I have the privilege of feeding Bird TLC’s education bird, Denali – The Golden Eagle, while he presenter is in Mongolia learning even more about golden eagles. He is holding his quail dinner and, I would guess from the look on his face, thinking, “Back off, puny human. This is MY quail.”
And it was 43 years ago today that I arrived in Barrow. My first experience was asking for a bathroom in the old hut that counted as the airline building. Ose Matsutani, who was there to greet me with other staff from the hospital, looked a bit taken aback and then said, “She might as well experience it now as later.” And that was my introduction to a honeybucket system of sanitation. Why I didn’t run back to NYC at that point will always be a mystery to me. Glad I didn’t. I had some of the greatest adventures of
I was being led around the old ANMC to introduce me to the various departments. I didn’t have a clue about Indian Health Service or what it did or why. I didn’t exactly do a lot of research before taking the job in Barrow. You’d think this would have caused me to be more cautious in the future but I’ve pretty much spent my life leaping first and checking it out second. Hey… it’s a method!
There are times in each year when we tend to stop and take inventory of our lives. For many people, this inventory happens on New Year’s Eve. But for me it happens on Oct. 1. That’s the day, 43 years ago today, that I first set foot in Alaska.
I don’t know what expectations I had when I arrived. I’m guessing I was too busy sobbing from homesickness to really articulate any, even to myself. Being a New Jersey-New York-Pennsylvania hybrid, I would assume I arrived with a rather jaded attitude towards this whole Last Frontier shtick being tossed at
Have you ever noticed how we seem to manage to work ourselves up into a complete fit of hysteria by the end of each summer and then Labor Day hits and it’s like someone stuck a pin in a balloon. Does anyone really care to cover Donald Trump anymore? Or has that bubble burst and we are now settling back into dull reality?
My kind of autumn weather. There’s even some hope for snow before I leave for Cambodia. OMG! My heart is going pitter-pat with joy.
This is for all my Alaska friends and especially my Bush Alaska friends. I am trying to help the Blood Bank of Alaska collect stories from around Alaska of people whose lives have been helped/saved because of the Blood Bank. I know so many of us from the Bush know stories of emergencies where friends and loved ones had to be medivaced out and the blood from the Blood Bank was what made the difference for them. Please share any of these stories you may have. If you don’t want to put them on Facebook, you can send them to
While he’s not going to get me back into church in the near or distant future, I do find that I don’t dislike Catholicism so much when he expresses what it means. Too bad all those old men at the Vatican can’t get over their fear of women enough to admit them to the clergy. Then we’d really have something to talk about!
I never thought I’d get over losing David Letterman on late night TV. But Colbert is hitting it out of the park. I love that he is still bringing serious guests on for serious discussions and still highlighting authors. Go Stephen!
I read with interest the recent article about the whale taken in Kaktovik that was found to have an old projectile embedded in its body. But even as I read it I could feel my stomach tightening. Discussion of traditional whaling often gets caught up in the question of how anyone could kill these noble creatures.
Sure enough, last week’s Letters to the Editor contained a letter questioning how subsistence whaling can still be allowed and why those darn Natives don’t just hop into the modern world and leave that barbaric killing behind. I have to assume the letter writer