There There
There There, by Tommy Orange, was the May book of the month for the radio show Native America Calling. It’s an incredible book. I obviously can’t speak to how well it represents urban Indian life; ...
How does it feel…
Many people have asked me in the last few weeks how it feels to be a papa. I generally hedge, I deflect the question saying it’s too soon to tell or that it’s not really ...
The Things we Build
To all of you who are a part of the Three Barons Fair: I think it’s sometimes easy for us to focus on just the part of the fair we participate in directly. We can ...
A love letter to those who taught me.
In the last few weeks, I’ve had my world rocked by learning something I’ve always known. I have dyslexia. This is not news, this is something that my instructors and I have been fighting all ...
April Fools
The following is an old piece of writing long thought lost. April first is a time of jest, when people test their wits and compare their pranks to decide which comes out best. The competition ...
Another Shutdown
I’m reading a lot of discussion about who “won” and who “lost” the government shutdown. Spoiler alert, we all lost. The arguments for both sides are, of course, compelling. The reality is that the House ...
Pantopol
I was flipping through some of my pictures when this one surfaced. It’s the sculpture Pantopol, by Ted Jonsson, at SeaTac international airport. I’ve always liked this sculpture. It’s one that appears to change from ...
Dr. King
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was an amazing leader. Facing down institutional violence, he was able to talk about the long arc of history bending towards justice. He could see further ahead than the rest ...
The Meaning of Everything
“The Meaning of Everything” is not my favorite Simon Winchester book, but that’s kind of like saying La Belle Heaulmiere is not my favorite piece by Rodin. Both artists have done much more approachable work. ...
Hoshino and Joseph
I love this pole. It is a master of one art form memorializing a master of another. The figure at the base of the pole is the wildlife photographer Michio Hoshino. Even if you don’t ...
Market genorosity
Today’s lesson in unintended consequences: King Mansa Musa of Mali was the wealthiest person the world has ever seen. Mali was a center of trade with abundant salt and gold, and being south of the ...
Fatima al-Fihri
Today, in “women I wish we knew more about,” Fatima al-Fihri. Fatima bint Muhammad Al-Fihriya Al-Qurashiya was probably born around 810 AD in Kairouan, modern-day Tunisia. Her father was a wealthy merchant who ended up ...
The Politics of Waiting
Politicians and pundits really like Christmas, but then everyone likes a baby shower. You can show off your Christian bona fides in a nice safe manner, adoring the helpless baby before he has a chance ...
Whale oil is no more. Petroleum is next.
A week ago, Shannon and I were crawling through the remains of the U. S. whaling industry. At one point, the industry accounted for one fifth of the nation’s economy, and it really was no ...
Death Penalty
This week, we have a stark example of one of the reasons I strongly oppose the death penalty. Ledell Lee’s trial was overseen by a judge who was having an affair with the assistant prosecutor. ...
Radicalization
This week, a man walked into a school where his estranged wife worked. He shot her, and two of her students, in front of a room full of children. I have yet to see anyone ...
Coffee Forthright!
What happens when you are having blood-work done in the morning which requires fasting? Well, if you are me you apparently dismember Sondheim. To the tune of Comedy Tonight… Bring Coffee Forthright! Something inviting, something ...
Pictures on the wall: Miriam Daniel Mann
If I were a more patient person or a better communicator, I would be a high school civics instructor. There is a fundamental problem with the way we teach civics, we don’t give our students ...
First they came…
Well. You know the poem. I learned this poem at St. Olaf, a college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Harold Ditmanson, a professor held in such regard that the college named a wing of the ...
But who will pay the piper?
The patron who pays the piper picks the tune. For as long as I can remember, in Alaska the patron has been the oil industry. With more than 85% of the State’s general fund revenue ...
Nature comes to you.
As far as urban areas go, you won’t find many cities as integrated into nature as this one. We have a fantastic trail system, we have moose and wolves that live within our city boundaries, ...
Holidays.
There are three holidays of note this week. The one that I got off from work is the least significant. On the 14th, we had the holiday of Saint Valentine of Rome. According to legend ...
Darkness into Light.
Much is said and written about the Yin/Yang of Solstice, the world in balance between darkness and light. Such a balance does not exist. Every year, as the sun dips below the horizon in Utqiaġvik ...
The hand of Franklin.
HMS Terror has been found well preserved in 11 meters of water. It appears her crew had taken time while abandoning her, so perhaps she was caught in the ice, and the crew then removed ...
The Greatness of the Past
There are several emails circulating that remember how much better things were. They shows kids playing outdoors without cell phones. They show dads and sons fishing, or teenagers dancing in a soda-shop, all clean, neat and ...
Coda to Radio
I recently commented that the “oldies” radio station was playing music from my college years. Driving into work, I heard the Goo Goo Dolls, followed by an announcer who said “I know, get over it. ...
Radio
My cohort has reached a new milestone in life. As I was driving home yesterday I realized that every song I heard was on the radio when I was in college. This would not be ...
Quiet urgency.
There is a certain vibe to public buildings that are mostly empty with those still left still having work to do. I am sitting in a university library over spring break. Desks are empty and ...
The works of others; the kindness of strangers.
There are bad days, days we wish to forget. A good writer can turn a horrid day into one to remember. Katherine Fritz is such a writer, and I would like to recommend her post ...
The anatomy of a disaster
Reading case studies in public policy is like watching a good thriller. You see each decision lead down the path to disaster. You know the disaster is coming, you see the many places where the ...
The Work of Christmas
When the song of the angels is stilled, When the star in the sky is gone, When the kings and princes are home, When the shepherds are back with their flock, The work of Christmas ...
Thanksgiving Eve
It’s so easy to dream of the days gone by, so hard to think of the times to come. The Grace to accept every moment as a gift is a gift that is given to ...
the Good Samaritan
It is in vogue for Presidential contenders to out-do each other with more extreme ways of saying “no” to Syrian refugees. When making sure the vetting process was not enough, Trump simply said we should ...
Fear itself.
All the world’s a stage. We are all merely players. In our time, we play many parts. Right now, the city of Raqqa is playing the part of whipping boy for the world’s most powerful ...
The Woman at the Well
I’ve had a lot to think about since listening to our President sing “Amazing Grace.” I normally would not reflect on the leader of a secular nation in a religious context, but after President Obama ...
Colors from home.
It should be fairly evident looking at my tag cloud to the right that I am fascinated with color. One of the things I do love is the changing of the seasons. I wold like ...
Filtered light
The Sun is the source of essentially all color on our planet. Sunlight is full-spectrum, and when you see something that has color, what you see is the reflected color that is not absorbed. When ...
So much for dreaming…
I have come to a fantastic realization; I have finally stopped following my dreams. I am now following my happiness instead. I have not given up on my dreams. If a leprechaun were to grant ...