I SAW YOU
OUR 7TH ON THE 4TH: Our 7th on the 4th. Fireworks, red white and blue. I hope the trauma from each explosion is enough to distract me from mourning my dead wife. We picked this day, though we hoped for the best, in preparation for the worst. Money, status, things, and friends. If we lost it all and spent every cent, we'd still have each other and the fireworks, too. But now I have nightmares and a ghost of you. I'm not impatient, just tired I guess. And thoroughly displeased with the life I have left. I'll wake up soon, from this terrible dream. And when I do, you'll be next to me. To the moon and back love. To the moon and back. I'm just a walk through the garden away.
BREAD BUYING LINE CUTTER: Not really, I offered after you snagged some last minute bread at Safeway on 29th on Friday night May 23rd. You: beautiful brown eyed, long brown hair, we spoke briefly but cat got my tongue. I didn't notice a ring but a vine!?! tattoo on your left wrist. I let the moment pass and have regretted since. Are you out there?
CHEERS
FINALLY!! Thank you to all who have championed the passage of SB 5375. It's been too long that too many have suffered at the hands of known, protected predators. For those pushing back on this: Whaddya have ta hide? The nonsensical narrative that SB 5375 is "anti-Catholic" is rubbish! It is, indeed, anti-child-abuse/anti-pedo "#%lia! If ANY one has a problem with THAT, they...are a problem. To those still confessing in dark booths with creepy clergy, talk to God. He's the only one ya needta confess to. (He aleady knows..) Thank you, Huling, and your coalition; your work is courageous and necessary. Time for the "rest of you" to revisit the film "Spotlight." A true depiction of the tip of the iceberg. Share the information. It is necessary. Don't keep looking away!!
HURRAH FOR THE Y! I happened to be swimming at the north YMCA when the YMCA Summer Day Camp arrived for a swim. It was joy busting out all over! The sound of laughter and good natured, boisterous play made me smile. Good job YMCA!
NITROMETHANE AND BURNING RUBBER: The men's cologne. Or is it the perfume to attract a Motorhead? Running across the shutdown area to sneak into Irwindale raceway. Watching the first 300 mph run at Pomona and watching cars race near midnight here in Spokane in the '90s. All these memories and more flooded back to me as I sat in the stands watching the drag races at Qlispè Raceway. Lots of families, clean facilities, hot cars and a beautiful day. Thank you to the Kalispel Tribe for keeping the tracks open and running. GREAT JOB!
JEERS
HOW DO YOU HATE A CAT? SFD Special Operations Darin Neiwert, why are you so upset about a cat being included on a firetruck during a pride parade that went viral & had a ton of good feedback? I would think the 2018 bullying/sexual harassment investigation against you would have taught you to keep your mouth shut.
FIRE DEPARTMENT PRIDE REACTION: Cheers to the Spokane Fire Department - your boots on the ground provide outstanding service and I am even more impressed that you do so having to work beneath such poopoo leadership. I am sorry Neiwert is such a bully (as highlighted by his most recent Spokesman appearance) and that your fire chief defends him rather than you. Speaking of which, has she even met or gotten to know most of you? The people who actually work for her? You don't deserve immature, judgey leaders who pop off with personal attacks. Also, standing up for inclusivity is not political, it is simply moral. It was selfish of Neiwert to snatch a defeat from the jaws of a harmless PR victory. Cheers again to all the hardworking people on the line. We are so so proud of you. To the chiefs - do better please.
LET THEM EAT FRIED CHICKEN: Dear Spokane, if we work together we can finally achieve our dream of ending all small locally owned businesses in Spokane! All we have to do is keep opening up chain fried chicken restaurants and stop supporting these pesky local business that have been supporting our local economy for decades by giving Spokies a place to work! Cause at the end of the day we don't care what we put into our bodies as long as cheap and salty, And we definitely don't want to think about where all this "chicken" is coming from. And if we really want to speed up the process let's do whatever we can to increase the overhead of these local businesses so they can really feel the squeeze. If we work hard enough in two years we will all be forced to be eating double double deluxe cool ranch Dorito chicken sandwiches and a iced vente triple shot caramel mocha surprise to wash it all down.
