We lost one of our more beloved strangers recently. Ed McMichael, the Tuba Man, was a well known and liked busker who played the tuba for tips outside of the sports venues before, during and after games. A lifelong native, he didn't quite fit any mold, but fit very well in Seattle regardless. 1,500 people attended his memorial. Not being a sports fan, I only encountered him once, outside of Key Arena when the Sonics were still in town. He was quoted in an article in the New York Times (he made the national news, it seems) as having a favorite saying, enticing tips for tunes, that being "Want to be a part of it tonight?" It's a wonderful thing about being in the city, in the middle of many thousands of strangers most of whom you will probably never get to know, but still feeling connected, a part of something larger than yourself. Evidently the Tuba Man got it, and did his best to share it. He was beaten to death by youths who didn't know him. They were not true strangers; you might think of them as estranged, outside the fold. Wasn't it John Donne who said that the loss of one diminishes us all?
There are others who have been forcibly estranged and would like to be back in the fold with everyone else. There was a large peaceful protest on Saturday against the passage of Proposition 8 in California which removed a briefly recognized right for gay people to wed. It was an exercise in civility, requesting recognition of the right for civil union. 3,000 to 6,000 people (depending on who makes the count) marched from Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill to Westlake Plaza. Public demonstration is one of the great and frequent uses of this downtown public space. If the Market is the soul of the city, this is probably the heart.
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