Reader Responses to
The ?Curse of
Bellingham? Washington
(Sorted in ascending order, newest at the top)
I
read your article about Washington and couldnt agree
more. I came to Washington from California and as a child, I was outgoing and
friendly. After 25 years of living here, I always have to suppress the joyful
side of me. Not very many people get that here. I have never had loyal friends
and its impossible to meet
new ones unless they moved from another state. Something is obviously wrong here.I thought at one time it was the weather, but there
are many cities/countries,with the same climate, that
do not act this way. Very Adams family:) I would move,
but my husband works at Boeing. I still try to hold on to myself though, I dont act the same way. That could be why I am lonely here.
Thank you for your article, at least now I know Im
not going crazy.
I'm from Bellingham WA born and raised and am 30 years old and very good looking in very good athletic shape and have house and make good money and I am still a virgin! You are right this place is so anti social it is making me lonely and depressed. I go out shopping and people act like Im an alien or something because Im alone and everyone else has friends or family. The girls I have ask out say im too busy with school and all that bull shit. I am a shy guy but still they dont give me a chance to get to know them. Fuck this town! If you would see a picture of me you would shit .I look like a celebrity.
Hello Winston,
I'm about halfway through your essay about shitty Bellingham is and I would
first like to say thank you. Thank you for writing this. I lived in/around the
Bellingham area on and off for 15 years (2 months old - 10 years old, 18 years
old - 23 years old) and the entire time I was there I always though there was something wrong with me but now I know for
sure this isn't true. I was born in anchorage alaska
and my mother took me to Bellingham (she was born in Washington and lived in
Bellingham, went back because of life circumstances) so I'm not technically a
Washingtonian and I'm pretty sure they could sense that in me. I was alienated
by everyone around me, even my own family treated me
like an outcast. While attending WCC it was the same, I was still an outcast
and no one wanted anything to do with me. I don't smell,
I'm not ugly, or stupid. I was only approached one time and it was by religious
nut bags trying to get me to join their cult. I of course declined. I decided
to test the waters one day with a guy from my class that I thought was nice. I
asked him if he wanted to hang out sometime. He looked at me like I was a
freak. He said maybe and I offered my number and then he shouted at me that he
said no (wtf???) I didn't really care if we actually
hung out, I just wanted to confirm my suspicions.
Bellingham people are cold, shallow, self absorbed, fucking assholes. While I
was attending WCC I worked in a salon. After two years I had maybe 5 loyal
customers if that. I moved to Florida two years ago from Bellingham. I have
since made friends, developed a much larger clientele, gone back to college
where people are actually and want to meet up with me, and I love it!! If you
reply, I look forward to it. I feel like we have much in common based on our
similar experiences in the dump hole that is Bellingham.
-Phoenix
Hey
Winston,
I
just read parts of your online writings about Bellingham, I've lived there on
and off for a few years, and also many other areas of the country and I
completely agree that women are generally unapproachable, and it's anti social
and stuck up. Thanks for your writing, I thought I was
the only one who thought this way about Bellingham. I need to get my upgraded
dl so i can go hang up in vancouver!
Dan
See the many viewer comments to
this video about The Seattle Freeze that confirm the video?s claim about the
area being anti-social.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roC_nsdyi1I
starchild2047 (
I remenber Railroad Ave and the baglery. The
women were so uptight in
http://blog.happierabroad.com/2010/06/to-asians-who-think-america-is-open.html#comments
A few years ago, I lived in
I enjoyed watching 'Frasier' during its run on TV,
but when I visited some of the coffee shops in
Any wonder why the
BEM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REKN7y53OCI
?Ya
I've noticed that, especially since I live in
western
Oh well it's not a total loss. I hang out with my
fellow geeks and have a D&D game twice a month. I find it funny that my
geeky friends and I actually tend to have more friends than the cooler,
socially accepted people.?
?
Dear Winston,
I read what you wrote about
God's purgatory beta gone wrong and forgotten. I hate this place so much it
makes me feel sick with rage just thinking about it. I agree with everything
you say and more. I feel
alone most of the time in my hatred for this town because everyone FROM here
has the most raging fucking hard-on for this God forsaken shithole; and no one
seems to agree with
me.
I have a personal story about this place that I think you might be interested
in. A story about me trying to leave here and the ridiculous things that have
kept me here, like almost
dying a couple times, catastrophic car failures, losing jobs, getting screwed
out of thousands of dollars from employers, etc.
Anyway, if you are still here, as am I, maybe we could help eachother
leave, or at least be an anti-B'ham alliance and work
together to kick this place in the fucking balls and tear it's
"curse" a new asshole.