RE: MAYBE 5% So full of insults & nastiness you are. Just like T. Too bad you didn't walk around the Radio Flyer. 50% of us were 'gray hairs,' those who have worked/still work decades, paying taxes, served, protected our constitution, worship God, not a criminal. There were those with wheelchairs, canes, walkers. Military veterans. I have 100 photos of signs & people I'd share. The 'youngsters' were more energetic; a few crude signs, young & old, but WE were THERE, joining the turnout & supportive honks of passersby. Your tax comment is off base. T looks to sell public land we ALL enjoy, has withheld grants for research (cancer, alzheimers, drugs, new therapies, etc.) looks to fire 1000s of gov't employees, & OH! Do you know T canceled a grant for SPOKANE for emergency shelter during wildfires? ALL to support tax cuts for billionaires. Are YOU a billionaire? He declared the VA can refuse medical care to Democratic Veterans. Aren't you disgusted enough by the lies he's told you?
RE: TO KILL A TEACHING CAREER: Let's not pretend this was some heroic literary moment. This wasn't a lesson on race in America — it was a Spanish teacher saying the N-word outside of his curriculum because a student dared him to. That's not education, that's poor judgment. Yes, students shouldn't have baited him or filmed it — but when your reaction to a dare is to say a slur in class (and then again in media interviews), maybe you're not the beacon of academic freedom here. The district didn't erase history; they enforced professionalism. And let's be real: if you're more focused on making headlines than teaching Spanish, maybe it's time to find a new job — preferably one where your brother doesn't have to quit his own for the drama. School districts already deal with enough. Let them do their jobs without being dragged into a personal publicity tour.
WHAT ARE FREEWAY ON-RAMPS FOR AGAIN? For those who missed this part of learning to drive: YOU SHOULD BE GOING FREEWAY SPEED by the time you are at the end of an on-ramp! You'll find merging much easier if you are driving the SAME SPEED as the traffic you want to merge into. Don't speed on the interstate, and play turtle getting on -- use that on-ramp like a race track. Try it! You'll like it!
NGDB SHOW: I've loved and enjoyed Nitty Gritty Dirt Band shows since I was a teenager. Old now, I purchased a ticket for myself months ago to see their final tour. Recuperating from total knee replacement surgery and knowing my limitations, I arrived early. I wasn't allowed to bring my walker into the venue with me but was shown my seat by an usher. I settled in, seated and ready for the show 30 minutes before it began. Just as the show began a couple showed up and told me I was in one of their seats. No, no, I said - the usher seated me here. I remained seated. They weren't happy, nor was I. A little while later the same usher who'd seated me showed up, and told me I was in the wrong seat. In pain. At my physical limit, and unwilling to cause further disruption, I apologized and left. Perhaps you saw me hobbling towards the rear. Staff were lovely, helpful, perfect, polite, and professional every step of the way - including the usher who seated me in the wrong seat. I don't fault them. I fault refusing to refund me.
SPOKANE TRANSIT IS GETTING WORSE. The Mirabeau Point Park-and-Ride took like eight months to rebuild, and there's still no pedestrian bridge to the apartments behind it. Also, no trees for shade, and the whole place is concrete, blinding me even on cloudy days. So why did rebuilding it take so long? The busses are still late across the cities and don't approach the platforms where they're supposed to. They aren't doing a great job of mobility training since it still takes people THIRTY SECONDS TO GET THEIR PASSES READY AFTER THEY GET IN THE BUS. Maybe all the money spent on that freeway could have been better spent on our transit system.
INLANDER GETS JEERS: Was the criticism of the West Valley School District printed last week so powerful that you failed to print a second Jeer which pointed out that it is not only the School Board was making a mistake, but West Valley students were complicit. During the hearing it was found that a student challenged the teacher to read it and another videoed it while students were laughing. Shame on the students, their involvement reflects on all West Valley students. The Inlander rates a Jeer for it's own form of subtle censorship. I'm afraid providing a different view is only important with license tabs. ♦
