Hillary Clinton was in Seattle yesterday.
A couple of pals and I walked out for lunch a bit before noon, looked up, noticed a hovering helicopter, chatted a bit about Hillary’s visit, and Joe Biden’s visit the day before, made the almost required jokes about the iconic chase / paranoia sequence in Goodfellas before settling in for a nice bit of sushi and poke.
Later, as I left work, I noticed there were two helicopters. The traffic was impressive, too, especially as I made my way to the downtown corridor. The Metro bus push / tow truck on Stewart was hard to miss. And the crowds of people gathered, looking up at:
Man In Tree.
The people in the crowd were overwhelmingly concerned for the man. Sure, some made the jokes you may have seen on Twitter but the crowd was very Seattle. According to one of the SPD officers, they had people who knew Man In Tree on the ladder trying to talk him down. A kind, humane approach.
Apparently, this morning, Man In Tree is still a Man In Tree.
Here’s hoping they can talk him down today and he receives the support and assistance he needs.
And now I’m thinking more about Howard Beale in Network than Henry Hill in Goodfellas.