The Slice: Summer of ’12 will bring out the best in The Slice

It has been ages since I played catch with readers at lunchtime over at Riverfront Park.

And I cannot recall what century it was when I mowed a North Side reader’s lawn one Saturday morning.

Even showing up at a Spokane Valley reader’s backyard barbecue was several years ago now.

So clearly it’s time for a new Slice interactive experience for the summer of 2012.

I have a few ideas. So let me know if any of these proposals interest you. Or feel free to suggest your own.

Wiffle Ball-o-Rama: A few readers and I could check out our curve balls, brush-back pitches and batting stroke.

Throw Water Balloons at Paul Turner: Readers would see who can douse me.

Iced Tea Taste Off: Readers and I could whip up pitchers of the classic warm-weather beverage and meet in a Spokane park to sample one another’s efforts. We would have to make sure that the park’s restrooms are open. And the possibility that someone might try to poison us all is another issue.

Insectsfest: A catch-and-release extravaganza. Readers would bring a jar or some other clear container. We would fan out and then return in half an hour to see who caught the most interesting bug.

Saladspalooza: What could be more summery than picnic tables covered with big bowls of homemade salads? It could be more like a potluck than a contest.

The Search for the Inland Northwest’s Cutest Wading Pool: If your little pool is typically crammed with preschoolers and dogs, I could stop by and award a cuteness grade.

Squirt Guns at 10 Paces: Turn and fire.

Today’s Slice question: “A phrase from Jim Kershner’s ‘This Day in History’ in the Sunday, April 8 Spokesman-Review caught my attention and raised a question that I thought might be appropriate for the Slice,” wrote Gary Nock.

The passage in question, from 100 years ago, referred to the arrest of “an avowed anarchist from Spokane.”

And Nock asked, “I wonder if anyone is an ‘avowed’ anything today?”

He offered an example – “Flem Snopes, an avowed South Hill separatist.”

So that’s the question. Is anyone an avowed something in 2012?