The Slice: We’re middle of the road

Announcers delivering traffic reports on at least a couple of Spokane radio stations have taken to referring to Interstate 90 as “the I-90.”

Maybe people have been saying that for years. But I just noticed.

Not I-90, mind you. “The I-90.”

Perhaps this is a perfectly innocent phrasing. But to me, it smacks of utterly unconvincing affectation.

You know, somebody pretending we’re a big city.

Feel free to disagree. But I don’t think you get to say “the I-90” unless there’s a tangle of freeways crisscrossing the area.

“Traffic is backed up six miles on the Jim West Expressway, lane closures are causing delays near the Lakeshore cloverleaf, the Idaho Thruway looks like a parking lot and commuters on the I-90 have given up the will to live.”

OK, I’ll admit it. This is not a big deal.

But it points out one of Spokane’s persistent problems: People here cannot agree on the size of this city.

I’m not referring to population figures or Census projections. I’m talking about psychic size — perception and self-image.

A few radio announcers aren’t the only ones around here who sometimes embrace shaky pretensions about Spokane being an almost big-league urban area.

It’s not.

Now there are things this city does well. But none makes those inflated fantasies real.

Being the biggest burg on a more-or-less straight line between Minneapolis and Seattle means we’re bigger than Billings.

And then there are the people who insist that this is a small town.

Wrong again.

Sure, we can be provincial, parochial, et cetera. Round up the usual suspects.

But we’ve got some medical specialists, a lot of burglars and daily flights to cities with more than one freeway.

So, like Goldilocks and the porridge, is Spokane “just right”? That’s a call each person has to make.

But I think one reason some people seem unhappy here is the simple fact that reality fails to conform to the Spokane of their imaginations.

Some movies don’t show up here. Lots of sex offenders do. It’s disappointing.

Interpersonal relationships offer us a model. When you consistently want someone to be something he or she just isn’t, you’re certain to be frustrated.

It’s not a new debate. “Spokane is big enough to offer cultural amenities yet not so big that it carries true big-city negatives” vs. “Spokane is not big enough to offer much in the way of culture yet it is large enough to haul the usual big-city baggage.”

In the end, it’s all pretty subjective.

The choices are fairly clear, though.

You can complain. You can help. Or you can get on I-90 and taste another bowl of porridge.

“Today’s Slice question: What word or words can you make by rearranging the letters in H-o-o-p-f-e-s-t?