The View From Nathan's Bus

Christmas Eve

12/22/2014

He came up to me at 135th, scabrous and gristled. This was last Christmas Eve, on the 358.

"You give a good ride, man."
"Well, thanks, man. You got plans for the holiday?"
"Yeah, I'm gonna get off here, go over to KFC."
"Oh, right on."
"Yeah, gonna grab some dinner for my girlfriend. We're gonna stay in tonight, watch some TV."
"Sounds good to me, chance to relax. 'What it's all about, right?"
"Exactly."

What I felt was not pity but admiration. He existed outside of all the shame, the hunger for status that drives so many of us, leading us to places of inadequacy and judgment, washing away the awareness of what's truly important. I daresay his Christmas Eve was, in its barren simplicity, likely more stress-free than any number of his fellow Seattlelites.

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Nathan

-You can find me on the Great 7/49, in the evenings.

What is this blog? Check out the explanatory first post, or read the front-page Seattle Times writeup here!

Here's a one-page crash course with links and highlights: Nathan Vass 101

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-For New Bus Drivers: Thoughts, Tips, and Stories
-How to Drive the 7: The Complete Care Package

Popular posts:

Only have time for one story? Try these.
-The Day The Earth Stood Still
-Le Park de Cal Anderson
-21st Century Man
-One Last Story (Video)
-Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Great & Terrible 358
-I'M A LIGHT-SKINNED BLACK WOMAN!
-The Final Flurry: Index
-Scroll down on this sidebar to "On the Street," below, for more highlights~

Personal:
-International Examiner Interview (Plus a word to my fellow Hapas!)
-Surviving the Social Desert: Nathan on High School
-With What Time We Have
-My Seattle
-On Second Acts
-Yves Klein, Color of the Heavens
-Popular Posts from 2018, with Commentary
-Nathan Vass, 2019 Washington State Book Award Finalist
-Nathan on the Elliott Bay event: Parts I, II, and III
-Seattle Magazine / Third & Cherry
-Pretty Sure I Don't Deserve This
-How I Live Now
-Escaping the Overlords: Nathan on Comcast
-I Am Now Ten Years Old
-Confession
-Flowers in a Pool of Blood: Thoughts From an American in Paris
-Paris, One Year Later: A Personal Perspective
-The Transgender Ban
-Nathan on the Las Vegas shootings: On Terror & Other Things
-The Birthday That Almost Never Happened
-Nathan Takes a Day Off:
Part 1 (See Nathan Run);
Part 2 (Nathan Gets Excited);
Part 3 (Nathan Sounds Like Morgan Freeman)
-Rad(iation) City
-La La Land & What Los Angeles Means
-Reparations
-Names Nathan gets called! A list in three parts: 1, 2, 3
-Where and How it All Began
-How I Write the Posts, and Why
-Chaleur Humaine
-A Story
-What Not to Say
-In Praise of Silver Hair
-You're Been a Good Friend of Mine
-...And a Splendid New Year!
-Nathan Converses With His Colleagues: Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8... and 65

Political:
-What's In a Number (Trump's legacy)
-Praise Island (Biden's win)
-The United States of Floyd
-The Great Male Detoxification Project
-The Day the Music Died
-Kindness In the Days of After
-Understanding Love & Hate During Trump Nation
-More than Health, More than Money
-Seattle, Center of the Modern Universe
-What We Did, Today
-This Story Has Nothing to do With Donald Trump
-Don't Be Scared of My Friends, Part I
-Don't Be Scared of My Friends, Part II
-The Music Isn't Dead (Yet)
-Nathan Actually Talks Politics, Pt III: Keeping the Music Alive
-Pulling Our Weight, Part II: Addressing the Homeless Laziness Question
-Getting Some Diversity Off My Chest
-The Veterans
-Islamofriendia
-Be at Peace, Mr. Garner. We Will Love the World For You
-The Streets Regard Ferguson
-How do You Change the World? Thoughts on Violence
-Cowboys of the New Age: Status & Respect in the American Ghetto
-A Boy Named Hamza: Thoughts on Hate in Three Parts
-It Used to Sound Like This

