doubts about gentrification due to the idea that the costs of their living will go up and they will be driven out of their neighborhoods.

    Read More

  • City Of Inmates Sparknotes

    1751 Words  | 8 Pages

    in America. It is the only such city not dominated by foreigners. It remains in a class to itself as the one city of the nation in which the white, American, Christian idealism still

    Read More

  • Snow Days Research Paper

    442 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Are E-Learning days a good alternative to snow days?” some people ask. Why, yes of course! E-Learning days are a very good alternative to snow days! So, reader, hopefully you will also think E-Learning days are a good alternative to snow days.

    Read More

  • George Saunders's The New Mecca

    1092 Words  | 5 Pages

    There is the idea of a city, and the city itself, too great to be held in the mind. And it is in this gap (between the conceptual and the real) that aggression begins” is central to Saunders’ essay, due to the fact that this quote illustrates Saunders’ message that people tend to have misconceptions generated from their own limited experience and misconceptions can easily lead to conflicts and aggression if handled

    Read More

  • The Pedestrian Dystopian Analysis

    605 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Robot that Stopped it All In this short story of The Pedestrian, Bradbury develops a society of the advancement of technology can destroy the uniqueness in this dystopian story. The society in this story has been taken over by technology, instead of people taking night strolls or walking their dogs; they would rather stay home and occupy themselves with something that involves watching a “viewing screen”. Since this has happened, walking seems like an oddity because no one does it anymore.

    Read More

  • Community Vs Neighborhood Analysis

    1436 Words  | 6 Pages

    1. What is the nature of community? How do you define neighborhood? What are the differences between community and neighborhood? Sociology has a very real impact on our everyday lives.

    Read More

  • Snowfall: A Short Story

    915 Words  | 4 Pages

    Snowfall is a pretty sight, the world is still; no movement, even the air stays still. When you look up at the cloudy gray sky and see the snowflakes fall they float down in a graceful path that would make ballerinas look clumsy. It 's a euphoric moment almost, the kid inside you wakes up and without thinking everyones impulsive habit is to scream “It 's snowing!” and raise their hands to the sky asking for more. In this case, I wanted less snow.

    Read More

More about Summary Of Seattle Freeze

Open Document