Duane Wright:
CLASS OF 1969
Madison Central High SchoolClass of 1969
Madison, WI
University of Wisconsin - AgricultureClass of 1974
Madison, WI
Edgewood High SchoolClass of 1969
Madison, WI
Saint James SchoolClass of 1965
Madison, WI
Duane's Story
After Central I couldn't get up the nerve to leave town (even though I was curious about the outside world). So I got into the UW, and survived by the skin of my teeth. But then there was no getting around it: I had to leave if I was going to find a job.
I searched for a while, and the only job I found was in Montreal, Canada. Ironically I had studied all the wrong languages in high school. In time I learned enough French to get by.
I spent two years there, but got restless, so eventually meandered out west. I've been in the northwest since 1977, the last 30 years in Seattle.
There are lots of things I like here: the city's not all that big (so I can pretend I'm living in sort of a small town). But it's big enough to have entertainment, incl. theatre and professional sports.
Then there are the outdoorsy things, like hiking and cycling. The mountains and the water are beautiful ... on those few days a year that the sun actually comes out! :-(
The people are fairly tolerant, if a bit reserved. The vast majority of p...Expand for more
eople you will meet here are not natives - they came from elsewhere in the US, generally California, the midwest, or the northeast - places with similar accents.
East of the Cascade mountains one can find desert-like conditions, so there's quite a range of climate zones in the state of Washington.
In the winter, there is rarely snow in western Washington, but a fair amount of rain. The endless months of gray, cool, wet days are enough to try men's souls. The suicide rate is fairly high.
But if you can survive all of this, there is a big payback in the summer, with the beautiful landscape. Then there is an explosion of outdoor activity, as one attempts to make up for lost time.
Downtown Seattle isn't particularly interesting. Too many people who live here have a stunted sense of aesthetics. Portland, OR, and Vancouver, BC, however, are popular weekend getaways. Portland is my second favorite US city (San Francisco comes first, though, for its size, Portland trumps all).
In the winter one can go to the mountains to ski.
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