Federal Way Favorites

Favorite thing: Federal Way is very middle class, with no extreme wealth and no extreme poverty either. Most homes are single family dwellings with shingle roofs and wood siding painted in subtle earth tones. Except for one.

During my latest trip to Seattle, I took a side trip down memory lane to take a gander at the house my family lived in during my junior high, high school and college years. I was forewarned that the house had been painted. "Extreme makeover" is more like it. My formerly earth-tone brown house had been painted a ghastly in-your-face aquamarine.

When someone tells you "You can never go back home again", they might REALLY be saying "You can never go back home again, because if you do, you'll find out your home has been painted a hideous aquamarine."

Favorite thing: This could have been Federal Way's most interesting architecture. This is Federal Way High School, my alma mater. Go Eagles! When I moved to Federal Way, it was the only high school in the area, and had been for several decades. During my early years, Federal Way went through a growth spurt, and Thomas Jeffersen, the rival school was built. Then Decatur High School was added. Today, Federal Way has 4 comprehensive high schools and a number of alternative high schools.

The community has passed some bond measures from time to time to renovate its schools. This 1920's era building needed the improvements, but you look at those improvements now, and wonder "What were they thinking?" The building is now a hodge podge of styles, without a consistent theme. The original majestic entrance and windows surrounding it have now been blocked up and bricked in. Now, instead of the majestic entrance, the school has to resort to a sign pointing visitors to the main entrance - a nondescript side door that is anything but majestic. "What were people thinking?"

All in all, it's just another brick in the wall.