But Who Are You With?

As anyone who reads my blog knows by now, I like geodesic domes. When I met my girlfriend Dana in 2002 I began to rant all about them to her. I think she took it in stride, as she likes weird architecture in general. One day in the winter of 2002, we are driving westbound across the West Seattle bridge. Dana casually mentions that there are several geodesic domes on Harbor Island, which was north of us, to the right. I was chagrined, as I had lived in Seattle since 1987 and I was not familiar with them. Granted, Harbor Island is an almost purely industrial center, but I had been there before, and simply not noticed. For those of you not living in Seattle, there are no gates, checkpoints, barriers, "No Trespassing" signs, or "Private Propery" signs on the way into Harbor Island.

Dana and I detoured toward Harbor Island for an adventure. This would have been on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, while there was still day light out. We didn't have a camera with us at the time. The photograph you see above is one I took on the deck of the Westerdam, a big cruise ship on the way to Alaska, taken in May of 2006.

As we came close to the big structure, we passed a dark skinned man wearing dark clothing and riding a bike. We parked her Toyota Tacoma and got out When we got out we could tell that only the roof of the structure was a geodesic dome, as the sides were straight and vertical. I assumed they were fuel tanks of some kind, as I've read that the oil industry uses them this way. I've seen other oil refineries in the south with big geodesic domes. As Dana and I are standing there, the man on the bike pulls up. He asks what we are doing. Frankly I can't remember if he told us he was a security guard or not, but it was fairly obvious from the way he was dressed that he was. This was not too long after 9-11, and everyone was still paranoid.

I tell him that I'm a fan of geodesic domes, and that we saw this one from the bridge and decided to check it out. He asks, in an English-as-second-language sort of broken way, "Who are you with", which seemed kind of bizarre and irrational. I realized I might be dealing with someone who has a room-temperature IQ, and "geodesic dome" may not compute. I try again, trying to avoid exotic, polysyllabic terms like "architecture". I think I said something like "we like to look at strange buildings", or some such. It's hard for me to turn off my vocabulary sometimes. AGAIN he asks "But who are you with" as though we need to "be with" someone to look at a building. Then he tells us that we can't photograph the building, and then he wants to see some ID! Well, fuck this, he's not a cop and I'm not going to show him jack shit. I say, "Look, if we are on private property, then we will just leave, but I understand this is a public street, and we are not trespassing". Now he backs away from us, opens his jacket and pulls out a walkie talkie. Dana and I stand there in stunned amazement at the absurdity of it all. He talks into the little box, then finishes his call and tells us "the police have been called". Dana and I get back into her Toyota Tacoma and drive away. We never see the police or the shit-for-brains security guard again.

Some time later, I heard about a brown skinned guy that was stopped and questioned at the Ballard locks by the Seattle police because he was taking pictures of the locks. Or perhaps because he was brown and taking pictures! He put up a website here: http://www.brownequalsterrorist.com/artiststatement/

For some authoritarian meatheads, photographing or even looking at things today means you might be a terrorist.

It sounds like his experience was much worse than mine, and I'm obviously not brown. But Dana and I didn't even have cameras, yet the security guard called the police. I didn't even refuse to give him ID, I just said I'd leave if I was on private property. When in this country did security guards become empowered to ask for ID when you are on a public street? Fuck these fucking fuckers.

I have not let this little episode sour my quest for ever cooler geodesic domes, and at some point I'll have to go back and get a better close up photograph. Maybe I can include a photo of the dimwit security guard....

One positive aspect of this nasty little episode is that it gave Dana and me a fun catch phase which was our private code for a really dumbfuck comment: "But who are you with".