What Can I Tell You? It Rains a Lot. We Have to Keep Our Spirits High

The lovely young lady pictured above is Elyse Umemoto, Miss Washington, and pictures like that have others disparaging the young scholarship recipient and her devil-may-care attitude as un-Washingtonian. But not me. I think she represents Washington perfectly — so playful, so giving.

In fact, her antics have me ready to shout the the state cheer — “Rock Chalk!” or “Go Sooners!” or …

I have no idea what the Washington state cheer is. I just moved here a few years ago, and if they even mentioned that tidbit in my immigrant re-education class, I've forgotten it. (“Tosse ye powdered wigs high, lads!” maybe?)

But I do remember our state gang signs. Elyse and her friend demonstrate them here for the uninformed:


Because nothing says you roll with the Pacific Northwest posse like “Two in the Uh-Oh, One in the Oh-No” and lots of cunnilingus. Of course, you probably would have guessed that had I told you the state motto, “It's always Ladies' Night in Washington.”

Frankly, I couldn't be more proud of Elyse for representin'