Columns 2014

Alaska Native men must stand up for their women, children and culture

Last week I asked where Alaska Native men were when their sisters, mothers, daughters and classmates were being abused within their own community. I asked because I firmly believe this problem will never be resolved so long as we continue to view it as only a woman’s issue. I asked because if Native men are not part of the solution, they automatically become part of the problem. Those women and children who suffer violence and sexual assaults in their homes are often damaged twice – first by the abuser and then by a community that looks the other way.

This

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Scribblings

The good and the bad news

The good news is that mosquitoes are not half as bad as they were last year and I can sit in my office and get my work done without first having to smash a dozen of them against the wall.

The bad news is that their incessant buzzing and annoying hovering has been replaced by political ads.

The good news is that I can turn the tv off or use the mute button.

The bad news is that I have to because those damn ads make me long for a dictatorship.

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Scribblings

Birds Birds Birds

Today is my Bird TLC shift. It being summer, there will probably be over 50 hungry baby mallards, gulls and goslings waiting very impatiently for their meals. At this time of the year, you really, really have to love birds to keep showing up.

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pictures, Scribblings

Snowy in deep contemplation

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“Will she remember to give me the chicken skin in my dinner tonight? Will she try to throw my toy out of bed just because it’s a bit moist from my gumming it? Will she ever understand how much the world will collapse if I don’t jump out of bed at 3 AM barking wildly at the noise being made by passing geese? When will she finally let me chase those fun toys she keeps in cages all over my house? Will I ever convince her that licking your own butt is actually kind of fun?”

Such are the deep

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pictures, Scribblings

It may be summer

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but BuddhaBubba is clearly contemplating fall and getting her autumn color palate in order.

Note to my sister Judy… no, you can’t make a snide comment about my dog having more fashion sense than me, even if it is true.

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Columns 2014

Where are the men?

Another group has come through Anchorage to talk about the problems of abuse and violence in our villages. Panelists take testimony, listen to horror stories of lives lived in fear, collect data on Alaska Native children showing them on par with returning war vets for PTSD and declare the situation intolerable. Each time this happens, I wonder where the men are. The only time men get mentioned is as the problem. But there is no solution without them.

A few years ago I wrote that for Native women to be respected, that respect must begin at home. Since the majority

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