On film & art:
-On Laura's Book
-Nathan on Seattle's Waterfront: Before and After
-Nathan's Films of 2019: Top 2 Plus 23 Runners Up (photos, trailers, analysis & more)
-Once Upon a Time... in Dreams: On Tarantino, Violence, and Transcendence
-On Finishing Men I Trust
-The Lie & How to See It: On Hate, Despair & Hope in Contemporary Film
-Notre Thoughts
-Addressing Despair: Nathan on First Reformed
-How Evergreen Became Irrelevant
-October 2018 show breakdown: all the deets
-On Color Darkrooms
-The Non-Bailers: Thank You to the Cast & Crew of Men I Trust, Pt I
-People I Trust: Thanks to My Cast and Crew, Pt 2
-Nathan's Overlooked Films of 2016: Trailers, photos, analyses
-A Bus Driver Reviews the New Bus Driver Movie!
-My Films
-Song to Song and Malick: The Cutting Edge
-Nathan on Wet Lab Prints
-Kehinde Wiley: The Morning After
-Nathan the Friendly Hermit, Part I: Nathan Gets Pasty
-Nathan the Friendly Hermit, Part II: Pastier and Pastier
-Birdman, (a) Film of the Decade
-Gone Girl: Fidelity & Subjectivity
-On Gravity and Identity
-Primary Colors with Music: Andrea Arnold's American Honey
-Sicario: Why Visuals Matter
-The Martian: On Intelligence in Pop Culture
-About Elly
-Best films of 2015: Trailers, photos, analyses
-Selected writings on films released in 2014, 2013, and 2012.

On the Street:
-Jessica Lee
-Ah, Volume
-Eulogy for the Damned
-King Travis
-The Great and Terrible Fifth & Jackson: An Ethnography
The Veterinarian: A Story on Grief in 4 Parts
-The Glow
-Decent Street: Kendrick, Gender, Lingo, & the Good Man Problem
-The Shake'N'Bake: Parts 1, 2, & 3
-Pulling Our Weight, Part I
-Pulling Our Weight, Part II: Addressing the Homeless Laziness Question
-I've Been Sainted
-Dominique The Mystique
-Deserve, the Concept and the Song
-Gangsta Phone Strategy, Deep Breaths & Kindness Rising
-The Joy of Bus Driving
-The Knife's Edge Dance
-The Soulful Stench
-"Everybody Need to Quit Acting Hard and S**t"
-The Mother's Day Apocalypse
-Ode to the 358
-"I BET YOU APPROVE UH GAY MARRIAGE"
-The Question
-By Himself
-Appreciation
-Banter in the Nighttime
-The Nathan Train
-The Benevolent Roar
-Truthfulness, the Final Currency
-Love is in the Air
-Surfing the Sparkling Wave
-Saddest Music in the World
-Rainier & Henderson, Baby!
-Sheeeeeeyyiitt: Strategies for Day or Night
-AngryNice I (Love Through Frustration)
AngryNice II: Tran Chimes In
AngryNice III (We've All Felt It)
-Love (Hurting From a Lack Thereof)
-Hip to be Joyful
-Future, Present, Past
-Changing Awful
-Harsh
-The Nameless Heroes
-The Break-Up
-Tropic Of
-Figuring it All Out in the Bullpen
-Leaving Small Talk Behind
-She Did It On a Monday
-One Day, My Friend
-I Am Now Two Years Old
-The Harder Thing
-Poker Face Practice
-The Great Freeze

For Bus Drivers!
--How to Drive the 7: The Complete Care Package
--It's Called Working
--Bus Driver Appreciation Day: Coronavirus Style
-The Swagger I Love: Thoughts on My Fellow Operators
-A Love Letter for My Colleagues: Exercises and Stretches for Operators
-What I've Learned From Other Bus Drivers
-Rest in Peace, Breda Monster
-I Don't Know What a Trolley is, Part I
-I Don't Know What a Trolley is, Part II
-Verbal

Christmas Eve

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