The Slice: Explaining the Spokane boomerang effect

Seemingly everyone around here knows of people who lived in Spokane, moved away and then came back.

Perhaps that was unusual once. It’s not anymore.

What reason do people give for returning? Maybe it’s one of these.

A) Grandchildren are here. B) Turned out humidity elsewhere was not bearable. C) Believed they could make a difference here. D) Coming back was always the plan. E) Missed The Spokesman-Review.

F) A promising job opportunity presented itself back here. G) See “Midnight Train to Georgia.” H) Missed the clear blue skies. Cough. I) Missed studded tires. J) Yearned to return to Washington’s crazy quilt taxation scheme.

K) Couldn’t find anyone in new city who wanted to go camping. L) Hadn’t realized the extent to which Spokane had begun to feel like home. M) A woman. N) Lure of the Rich Landers lifestyle. O) Didn’t like being a tiny fish in a big pond.

P) Didn’t respect the craft beers in new city. Q) People in new town couldn’t pronounce “Gonzaga.” R) No marmots. S) Realized too late that Spokane is not without charm. T) Voters, many of whom have the nerve to not be white, too liberal in new city.

U) People in new town expected you to actually name the lake you were planning to visit. V) Found it easier to be an American Redoubt wannabe in Spokane. W) Got tired of spending 150 percent of income on housing. X) Couldn’t tolerate traffic. Y) Parents live here and needed someone to take care of them. Z) Other.

Unprovable Slice stats: Nine percent of Spokane attics are home to at least one Peter Max Expo ’74 postage stamp.

Sixteen percent of Spokane adults once shook Tom Foley’s hand.

Spokane is home to 214 retired B-52 pilots.

Warm-up questions: Does it count as time travel if you discover a bookmark in a volume you’ve had for ages and it’s from a Spokane store that disappeared long ago? Would more people ride bikes here if Spokane were flat? When two strangers who used to live in Spokane meet in a distant city where they now reside, what do you suppose is the first thing they say after learning both spent time in the Lilac City?

Today’s Slice question: If you had a do-over on coping with last week’s bad air, what would you do differently?

Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. Readers said Spokane’s leading example of wasted outrage is railing against state government’s pro-West Side bias when that part of Washington generates most of the tax revenues that fund state programs.