Nathan Vass
Nathan Vass is an artist, filmmaker, photographer, and author by day, and a Metro bus driver by night, where his community-building work has been showcased on TED, NPR, The Seattle Times, KING 5 and landed him a spot on Seattle Magazine’s 2018 list of the 35 Most Influential People in Seattle. He has shown in over forty photography shows is also the director of nine films, six of which have shown at festivals, and one of which premiered at Henry Art Gallery. His book, The Lines That Make Us, is a Seattle bestseller and 2019 WA State Book Awards finalist.
I won’t mention the many issues I take with this awful coworker of mine. I’ll merely point out his obliviousness of how to skip-stop, the better to illustrate what happened: I was southbound at Rainier and Holden, nearing the end of the 7 route, and he was right behind me. When...
The first guy didn't pay, but talked. “How's it going,” I asked. “Fine, how are you,” he said. “Really good!” The second guy, behind him, paid but didn't speak. Some might prefer the latter customer. You know which I preferred! Later the first fellow came forward, being now the only passenger...
Before we talk about George Floyd, we have to talk about Eric Garner. Taking a step back deepens the picture.
1. The Landscape
On July 16, 2019, I walked into a coffee shop at 2nd and Lenora. The New York Times headline inside caught my eye because it mentioned Garner’s name, whom I’d written...
“People wait for your bus specifically. They say to me, Oh, I'm gonna wait for Nathan's bus.”
So said Rahgeh, a fellow operator riding home on my night 7 after a long day of driving the E. We were laughing about why my bus was so full.
“Oh!” I exclaimed. “Yeah,...
“Hey,” she said slowly, pausing as she stepped onboard. “How long has it been?”
Far more people recognize me than I them, and this was another instance. Where had I seen her before? I smiled at her anyway, waiting for my brain to catch up.
I said, “twelve years.” I assumed...
He was talking about his dog. After rush hour and after sunset, there is time for dog conversations.
“I don't let people pet them though,” he said. He was a younger man like myself, at the in-between moment of your thirties– neither young anymore nor old. You’re merely there, hopefully aware...
We talked about all manner of things.
Charles went by Leonard too, interchangeably, though I never learned the reason why; a middle and a first name, if I understand. A squat fellow who looked good for his late middle age, with defined features and a ready smile, a boylike grin...
There wasn't even a pandemic happening when we had this conversation. How quaint. How fabulous.
There was a pandemic during our shorter subsequent conversation, wherein we go over everyone's favorite virus (further thoughts on that lovely conversation and how it ended up being used in some circles here), but this 20-minute discussion is about everything besides pandemics,...