I can’t believe I’ve never read this having lived in Spokane since 1998. Obviously some things have changed as his addendum reflects but if you live in Spokane or want to get a humorous and tragic glimpse, this piece captures a lot of it.
Statistical Abstract for My Home of Spokane, Washington
by Jess Walter, published April 2011
http://writ101van.weebly.com/uploads/2/2/7/3/22735066/walter_spokane_abstract.pdf
Part Two: ADDENDUM TO STATISTICAL ABSTRACT FOR MY HOMETOWN, SPOKANE WASHINGTON: make sure to read it too because there’s great observations like these:
u. Every eight minutes, another woman here becomes a certified midwife/yoga/rockclimbing instructor.
v. Because of this one-third of all babies in Spokane are now born while the mother is hanging from a cliff in the downward facing dog position while being billeted by her birth partner, who catches the falling infant and immediately puts it on a wait-list for Montessori. This is simply the harsh reality of life in the Northwest in the year 2014.