The Slice: Best season? Fall earns our vote

Decision time is upon us.

We’ve heard all the claims, all the promises.

Now it’s up to us to choose.

With that in mind, The Slice hereby endorses fall as Spokane’s best season.

To be sure, autumn has three worthy rivals. Each has much to offer.

But fall’s demonstrated record of emotional resonance and sensual superiority make it the clear choice. It gets our vote.

In both mood and substance, fall excels at rewarding our impulse to face the sun and challenge the calendar to match one perfect afternoon with another.

Still, let’s consider the other candidates.

Winter is to be commended for asking the hard questions, for not always telling us that everything will be easy.

In fact, the cold season’s call to sacrifice sounds a satisfying note of bracing reality.

But winter’s troubling insistence on overstaying its welcome can give rise to a clamoring for term limits. Moreover, while persistent darkness can encourage contemplation and a thoughtful examination of our lives here in the Inland Northwest, it can also overshadow our need for optimism. And hope.

The case for spring is well known. The favorite season of some who call for change, the vernal blossoming has been celebrated in song and smiles.

Perhaps no season can rival spring’s pledge of new beginnings. But as we wipe the pollen from our eyes, it’s easy to lose sight of one simple fact.

We’ve heard all this before. Spring says “This is how it’s going to be.” But my friends, the bloom of euphoria is not sustainable. Any suggestions to the contrary smack of risky inexperience.

Summer, as we all know, has broad-based support in our area. In the minds of many, it is our signature season.

But closer scrutiny reveals a disturbing tendency toward false populism and a woo-hoo embrace of easy answers and complacency.

Summer soothes and strokes. It is not, however, a serious season for serious people.

Which brings us back to The Slice’s endorsement of fall.

Brimming school calendars, pies, the confluence of sports and the hint of the holidays all recommend it. Still, autumn gets the nod over its rivals for one basic reason.

Comfortable as an old sweatshirt, fall gently reminds us to get ready. Without being alarmist, it tells the truth about what’s coming.

Whether we listen is up to us.

•Youth wants to know: Val Ourada’s 5-year-old daughter Madison, a kindergartener at Lake Spokane Elementary, had a question.

“Does a first-grader mean there’s a last-grader?”

•Today’s Slice question: What is the quintessential Spokane sack lunch?