Life Place Essay

Dayle Walters
02/09/12
Writ 101
Mackenzie Cole
Final Draft: Life Place Essay
                                                                     Silence in Noise
 
        My hometown is very different from Missoula. Seattle does not use de-icier.  Two thousand,

three hundred and sixty accidents in a twenty four hour period (1). That’s roughly one and half

accidents a minute. Statistics like that meant I never learned to drive in the snow. Missoula has better

snow drivers than Seattle, but there aren’t as many hills to skid down here. Coming to live in

Missoula was like sliding down a massive hill backwards with no de-icier. I was scared by what

might happen during this time and hesitant that I would eventually be able to get back to normal.




         The differences between Missoula and Seattle don’t stop there. One of the more contrasting

aspects of the two cities is that Seattle has many different cultures living very close together, whereas

 Missoula is not as diverse. This was a huge culture shock to me. Not being able to walk downtown

 and get cuisine from any part of the world within feet of each other was one of the hardest things to

cope with after moving. I miss the smells of food cooking and people talking in foreign languages;

each cuisine and dialect changing with every corner you turn.


        Nature, however, is something that can be found in both cities. However, there is nothing like

walking straight off the University of Montana campus and into a vast forest. Nature here holds

things that the green belts of Seattle simply do not have. Being surrounded by nature in Seattle is not

an everyday thing the way it is in Missoula. Seattle has green belts, a strip of land that has been

declared by the state as a habitat that cannot be cut down. They are scattered around the Seattle area,

 but even though these green belts cannot be clear cut, they can be made into a more suitable city

sized habitat. The only way to really see nature is to go to one of the many massive hills where you

 can see the rain forest from a great distance. However, actually getting to the rain forest takes an

hour and half, and for most Seattle dwellers this is too much to be expected of. I grew up with my

grandmother always taking me to see these fantastic forests. We would climb into these massive

stumps that she called fairy stumps. My grandmother made my sister and I want to protect the forest

and its fairy stumps, which still carries with me today.


         There is so much to see in Seattle that many people never stop to appreciate the beauty of the

natural landscape that surrounds the area. Chief Seattle, of whom the city’s name derives, spoke of

Seattle’s environment in his famous speech. He said “Every part of the Earth is sacred to my people.

Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clear and

humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. The sap which courses through

the trees carries the memory and experience of my people.”(2) My city has forgotten what a beautiful

 place it once was, and in some parts still is. Where you can walk into a crowd of giant trees, the

 smell of pine enveloping you with every turn. Fallen trees become bridges over ice cold streams,

  with giant boulders that live half way in the muddy earth below the water, the other half peeking

out  just enough to hop along with the river without getting wet.  The natural parts of Seattle become

unpleasant to city folk without the comforts of the busy streets filled by the masses. Some walk with

 purpose, others gawk at the massive buildings from beneath their touristy umbrellas. Loud noises

and no place to just stop and think.


       While both Seattle and Missoula have beautiful landscapes, Seattle’s is manufactured, from its

pruned and plucked flowers, to its precisely trimmed lawn. Missoula’s landscape, on the other hand,

is wild and free. Missoula has many different kinds of plants and trees with vibrant colors that form a

 massive carpet over the sprawling mountains. Seattle has clear cutting, so the mountains seem to

have a case of male pattern baldness. Missoula builds around the mountains and leaves there natural

splendor for all to see. Missoula’s natural beauty surrounds people from the second that one steps

onto the tarmac at the airport. That’s where the saying “big sky” comes from: looking around and

seeing endless sky enclosed in a circle of picturesque mountains. They form a perfect gift shop

snow-globe that you can step into. The mountains here take your breath away. In all their splendor,

they do not hide behind a curtain of smog. The light dusting of snow like powdered sugar sprinkled

 on the peaks. The eye travels down to the base of the mountains as it becomes more heavily coated

in a vast dark green forest. I never knew there could be so much nature in a city. There is no

compromise in Missoula. Here nature wins. Nearly every aspect of Missoula incorporates the beauty

of its surroundings. It warms my heart to see that a city can let nature be a part of its environment. It

takes me back to the days when I sat down with my grandmother on a fairy stump. The scenery sets

the mood for everyone that visits Missoula, which has perfected the art of co-existence with nature.


       While Seattle will always be my home, Missoula has become a place of peace and quiet for me,

an escape from the everyday hustle and bustle. Missoula will never be home for me, but it’s a place

that has changed the way I think about living. At first, hearing nothing through the night was

terrifying; I couldn’t sleep without the gentle sound of rain hitting the window. There was too much

silence in Missoula. I couldn’t think. Now the quiet calms me; it compels me to explore what’s

around me. It allows me to relax and take time to look at the things that are going on in my

environment.




                                                                     Work Cited
                                  1. King 5 News. Television Repot. resent weather, 01/18/12
                                  2. ChiefSeattle.com. 2009. Chief Seattle Arts. 02/22/09
                                                       http://www.chiefseattle.com