The Slice: Paving our way to the past

Road repaving projects are an unpoetic connection to the future.

But they can steer you to the past.

In recent weeks, crews ripped up decades and decades of street-surface layers in downtown Spokane. Snorting machines with ravaging claws gouged out old pavement bricks and long-buried streetcar rails.

Now just rubble waiting to be hauled away, it once elegantly served those who came before us.

People still giddy about new jobs. People stumbling into love. People muttering deals with God so that sick children would get better.

City streets aren’t usually built for time travel. It’s hard to imagine, for instance, getting nostalgic about mounds of broken-up asphalt.

But you know what they say.

They don’t make things like they used to.

“Tips for summer interns:

1. Be on time.

2. Try to avoid prompting whispers of “Entitlement generation.”

3. But forget the fake humility.

4. Figure out who everyone in the office respects and make it your job to understand why.

“Slice answer (what did you learn when you Googled yourself): “Turns out Debbie Millers do just about everything,” wrote Debbie Miller, a graphic designer in Coeur d’Alene. “…The Debs are into all sorts of things like medicine, law, et cetera. I think I even saw a brief NASA reference somewhere in that enormous list.”

“The Debs.” I like the sound of that.

Just imagine.

Panicked mayor: “Chief, we’ve got to do something! This crime wave is out of control.”

Chief of police: “I AM doing something. I’m calling out the Debbie Millers.”

Panicked mayor: “Yes, the Debs. They’ll save us!”

Chief of police: “They always have.”

“My pet peeve is…: “When people end their sentences ‘at this point in time,’ ” wrote Charlotte Greene.

Yes, that’s stilted and unnecessary. And for some of us, that expression is inextricably linked to the Watergate hearings in the summer of 1973.

Hmmm. That gives me an idea.

“Sunday Slice quiz: Which of the following are names or expressions that became famous because of the Watergate scandal and which are song titles from 1973?

A) “Expletive Deleted.” B) “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.” C) “I Am Not a Crook.” D) “Diamond Girl.” E) “Saturday Night Massacre.” F) “Hello It’s Me.” G) “Eighteen and a Half Minute Gap.” H) “Kodachrome.” I) “Third-Rate Burglary.” J) “I’m Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby.” K) “What Did He Know and When Did He Know It?” L) “Love Train.” M) “Bebe Rebozo.”

If you are young enough to need help with the answers, they can be found after my phone number and e-mail address.

“Today’s Slice question: What song was made unforgettable for you because of what happened while it was playing?