Owen
http://www.ultraguest.com/view/1200586414
Winston, You are right on. I have
lived in many parts of the country as a former military wife. I have observed
the populations in the different parts of the country. The statements made
"depressed job market, no opportunity, dead end low paying jobs (with no
opportunity to advance), dead beats (and panhandlers abound), lack of culture
(oh yeah)" and more. But woe to the person that points
out all the minuses to someone who is from that arrid
land. They get very defensive. The comments I got were "This a beautiful area" (granted) but you can't live on
"beautiful" or pay your bills or provide adequately for your
children. As far as beautiful is concerned-Have you seen Montana, upstate New
York, Vermont, Virginia, Kentucky, Oregan coastline,
the Hatteras in N.Carolina, Eastern Texas, Alaska,
and least but not last Hawaiian Islands? Lets
talk beautiful. But I can almost guess the majority of Bellinghamites
have not seen the rest of their own country.
My former was from
http://www.ultraguest.com/view/1200586414
WARNING! This site is complete bullshit and it's author has been diagnosed with several mental
disorders. Just take a look at the forums if you don't believe me.
DONT BELIEVE ANY OF THIS SHIT!
Go smoke a blunt and forget any of this bullshit he may have inputted into your
minds. Peace.
- A true bellinghammer.
http://www.ultraguest.com/view/1200586414
Winston, I for one can relate to your situation. I finally
broke free from the curse of
Hi Winston!
I was born in
Anyway, we moved to Aloha/Beaverton, OR which are suburbs of
I *so* want my kids to experience what "normal" "friendly" people are like and what true "friends" are like. The people here are so not any of that. What they consider "friendship" is so shallow and unable to be relied upon in a time of need. Heaven forbid you actually ask for some help in a time of need.
So all this to say, I agree with your writings about Bellingham and Washington, but would add Oregon to the list of "anti-social", unfriendly, and everything else you said. And yes, people here actually do consider themselves "friendly".
We bought a lot to build on in
So where are you living now? I hope you have found happiness and normal people.
Looking forward to your reply,
-----------------------------------------------
The
I can never quite get my finger on it - the thing I find so annoying. I
mean, there are lots of things I find annoying - the lack of culture, the
corporatism, the discussions on coffee, the tons and tons of sports enthusiasts
who live purely for sports. There are even the intangibles, like a lack
of basic manners people elsewhere take for granted, snobbishness, the ignorant prickishness of
-----------------------------------------------------------
Hey there,
Just perused your piece on
with everything you say of course. I mean, a real
dissertation would have statistics and would have more
empirical reasoning and background searches, etc. But,
I do get your point, having gone to high school and
college there. One thing I did want to say, though, is
that as a female living there, it was always drummed
into me how many serial killers were from
So, cut the ladies a break. When you live constantly
in weather that reflects the atmosphere in most horror
flicks, you're apt to really believe that people are
all out to get you, especially when people like Ted
Bundy really did live there. Just a point I wanted to
make.
Hope you're healthy and happy.
Take care,
Rachel
I agree that it is ridiculous if it takes 2 years to make
new friends when moving to a new place. Especially for young
single people. People have communication needs, and can actually get
very sick (mentally, emotionally and physically) when those needs are not met.
Two years of social isolation ... It should be no surprise that
I lived in Belling ham circle 1999.
Everything you wrote about it is very exact. Back in the late 90,s I lived
several places in the pacific northwest. One thing for certain. The state Washington is one of
the most uptight narrow minded places I have ever experiences. Bellingham
was definitely the worse. When you say hi to most women there they
look at you as if you were a cyclopes
or something. although I did connect a few times with
women there. I did not feel very comfortable with the energy,s all over in the state of
My
god your web site has truly shocked and opened my eyes to
But my main concern is that as she'll be leaving there it may affect her too
would it? and also being a 17 soon to be 18 year old
male keen on travelling I myself may visit them in
Anyway I admire your work and keep it up feel free to reply any time.
Andy Miller
I agree with you everything you said about
Dear fellow dislocation hell sufferer,
Naturally I am not happy to hear that you are so stagnant,
miserable, and seemingly "stuck"here in
However, I admit that finding your website has given me a series of
wonderful heartfelt
belly laughs, as well as a sense of not being the "only
one" in this bizarre place who knows there is a far better world out there
with exciting potentialities, interesting jobs, truly beautiful landscape with
actual blue sky, friendly people and, oh my God!, Sunlight!
I use a blue-wave anti-depression light box, have full spectrum
lights in the house, take energy supplements, meditate, and call friends in
It still sucks to live here. It is the weirdest thing.
I have been going through the desperate escape and
consequent suction back into Bham cycle for 16
years. I think most of the people here are seriously depressed, Seasonal
Affective Disorder, and maybe chemical toxicity from the 30 years of Georgia
Pacific operating in the downtown
I am doing it! I am getting out this spring. Life is
too precious. I am 54 now. I am not going to waste any
more time. I want a different life with different social cultural and
financial possibilities.
