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The Slice: It’s an extreme mug makeover


Picture No. 1
 (The Spokesman-Review)

The last straw was when a Spokane media guy I’d never met approached me in the Oakland Arena last month and began our conversation by saying, “You need a new mug shot.”

But a consensus had been building for some time. Hardly anybody seems to like the picture of me that runs with my column. This is especially true of people who know me personally.

“It doesn’t look like you,” has been a typical comment.

I don’t know about that. But I’ll grant that the camera did not catch me in a natural or relaxed moment.

So I asked for a do-over. I’ll get to that in a moment.

For years and years, The Slice appeared with no mug shot. But during the planning for the S-R’s recent redesign, I was approached about having my photo run with the column. I said OK.

It wasn’t just an ego thing. Once upon a time, The Slice always included some sort of illustration. But in the last couple of years, page designers have been asked to squeeze more and more content onto the page. And sometimes there hasn’t been room for a photo or drawing to run with my column.

The result is a gray block of text. And because I selfishly want you to be able to find The Slice at a glance, I decided that even a picture of me is better than no illustration at all.

Of course, I wasn’t counting on looking like such a stiff.

So when I got back from California last month, I asked for a re-shoot. And now you get to help decide which picture will become my new mug shot.

All you have to do to vote is contact me in one of the usual ways by 6 a.m. Monday and say which photo should replace my existing head-shot.

You’ll want to choose carefully because, unless I’m forgetting something, I think my mug shot appears in the S-R with greater frequency than any other picture.

On the chance that readers are in a whimsical or mischievous mood when voting, I’m going to stipulate that this election is advisory in nature.

I may look crazy, but I’m not.

“Small world: A friend who lives in Liberty Lake got picked up at New York’s LaGuardia Airport last week by a limo driver who came to the United States from Kenya in the early ‘90s on a track scholarship to Washington State.

“From last weekend’s S-R classifieds: Under the “Hay, Feed & Seed” heading, there was an ad that included the line, “Barn stored canned liver, $18/ton.”

Sharp-eyed reader Bob Brown wonders if that should have been “Barn stored, can deliver…”

“If not, it would be cheap cat food,” said Brown.

“Warm-up question: Anybody ever get confused by the fact that there is a 1996 movie called “Crash” as well as the recent Academy Award winner also called “Crash”?

“Today’s Slice question: What if everyone here decided to go with landscaping that did not require watering?

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