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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

This Idiot Could Use ‘Windows For Dummies’

I’m an idiot.

That will come as no surprise to those readers who disagree with my film and book reviews. It will come as even less of a surprise to my ex-in-laws. Or my boss.

But that’s OK. I’ll survive.

Especially since I’m not alone.

How do I know this? For one thing, I scour the shelves of bookstores. And everywhere I turn I see books for folks like me - folks who are mechanically or nutritionally or, most of all, technologically challenged.

Complete idiots, in other words. Dummies.

I, for example, was in desperate need of a copy of “PageMaker 6 for Windows for Dummies” (ISBN 1-56884-945-1). I needed it yesterday.

So I began calling around Spokane.

I called both Office Depot locations. I called the four Hasting’s outlets. I called Egghead. I called Circuit City. I called the Connecting Point for advice. I called WaldenBooks. I called Auntie’s.

I tried CompUSA but no one would answer (for two straight hours on a Wednesday afternoon).

No luck. The closest I came to finding a copy was at Egghead, which because it is closing soon has been having a run on its remaining inventory. It had just sold out the last couple of copies.

Most store employees were polite, and several offered to order the book for me. But I was desperate. A 10-day to two-week wait wasn’t going to work.

So I called Powell’s Technical Store (800) 225-6911. One of the specialty stores associated with Portland’s world-famous Powell’s Books, the store had four new copies sitting on the shelf. They offered three different shipping plans, with delivery time ranging from overnight to several days.

Every plan was a better alternative than what I’d been offered in Spokane - as long as I was willing to pay. The costs ranged (in addition to the $19.95 book price) from $17 to $3.50.

I decided it was worth it.

And, OK, I may have made a bad choice. Maybe I should have kept calling around. A copy may be somewhere in Spokane, and I might have found it had I just been patient.

That, however, is exactly my point. I didn’t have time to remain patient. And so Powell’s phone-order service suited my needs.

But why listen to me? After all, you know I’m an idiot.

More press for Eastern

For a school that continually has to fight for recognition, especially now in its home community, Eastern Washington University boasts a surprising number of qualities.

Many of them are literary-oriented. There’s the award-winning literary journal Willow Springs. There is the faculty that includes such writers as Ursula Hegi and John Keeble. There’s the EWU Press, overseen by James McAuley, which was named one of the top 10 university presses in the country.

Now comes word that one of the press’ books, “The Burning Horse: Japanese American Experiences in the Yakima Valley, 1920-1942” by Thomas Heuterman, has been honored by the Gustavas Myers Center for the Study of Human Rights in North America.

The Gustavas Myers Center bestows awards annually in the name of a consortium of human rights groups, including B’nai B’rith, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the National Organization for Women and Parents, Families and Friends for Lesbians and Gays.

This is the Place

The literary newsletter “George & Mertie’s Place” began its fourth year of publication with its February issue. The Spokane-based monthly (except for January) prints original fiction and poetry, and it awards the monthly Dick Diver Award, which earns the winning author a whopping $10 (going up to $25 in September).

This month’s winner: Geoff Peterson for his story “Ground Zero.”

To contact co-editors Mertie Duncan and George Thomas, write to GMP, P.O. Box 10335, Spokane, WA 99209.

Of chances and the Chinese

American history long has adhered to the philosophy put forth by such scholars as Frederick Jackson Turner, who defined the Western frontier as “the meeting point between savagery and civilization.”

More recently, certain historians have portrayed western development in a more complete context. In her book “The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West,” historian Patricia Nelson Limerick wrote, “There were at least eight oppressed races in the West: Indians, Hispanics, Chinese, Japanese, blacks, Mormons, strikers, and radicals.”

Eastern Washington University professor of history Liping Zhu argues with both positions. In his book “A Chinaman’s Chance: The Chinese on the Rocky Mountain Frontier” (University Press of Colorado, 231 pages, $27.50, ISBN 0-87081-467-2), Zhu makes his case for a different perception.

“It is true that many Chinese immigrants in nineteenth-century America encountered exploitation, injustice, violence and discrimination on a daily basis,” he wrote. “The collective story of the Chinese in the Boise Basin of Idaho, however, suggests positive experiences as well.”

Zhu states his point with authority, his conclusion making his choice of book title all too apparent. “(A)s a land of opportunity,” he wrote, “the Rocky Mountain mining frontier, though hardly perfect, offered Chinese immigrants opportunities far beyond the proverbial ‘Chinaman’s chance.”’

The reader board

Zhi-Dao “Julia” Duan, author of “Journey Against One Current: The Spiritual Autobiography of a Chinese Christian,” will read from her memoir at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington.

Carl Mack, author of “Black History Day II,” will read from his book at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Auntie’s.

Hilma Volk, author of “Manure Happens,” will read from her “cowgirl” poetry at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Auntie’s.

Coeur d’Alene writer Barbara Nichols, co-author of “Out of the Blue: Delight Comes Into Our Lives,” will read from her book at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Auntie’s.

, DataTimes