When the snow first falls and the trees are full of white and everything is clean, it feels like the world must have been at the beginning, before we made it so dirty.
Dr. Ken Petersen
Today is the day we in Alaska get a chance to say goodbye to Ken Petersen. If you didn’t know Ken, it would be hard to explain how great a loss this is for those of us privileged to have known him. Suffice to say that somewhere in heaven, god is grinning broadly because she has one of her favorite sons close by her side again.
Why can’t they?
If they can send us to the moon, why can’t they invent a TV camera that makes me look young and beautiful? Or at least not bald?
Is this Congress capable of anything?
I don’t know why the political parties any longer pretend they are different. Each seems to be owned by its own group of outside interests and what the general public wants seems to come last on their list. How sad. There has been a Democratic congress for almost a year now…or is it over a year? Time flies when you’re having fun, doesn’t it? At any rate, maybe I’m just reading the wrong papers but I can’t find a single damn thing they’ve actually done where they stood up to the emperor in chief and weren’t the first to blink.
Anchorage has spoiled me
I loved being back in Barrow for a visit. But I must admit that I miss the restaurants of Anchorage and my latte stand. Oh dear, I’ve become citified!
Public Broadcasting in Alaska
Before I start talking about public broadcasting in Alaska, in the interests of full disclosure I should let everyone know that not only was I once a member and co-chair of the Alaska Public Broadcasting Commission, but I was also, much more notoriously, a volunteer DJ at KBRW in Barrow. My show was called Discount Radio. Its motto was, “You get what you pay for and I’m a volunteer.” I think that pretty much completely describes the program. It was two hours of whatever came into my head on a Saturday morning and I viewed it as comic relief from
Barrow
It was nice to be back up there seeing old friends. But I think Anchorage is finally home because it felt even better to get back here where there’s a Costco just a few blocks away.
The Leopard
I’m ashamed to say I fell victim to Mac’s advertising and bought the new Leopard OS. Now I have a million new things on my desktop that I don’t know how to use to add to the thousands that I didn’t know how to use from the last time. But it’s a Leopard. Who could resist?
Daylight saving time
It’s a metaphor for my savings account. Neither one actually saves anything.
They were the perfect couple
Whenever I despaired that true love and happiness could never last a lifetime, I thought of my friends Ken and Rob. They spent 30 years being each other’s best friend, laughing and loving each other with a respect and gentleness I could only ever envy. And now some sleepy driver who didn’t see the flashing lights has killed Ken. And all I can think is that it’s just not fair. Love like that should be kept in this world because it makes the world a little kinder, a little nicer, a little easier to handle. I know their love will