The City That Cut the Cord

I rolled into Spokane, Wash., around 6 p.m. on a Tuesday. Spokane is one of those sleepy cities bursting with small-town pride--its residents will be glad to inform you, for example, that it's the smallest city ever to be host of a World's Fair--but it's a pretty quiet place on a Tuesday night. You can look both ways before you cross the street if you really want to, but it's just a formality. I sat on a park bench. A dude on the corner played the saxophone. Some punks on dirt bikes made fun of me. The silence was eerie. Zombie-movie...