I agree with you. You are so right! You are quite
sane!
Thanks for the validation and for the laughs. I
like your site.
cj
Nice writing. Pretty much sums up my experience here
so far. Are you still in
Anyway I could use someone with a soul to talk to if you wanna hang out sometime soon. I am serious! There's a new Woods Coffee in town. Give me an email or friggin call me on my out-of-state (ha) phone.
Cheers
Rich
I'm not sure where to start so I'm just going to make a
list. 1. your
obsessed with hating
out already) 2. your perfectly justified in your
hatred of that town
and I dont blame you in the least. 3. Its impossible to make real
friends there, I think theres a window that's open
for the first 2
years but after that its gone and if you haven;'t
made your friends by
then your destined to a life of soggy loneliness. 3. I prefer to call
it Howling-pig instead of Bellowing-ham. 4. No one between the ages of
23 and 45 has any business being there. 5. When I moved to Bellingham
from small town Alaska in 1999 to go to college, I smiled to strangers
on the streets and I talked to everyone, EVERYONE until enough people
convinced me that I was asking to get raped by doing this and
eventually it was scared out of me. 6. I feel bad about this. 7. How
many dingy shit-hole bars does one town honestly need or? 8. I think
its the Newest California.
9. Its a wonderful place to live if you
make over 6 figures a year and are self employed so you can afford
your Subaru outback with a full suit of pastel North
face gear in
which to walk your purebred along the toxic bay trails. Otherwise your
destined to live out your days in a shit hole rental on Garden while
some fucking underage drinker pukes outside your bedroom window every
single weekend 9. Thomas Mann should NOT be the unofficial-official
artist of the town because he sucks. 10. The women in Bellingham are
falsely cliquish to both women & men. 11. But this is probably
because
the men in the town just want to get laid and think that if you give
them more than 10 seconds of your friendly time you will
probably-definitely sleep with them. (that little doozy is a double
edged sword I think). I'm done with the list now.
I finally escaped for the final and last time, it took me 8 years
but I did it, last week, and theres no way in hell
I'm ever going back
there. I made one group of friends in the dorms who
all graduated and
left in 2004 and yet I stayed until last week for no reason in
particular but because I just couldn't get out. I worked for minimum
wage at Village Books for 4 years with an entire staff of under payed,
over worked MBA's. I watched the same people all over town get older
and stay dead ended at their various local, organic, sustainable,
natural, free-range shops that also pay minimum wage and dont
give
benefits and now you've got me started and so I must stop. My
apologies, I could go all day and frequently do. I wanted to write to
talk about the curse because other than my long lost friend Beth who
told me about it I have never met another person who's heard of it.
The story I got was that the imported Chinese laborers (who weren't
allowed to cross the line of demarcation into Fairhaven unless to go
the mines) were striking for various reasons and (this is where it
gets fuzzy) so scab workers were brought in and the original group
were all mysteriously trapped in a mine when it collapsed and no one
dug them out and so, they put a curse on Bellingham that no one would
be able to truly leave the place until they had accomplished what they
came for. The catch is that no body really knows what
they came for
and those of us who came for college, graduate and then dont
leave
have no explanation... we just.... stay. I tried leaving at least 4
times and every time it didnt work out and so I went
back. Its
strange, really truly strange and I support you in your impending
escape, if and when it comes. Until then eat lots of green tea ice
cream from Mallards and Eggenues at Avenue Bread, go
hang out at
MindPort and watch the nightly sunsets and take heart
in the fact that
it doesn't rain there as much as it does in Seattle. Heck, take heart
in the fact that at least your not living in Seattle
which seems to be
just a bigger quick sandier version of Bellingham. Thanks for the
website and the rant. Goodluck. -Krissy.
p.s. A While ago there was an article in the Seattle Times by a
visiting New Yorker (I think) who talked about the passive
friendliness and how people will smile and make small talk and be very
friendly but will never invite you to do anything, or how they'll stop
to let you cross the street even though you dont want
to and how
they'll tell you all about their big plans to go skiing that weekend
but wont invite you. It was a fantastic article. I wish I still had
it to send you.
So..... I didn't read your whole
page, but thought it interesting since I was raised in Bellingham, went away
for school, was not planning on coming back, then was planning on staying for 1
year, and now I've been here for 1.5 years and have wanted to leave the whole
time.
Have you heard about the ancient curse on Bellingham.
I have heard a few people over the years mention this ancient curse on
Bellingham. Do with it what you want.......
