I Saw You | I Saw You | Spokane | The Pacific Northwest Inlander

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I SAW YOU

LOGAN’S SATURDAY, AUG. 13: Having a late lunch at Logan’s on Saturday, and I saw you from across the room. You took my breath away, and if I wasn’t so shy, I would have approached you. I was wearing white shorts, blue top with blonde hair. If you would like to connect or talk, please respond. I would be very interested in getting to know you.

VINTAGE CUTIE! We were shopping the curated space at Global Neighborhood Thrift and both reached for a reasonably priced vintage tee at the same time. We laughed, and you commented on how this was the best place to shop vintage in town. What else could you be right about?

PADDLEBOARDING BEAUTY: Met you paddleboarding at Fish Lake — you’re Irene — gorgeous and hot, but so cool. I’ve been thinking about you. You turned me on to Horseshoe Lake — I’m so going! Let’s get together for some boarding and relieve your work-related stress!

YOU SAW ME

PARKING PROBLEM: I accidentally parked in your assigned spot, and you could have been really rude about it but you weren’t. Thank you for the nice note, Unit 240. Won’t happen again.

CHEERS

SPD’S SGT. TERESA FULLER, EXCELLENT SERVICE: I spoke with Sgt. Teresa Fuller 16 AUG 22 – TUE afternoon about a concern I had. In our conversation she was professional & personable and provided very useful & helpful info to me. Thank you, Sgt. Fuller for being an excellent representative of our police department.

YEA, JAY: When I saw the ad in the Inlander saying Jay Leno would be at the Fox in November I got excited, because way back in the day when I lived in Hermosa Beach, California, Jay & other comedians would try out their new Material at the Comedy Club on Hermosa Avenue, just one block from where I lived & I never missed Jay’s hilarious act. Now I get his humor along with his sidekick Kevin Eubanks & quirky contestants on You Bet Your Life on KREM & I can hardly wait to see him in person.

VOTERS PAMPHLET: Cheers to the Voters Pamphlet for spelling out clearly who the cult followers and wacko cray-cray people are who are running for office. No reading between the lines here. I try so hard to vote somewhere down the center, but it’s impossible anymore. Why do all the nut jobs sit on the Right Wing and Independents? Humm, it has been a distinct pattern for decades now. Cathy MR, you are right there, too. You continue to vote nothing, and I mean Nothing! for the people, only to throw the “Jesus Card” once again making it all right. You don’t even vote for women and family health care or rights, or anything to save the planet. You vote only for tax breaks for the rich and oil interests who throw you money. Dark Money. You do what you are told by the Dark Money Rich, and many of them racist, men. Are you racist and sexist? More than likely. It shows. Sorry Gen Z and Millennials. Many of us are trying to save the Planet, Health Care, Social Security and Rights for your future, but the constant pathetic GOP Gaslighting works on humans, and now your world is on Fire, Water is going away, all your Rights are disappearing, and it is getting worse. Good luck!… unless you vote these horrible, pathetic monster human beings out.

JEERS

BOGUS AT BEST: Hello? horizon? Hey there, Beni Mini; you were hired to do ONE thing: Run an airline. One objective: Fly people safely to and from their dest’s. Your pilots don’t have “contracts”?!?!? I don’t give a rat’s about your DEI program, nor your safety dance, nor your new, non-necessary uniform-for-staff program. (Calm down: I’m a round gay woman of color who works in fashion, so don’t even go there!) The article in Inc. on damage control with your fake apology video is bogus, at best. Smoke and mirrors, probably. Gaslighting with malicious intent is likely! Stop coddling the professionals that have built this region for decades, and this city, for certain, by claiming you had weather cancels, pilot shortages, etc. We’re their neighbors, friends, and families. They don’t have contracts!! They safely get us to and from, on time, if not early, smoothly and in a safe way. NO thanks to you! …

PROBLEM WITH NOT TEACHING KIDS TRUTH: Why are school administrators, teachers, parents, caretakers, guardians of children so scared that these KIDS will be anything but white cis ‘mericans??? Please understand this: Teaching children and/or having resources available to children of all gender identities, ethnicities, backgrounds DOES NOT create a child who will “explore” being anything other than who they are.

Children aren’t born with jaded points of view — we as adults introduce that to them through our inaction, inability to understand or even ask questions about what they are going through, what their thoughts are, and what would help them. I have an intimate understanding of this.

While I was a student in the Mead School District, which is currently trying to suppress ALL of our children by limiting access to information, I didn’t know anything about why I felt different, why I couldn’t mesh like some of the other kids, and why I wasn’t seen by my educators. My being bullied, pushed around, called names, and rejection from my fellow students was not addressed by anyone. Then I went home, and I had to keep all of those experiences to myself because in my busy, single parent household there wasn’t time for me to need anything other than exactly what my siblings needed. I did not have the support at home or the confidence that I wouldn’t be further rejected by my family, and I have no reservations saying that this directly led to my anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, eating disorders, and prevented my ability to understand and accept that I am bisexual. I didn’t know why I felt the way I did because all I was taught (broad strokes here) is that you are born, you marry a person of the opposite sex, you reproduce and then it all starts again with the new generation. None of those are bad things, BUT IT IS NOT FOR EVERYONE!

The problem with “not teaching kids they are born oppressed” is that these kids have ALREADY LEARNED THIS from society, family members, communities, neighbors. They already know they are oppressed but will not understand why until they understand that the US and our own community have not made time to hear them, to see them, to protect them, to care for them. Having resources available and an open door policy empowers all our children (yes ALL) to make educated decisions, to allow themselves to listen to what is in their hearts and minds, and to be unafraid to ask/talk to adults about it. ***By giving a full education you are breaking a mold that should have been broken a long, long time ago. We are a population of people in a melting pot, and that needs to be taught! Children need to know that it is OK to be different! Dig deep, Mead School District, and think about what it is that you are resistant to teaching and how you can work to improve this and, most importantly, who it needs to be improved for.

POLICE OMBUDSMAN’S LACK OF SERVICE: I had a concern about a police matter that I wanted to discuss in person with the city’s police ombudsman before deciding whether or not to submit a written report. I tried to call several times during their posted office hours to either discuss the matter via phone or schedule an appointment for an in-person meeting but always got their recording. Tuesday morning, 16 AUG 22, I arrived 10 minutes early before their posted opening time of 9 am, at their first floor City Hall office and waited over an hour for someone to open their office, but no one appeared. I was told by several that the staff’s presence in the office is unpredictable, and they are frequently absent during their posted office hours. I recommend you change your contact info and office hours to accurately reflect your lack of availability to the citizens you’re supposed to serve and difficulty to conveniently contact. Are you being paid by the city? If so, you are not providing good service, and your superiors should look into this and change things. ♦