On Spokane, Spokompton, and the Inferiority Complex

#SpoCOOLSpokane

A couple of weeks ago we made a mention of the Bon Jovi Arena debacle (seriously, who thought that name was a good idea?), an impassioned response from Mr. Spokane, and... Well, this is hardly the first time we've touched on Spokane's puzzling inferiority complex, but here we are again. To really drive that point home, we got a good reminder how bad this actually is when we saw this at Boo Radley's...

Image of Spokompton glass

"Spokompton" and "Spokanistan" are not new monickers, and the products donning them have been around for a good while. And that's kind of the point. Not kind of, that is the point: It's 2013, and putting the city down like this -- with all respect to the places the monickers are playing off of -- has gotten old, dumb, and kind of sad.

(There are those who will claim this all to be a sense of self-irony, and that we should laugh at ourselves, and all that, but come on... There's not even a fine line between that and the Spok-whatever.)

Spokane has come a long way over the past few years, and it's still evolving, mostly in a positive direction. There is still work to be done, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

So, skipping past a further rant about all of this, we will instead direct you to some sources of positivity. We all need just a few reminders of some of the awesome, strange, and cool things we have here in Spokane. Some apparent, some not. Like...

We literally have a new brewery opening every other hour. OK, so not literally, but it's positive to see breweries popping up every month. (Almost literally.)

Get Lit! We are positively well-read, and have a first rate festival to prove it.

Spokane Doesn't Suck: A nice little Tumblr site which, as the name suggests, is very positive.

We do in fact have quite a few websites, all filled with positivity. And twitter accounts too.

Manito Tap House: Because not only do they do awesome food and beer, they also strive to take green to the next level, which we find positive

Hot wings with Pop Rocks? It won't win any Michelin stars, but it's such a positively odd thing.

Dawn of the Donut: Technically they don't quite exist yet, but it's positive to see somebody coming up with creative ideas like a zombie themed donut shop.

We have what probably is the most decked out grocery selection of any gas station you've ever seen.

The Garbage Goat: I mean, come on, it might be a bit of a local joke, but do you know of a cooler trashcan? And properly disposing of your trash is very positive.

That's just a small sample, but what else should be included in that list? Tweet @SpoCOOL with positive Spokane things we left out!

SpoCOOL: We are all about being positive, except when we're not.