Columns 2017

Social workers need support services available for families if we are to impact the problem

Posted on by Elise Patkotak

Have you noticed the pattern yet? Every two to three years another report is released about the Office of Children’s Services (OCS) that loudly proclaims that the system designed to protect Alaska’s most vulnerable population is failing it. Children fall through the cracks. Children languish in foster care. Children are placed in foster homes where the horrors are worse than the homes from which they were removed. The list goes on and on.

Every time this report comes out… and let’s be real here, it’s the same report each time with just a different date and slightly worse statistics… the Continue reading →

Scribblings

I’m about to go all “old lady” on you

Posted on by Elise Patkotak

OK, I’m done. I’ve had it. Please, oh please, no more celebrities wearing see through dresses, bikinis that look to split their asses in half, side boob shots that are just sad and those stupid dresses where the sheer part goes all the way down but the real dress only goes to the knees. And I don’t need someone’s boobs pushing through a see through top. Make it all stop. For the love of god, leave something for the imagination. If I never see a celebrity ass again, it will be too soon. Continue reading →

Scribblings

Bird TLC’s Amazon Smile Wish List

Posted on by Elise Patkotak

BIRD TLC’S WISH LIST

Support Bird TLC through our Amazon Wish List!

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We squeeze every penny and make them all count, but we are always in need of various supplies:

  •  Gift Cards (Lowe’s, Home Depot, Fred Meyer, Costco, Pet Supply Stores, etc.)
  •  Unprocessed Salmon or Red Meat
  •  Bleach
  •  Simple Green
  •  Laundry Soap & Dish Soap
  •  Garbage Bags
  •  Ziploc Bags
  •  Paper Towels & Toilet Paper
  •  Army Blankets
  •  Mirrors (All sizes)
  •  Clean, Used Towels
  •  Rubber / Latex Gloves
  •  Garden Hoses & Hose Nozzles
  •  Plywood

Contact Bird TLC office for drop off directions or to arrange pick-up: (907) 562-4852.

Continue reading →
Columns 2017

We create tiny worlds to escape the “others”

Posted on by Elise Patkotak

I grew up in a very insular place. For the first ten years of my life, I thought the pope ruled the world and the president ruled America for him. I went to Catholic school from pre-kindergarten through college. I took four years of Latin figuring that would make me bilingual – which it would have if I lived in the Vatican.

When I was in the 8th grade, I won a Voice of Democracy award from the state’s VFW for an essay I wrote. The award ceremony was held at a Protestant church. I got hysterical. I refused Continue reading →

Scribblings

Am I the only one surprised?

Posted on by Elise Patkotak

Am I the only one surprised that Canada hasn’t started building a wall on their southern border?

Also, Orangeman does realize you can’t put solar panels on the side of his imaginary wall and have them work? Silly me. He’s clearly not smart enough to know the difference between top and side. Maybe someone can build him a miniature wall with popsicle sticks. Maybe the visual will help. It’s what we used for children with learning disabilities and god knows, this man has a long standing learning disability. Oh, and he’s an asshole too. Continue reading →

Scribblings

Birds and dogs

Posted on by Elise Patkotak

I never leave my parrots and dogs alone together if the birds are out of their cages. I do this because I don’t ever want there to be an “accident” in which a bird loses to a dog’s teeth. I thought I was protecting the birds.

So yesterday I’m cleaning bird cages and Wilson, my conure, climbs to the top of his cage while the door is open. As I take my head out from his cage where I was cleaning the inside, my first thought was that Nayla was too close and too interested and I needed to keep Continue reading →