Elise Sereni Patkotak

So, I’m guessing I’m not the only person receiving calls from pollsters looking for hints as to what might emerge from the crowded fields of political candidates in this year’s elections. We all knew it was coming. We’ve all been through it before. Our phones ring off the hook with people asking us who we plan to vote for, what we plan to vote for and, of course, the very popular question being asked by people seeing the signs – who’s Kelly?

I am, for the most part, retired and I have lots of time to respond to these calls. Continue reading →

Here’s what I am so tired of hearing. First you hear the gunshots – if not literally at least figuratively as there is yet another report of a mass shooting somewhere in America. Then come the devastated local officials to explain that they had no idea it could happen in their town. Then come the politicians to offer prayers and sympathy – a phrase which now just makes me want to gag. And then finally come the statements from NRA owned politicians about how this is not about guns but about mental health. And then comes… nothing.

Anchorage recently was Continue reading →

Here are words I never thought I would think, let alone say out loud. I am starting to have some respect for Mike Pence. Don’t get me wrong. His politics generally appall me. His attitude towards women rolls out of a century that can’t even be identified. And on most days, he resembles a walking Viagra ad. But he not only apparently believes in our Constitution, he will stand up to a bully to protect it.

Trump is obviously the bully to whom I refer. And in case you ever wondered what an adult bully sounds like, check out Trump’s Continue reading →

I have spent what seems like the last few decades wearing a mask, being careful about handwashing, avoiding crowds when possible. I have been vaccinated and boosted and all but screamed to the heavens to keep me safe from Covid. Then, one day I went to a store and forgot my mask. This occurred long after masks were no longer required so I figured what could a quick unmasked trip in the store hurt.

Yep, you guessed it. Three days later I woke up with a headache that made me feel as though my head was going to explode. This Continue reading →

From a bystander’s point of view, it feels as though Alaska is drowning in political campaigns and elections this year. Not only do we have to get use to new way of voting, but we also have to sort out almost 50 candidates to find one poor soul to go to Washington for less than a year in Don Young’s old seat. Not that it will be that hard. Don was really coasting these last few years. At his age, he probably had a right to coast a little.

But after we go through that exercise, then we have a Continue reading →

I am a 75-year-old woman with no womb. So, the decision to overturn Roe v Wade doesn’t really affect me. I am past those years. But there are two issues that really need to be brought out a lot more strongly. For starts, do people honestly think that this will end abortions? You know, the way making it illegal ended drinking alcohol in the 1920s or making pot illegal stopped people from using it.

This is the point that I have always gotten stuck on when discussion the topic of abortion. It’s going to happen. It’s always happened. You can Continue reading →

Sarah Palin is like an ocean wave. She rises and falls as waves will do. Sometimes, if it’s a storm wave, it will seem mightier than it is in reality. If it’s just the regular wave, eventually it reaches solid ground and dissipates. That’s our Sarah. Sometimes she hits shore and causes damage. Sometimes she hits shore and disappears into the sand.

She seemingly arises out of nowhere periodically to make statements that scare us all and then she hits the beach and simply disappears into the sand. But along the way, she certainly makes us all sit up, take Continue reading →

We have been here so many times before. Violence against women is rampant in our state. Violence against women has been rampant in our state forever. Violence against women is an epidemic not unlike Covid, only putting on a mask doesn’t do anything for it except to hide some of the bruises.

It seems as though we go through cycles where we talk about this problem, bemoan its ubiquity in our state and then move on without ever actually seeing any resolution. What seems even more amazing than the dull roar of this repeated lament is the fact that money Continue reading →

I expect it from Lisa Murkowski. But Don Young? C’mon, Don. How am I supposed to react to you finally doing something I admire and respect? It just seems wrong, so very, very wrong, for me to think of you with any degree of admiration. Yet that’s exactly what I find myself doing.

Here we are, watching the Republican National Party calling the January 6, 2021 uprising legitimate political discourse and it’s our very own Don Young who, along with Lisa, is calling that idea dog do-do. Given that legitimate political discourse rarely involves police deaths and pooping in the

Just as I thought to myself how well I was doing old age, old age reached out and slapped me in my face for my hubris. Within the past six months, it has slammed me with a heart attack, multiple fainting episodes, open heart surgery and vision diminished so badly I can no long drive.

Yep, welcome to the golden years.

All thoughts of independence have gone down the tubes. All thoughts of how amazing an old lady I am have been permanently squashed. And after two years of this blankety-blank pandemic, even a crusty old loner like my reputation Continue reading →