Some architecture adjusts your attitude

There are buildings in downtown Spokane I never tire of admiring.

A big-deal critic of architecture might not be wowed by some of my favorites. But I like them. They lift my spirits.

How about you?

Show me your list and I’ll show you mine.

•Celebrating the 30th anniversary of “Animal House”: Do people around here ever refer to their favorite local body of water as “Dexter Lake,” in a tribute to the Dexter Lake Club featured in the movie?

•Slice answer: Blogger Nicole Hensley, who says The Slice is her favorite column, tackled the question about whose voice you would want to hear if your life had a narrator.

“For my thoughts, I need someone feminine,” she wrote.

She picked the late Donna Reed, based on her performance in “From Here to Eternity.”

“Underrated, under-challenged – that’s the gal for me.”

And a voice to describe Nicole’s actions? “I need someone calm but with a voice that could seem extremely cold at the right moments.”

Based in part on his role as an outlaw in the 1957 version of “3:10 to Yuma,” she selected the late Glenn Ford.

•Mystery mail: “Last week, I received a very nice thank-you card in the mail,” wrote Nancye Hensz. “It was from ‘the Anderson Family’ in Missoula, thanking our family for our thoughtful expression of sympathy in their time of loss and grief. The problem is, we don’t know any Andersons who live in Missoula, or anyone who lives in Missoula for that matter. Nor have we sent any heartfelt condolences to any Anderson family.

“Our entire family did some collective head-scratching to see if we could figure out the confusion. Our last name is unique, and spelled correctly on the card. Any thoughts?”

None. But maybe a Slice reader will have a theory.

•Reader complaint of the week: So I heard from this guy who apparently is just now making up his mind about this column after 15-plus years. The verdict? Thumbs-down.

Oh, well.

He was civil, but seemed to lack an intuitive grasp of either the volume or variety of reader comments I hear.

But here’s the thing that got me. As we were hanging up, he admonished me to regard him (and his feedback) as “a canary in a coal mine.”

Well, I certainly hope The Slice is not so noxious that he will die from reading it. I’m pretty sure killing off disgruntled subscribers is a violation of our new ethics code.

•Warm-up questions: When colleagues talk about the smell of things you eat at work, what do they say? Did you happen to see Sen. Larry Craig on the cover of Mad magazine?

•Today’s Slice question: What can schools do to help students whose families apparently care little about academic achievement?