Believe Us, Everyone Would Rather Hear About Your Triple

Tue., June 1, 1999

By Paul Turner srpaulturner@gmail.com

You’re missing the point of having beers after softball if you use the occasion to complain about work.

* Slice answer: An e-mail arrived last week from our friend Claudia Childress in tiny Prichard, Idaho.

“My favorite tree is in our yard. It was about 12 feet tall when my dad’s parents and grandparents built the new house. Dad was 8 years old, last week he was 80.

“It is a cedar tree that has had all the kids climb it. It has the `bear bell’ still in it. That was there so that grandma could scare the bears off the porch by pulling a rope from the second-story window.

“It even had a white owl come and sit on the low branch and watch me for 15 minutes the week before our youngest daughter was born. I considered this a good sign from God and still think it was. She just graduated from the U of Idaho, was accepted into medical school and is getting married this weekend.

“The tree is messy with branches, seeds and rust-colored needles falling off. It gets deer and elk under it in the winter and they snack there.

“Squirrels, raccoons and birds have all used it. It is held together with a chain about 30 feet up, but it is a real tree of family history and comfort.”

* Recommended reading: “The Chair: Rethinking Culture, Body and Design,” by Galen Cranz.

You don’t have to be obsessed with ergonomics to find this fascinating.

* Here’s what’s wrong with society: A group of maybe 15 school kids — they appeared to be about 12 years old — were in the back of an STA bus. One man was in charge of them.

There were maybe six or eight other passengers, all adults.

Anyway, it soon became obvious that someone was pushing the buzzer for every single stop. And nobody was getting off.

A female passenger with a stern face stood up and looked accusingly toward the back of the bus.

The guy in charge of the kids got all defensive. He denied that any of them could be responsible, even though circumstantial evidence suggested otherwise.

He even offered the ludicrous explanation that perhaps one of the kids accidentally rang the buzzer by bumping it with his head.

Right. Six times.

Whatever happened to the responsible adult saying something like, “Hey, if any of you kids are doing that, knock it off”?

* Let’s keep our fingers crossed: We read in a Spokane church bulletin that discussions are under way aimed at bringing Rabbi Harold Kushner to town for a speaking engagement.

That’s exciting news for anyone familiar with his terrific books.

* Today’s Slice question: Is hiking ruined by thinking of it as exercise?

Local journalism is essential.

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