The Slice: Sounds like a pleasant case of measles

A special serenade isn’t something you forget.

About 70 years ago, when Joyce Wright was about 10, she contracted measles and had to stay in a darkened bedroom for seven days.

There wasn’t much to look at, the room being dark and all. But there was plenty to hear.

“From midmorning of the first day of confinement until the last day, my favorite song bird, a meadowlark, took up residence on a power pole 75 feet away and remained there, singing constantly,” she wrote. “If he ever took a break, it was only while I slept.”

GU basketball tickets winner: More than 150 readers told why they deserved a pair of tickets to the Senior Night men’s game against Longwood on Feb. 27. And many made a good case. (See a sampling in The Slice Blog at www.spokesman.com.)

But I’m declaring longtime Slice reader Mike Carlson to be the winner, even though he specified that he doesn’t really think he “deserves” them.

Here’s how he used his 25 words.

“2008, Head & neck cancer, surgery, chemo, radiation. 2009, Lymphoma, surgery, chemo. 2010, Chemo, lost my son. 2011, Stroke, return of cancer, surgery, radiation.”

Thanks to all who entered. Wish I had 300 more tickets to give away.

Just wondering: Has the new openness about masturbation among comedians and screenwriters influenced how the subject is discussed in real life?

Slice answer (what you learn about the previous occupant of your home from the mail that keeps arriving): “We bought our townhouse from Patrick McManus 12 years ago and we are still receiving hunting and fishing catalogs,” wrote Mary Ann Barney. “I would conclude from this that he is an outdoorsman if I hadn’t already read a number of his books.

“Dick (her husband) told me not to write this to you because he is afraid Patrick McManus will read it and be mad at us for not forwarding his catalogs.”

Today’s Slice question: What are the rules for decorating/personalizing a work space when the desk area/work station is used by more than one part-timer or job-share partners?