The 174 Report

Now that I'm volunteering at the IRC, I'm taking the bus down to Tukwila twice a week. The 174 bus probably deserves its own blog, if it doesn't already have one, but I'll try to do it justice in the occasional post.

Let me try to set the scene on the 174. Imagine your favorite Where's Waldo picture. If you can't remember it that well, here is a snippet of one. Now take all of the people in that picture and put them on a bus. It's only a very slight exaggeration. Just yesterday I saw a man-woman who seemed to be about halfway through a sexual transformation. (He was clearly a man, yet had fairly large boobs and I'd assume was transitioning from male to female because he was wearing a lot of makeup.)

Yesterday, I had one of those delightful bus drivers who announces the attractions at every stop. (Pike's Place Market, etc.) I like when the drivers do that - it makes the bus ride seem more fun, plus sometimes I learn a thing or two. The awesome thing about our driver yesterday was that he sounded just like Wesley Willis. I am not kidding! He listed places in that same staccato bark that Mr. Willis used when he 'sang'. "Westlake center! Monorail! Pacific Place!" Also, I'm proud to say that I now know which stop to disembark at if I need the INS.

But the star of the 174 road show yesterday was a very smartly-dressed, well-coiffed African American lady. She was sitting across from me, and I couldn't help but overhear her (very loud) conversation. Er, monologue. She seemed to be joking around with someone, and I'm not sure what prompted this line of conversation but let me try to paraphrase what she said:

"Y'all better not be mean to me, cause I work at the airport, in security, and I'll take your picture and show it to all the security guys. They'll be giving you a cavity search! *laughs* I ain't kidding, I'll be like, 'This one's got cocaine on 'em. Give them a full cavity search! You think just cause they white they ain't got drugs on them?' Black people do crack, and white people do cocaine!"

She proceeded to outline a hypothetical scenario in which a white person with a large nose, who was clearly Jewish, would get searched in the airport. "Them Jews, they be hidin' diamonds and dope!" She then decided to move seats. Just as two girls were about to sit on one of the bench seats, she informed them that she needed to sit there because her foot was swollen. So she sprawled out across the 3 seats (while several people were standing in the aisle). Later she seemed to doze off for awhile. In her defense, maybe she was on painkillers.

On the way home, the funniest part of my bus ride actually occured before I got on. Two men were waiting at the stop - a black man and another, ligher-skinned man. The black man asked the other man, "Are you white?" (Not sure what, if anything, had led up to that question since I'd just arrived.) The other man answered, "I'm Native American."

"Ohhh, first nations. That's great," the black man said. Glad he approves. He started to say something else but the Native American said, "oh my bus is here." Now I feel obliged to point out that at the stop I was at, there is only 1 bus that comes - the 174. Yet the black man said, "ok see you later man," and did not board the bus. Apparently he was just resting? Not sure if I would engage in any activity at a 174 bus stop other than wait for the bus. *shrug*.