Friday, November 21, 2008

Welcome to Bellevue City Stories

Bellevue is hard to define in a way that is either succinct or strictly accurate. Chronologically, it is a shadow, an echo, of nearby Seattle. However, its history is even more compressed. It has no Alki; it has no pioneers. Instead, it has Kemper Freeman Jr.

Nonetheless, it has forged an identity of its own. Six-lane streets, ignored sidewalks, inhabitants' names blaring brightly from the tops of shiny new glass office complexes. A reputation as a Starbucks-drinking, SUV-driving mecca of consumers.

Within this city of generalizations are people. These are their stories.