The Slice: Many carved out similar starts here

OK, try to visualize everyone around here who is genetically linked to someone who came to this area because of Fairchild Air Force Base.

If all those folks were bright orange, how many pumpkin people would there be?

Let’s move on.

“Gender and right-of-way in Spokane: “As a rule, the male drivers stop for me in a crosswalk,” wrote Vera-Ora Winslow, who walks to work. “The women drivers rarely do. They are most often talking on a phone.”

“One dog-walker speaks out: “Some people seem to think that every single dog has targeted their lawn for a deposit,” wrote Judi Young.

Not true, she insisted.

“Speaking of walking: Flo Moore said anyone wanting to get a feel for hoofing it in Spokane should read novelist Jess Walter’s “Citizen Vince.”

“Highs and lows: It was after midnight, so this new father was using the emergency room entrance to get to the part of the hospital where his wife and baby were.

Waiting to be buzzed through a door, he held flowers, a balloon and a bear. He radiated happiness. He practically gave off a glow.

Not everyone waiting at the ER entrance was quite so upbeat.

Spend enough time in hospitals and you can’t help but notice the collision of emotions. For every visitor’s smile, there are at least a few worried, fearful expressions and glistening eyes.

This dichotomy comes with the territory for men and women in the life-or-death business. But for those of us who spend much of our time in settings where people wear masks, open and honest feelings can be a revelation.

When strangers’ faces reveal what’s in their hearts, it makes them seem so, well, human. You know, as opposed to our more guarded, robotic out-in-public demeanors.

OK, not everyone passing through the halls of hospitals is soaring or sobbing. Still, you see enough gradations of genuine feelings that you are reminded of being in a special place.

A fair number of the people who work in Spokane hospitals understand this, and they respond with subtle empathy and sincere sensitivity. These folks are a credit to our city.

“One last vote: A reader named James Taylor in Coeur d’Alene weighed in on which October concert he would rather attend.

“I’d pay any amount of money to see Neil Young and would give tickets away not to see James Taylor,” he wrote.

“Today’s Slice question: What single Inland Northwest tree puts on the best fall-colors show?