Open Thread – Alaska Far Away
If you haven’t had an opportunity to see the outstanding movie Alaska Far Away, you’re in luck. It’s previous broadcast on KAKM in Anchorage was such a smashing success that it will be shown again today! It will also be shown on KUAC in Fairbanks. Check your local listing for time.
As a matter of fact, it’s been well-received everywhere, including PBS and film festivals across the country where it has received great acclaim.
I got my very own copy of the film last year and I can’t say enough good things about it. Absolutely fascinating, well done, and entertaining. I learned a tremendous amount about the Matanuska Colony and the great New Deal experiment it was! Pretty amazing stuff. And the best part is that there isn’t a single Palin in the whole darn thing!
And if you’re not in Alaska, or if you watch the show and must own a copy of your own, you can just click the ad over in the sidebar and buy a copy! This would make an awesome Christmas gift too, for anyone you know who loves Alaska, or office party gifts, or hostess gifts, Secret Santas, etc. And DON’T FORGET to use the promo code MUDFLATS when placing your order to get free shipping!
Merry Christmas from Alaska (near or) Far Away!
Lynnrockets has a SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
Lynnrockets needs your help. Boston’s largest talk radio station (WRKO AM) has chosen Lynnrockets as a finalist in its “Next Great Political Blogger Contest”. Yours truly has been selected by the station’s staff (from over 200 entries) to be one of 10 finalists for a position with the station as a “liberal” blogger.
for more, scroll about a third of the way down:
http://lynnrockets.wordpress.com/2010/12/01/palin-laments-say-it-aint-so-joe/
Done. beth.
[Since folks are encouraged to vote early and vote often, mayhap you should re-post the (above) notice daily until the 11th? b.]
The film is great, but there are those here in the Valley that were homesteaders, back in the earlier part of the 20th century, that made their own way without the government assistance. The homesteaders and their descendants still hold it against the colonists regarding the leg up that they received from the government. I’ve heard that argument more than a few times. However, the Colonists and the Homesteaders together created a sense of community that is still very much a part of how Palmer operates today. Palmer is a small town in the best and worst sense of the word; it has big city problems but still has that small town feel, complete with sidewalks and a market each Friday from May to September. It is a pedestrian town and those are few and far between in Alaska.
It is an interesting story, that of the New Deal Colonists, but sadly less than 50% of the families actually made it work in the longterm. Many spent the first year here in walled tents with a wood stove and more than a few lost children during that first hard winter. The CCC workers were not able to complete the homes for all of the families before that first winter set in. And these were people that were absolutely destitute in the their homestates of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan. They were hardy folks used to the cold. They came here with a Government promise that fell short for some of them. Some of them were not willing to work hard enough on their 40 acres to make a go of it. But some were and we have a Colony Days Parade and celebration each June and a Colony Christmas celebration each December. Much of Palmer is defined by those people that came here and made a new life. Their descendants do not forget and they make a point to keep their tradition alive and well.
Many of our landmarks are still the old original Colonist homes and barns that were erected in the mid 1930’s. Some of the original farms have been turned into subdivisions, but some have not. Some were consolidated to create the commercial farms that make Palmer unique. We have a Farm Tour complete with signage that allows tourists to travel through the Palmer breadbasket and give tourists a view of what agriculture is today here in Palmer, along with a glimpse of some of the original Colonist homes and barns.
I worked for 4 years as the Manager of the Palmer Visitor and Information Center, a log cabin in downtown Palmer that hosts displays of the Colonists artifacts and assists visitors in finding activities that showcase this unique part of Alaskan history. The entire downtown corridor of Palmer is a walking tour for visitors to enjoy. Many of the original buildings, the school, the teachers barracks, and even some original Colonist homes have been either repurposed, or have been kept as museum specimens for visitors to enjoy.
I now work as a Gardener on the same property. We have a 2-acre showcase garden that offers examples of local agricultural products, as well as plants and trees grown for both food and beauty. Although I reside in Wasilla, I find Palmer to be a very special place that is unique and has retained its small town charm.
Thanks for sharing this video with the populace here at Mudflats! Sorry this was so long, but I have spent many years enjoying sharing Palmer with thousands of visitors.
Sounds like a great film. Another great (albeit heartbreaking) film is Deep Down, about an Appalachian community’s response to mountaintop removal. It’s on PBS; check your local station.
