Elise Sereni Patkotak

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 →

So I’m guessing that we can all agree that 2021 was no better than 2020 in most regards. We started off with an assault on our democracy and ended with a whole new covid variant. What could possibly be worse than that? Well, hold on to your hats, folks, because Biden announced he will run for president in 2024 in a breathless rematch between him and he whose name I shudder to mention. Yep, that’s right. For America’s next presidential election, we will be seeing a rematch of the two oldest, whitest men in America. What could be more frightening? Continue reading →

then that is strictly due to the brilliance and patience of Sonya Senkowski.

I can only thank the goddess that is for the fact that no one – and I mean absolutely no one – expects me to be able to do what she does. Continue reading →

There is a line in the old TV show, Will and Grace, that I’ve always loved and thought should be heard by every Alaskan who has left their familiar world to search for their own truth here.

“There’s the family you are born into and the family you choose.”

A lot of us here in Alaska come from elsewhere. And if you live in Alaska, elsewhere is always far away. So we gather around us people who become our chosen family to fill in the gaps caused by the absence of our birth family. Sometimes we find out that our Continue reading →