Liberal Talk Radio

Seattle-based writer Jonathan Raban has a beautiful piece in today’s Times, where he sums up, in one beautiful paragraph, the schizophrenic experience of living in Washington State:

Less than an hour east of Seattle lies Snoqualmie Pass, and as the road descends, beside the Yakima River, the dry West begins as it means to continue: Douglas firs give way to sagebrush, juniper and piñon pines; on the car radio, rock gives way to country and gospel, then to empty static; bumper stickers change from Democratic to Republican; per capita incomes and house prices sink precipitously. When I first drove this way, 17 years ago, it struck me as being akin to climbing a hill in Wales only to find oneself in Syria.

Read the whole thing.