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Summary Of Seattle Freeze

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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

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