The Slice: Good or bad, they’re Gar-Pals for life

It’s one thing to be true to your school.

But that doesn’t mean you have to like what people call it.

Suzie Saunders is a 2005 graduate of Garfield-Palouse High School. She’s proud of that and all. But …

“It’s usually shortened to just ‘Gar-Pal’ which sounds like a cryptic acronym for some secret government program. I guess it’s not as bad as Lac-Wash (LaCrosse-Washtucna), which sounds like a kind of hygiene product for new mothers or something.”

Slice answer: “I watch sports during my rare exercise sessions but my wife, Teresa, has been listening to the same Shania Twain CD for years,” wrote Keith Hegg. “We all cringe as we hear the squeak of the NordicTrack and the sound wafting up from the basement … ‘Let’s go girls.’ ”

Today’s Slice question: The other day I was riding my bike up the South Hill when I noticed something.

Parked by some apartments on the west side of Adams Street, there was a nondescript blue car. It was covered with a thin layer of dust or dirt. On the back, employing a fingertip I suppose, someone had written a message: “Spokane sucks”

This trenchant social commentary reminded me of J.D. Salinger’s riff on F-word graffiti in “The Catcher in the Rye.”

About all you can do is shake your head. Later, though, I realized I had missed an opportunity. I could have turned that scrawled verdict on the Lilac City into a lively point/counterpoint exchange.

But what should I have written on that dirty car?

“No, it doesn’t, but perhaps you do,” is one obvious retort.

“Au contraire,” is another.

Or I could have gone with “Sadly, your presence here affirms that the diverse reality of life in this sometimes confounding city is shaped in part by individuals who fail to grasp that they themselves are responsible for discovering fulfillment through achievement and devotion to community.”

That, however, would have left me with an extremely dirty finger.

So let me ask. What would you have written in response?