Author: Elise Patkotak

I grew up with a statue of Columbus in the nearest thing we had to a park in Atlantic City in the fifties. I grew up in an Italian community.  Columbus Day was a big thing. As immigrants to America, he was our hero, the one we could point to and say we belong because he started it all and he’s Italian. Needless to say, when this history was presented to us, Native Americans got short shrift. They were the savages that Europeans brought “civilization” to. They were the savages we saved by converting them to Christianity. They were, in Continue reading →

America had a good run for a couple hundred years. But now, like the Roman Empire, we begin the slide into dictatorship with diminishing influence on the world stage and a party of old white men supported by other rich old white men ruling a populace that is starting to look very ripe for revolution.

I feel as though this is a problem that needs to be passed to the next generation. My generation is dying out. We won’t live to see the total destruction of America by these disgusting men of privilege led by an orange POS trying to Continue reading →

Lisa Murkowski will vote “present” on Kavanaugh. She won’t vote “no” so as to not upset her Republican buddies. So the reality is that Lisa is not an independent. She is a Republican who tries to hide it so that she can keep getting re-elected by Alaskans who keep hoping she’ll be a true independent. Word of advice to those Alaskans – she hasn’t been in the past and she won’t be in the future. She will do whatever she has to in order to maintain her power. She is no different than any other two bit politician who is Continue reading →

For those of you not from Alaska, this is about a recent plea agreement a judge approved that resulted in no jail time for a man who pleaded guilty to a felony assault on a woman. (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/anchorage-alaska-justin-schneider-sentence-judge-michael-corey-recall-campaign/)

The felon drove the woman to a isolated location, choked her until she passed out and then masturbated on top of her. Oh yeah, and here in Alaska this is an important point, the woman was Alaska Native. According to the plea deal, he got no jail time because he got credit for a year of house arrest which he spent living in Continue reading →

Not since the 60s, the heyday of my youth and the Vietnam War, have I been so ready to participate in open revolution in the streets. We have a POS in the White House who mocks women who have been sexually assaulted, as well as war heroes, handicapped reporters, and a family who lost a son to the never ending wars of the Middle East (that we will only be allowed to pull totally out of once the munition makers have ALL the money in the world). If fundamental Christians are looking for signs of the Apocalypse, look no further, Continue reading →

Sonya Hadzima Rogers – best friend who kept me going that first winter in Utqiagvik.

Don’t remember my wedding date. Don’t remember the day I graduated from college. Don’t remember my nursing school graduation. Do remember two things very clearly – the day I lost my virginity and the day I first set foot in Barrow (now Utqiagvik).

It was 46 years ago today. It was cold and snowing there. I was greeted by Dr. Matsutani, the lab tech Grace and a nurse named Sonya. I thought it was so wonderful to have such a welcoming committee until I realized Continue reading →

So the POS currently sullying the White House thinks that this is a scary time for young men. Well, here’s a fun note, Donnie. It’s been a scary time for women – young or old – for centuries. So pardon me if I don’t weep for the fear your sons may be feeling.

I find it amazing that the old white men who run this country have found a way to make this about them, to make this about how this hurts them and how this causes them pain. Guess what, bubbas. You don’t get to bitch and complain because Continue reading →

46 years ago today (and it was a Monday then too) I was on a plane flying from JFK to Anchorage. Two days later, I would go on to Utqiagvik where I’d spend the next nine months falling in love with the Arctic and its people. But on Oct. 1, 1972, the only thing I felt was fear and apprehension. I think I started crying when the plane took off from New York and didn’t stop crying until I landed in Anchorage. Then my poor Adeline, the parrot who moved to Barrow with me, and I spent the night at Continue reading →

Football – Traumatic Brain Injury

Soccer – same plus interesting leg bruises

Karate – kick injuries to growing bodies that result in pain and problems by the time they are 20

Basketball – becoming unhealthily obese when career ends because you still eat as much as you used to when playing

Baseball  – hit in head with bat, arm that is permanently injured from throwing, crotch destroyed by low ball

Golf – one hit by a golf ball and it is coma city

Biking – ego injury resulting from anyone seeing you in spandex

Walking/running – pulled hamstring, attacks by Continue reading →

POS sullying the White House thinks Kavanaugh will make a great Supreme Court justice. Hmmm… this wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that they are both serial sexual abusers who have gotten away with their actions with no consequences so far, would it?

Meanwhile, it being the weekend, on a lighter note I want to clarify some things about my home and what is and isn’t allowed in it.

For starts, if you are not dishwasher safe, you are not welcome in my cupboards. I have cake plates from my mother’s house with gold rim that aren’t dishwasher Continue reading →