Best of the Slice: A star shined brightly over Hickory Farms

Editor’s note: Paul Turner is taking some time off. In his absence, we’re diving into the archives here at Slice Central. Today, we revisit March 29, 2002.

The Solberg kids are in their teens now.

But an exchange they had years ago is firmly established as family lore.

Erik, then 6, had said that he understood why everyone ate turkey on Thanksgiving. But he was baffled about the connection between Easter and ham.

His younger sister, Kristen, confidently clued him in.

She said, “It’s because Jesus was born in Bethleham.”

(2018 update: The Solberg kids are now adults, and Erik works in the S-R newsroom.)

Multiple choice: When you pass someone in the hall at work and say hello only to have him or her ignore your greeting, your first thought is … A) A popular expression that cannot be printed here. B) “Poor soul. Never learned any manners.” C) “Must be deep in thought … except I happen to know that individual is incapable of thought.” D) “There’s another jerk who thinks courtesy is a sign of weakness.” E) “I will rise above this.” F) A different popular expression that cannot be printed here.

Things Your Kids Do To Drive You Crazy Department: “My oldest son, Ben, does an imitation of my voice that sounds so much like me that even I think it’s me talking sometimes,” wrote Dianna Wood.

It’s not Coalville: I was watching a few minutes of a Washington State Board of Education meeting on cable channel 5. Why, I can’t say.

Anyway, at one point the members discussed the proper pronunciation of “Colville.”

This made me wonder.

What Inland Northwest place names seem to trip up your friends and family living on the West Side?

Slice answer: Ken Yuhasz thinks Spokane has a truck-based economy.

Economic opportunity: “Does anyone else feel the instant jubilation and let-down when they find the perfect job in the classifieds only to see it’s in Boise or Portland or somewhere else out of town?” wrote a reader named Greg.

Warm-up question: An opinion piece in the Washington Post included this quote from a developer in Manhattan: “Smart people have to be in New York.”

So what kind of people have to be in Spokane?

Today’s Slice question: Who holds the record for the most times glancing at the Bloomsday 2002 entry form and thinking that someone has been doodling on it (when, in fact, that look is part of the design)?

Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. Some people are not naturally gifted when it comes to taking phone messages.