The Seattle Freeze is the Concept that Seattle Residents are Known for Being Cold, Polite, and Distant
I was curious how these traits, in conjunction with Seattleites’ general affinity for the outdoors and other characteristics, affected and continue to affect the city’s response to, and personal toll from Covid19. In an attempt to capture emotions, spaces, and themes relevant to this time, such as loneliness, natural spaces, and homelessness, respectively, I took photos in and around Seattle (showcased on the THEMES tab).Through my photography, I explored my interests in human behavior and culture: what happens when collective behavioral norms are upended? I also researched and reported on topics including redlining, indigenous communities, and the tech industry in Seattle, and the implication of Seattle’s history on the COVID-19 response. I found that the Seattle Freeze may be “thawing” as residents are brought back to their more immediate surroundings and that people are paradoxically reaching out more, potentially bonded by this once-in-a-lifetime public health crisis. I learned that Seattleites generally listen to scientists more than other US city-dwellers, that non-white communities have been hit hardest in Seattle by covid19, and the city’s wealth inequality has risen during a pandemic.
I would like to acknowledge that most of these photos I took were taken in North-East Seattle, near where I live, as well as in downtown Seattle, so this is in no way a comprehensive overview of experiences.
Hi, my name is Ela Sidhu Nickels
I am a sophomore at Pomona College and am currently undeclared.
Some experiences that prepared me for this RAISE project:
High School Senior Project: the goal of Project Gen Z was to creatively capture and share the experiences of my generation in Seattle through black and white film photography, articles, and interviews. By gathering the stories of teenagers from different communities in Seattle, my partner (Mia Agostini) and I gained insight into the struggles, successes, passions, social media use, and high school experiences of those we interviewed. In terms of photos, my goal was to capture emotion, personality, hobbies/passions, device use etc. This project was a take on the Humans of New York Project, in photojournalists and journalists documented stories of people around New York. Through Project Gen Z, I increased my understanding of intercultural fluency by talking to individuals with different backgrounds and experiences. We then created a website showcasing our interviews, film photos, and what we learned. This project was in a very similar format to the project I am doing now.
Student-led Internship: the summmer after my freshman year of high school I applied to do a paid student-led summer internship with the Seattle educational research non-profit, Foundry10. I proposed a project- a website about gender equality for teens- and solicited mentorship to help make it happen. I did research, synthesized my findings, and then wrote articles. I then learned basic coding and website design skills.
Photography Class: Lastly, I took a film photography class in sophomore year of high school and learned about composition, story-telling, and how much one photo can capture.