Goes something like this:
A long time ago when the first out of area "settlers" came to the
land that would later be called 'Bellingham' by ship, the land was so dense
with trees that people had to cut trees down to land. It seemed a place of much
opportunity and a huge abundance of natural resources. Logging, fishing,
hunting, and mining. What more could you ask for? The word got around and
Bellingham began to grow. It became slightly more diverse. As the story goes, a
group of people from China sailed to Bellingham to escape the imperialism of chinese dynasties. They were not
met by friendly open minded people and did not get along well with them.
Bellingham people were as you describe them.... anti-social, isolated, and
uptight. Nevertheless, the scenery was beautiful and the sky was the limit.
This group from China made good use of the land and worked in a mine in the
lowlands of what is now Whatcom County for settlers who had landed before
them.
Life was well enough.......
Until one day they went to work like they did everyday and the mine collapsed
behind them. 15-20 Chinese workers were trapped. There was no
instant worries since no one was injured and there was plenty of
machinery near the mine to remove the rubble in their way. Much time went by
and conditions worsened. They began to fear for their lives. Why would no one
save them?
After what they thought to be about 3 days they had given up and knew that they
would perish in the pitch black cold, damp, humid cave. It was dark and no one
had spoken a word for 24 hours. They were miserable, anti-social, lonely, and
depressed because they were going to die. On this 3rd day one of people
gathered the group together to say some last things. All felt betrayed by the
people of 'Bellingham.' They knew that they could have been saved and these
miserable fucks had decided not to for economic reasons. The mine had not been
producing. Together these 15-20 Chinese people placed a curse in their last
hours of life. The set a curse that apparently still lives on today. Through
the powers of their ancestors and their gods they wished that none of these
people in Bellingham would ever leave and would sit in this damp, humid,
unfriendly place. That they could not leave and neither would their children as
well as their children and so forth. Even if they did leave they would find
themselves sucked back into this miserable place. The rain and clouds would
drive the depression and no one would ever try to leave again. Their children
would be so depressed that they would just sit around and think....'what's
wrong with me'? While never mustering up enough energy to do
anything about it. To live miserably like this Chinese group
died.....When they didn't have to...........
So here we are. The children of parents whose parents parents parents let these people
die because it was not financially smart to save them. Stuck in this town
wondering why we can't leave. It's not our choice it's the wish of people long
before us who have more reason for us to stay than for us to
go...............
Hi,
I don't really remember what I searched because I was just surfing the internet
drunk that night. I think I was looking for a new job and thinking about
leaving town and decided to search "Bellingham Curse" on Google. I
was just curious if it was online. I just made that version up though.
I work as a Transportation Engineer right now and want to leave town. I bet the
Philippines are awesome. I just went to China last month and it was the coolest
thing I've ever done. I'm thinking about Spain, Australia, Brazil, or some
African Country next. We'll see.
There are some social people in Bellingham, but I think most of them are more
private then other people outside of the NW. They don't seem to open up.
Anyway, it's a beautiful place to raise a family, but it's not a good place for
a 27 year old single male. Actually, I think it's the worst place for that.
Needless to say I need to get out.
Take Care,
Hi!
I
am not sure WHEN you posted about Russia on Daves
Cafe but I just read most of it now. I don't know if you are in
Bellingham now or where but there's one thing that I really wanted to point
out. I agree with EVERYTHING. It's a shock when you realize how
other places flow socially. Then you realize,
that's all it really takes to make yourself actually happy. HOWEVER, I'm
in Portland now, after having lived abroad off and on for years (Brazil and
Mexico), and in Chicago, California and also Ashland, Oregon, I've noticed that
people from the Northwest generally have the BEST time abroad. Why?
Because the Northwest vibe sucks.
Completely.
Comparing
it to other parts of just the US? ....Work place environment is more anal here,
weather is shitty that makes people totally paranoid, there's sooo many clicks and crap like that....even when you are
older. I know it's all over the US to some extent but I'm telling you,
it's horrible here. I'm so pist I moved back
here and wish to god I were in California or anywhere with a friendlier, higher
energy going around. I LOVE people and am really
social. You can put out and put out all that energy in the NW and
get little or NONE of it back. My god, Yakima, Washington has more to
offer in that department. How pathetic is THAT?
Anyway,
if you are back in the states, get OUT of the northwest. Move to the
Carolinas or even NYC! California, New Mexico,
Arizona...god, anywhere but up here.
My
friends that come to visit me here are like "shit, it's amazing how
depressed and sick everyone looks here....I'm so glad I don't live here
anymore".
Yep,
I'm movin on even though i
have the best job ever here. A good job doesn't make up for a lame social
scene and wasted energy. I'm only 30 and I am not ready to cave up in my
apartment, smoke all day and PAINT. I'll do that when I'm 85.
Just some thoughts.
Kari---fellow
ESL teacher
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