Happy Chanukah. Tikkun olam shalom.
Oh cool. Have not seen that movie yet. Hope 7 comes in tonight?
What with the catfood commission report coming out today i am working on a….Purrrrfect pungent pasta catfood dinner. Looks like it’s time to put together a catfood cook book. Purrrhaps others here have ideas for Souffle’s or burritos or Kitty korn kake’s. Some kind of siamese sauce or cheshire chittlins?
From Daily Kos: Rosa Parks, 55 years ago today
by Spider Stumbled
“It was on December 1st, 1955 that four black passengers were told to give up their seats to white passengers. Three complied. One did not. When the bus driver told her he would have her arrested if she didn’t stand up, she calmly told him “You may do that.” And for that statement, we all can be grateful.”
Forever grateful, Miss Rosa.
She was a very brave woman and I echo your sentiments.
Forever grateful, Miss Rosa
Absolutely! And then I always remember that all that happened in my life time – I was 6 years old at the time and in first grade.
Rosa Parks – the epitome of class and grace.
I was born the year she did that – she’s always been a hero of mine.
Very, very brave. I saw here in Anchorage one year, I was working at the Saturday Market downtown when they honored her. So Cool.
The Matanuska Colony is the subject of one of the chapters in _Alaska’s Place in the West_. I so loved reading the potential colonists’ applications and letters requesting to be part of the colony and the colonists’ letters home about their experiences in Alaska. During my research trips, I heard that some documentarians were following my trail in my archives, and I’m thrilled to see the final product is now available to order. I can’t wait to see it! Thanks for the heads up for those of us living Outside….
Roxanne Willis
A view from Russia (no Sarah, this time you are not in the picture):
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/27-11-2010/115962-wikileaks_washington-0/
“Yet like it or not, Washington and the USA are a huge part of the international economy and therefore, the international community and at a time when this wonderful global economic system is creaking towards breaking point, and with nothing yet to replace it, however appetising it might feel to make the most of Washington’s arrogance and rub its face in the mud of its own making, now is not the right time.”
“It is not the right time because the people of the United States of America elected an intelligent, educated and forward-thinking President who is more interested in building bridges than bombing them, he is the President who can bring the USA back into the fold, back into the welcoming arms and hearts and minds of the international community.”
http://theclicker.todayshow.com/_news/2010/12/01/5560862-cho-sarah-palin-forced-bristol-to-go-dancing
Cho tells all about why Bristol was a dancin’, looks like she owed it to her mommie dearest.
Yoicks.
I’m waiting for the tweet on this one!
Wow, if you click on the link to Cho’s blog and then read the comments – I don’t know what to think of Bristol, but it might explain why she’s the only contestant I’ve ever seen who seemed to gain weight rather than lose it. I won’t repeat the gossip, because you can read it for yourself. Very sad family if any of it is true.
and well ashe should be scarred,look what palin has had done or done herself to others,or her followers did.ya know the fake christians who call names and give death threats
Posted on Huffpo and Gryphen’s is Nichole Wallace (appearing on Morning Joe) talking about Palin’s “very prickly. very cynical” personality. I wish I could share her confidence in Palin defeating Palin. By the time many step forward, it might just be too late. Anyway, it’s worth a visit.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/01/nicole-wallace-sarah-palin_n_790319.html
Dreamgirl:
It’s December! When does your shop open? We’ve been waiting a looong time for a hot drink and healthy snack! 🙂
Good morning all. I have the day off and we are experiencing our first snow of the season today. I thought I would stop in at the open thread before diving into AKM’s latest installment of Palin’s so called “book.”
Palin wants to follow in Cheney’s footsteps by calling on the US to break its own laws by “hunting down” WikiLeaks founder. You can only imagine what a President Palin would do; it would be like Cheney on speed. And the world’s media are reacting (oh the embarrassment she causes):
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/sarah-palin-tells-us-government-to-hunt-down-antiamerican-operative-julian-assange-20101201-18g69.html?from=smh_sb
And from the UK:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8171269/Sarah-Palin-hunt-WikiLeaks-founder-like-al-Qaeda-and-Taliban-leaders.html
Since a lot of people consider her to be more of a threat than these leaks,would she suggest the same thing happen to her??????
I second that emotion.