clumsy in a world of glass
Tacoma can boast many things that most of the world isn't aware of or doesn't care to know. For instance; You may not know that Tacoma is not named after the Toyota truck of the same name. Another juicy morsel you probably didn't know; Tacoma is not just another inner city prison pre-school. Oh no! Tacoma actually has more. A lot more.
Let's back up....
Not too many years ago, the city found itself in trouble, like so many other cities in America. People were leaving and it was a feeding frenzy for evil doere. It was the last wounded wildebeast amid a pride of hungry lions and there was no way out. With the fleeing people went the spending on safety, and those who remained were dead meat to the vultures. For nearly twenty years, the city's downtown core was a wasteland of former business glory which was now filled with desperation and despair. With no control, the area was run by nature's only true law: Guns., Those with the guns, are the law. (actually the law should be: Those with the will to use a gun...)
The downtown core is filled with some great buildings that were gutted in the feeding frenzy, but they withstood the heaviest riotiong and looting and are still standing today. Even the powers of evil know that you don't destroy the buildings in a riot. Evil has an eye for good craftsmanship.
Time passed and the world of downtown Tacoma slowed down. It turns out that a few army rangers from a near by base came into town and killed some gang members. Somehow that triggered an interest in downtown Tacoma again. The next thing you know, a different kind of evil appeared on the top of the hill. No longer was the law run by the gun, but instead the law was ruled by the property developer and the young upstart interior decorator. And overnight the beautiful downtown buildings which had been empty for so many years, had new tenants and a new look. Rich tenants, with a talent for suckering young artsy types into moving into a cooooool pad that had bare brick showing in the walls.(these are the same evil doers that use typewriters to decorate Applebees restaurants)
So Tacoma grew out of it's dark ages with an awkward new lease on the future. Businesses came in, and quickly went out of business. So new, smarter businesses came in and took their place. They went out of business too. So even more businesses came in and took their place. Those sort of worked and Tacoma started to show some life. Artsy people, it would seem, are broke ass, stingy freaks.
Kiss my glass...
In an attempt to reshape the downtown core, the fresh faced politicians decided that there needed to be a reason for people in the safe suburbs to come down and visit the former war-torn Tacoma shoreline. Museums! They cried, and they opened two. The Washington state musuem filled with Indian totems, pioneer paraphenlia and over priced junk in the gift shop that is made in China. People balked. When that failed to impress anyone, they opened the art musuem. They put in a few paintings and borrowed a statue or two and voila! People began to fear downtown Tacoma for a new reason - insanity in politics. Times looked tough and the future was bleak.
Then a man with a strange gift came calling. A man that had grown up in the former glory that had been Tacoma and who had made good in the world by learning to blow glass, came back with a heart filled with nostalgia. It seems that this man had something going for him that no petty politician could figure out - He had a name that was honest.
This man offered to put in a musuem of his own in the downtown core and wouldn't you know it - That sucker was popular and the town started to see some life.
It's covered in glass. Filled with glass. Made of glass and all about glass. Glass everything. From this tiny glass seed a new town grew and grew and grew.
Today, the downtown core is filled with some rather pessimistic business owners that are always expecting the axe to fall. And there are still some old school rioters that still grace the avenues, but they are almost part of the charm, like a road side tourist trap on Route 66. But the glass musuem brings in people from far and wide and those people have money to spare and don't remember the darkness that was the 70's and 80's.
You have to cross a bridge made of rock and glass that stretches across the full width of the interstate to get the museum. Then you descend a hundred tiny steps to the front door. The door is glass and it sits in a wall of glass. Inside the main glass room is door that leads to a cafe made of glass. Another leads to a glass furnace where glass is made. Another door leads into the musuem itself. On the far side of the main room is a small art area where you can paint your own plastic cup and pretend that it's glass and you're a real glass artist, just like the ones that are blowing glass behind the wall next to you. (it's really more for children, but you can do it too)
It's appropriate that Tacoma would be the world headquaters for a delicate glass building. It's history and it's future is all about delicate and fragile creations of man's wild heart. It's beautiful to see, and you know that the slightest misstep could lead to tragedy. A tragedy so dark that no one here even dares think it! Should you get the chance, don't forget that glass is made here in Tacoma. Next time you come around, stop in and experience the creation.
