Columns 2013

There are a couple of important things you need to know before visiting Cuba. First is that Ernest Hemmingway apparently drank at every bar in Havana. Second is that if you have not been offered rum by 10 AM, Cubans feel they are failing in their hospitality.

Whenever I mentioned going to Cuba, the question most frequently asked was how I’d gotten a visa to go there. Well, pretty much the US Government no longer really cares. Cuba belongs to a distant cold war past. Our continued embargo is simply the product of influential people in Florida still mad that

I have to assume that somewhere in the world there are governments more dysfunctional than ours. I could be wrong. Unfortunately, the people who are at the top of this pile of congressional excrement are the ones getting not only big bucks, but also gold plated health plans.

The argument over funding government for the next few weeks – at which time we will be treated to a repeat of this boondoggle based on the need to raise the debt ceiling – makes little sense under any circumstance. But in this particular circumstance, the very group causing the shutdown consists

When I read what is being applauded in the US House of Representatives as great legislation, I have to wonder when we became a nation of such meanness. It’s not the way I was brought up to believe in America. I was raised to believe that America was a nation of endless possibilities that was founded on a belief in the common good; a nation that cared for its citizens and worked to see that the rising tide raised all boats. It just made sense. Leaving no one behind made us a stronger and better place. It’s why, I was

There are a lot of very important things happening in the world. Some of those things are making it look like our world has turned upside down. Russia is acting as a peacemaker for goodness sakes. Isn’t that a sign of the end of times?

Yet America is focused on that which truly is, without question, a sign of the end of civilization. I’m of course referring to Miley Cyrus swinging in the altogether on a wrecking ball. I have no doubt if someone had the time or inclination to count column inches, they would find Miley garnered way more

Anyone involved in the ongoing alcohol war in Bush Alaska is not at all surprised by recent findings that the alcohol war is about as successful as the drug war.  The problem is that no one seems to be able to come up with a better solution that won’t take a long time for results to show.

Sometimes the problem of alcoholism is simply addiction itself. A person is born with a proclivity towards addictive substances and all the best parenting, schooling and counseling in the world can’t cure that. All you can ever do is control it, a daily

It’s hard to explain to people who have never lived in a small village in the Alaska Bush how you can mourn the loss of a restaurant almost as intensely as you would mourn the loss of a friend. But I’m going to try because Pepe’s was more than just a Mexican restaurant in Barrow.

When I first moved to Barrow, there were two restaurants in town. One was Al’s Eskimo Café. It was open year round. The other was Brower’s Café. It opened only during tourist season when it served reindeer soup and an Eskimo donut in an atmosphere

Based on the events of the past weekend, I would have to say that it is a given that we are never too old to be stupid. We might get wise enough to do things that mitigate our stupidity, like overnighting at a friend’s house after an evening of margaritas rather than trying to drive home, but we apparently are not wise enough to figure out that those margaritas were not quite what was expected.

Let me start at the beginning, such as my pounding head can remember. I have never been a drinker. Despite growing up in a home

If you’ve lived in Anchorage for even a short period of time and have not yet gone to the Greek Festival held every year at the Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church, you are missing one of Anchorage’s best moments. And I’m not just talking about the dessert tent, though that alone could occupy a full page of superlatives.

I go with friends each year who understand that first we have to stop at the dessert tent before all the best pastries are gone and then we go eat the wonderful Greek dinners, salads, gyros, etc. available from cooks who clearly

My hope for humanity is that sometime in the not too distant future, the Jerry Prevo’s of this world will die out. I pray this happens before the Second Coming so that Jesus won’t be quite so angry at finding out what some people were doing in his name. Jesus said “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” He did not ask his disciples to first ascertain their sexual orientation.

The difference between Jerry Prevo and Jesus is that Jesus inhabited a world of inclusion,

The United States Congress is on a five week hiatus from their sweat inducing labor of getting nothing done while making a great deal of noise in the hope we, the American people, won’t notice. Much to their chagrin, it seems the American people have actually noticed as the approval rating for our august national legislature is hovering around 17%. This, of course, leads to the inevitable question of who the heck those 17% are?

Some applaud the fact that Congress has passed so few bills this session due to gridlock. These are the people who believe nothing good can