The Lab and The Lexicon

Seattle has an impressive biotech industry that is growing and bringing more international recognition to our scientific knowledge economy.
While this may be more anecdotal than anything, my observational skills don't turn off and on; I'm in anthro mode 24/7 and I am lucky enough to work in a dense, urban environment, which means I have plenty of eye candy to analyze. Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood is home to many of the big-hitters in the scientific community and happens to be along my bus route home. The below organizations research biomedicine, biotechnology, medical imaging and other instruments, pharmaceuticals and other chemical treatments, specific processes and functions of various parts of the body and with expansions, everything else related to life science.


Accelerator
Adaptive Biotechnologies
Allozyne
Bristol-Myers Squibb
Calypso
Convance
Dendreon
Emergent Biosolutions
Fairveiw Research Center
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Gilead
Groove Biopharma
Ikaria
Institute for Systems Biology
Institute of Translational Health Sciences (ITHS)
Integrated Diagnostics
Integrative Diagnostics
Kineta Inc.
Life Sciences Discovery Fund
Merck & Co.
NanoString Technology
Nativis
NeuroVista
Novo Nordisc
OncoThyreon
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
PATH
Presage Biosciences
Puget Sound Blood Center
RareCyte
Seattle Biomedical Research Institute
Seattle Cancer Care Alliance
Seattle Children's Hospital
UW Medicine
VLST
Zymogenetics

I also don't want to discredit all the other disciplines of research going on in Seattle, as they are plentiful. The organizations above are in a fairly concentrated area of Seattle and focus on life-science research specifically. Environmental and materials science also have established a small industry with labs scattered throughout the city and they too have influenced our local flavor.

So, as you can see, science gets it done here. One neat little artifact of all this is a gym called The Lab, which is nestled among a few of the larger biotech organizations. It goes without saying this gym serves the researchers in the area and its name is a clear indicator of that.
While open to the public, without at least an undergraduate degree in a life science, you may not find yourself making casual conversation near the water fountain and the general ethos may be hard to connect with. This is a typical niche establishment serving a thriving industry in the area. There is also a streetcar running past many of these organizations that ends up downtown and can really service no other population but the researchers, although this is denied by the city. Condos have gone up in between all this to allow for short commutes and increase the appeal of working in the area to attract the best researchers from all over the world. It's a neatly symbiotic community and keeps the industry growth concentric and district enriching.

I pass this neighborhood everyday on my commute home and I daydream about what a social science/humanities "district" would look like. Perhaps our gym would be affectionately called The Lexicon. I would also expect to find boutiques and import stores, naturopathic clinics, ethnic eateries and heck, we'd like a streetcar as well!

The University District, where I live, fulfills many of these expectations and engages my underserved population in direct connection to the University however campus culture is still palpably scientific. Many in the social sciences or humanities will tell you these disciplines are "alive and well" at the UW however science and technology take a clear and formidable presence. There is simply not as much excitement and verve surrounding the social and humanitarian studies as the UW's namesake, science.
One thing that has injured our social and humanitarian minded faction recently is the disappearance of several brick and mortar used-bookstores throughout the city. Amazon is just a few blocks away, ironically in South Lake Union, and we can get next day delivery for quite a selection of books though not always the academic titles I search for. Online shopping for books still does not satisfy my craving for the quiet, introspective environment of the used-book stores, with shelves lopsided and creaking under the weight of so many words. I miss bookstores and have an intense attachment to the ones that remain.
We do not have our own gym, however perhaps that is because we are collectively less concerned with human biology and fitness as say, a medical science researcher. I admit I struggle to imagine a gym full of philosophers, sociologists and linguists although I am fully entertained by this!

I've made a point to stay in this neighborhood past graduation because of the few nostalgic book stores left, the innumerable independent cafes where no piece of furniture matches and lattes nearly come in bowls, the College Inn pub, as quintessential a college pub that can be and dark and segmented enough for those with social anxiety but still enjoy a draught, and the proximity to the lectures and film screenings on campus that I frequent. The housing in this area is sometimes poorly managed and the sidewalks are dirty and covered in litter, especially after a Saturday night and the boisterous fraternalism cannot go unobserved. Despite all this, it is worth it to be close to the community I belong in. Small, seemingly inconsequential idioms and colloquy are enjoyable for me and are of continuing importance and the overhearing of debates about globalized medicine (I wish!) or discussions on modernity fill me up in a way my interactions with the scientific community doesn't. I respect life science and know quite a few scientists whom are enjoyable to be around but I still crave a different community that Seattle just doesn't have and can't afford to have. Our economy is thriving because of biotechnology and I admit psychiatric anthropology doesn't exactly rake in revenue so I excitedly plan for my departure to a city of words rather than molecules.