Let's back up....
Not too many years ago, the city found itself in trouble, like so many other cities in America. People were leaving and it was a feeding frenzy for evil doere. It was the last wounded wildebeast amid a pride of hungry lions and there was no way out. With the fleeing people went the spending on safety, and those who remained were dead meat to the vultures. For nearly twenty years, the city's downtown core was a wasteland of former business glory which was now filled with desperation and despair. With no control, the area was run by nature's only true law: Guns., Those with the guns, are the law. (actually the law should be: Those with the will to use a gun...)
The downtown core is filled with some great buildings that were gutted in the feeding frenzy, but they withstood the heaviest riotiong and looting and are still standing today. Even the powers of evil know that you don't destroy the buildings in a riot. Evil has an eye for good craftsmanship.
Time passed and the world of downtown Tacoma slowed down. It turns out that a few army rangers from a near by base came into town and killed some gang members. Somehow that triggered an interest in downtown Tacoma again. The next thing you know, a different kind of evil appeared on the top of the hill. No longer was the law run by the gun, but instead the law was ruled by the property developer and the young upstart interior decorator. And overnight the beautiful downtown buildings which had been empty for so many years, had new tenants and a new look. Rich tenants, with a talent for suckering young artsy types into moving into a cooooool pad that had bare brick showing in the walls.(these are the same evil doers that use typewriters to decorate Applebees restaurants)
So Tacoma grew out of it's dark ages with an awkward new lease on the future. Businesses came in, and quickly went out of business. So new, smarter businesses came in and took their place. They went out of business too. So even more businesses came in and took their place. Those sort of worked and Tacoma started to show some life. Artsy people, it would seem, are broke ass, stingy freaks.
Kiss my glass...
In an attempt to reshape the downtown core, the fresh faced politicians decided that there needed to be a reason for people in the safe suburbs to come down and visit the former war-torn Tacoma shoreline. Museums! They cried, and they opened two. The Washington state musuem filled with Indian totems, pioneer paraphenlia and over priced junk in the gift shop that is made in China. People balked. When that failed to impress anyone, they opened the art musuem. They put in a few paintings and borrowed a statue or two and voila! People began to fear downtown Tacoma for a new reason - insanity in politics. Times looked tough and the future was bleak.
Then a man with a strange gift came calling. A man that had grown up in the former glory that had been Tacoma and who had made good in the world by learning to blow glass, came back with a heart filled with nostalgia. It seems that this man had something going for him that no petty politician could figure out - He had a name that was honest.
This man offered to put in a musuem of his own in the downtown core and wouldn't you know it - That sucker was popular and the town started to see some life.
It's covered in glass. Filled with glass. Made of glass and all about glass. Glass everything. From this tiny glass seed a new town grew and grew and grew.
Today, the downtown core is filled with some rather pessimistic business owners that are always expecting the axe to fall. And there are still some old school rioters that still grace the avenues, but they are almost part of the charm, like a road side tourist trap on Route 66. But the glass musuem brings in people from far and wide and those people have money to spare and don't remember the darkness that was the 70's and 80's.
You have to cross a bridge made of rock and glass that stretches across the full width of the interstate to get the museum. Then you descend a hundred tiny steps to the front door. The door is glass and it sits in a wall of glass. Inside the main glass room is door that leads to a cafe made of glass. Another leads to a glass furnace where glass is made. Another door leads into the musuem itself. On the far side of the main room is a small art area where you can paint your own plastic cup and pretend that it's glass and you're a real glass artist, just like the ones that are blowing glass behind the wall next to you. (it's really more for children, but you can do it too)
It's appropriate that Tacoma would be the world headquaters for a delicate glass building. It's history and it's future is all about delicate and fragile creations of man's wild heart. It's beautiful to see, and you know that the slightest misstep could lead to tragedy. A tragedy so dark that no one here even dares think it! Should you get the chance, don't forget that glass is made here in Tacoma. Next time you come around, stop in and experience the creation.
posted by Daniel Loomis | 10:01 AM
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