Skid Road
Rating: 3 / 5 stars
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High-Level Thoughts
Insightful book on the history of Seattle. Stories of the development of Harborview Medical Center, the University of Washington, and other large institutions were eye-opening even for someone who lived here. The stories tended to drag on with added information and while thought-provoking was sometimes boring.
“We must especially listen to the quieter voices telling their stories or even mere fragments of stories.”
Summary Notes
One Woman’s Seattle
“We are proud people and we survive”
“Like many other people, I moved here from a much older, more problem-plagued city in search of greater opportunities and a better quality of life–and as an escape from my past”
“Seattle was not settled by European American pioneers until 1852.”
Brother’s Keeper
“The English Poor Laws began with the Vagabond and Beggars Act of 1494, which called for all male and female vagabonds and beggars to be put in the stocks for three days and nights, given only bread and water, and then ‘warned out’ – admonished to return to the ‘hundred’ where they were born or last lived.”
“Hence the terms ‘asylum’ and ‘retreat’ began to be synonymous with the insane hospital”
“[Edward Moore]’s life in Seattle–King County influenced how the residents and officials have dealt with the quandary of what to do about the increasing number of ill paupers and homeless people, including Native Americans, living– and dying– in their midst.”
Skid Road
“Her actions spoke louder than any words she would ever speak. This was truly her home and she wasn’t going to leave,” – Julia Anne Allain, ‘Duwamish History in Duwamish Voices: Weaving Our Family Stories since Colonization’
“The practice of white settler men ‘cohabitating’ with Native women ‘was giving birth to a class of vagabonds who promised to become the most vicious and troublesome elements in the population.’”
“Truly single and in search of not only work but also female companionship–and sex— so brothels were established from the very beginning of Seattle.”
The Sisters
“Charity is one of those remarkable words that helps to identify the fault lines of a culture.” – Janet Poppendieck, Sweet Charity? Emergency Food and the End of Entitlement
“In the Catholic faith, charity is defined as the love of God and the love of neighbors as oneself.”
Ark of Refuge
“Mere charity only bails the boat and justice alone will stop the leak,” – Malcolm McDonald, “The Samaritan Spirit – Seattle Pharisees”
“A curious phenomenon developed in these evangelical movements with an unspoken belief along the lines of the more you have sinned, the farther you have fallen off the path of righteousness, the more impressive your salvation.”
“She declares that poverty or ‘the reckless, shameless life of others afford a city no excuse for carelessness and indifference,”
“Alexander de Soto and his Seattle waterfront floating mission hospital are much more than just quirky asides in the medical history and legacy of care for homeless people in Seattle.”
Shacktown
“Those people were my people. I respected them, and the neighborhood was home to me.” – Hazel Wolf quoted in Susan Starbuck, Hazel Wolf: Fighting the Establishment
“Hooverville residents provided temporary shelter and even shared what food they had with railroad hobos and drifters passing through. It was common practice that when a Hooverville resident got a job and could move into a rooming house, he gifted his shack to someone who needed it.”
“Some of the former residents of shacktowns obtained jobs and could move into better housing. But many others simply moved to more marginalized areas, such as along the Duwamish River.”
Threshold
“Never mind the body lying inert in the doorway. The body is there to remind you of those who went before, of those who tried to find their way out, their way home.” – Josephine Ensign, Soul Stories: Voices from the Margins
“Pioneer Square became one of the nation’s first federally designated national historic districts as a link to the US frontier past.”
“Dark days of 1861 when this great [University of Washington] was founded.” He added, “This territory had only the simplest elements of civilization. And this city had barely begun to function. But a university was one of their earliest thoughts—and they summed it up in the motto they adopted [for the University of Washington]: ‘Let There Be Light.’”
“Between 1968 and 1971, Boeing laid off 86,000 people due to the national recession. This became known as the Boeing Bust. Washington State unemployment hit 14 percent, the highest in the nation.”
“The Green River Killer had already raped and murdered five girls and young women. He had dumped their bodies in the Green River, a tributary of the Duwamish River near where the King County Poor Farm and Hospital had been located.”
State of Emergency
“As they say, history does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.” – Margaret Atwood, The Testaments: The Sequel to the Handmaid’s Tale
“Declaring a state of emergency allows for the temporary revocation of certain government regulations and procedures in order to streamline and fast-track funding to address the emergency.”
“Seattle ranks first in the nation for the probability that a child born in poverty will be able to move out of poverty by the age of twenty-six.”
“In Seattle, the ‘westering’ notion of upward mobility – being able to start over and make something of oneself– to escape the decay of eastern cities was strong, at least up until the Great Depression.”
“Also contributing to the homelessness problem is the continuously inadequate funding and lack of coordination of behavioral health services, including services for mental health and substance use disorders.”
“Ironically, the Washington Post is owned currently by Jeff Bezos. Amazon has backed candidates who are more pro-business, many of whom criticized the city’s response to homelessness and invoked the rhetoric in Seattle is Dying.”
“Harborview Medical Center, which started out so long ago as the King County Poor Farm and Hospital first run by the Sisters of Charity of Providence, has become not only a medical refuge for homeless and impoverished people of King County but also a beacon of hope for critically injured and ill people across a four-state region. Seattle has long been called the best city to have a heart attack in and survive.”
Hearing Voices
“As I went walking, I saw a sign there, and on the sign there, it said “no trespassing.” But on the other side, it didn’t say nothing. That side was made for you and me. – Woody Gutherie, “This Land Is Your Land”
“Homelessness is about the lack of interpersonal affiliations, connections, and supports that make a house a home.”
“We can do things in this country, and you don’t have to be rich and powerful to make it happen. But you do have to vote, and you do have to pay attention to who’s in office. You do have to pay attention to the candidates, and you do have to speak up— and care.”
