I received a wonderful e-mail from a rabbi here in Anchorage who pointed out a slight error in my statements about what Jewish people were or were not allowed to eat in the Old Testament as I stated in yesterday’s column. I want to print it here to keep the record straight and because it’s the right thing to do.
‘Many Jews today (liberal through traditional) do follow the kosher food laws to varying degrees. At the same time, those same Jews recognize that many laws in the Torah are antiquated, illogical and invalid…and are not observed. But, and it’s
Gays deserve all the protections of the law, Jerry Prevo notwithstanding
Thanks to the Taliban and other religious extremist groups, I’m probably not the only person around who is starting to have their fill of prejudice and hate disguised as some god’s love. Because of my upbringing, I find this especially heinous when coming out of the mouths of Christians.
A recent ordinance introduced in the Anchorage Assembly would prohibit discrimination against homosexuals. In my world, that should just be a given. None of us should be discriminating against another based on whether they look like us, love like us or have purple toes and green fingernails. Gay people are hardworking,
Dogs and souls
There was an article in the paper recently that said dogs can tell right from wrong, have a sense of morality and probably have souls. I can only say to that… DUH! Anyone who has ever seen my Blue sneaking around the counter to get to Blondie’s food without being noticed knows that she knows what she’s doing is wrong and could result in punishment. That look is all over her face, her body position and the way she jumps into the air when I catch her at it and yell, “Bad dog!”. Blondie can be in the same room
Rebranding
If the Republican Party is really rebranding itself, I’d like to wield the branding iron on members of the last administration. Dick Cheney…. pants down and bend over. This isn’t torture. It’s rebranding.
How a dog’s brain works
I open the door upstairs to let the dogs out. Blondie goes out eagerly despite the clearly pouring rain. Blue takes one look and goes back to bed. Blondie stands on the porch for a moment stunned by the fact that she is getting wet. She immediately scratches to come back in. I let her back in. She races downstairs and scratches at the back door downstairs. Obviously she thinks there is at least some chance that, while it’s pouring outside the upstairs back door, it might not be raining out the downstairs back door. I oblige her fantasy and
Ah, Blue!
The weather has been so sunny and nice that I’ve let my dogs stay out in their yard a lot. Well, let me amend that. I’ve tried to let them stay out. Blondie, who gives blonds a new level of dumb sweetness, digs herself a little trench of cool dirt, lies in it and is happy. Blue, on the other hand, sits on the little wooden stoop right in front of the door and barks. Not at anything in particular. In fact, she doesn’t even move from her sitting position. No, she just sits there and barks randomly at whatever
Remember when
Remember when being an American meant that you not only didn’t worry about pictures of our treatment of prisoners getting out into the public but actually encouraged it because, as Americans, we were so proud of the standards we used in that treatment. America treated its war prisoners humanely and decently and we welcomed the world to come look at us and learn how a civilized and democratic nation treated even those who would harm us.
Now, we have to hide the photos out of shame for what we’ve done and fear that our treatment of others will be the
A sandhill crane
We had an injured sand hill crane at the bird center this week. I got to help feed it and touch its unbelievably soft and gorgeous feathers and stare into its eyes. I wondered what its world looked like compared to mine. What its experiences were. What wonders it saw while flying so far for so long. I may not believe in religion, but for me this was a truly spiritual experience.
Here’s to education and dreams
In keeping with the warm and beautiful weather we’re having, I think today’s column will be about something positive. So clearly it will have nothing to do with Alaskan politics. Instead, we’re going to take a look at some bright spots on the educational scene to counterbalance the fairly dismal reports we receive whenever some group comes up to grade our school systems.
School districts in the Bush are usually singled out for their high drop out rates on these report cards. So I’m here to raise a “Huzzah” to an institution and a person who defied the odds and
A different kind of motherhood
For reasons I’d prefer not to explore, I found myself watching a show on E about famous mothers. I could almost swallow the motherhood story line from some of them despite the $20,000 birthday parties for the 2 year old and the mini Hummer that reaches speeds of 30 mph for the 4 year old. But when they showed Angelina Jolie talking about how exhausting motherhood could be and then noted that she had four nannies plus chefs, housekeepers and assistants, I almost urped in my mouth. What was so exhausting to her? Signing all their checks?