Freakamerica

I’m occasionally guilty of talking smack about large cities, claiming they distort my sense of community. Not today. I had a moment of clarity about what it is that I love about Seattle, cities and this great country. Cities are organic freak farms. Freaks are the American dream. They remind us that in America it really is possible to grow up a conservative evangelical Christian, quit your job as a tech consultant for Boeing and become a sought out hemp rope bondage extraordinaire. Someone WILL make you a custom pair of undies out of your old Slayer shirt. Someone CAN give your frosty purple bicycle hand built wheels that sport purple spokes and silver nipples with matte white phosphorescent rims that glow purple in the dark. Oh yes, we can. If you need a custom cupcake portrait of two cupcakes looking for change on the NYC sidewalk, consider it done. TJ Cowgill can design your satanic clothes, Spencer Moody (a necro-junk salesman) will sell you antique prosthetic limbs and Mark Mitchell will make you a burlesque dress that will spring apart with the flick of a finger. This is the new industrial revolution, unfolding in bursts of entrepreneurial creativity. The freaks are thriving in this fine city and creating a community reminiscent of liberty. - S. Mangosteen