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Wednesday, May 30, 2012

City As the Sun Sets in Roosevelt

Posted by Grant Brissey on Wed, May 30, 2012 at 8:35 PM

Grant Brissey

The police lines are down. A big group of friends is gathered in the front yard of one of the victim's house or just looking on at the Cafe, drinking beers, crying, laughing, hugging. Neighbors and friends (many are both) are out in clusters talking about the people who were lost today.

As the police and firemen left, the television cameras swarmed in, and about 30 members of the group at the end of 59th all gave a middle finger salute to Cafe Racer. "You'll be missed," someone shouted. Poetically, the neon sign stating "We're Open" still shone through the window.

I run into a few employees who I won't name here. I ask if they know who the shooter was, and one says "We all knew him. We've all kicked him out. He had anger issues... I don't know if that makes it better or worse."

Soon a small band of friends has gathered instruments—horns, marching band drums, what have you—and starts playing as neighbors and friends gather around in a circle. "I'm as good as I can be now that I'm here with everybody," someone says. Clouds form and soon it's raining, but the band keeps playing.

By 9:45 pm, people are dancing in the rain and cheering, sharing beer and wine. Neighbors are bringing food donated by local restaurants. It's a celebration of the lives, and judging by how I knew these folks to be, it's just how they'd want it.

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Comments (21) RSS

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My heart goes out. What a good place, and what good people.

Posted by Superfrankenstein

on May 30, 2012 at 8:45 PM

In the window there: http://campl.us/jPC7

Posted by stinkbug on May 30, 2012 at 8:48 PM

@2, I'm just thinking of the people who were brave enough to go in there and place those messages after all that happened inside today.

Bless them...

Posted by COMTE

on May 30, 2012 at 8:52 PM

I'm sorry Grant. Sad, sad, terrible day.

Posted by toxicmommy

on May 30, 2012 at 8:53 PM

Kyle Huff redux. They always go after the sweet harmless ones.

Posted by Fnarf

on May 30, 2012 at 8:53 PM

I hope Cafe Racer will let those of us who dug the place, but were not regulars, know what we can do to help in whatever way possible.

Posted by DOUG.

on May 30, 2012 at 9:00 PM

(((GRANT)))

Posted by mr. herriman on May 30, 2012 at 9:04 PM

Oh Grant, now you've gone and made me cry. My heart breaks for everyone touched by this tragedy.

Posted by peabug on May 30, 2012 at 9:46 PM

That audio is amazing - teary for my hometown way over here in Iowa.

Posted by Lola, Missing Iowa City on May 30, 2012 at 9:51 PM

@5 and now you've made me weep all over again, damn you. Exactly.

I've known Don for almost 30 fucking years...a sweet hootenanny folksinger artist with a heart of gold, who would have bent over backwards to help the guy who killed him.

Sweet harmless ones indeed.

Posted by gnossos on May 30, 2012 at 9:55 PM

this is a good piece.

Posted by yos-wa on May 30, 2012 at 10:28 PM

I am so sorry, Grant. Several years ago I lost a friend in a shooting rampage in Salt Lake City (Trolley Square Mall), so this scene today was eerily familiar. It still makes no sense whatsoever. My condolences to the families and friends of the victims, as well as the family of the shooter.

The Stranger covered this story well and with respect for those involved, unlike another publication in this town I will not name.

Posted by StuckInUtah on May 30, 2012 at 10:37 PM

So so sad. Makes me want to hug all my loved ones tight. And you too Sloggers.

Posted by Lissa on May 30, 2012 at 11:02 PM

@5, I thought of Huff too (and I'm sure many others did). What strikes me is that they both went after the communities - groups of adults who had come together to share life, either in the context of a cafe - day in, day out - or in the context of just one night at a party.

These killers (I hypothesize) want to connect on some level, to be part of the group, but they have a deep inability to do so - either they can't quite manage the social skills or they just have a barrier to letting themselves feel connected. The pain of seeing others who are happy together is too much and they have to destroy it, possibly justifying their actions with scorn or hatred to mask the pain, emptiness and loneliness.

Posted by Jude Fawley on May 31, 2012 at 12:06 AM

@14: The group that Huff rampaged was also a tight-knit community. He accepted an invitation to a small after party hosted by a group of close-knit but open minded friends, and then he killed a bunch of them.

People who commit such atrocities are broken beyond repair. It just sucks that our society makes it so easy for monsters to get guns, and so hard to take guns away from violent assholes lest one of them turn out to be a Republican.

Posted by K3 on May 31, 2012 at 12:20 AM

Well said, Grant. Thank you.

Posted by kerri harrop

on May 31, 2012 at 1:03 AM

Well said Jude. We are interdependent. Our brains wire wrong if we don't receive love. I also have to wonder if these people (Kyle Huff and today's shooter) had received proper mental health care if these insane shootings could've been avoided.

Posted by seth33 on May 31, 2012 at 4:57 AM

@15, yes I remember that it was a close-knit group of friends, but I also recall there were others invited that were new to the group (I could be misremembering). What stands out to me is that the other new comers were able to fit in, accept the invitation to connect if only for that night, while Huff could not.

@17 I agree that these people should have received proper mental health treatment. As a person who works with kids, I can't help feeling that more attention should be paid towards intervention with kids. Not that child therapy could necessarily have prevented these shootings, but the structures that lead to this kind of 'break' get laid down in early childhood. If they had received the help they needed then, it might not have come to it. Meanwhile, we have decisions to make about the care of our current generation of children...

Posted by Jude Fawley on May 31, 2012 at 8:15 AM

Thank you for adding the audio—it's just beautiful. My condolences to everyone involved in all the violence this week. Shit, my condolences to all of Seattle.

Posted by mitten on May 31, 2012 at 8:29 AM

This is just terrible. Sorry, Grant.

Posted by blip on May 31, 2012 at 10:13 AM

Beautiful piece, thank you for sharing this with all of us. My whole family just loves that place and the people who frequent it. Indeed, sad day in Seattle.

Posted by TracyRomo on May 31, 2012 at 12:14 PM