Port of the South End
This last week Dutch Shell moored their gigantic oil rig down at Seattle and Gomorrah’s waterfront. A flotilla of kayakers — kayactivists — slapped their paddles in the harbor like angry beavers slapping tails at Godzilla. With similar success at scaring away intruders. The Raging Grannies shackled their rockers to the gated entrance at the wharf and were politely arrested. Tech Town, polite but not much interested in politics.
Some of the boyz in the Band at our last drinking session, I mean, practice session, suggested a solution to Seattle’s escalating ecological confrontation: bring that drilling rig up here! The South End has a legal port, the Port of Mabana. Three port commissioners are required to fill out 65 pages of paperwork for the state, same as Tacoma or Seattle. They’re volunteers, definitely part time, and they don’t want a full time clerical position so they’ve been considering dismantling the old landing of the Mosquito Fleet that docked there almost a hundred years ago with supplies and immigrants. The old dock was blown down long ago and the Port has pretty much existed as a historic relic ever since.
“Why not kill a couple of seagulls with one stone?” Mando Mike wondered aloud over his rotgut wine at our last practice. Don lifted his beer glass in accordance and I had to admit once again the South End String Band, marching to a demented drummer, was once again ahead of the curve. Not to mention the beat….
“What about protestors?” Monika asked and Erich mused that what we got around here are Tea Party protestors mostly, more worried about the heavy hand of Island County government than some transient oil rig destined for the Arctic Sea. I figured maybe WE could protest. Give us some free advertisement. The Raging String Slingers! We already sing stuff about the coal cars and coal mining. Got our very own War on Coal, I guess, why not weigh in on oil drilling? Paddle out in our dugouts and slap banjos on the water, why not? Great photo for the Stanwoodopolis Gazette and the New York Times, all those liberal commie media outlets!
Well, we didn’t get much practice in, not music anyway, but I think we got a good gameplan. Which one of us is gonna call Dutch Shell’s rep, I don’t know, but I left an urgent message for Fred at the Port of Mabana. He hasn’t called back yet, but we figure he’s on vacation, hopefully be home soon. Fred better be rested, all I can say, cause there’s serious work coming to the South End. Maybe even jobs, the paying kind. Be a first down here….
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