The Slice Let’s Save Some Pothole Stories For Next Year

As you know, the issue has not gone away.

But repetitive conversations are a problem, too. So perhaps it’s time for a moratorium on potholes talk.

Everybody’s a critic: A student hung a piece of art in a tree at Spokane Falls Community College, near the library. It incorporated feathers, quilted material, strips of leather and whatnot. Later, a squirrel - perhaps gathering lining for a nest - was seen repeatedly absconding with cheek-stretching mouthfuls of the piece.

Well, art appreciation is a varied thing. At least the work in question has succeeded in being interactive.

If you don’t enjoy hearing snide remarks: Never ever bring up the subject of wedding gifts.

True or false: In the minds of many around here, the dollar value of your home defines your worth as a citizen.

Trend alert: According to The Wall Street Journal, more and more business owners and building managers are discouraging smokers from congregating right outside the front door and creating a cloud through which customers must pass.

We’ll go out on a limb and guess that smokers will resent this.

Multiple choice: What’s your answer when a newcomer asks how come people say “North Idaho” instead of “northern Idaho”?

a.) “Dunno.”

b.) “It’s a time-honored reflection of the state’s historical geographic and cultural schism.”

c.) “We are secessionists at heart.”

d.) “You’re not from around here, are you?”

Inland Northwesterners with whom readers would like to have lunch include: Pat McManus, Patty Duke, Tom Foley (though we’re not sure he really meets the residency requirement), Phyllis Stephens, a woman with red hair who works at the Schade Brewery Public Market, the UPS driver who has the Sullivan route and the waitress with the great accent at O’Doherty’s.

Davenport’s Eleanor MacDonald said she would pick as a lunch partner her beautiful, intelligent, fun daughter, Susan Meyer. “I don’t see enough of her,” she said.

Bumper sticker seen in downtown Spokane: “God, protect me from your followers.”

Today’s Slice question: What’s a word or phrase in another language that expresses something better than anything English has to offer?

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Drawing

MEMO: The Slice appears Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; fax (509) 459-5098. The appearance of buds on bushes given up for dead last year is a quiet kind of magic.