At the end of the day, I frequently walked down to the locks. The locks raise boats from Puget Sound to meet the level of Lake Union and Lake Washington. They were built in 1917 to allow cargo to reach destinations on the canal. Today, the working boats are punctuation marks amidst the stream of ‘pleasure’ vessels, ranging from canoes to massive yachts.
The locks were the antithesis of work. In place of constant stress, there was a calm, measured pace. Water flows as fast as it flows. Boats travel slowly at the direction of the staff. In place of intangible electrons posing as ‘artificial intelligence,’ the locks present massive doors, valves, and cranes, and humans improvising the best arrangement of 10 small sailboats, 4 kayaks, and a fishing trawler in the lock.
I can’t make a dramatic claim that the locks ‘preserved my sanity’ or immunized me from high-tech anxiety. Nonetheless, spending time there with a camera was a counterbalance.