Myths, madness and celebs, oh my!

Some of you have been putting some real thought toward the annual Spokesman-Review limerick contest.

The one I like best was sent in by reader Sally O’Brien. Her suggestion for a theme is “Spokane – near nature, near perfect: missing the mark – or not! Legends, lunacies and luminaries.”

At first, that seems a bit too wide-ranging. But then O’Brien added some examples.

Under legends, for example, she mentioned Bing Crosby, Father’s Day (invented in 1910 by Spokane resident Sonora Smart Dodd) and astronaut Michael Anderson (the Cheney High School grad who was killed in 2003 when the space shuttle Columbia exploded).

Under lunacies, she suggested the River Park Square parking-garage partnership, the Kevin Coe saga and the Joseph Mastel transgression (the Spokane County deputy sheriff whose firing for having exposed himself to a barista was overturned by the county’s Civil Service Commission).

And luminaries? These include author/talk-show host (and former O.J. Simpson trial star) Mark Fuhrman, newly appointed ambassador to Baghdad (and Spokane Valley native) Ryan Crocker and renowned opera star Thomas Hampson.

Some of these, of course, aren’t funny. But there are plenty of topics under each heading that could be. So go ahead and start writing, remembering to adhere as closely as you can to limerick style, of which the following is a classic example (written by Edward Lear, called by some the father of the limerick):

“There was an Old Man who supposed,

That the street door was partially closed;

But some very large rats,

Ate his coats and his hats,

While that futile old gentleman dozed.”

You can do better than that. Send your e-mail entries to limericks@spokesman.com. By post, send them to S-R Limericks Contest, 999 W. Riverside Ave., Spokane, WA 99210-1615. I offer a special invitation to students of all ages.

To make my job easier, I’ve moved the deadline up a week. It’s now March 5. Those entries deemed the best will be printed in the March 18 edition of The Spokesman-Review, and the authors will be invited to read their works in public at Auntie’s Bookstore on March 21.

Write for life

On a more serious note, Temple Beth Shalom is holding an inaugural Spokane Community Observance of the Holocaust Creative Writing Contest.

The contest, which is for high school students only, requires entrants to write a 500- to 1,000-word essay on the theme “Never Again,” the vow of Holocaust survivors following World War II.

Considering the various examples of genocide that have taken place over the past six decades, the contest asks entrants to consider, “What does this say about the very basic ways that humans are capable of treating one another? From your own experience in witnessing mistreatment, receiving mistreatment or (regrettably) giving mistreatment, how can you personally make a difference to bring ‘Never Again’ closer to reality?”

Deadline is March 1. For specific information, call the temple at (509) 747-3304, ext. 12 or e-mail to neveragain-spokane@comcast.net.

Give life a chance

Sister Helen Prejean, author of the book “Dead Man Walking,” will give a three-hour anti-death penalty presentation beginning at 8:30 a.m. Thursday at Spokane Community College.

Prejean, who lives in Louisiana, is a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille. She is perhaps best known for the film version of “Dead Man Walking,” in which she was portrayed by Susan Sarandon and which also starred Sean Penn as the convicted murder to whom she became a spiritual adviser.

Prejean’s presentation, which will involve banning both the death penalty and “government-sponsored torture,” is sponsored by the SCC Student Awareness League. Free and open to the public, the presentation will be in SCC’s Lair-Student Center Auditorium.

For more information, go online at www.scc.spokane.edu/events or call (509) 434-5150.

Unless otherwise noted, all events are free and open to the public.

Book talk

“Friends of the Cheney Community Library Book Discussion Group (“Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World,” by Tracy Kidder), 7 p.m. Tuesday, Cheney Community Library, 610 First St., Cheney. Discussion leader: Carole Young. Call Joan Tracy at (509) 235-4490.

“East Bonner County Book Discussion Group (“The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” by Mark Twain), 7 p.m. Thursday, Sandpoint Library, 1407 Cedar St., Sandpoint. Call (208) 263-6930.

The reader board

“Michael Devlyn Poulin (“Underbelly”), reading, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington. Call (509) 838-0206.

“Bruce Beasley (“Signs and Abominations”), Suzanne Paola (“The Lives of the Saints”), readings, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Auntie’s Bookstore.

“Christopher Moore (“You Suck! A Love Story”), reading, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Auntie’s Bookstore.