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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

The Slice

Spokane Meet Yourself

When I lived in Tucson not long after the Earth's crust first cooled, that Arizona city had a multicultural festival called "Tucson Meet Yourself."

I think the idea was to encourage people to grasp the city's considerable diversity.

One year, the festival was marred by gunplay. And one of my colleagues at the morning newspaper suggested we rename the annual fete "Tucson Shoot Yourself."

Which brings me to my point. Well, almost.

This afternoon, as I was lying in one of the chairs at my dentist's office, I found myself eavesdropping on the guy in the next chair.

I could not see him, but I could hear him clearly. He was asking an immigrant dental assistant named Nina what ingredients went in a certain Russian dish. I could tell from his voice that he himself was not Russian.

So Nina told him. It included beets and cabbage.

But here's the thing. He was not just making small talk. He really wanted to know.

Whenever he had a moment where the dentist wasn't holding sharp instruments in his mouth, he asked Nina to repeat the list of ingredients and specify prep procedures and cooking times.

I wished more people could have heard this exchange. To me, it was a Spokane Meet Yourself moment.

When the dentist came to over start on my crown, I asked her about the guy. And she excitedly told me he was this remarkable mostly retired lawyer who had visited something like 130 countries and liked to steer clear of 4-star hotels and places other tourists would congregate.

She described a man who wasn't trying to be wacky or anything like that. He just had an interest in how real people live all over the world.

Of course, he's not the only Spokane resident with that sort of attitude. But I don't know that our city gets adequate credit for being home to guys like him.

Sure, it's fine to talk about the Mariners or getting the lake place ready. But our interests extend far beyond that.

And maybe the best thing about it all is nobody got shot.



The Slice

The online home for Paul Turner's musings and interactions with disciples of The Slice.