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The Slice: Questions for the culturally unaware

Paul Turner (Dan Pelle / The Spokesman-Review)

Because you are reading a newspaper, you might think that everyone has some cultural awareness.

That would be wrong.

How wrong? That’s guesswork, but there seems to be a consensus informing this theoretical Q-and-A.

Q: What’s the latest with Rachel Dolezal?

A: Who?

Q: Will the ad campaign for the UW’s medical school continue?

A: What?

Q: Why are dry conditions especially problematic this summer?

A: What?

Q: Are the Spokane Indians off to a good start?

A: The tribe?

Q: How does the summer concert season look?

A: Concerts! Woo-hoo!

Q: What’s the lesson of that cross-state bike ride?

A: The what?

Q: What is the long-lasting effect of the legalized marijuana?

A: Heh heh heh. Wait, it’s legal now?

Camping: “Let me begin by saying I grew up from a very early age in a camping family,” wrote Virginia Day. “My mom and dad were both outdoors folks who fished and hunted all over Idaho. Of course, I loved it then! Little did I realize how much work was involved in setting up that huge tent and camp stove. Boy did I learn.

“When my husband and I were newly married we decided to take that tent up into the Stanley area of Idaho. We struggled to set up that huge thing and finally ate the burnt dinner and crawled into our sleeping bags. In the middle of the night a huge wind, thunder, lightning and rain hit. We jumped outdoors to dig a trench around the tent.

“Without making this story any longer – the last night of our trip we slept in the back of the pickup and woke up in the morning to see people around us fishing. That did it for me!

“We did a lot of camping in our lives but in a nice RV with beds and an indoor stove and potty. We even managed a boat and caught many fish.”

Warm-up question: Do you need a long vacation, something a week won’t do?

Today’s Slice question: Is there one place everyone in Spokane (who isn’t shut-in) goes eventually? Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. Congratulations on 50 years of teaching, Miriam Ritchey.

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