Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 7, Issue 8, August 2003

Copyright 2003 Jane Lotter. Please feel free to use the article and photos below in your research. Be sure to quote the Seattle Sun as your source.

JANE EXPLAINS

The History Issue

By JANE LOTTER

So I get a call from the Seattle Sun's editor, Clayton Park. "Umm, Jane," he says softly into the telephone, "I just want to remind you that the August issue is our history issue. And maybe you could write something sort of..."

"Coherent?" I offer.

"I'm thinking more history-related," he says. "Although it would be nice if it were something the layperson could understand. For once."

"I get it. A novelty piece. You want it in English?"

"If you please," he says.

That night, I can't sleep for worrying what to write for the history issue. Not only that, but I start ruminating on the whole ISSUE of history. Not simply Seattle's history, mind you. No, no. I cast my thoughts farther back. I'm thinking about things like the invention of the printing press in the 1400s. That had a huge impact on civilization, didn't it? Ultimately giving the masses access to religious works, scholarly texts, and Judith Krantz novels.

But then I think back even farther and consider the whole dawn-of-time thing. I mean, what is history, really? Everything that's happened in the entire world up to this very moment? I don't think I can fit all that into one column.

The next morning, at breakfast, my husband, Bob, notices my distress. "Darling," he says, "I don't think you should worry so. It's not like anyone's going to care in a hundred years."

"But that's just it," I reply. "It's the history issue! Everyone's going to care in a hundred years."

"I have an idea," Bob says. "Why don't you write about how popular the hydroplane races were in Seattle when you were a child? How back in the 1950s and '60s hydroplane fever gripped the city's imagination the way the Mariners or Seahawks do now."

"I disliked the hydroplane races when I was growing up," I say. "I'm the only person in Seattle who did."

"Yes, I know," Bob says. "You told me. They always fell on your birthday and your father was glued to the television set and you couldn't open your presents..."

"Until the day's racing was over. That's my memory, anyway. In point of fact, I think it happened only two or three times. But the overall effect was traumatic."

"And if I remember correctly," Bob says, "you also disliked the races because once, when you were five, your family went to watch the time trials. After a while you got bored, so you started balancing on some logs and you fell..."

"Into Lake Washington. That's right. And my mother, who usually knew better, hadn't brought a change of clothes for me. So I had to sit on a scratchy wool blanket in wet corduroy pants on an overcast day and practice the Zen of slow drying.

"Didn't you like anything about the hydroplane races?" he asks.

"When I was a teenager, I liked listening to Pat O'Day announce them. His excitement level far exceeded the actual events. He made it sound positively thrilling that Bill Muncey's boat had just gone dead in the water for the 13th time."

I sigh. "But even that's bothering me," I say. "Because I read in the paper that for the first time in 37 years Pat O'Day isn't announcing the races this year."

Bob shakes his head. "You're wrong," he says. "Change of plans. He's going to broadcast on KIRO-TV. That way, people can see him as well as hear him.

"That reminds me," Bob continues, "didn't you once get your picture taken in a hydro?"

"Yes, I did. I was six years old and Miss Pay 'n Save was on display at Northgate Mall. I got to climb up in it and somebody snapped my photo."

"That must have been fun."

"It was. It was great fun."

"Well, why not dig out that photo and run it with your column?"

"All right," I say. "I will. And I'll write about the hydros, like you suggested, even if I never really was particularly fond of them."

"Great," he says. "Now let's go up to that new restaurant at N.E. 89th and Roosevelt."

"You mean, Joe's?"

"Yes. Let's go there tonight while the kids are at camp. We'll eat at Joe's and talk about the old days and maybe make some history of our own."

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E-mail Jane at janeexplains@attbi.com.