Columns 2006

I thought I’d risk my immortal soul this week and go see The DaVinci Code.  I have always found Tom Hanks to be one of the more decent people in the film industry and usually enjoy any film he’s in. And, let’s be honest, who can really question Opie’s morals or values?  I mean, he was raised in Mayberry by Andy for goodness sakes!

Having now seen the movie, I can only say that I believe there is some sort of conspiracy between Opie and certain Christian groups to make as much noise as possible about this movie so that

As I kept saying to my friend Grace during the wedding, “This sure isn’t St. Michael’s”.  St. Michael’s is the parish church where we were raised.  Caesar’s Wedding Chapel by the Pool is where her daughter was getting married.  The distance from here to the outer limits of the known universe could not be greater.

Living as a transplanted Easterner in Alaska, I’m used to events such as weddings, births, birthdays and divorces that happen far from family.  So the fact that only thirty people were at the wedding was not the problem.  The problem was that there was no

It’s the start of summer visitor season. Not that the visitors are actually on their way up. No, there are still pockets of snow on the ground and I don’t know what your visitors are like, but mine prefer Alaska without snow.  So they haven’t aimed the RVs, campers, cars and trucks north yet.  And Alaska Airlines is not yet overbooked with people looking out the window and wondering how there could be that much land between Alaska and Seattle that doesn’t seem inhabited. But the reservations for rooms in my house are pouring in and that means the visitors

I was walking with a friend when I saw him. He couldn’t have been more than 8 years old. He was riding down the path on his bike on a beautiful spring day. The sun was shinning, the snow was almost melted and you could feel the surge of life in the air.

Yep, it could have been Opie Taylor heading for his fishing hole…except for one little thing.  There was a cell phone in his hand attached to his ear and he was having an earnest conversation while steering with one hand.  All memories of an idyllic childhood shattered

Yes, sir. Welcome to Anchorage. Welcome to Alaska. Welcome to America. Land of the brave and home of the free, emphasis on the word free.

Seems to me that America has become the ultimate land of the freeloader.  I’m not talking about the mythical welfare mom arriving in her Cadillac to pick up a welfare check.  I’m not referring to illegal immigrants who might receive taxpayer funded health care because their under minimum wage, off the books, jobs leaves them no choice.  No, I’m talking about your every day, born and bred here, July 4 flag waving American who thinks

April is Child Abuse Awareness Month.  This year, it’s also the month in which Christians celebrate Easter, a time that honors the death and resurrection of a man who famously said in Mark 10:14, “ Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God.”

As a child growing up Catholic, I never doubted that those words were literally as well as figuratively true.  Pictures hung all over our grade school of Christ sitting on a rock with little chubby boys and girls running towards his open arms with joy

Last week, in your very own good morning newspaper, there were two stories that, taken together, constitute some of the scariest stuff I’ve read in quite a while.  The stories ranged from the sublimely frightening to the absurdly scary.

The sublimely frightening story concerned Afghanistan where a Muslim convert to Christianity faces death because of his conversion.  That in and of itself is neither new nor particularly scary.  Religions have been killing people for thousands of years in the name of their supposedly just and merciful god.

What was scary about this particular case was this quote from the judge

Here’s the thing about writing.  Given the chance, I can be distracted by something as simple as a dust mote falling.  That’s all I need to know that I should clean the house before I can continue my assignment so that my allergies don’t flare up while I’m working.  And if my creativity is not exactly flowing easily by then, that dust mote could also mean that I need to clean my garage, my yard, my neighborhood and my city.  But honestly, I eventually will get back to the task at hand…whatever that might have been.

Anyhow, as I was

It will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me that I hold a particularly low opinion of political campaigns. I must confess, though, that the current campaign for Anchorage mayor has captured my heart because it is currently producing the only hot air to be found here this month.

I know political campaigns are critical to our democracy. And god knows there is no alternative out there for a “political campaign free” form of government that is in any way attractive to me.  But that doesn’t mean I have to love the oft times messy process that we