I’m enthusiastically introducing a new contributer tonight. Rose McMayhem grew up in our city, attended out local schools, graduated from University of Washington, and she writes some of the most creative, funniest journal entries I have read. She has generously agreed to share her writing talent with readers of this blog. Her perspective is younger than mine, which is a good thing, and far less city hall oriented…which is also a good thing. Please let her know what you think about her writing…help me encourage Rose and Keri Kopnick to keep sharing their talents with us by leaving them some comments.

Thanks!

Randy
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Welcome to the South shore of Lake Washington. It’s maligned by many, is home to tens of thousands, and relatively speaking, has a pretty impressive history. In my 3rd grade class at Maplewood Heights, we did a unit on the history of the city, and I, for one, was impressed with how far back we’d been around and what a stake we had in driving the industrialization of the area- between mining, Paccar and Boeing, we were contributing quite a bit to the region as far as jobs and products at the beginning of the 20th century.

All history aside, though, the place is clearly not the pinnacle of white-trash-dom that John Keister would have the greater Seattle Metropolitan area believe (no disrespect, John- I know you have to make a living). Time and time again, when asked where I live, my response is met with a grimace and look of pity- much like the reaction one gets when they own up to a lifestyle so foreign to others that they assume couldn’t possibly have been a conscious choice, but must have happened by accident or coersion. To wit: I’m an atheist (cringe!). I have 10 stepchildren (gasp!). I bought a Ford (you poor thing!).

I had a city-dwelling friend who always made a point to tell others in my presence, apologetically: “She lives in Renton.” And so on; you all know what I mean. They assume there’s something wrong with us.

Don’t feel sorry for me; your pity is unnecessary. In fact, it’s insulting- while some extraneous circumstances may be assumed to exist, in general it’s safe to say that if I hated the place, I wouldn’t live here. On the contrary, 25 of my 27 ½ years have been spent in the little city that’s “ahead of the curve,” and let’s be clear on one thing: it hasn’t been against my will. Yeah, I got out for a little while. Left home after college and spread my wings all the way up in the Central District. Turned out that city life wasn’t for me, though- despite the crowding, everyone kept to themselves a little too much, and everyone had something to prove. So when I was looking to get out, I looked back from where I’d come and bought a little place not far from where I’d grown up- on familiar terrain, and near my dad’s shop (critical to those of us who drive older vehicles).

Did I find it to be a concession; the only feasible location for someone who had to keep her mortgage payments low? Nah, it was exactly what I wanted, and in the 3 years I’ve spent in my chosen neighborhood, I haven’t regretted it.

Well, save for the hoodlum neighbors on one side of me…but every town’s got those; there are jerks everywhere. Same as there are pleasant people everywhere, and we’ve got a surplus of those as well.

No…really. You just have to shake off the patina of prejudice you’ve been burdened with to see that Renton is just another suburb: in reality, it’s no more of a ghetto than the older parts of Bellevue, although people tend to miss that detail because we’re not all upper-middle-class whites here. But yes, it is a suburb, so if that’s the issue people have with it, I can’t defend it. However, if it’s a matter of it being any more or less livable than the surrounding environs, well then, me and my little army of proud Rentonites would like to talk to you.

Suffice it to say it annoys me when people put Renton down: I’ve chosen to live here, I like living here, no amount of good-natured chiding is going to change my mind about that- so take your pity and shove it. Myself and an army of perfectly normal people are happy with this place.

Rose McMayhem