Open Thread – Homer Mudflats
Hope everyone had a great weekend. I enjoyed rebooting the system, as it were. There’s something about walking on the beach, throwing stones, feeding chickens, watching sandhill cranes, eating halibut cooked on a beach fire, and sleeping until you hear a rooster that’s good for the soul. And as great a weekend as I had, ‘Buf’ the dog’s was greater still. It was her maiden voyage to the beach, and she was positively beside herself with happiness. She “smiled” nonstop and enjoyed the sights, smells, and the other smiling dogs. Once, she started digging a hole in the sand and…
Open Thread – Ground Zero
On my recent trip to New York City, I stopped at the Ground Zero site. It was hard. I’d been in the towers many times. Some of my favorite memories of New York were eating at the restaurant Windows on the World, in the World Trade Center. I remember clear as day sitting by those huge windows, looking out over the Hudson River across to New Jersey and realizing with wonder that you could actually see the curve of the Earth. Many people who worked there never made it out alive on 9/11. I stood on the street by a…
Voices from the Flats – Dana Stabenow
Dana Stabenow was born in Anchorage and raised on 75-foot fish tender in the Gulf of Alaska. She knew there was a warmer, drier job out there somewhere and found it in writing. Her first science fiction novel, Second Star, sank without a trace, her first crime fiction novel, A Cold Day for Murder, won an Edgar award, her first thriller, Blindfold Game, hit the New York Times bestseller list, and her twenty-fifth novel and sixteenth Kate Shugak novel, Whisper to the Blood, another New York Times bestseller, came out in February 2009. This column was originally published on the…
Voices from the Flats – Rishi Maharaj
Rishi Maharaj is a New Yorker who now calls Alaska home. He was the former morning drive editor and producer at WCBS-AM in New York City. He is the currently Assistant Program Director and News Director for KBYR 700am in Anchorage. **************************** September 11th – Eight Years Later Rishi Maharaj For the first time in a long time, I had been given the chance to sleep in. Working as part of the “morning drive” team at a radio station, I was normally up pretty early; awake by 2am, on the subway by by 3:15 and at work by 4:30. It was…
Open Thread – The Best Outhouse Ever.
Outhouses can all seem alike from the inside, but this particular outhouse in Thumb Cove of Resurrection Bay is one of my favorites. What makes it different? Location, location, location. You get to it on a little raised boardwalk from the cabin, which sits nestled in moss-covered spruce trees. It’s almost surreal, with a greenish glow, and dappled sunlight, and the air is moist and super saturated with Oxygen. A deep inhalation through your nose feels as though you’re breathing the way people were meant to breathe…clean, cool and fragrant with life. It’s the smell of rain and moss and…
Open Thread – “Spawn Till You Die.”
There’s a famous t-shirt in Alaska by the consummate Alaskan artist Ray Troll that says “Spawn Till You Die” with a picture of a skull and crossed salmon. It’s become an iconic image up here, but it’s just a brutal fact of life for one of Alaska’s most famous species. They hatch, they swim out to sea, they eat and sleep and swim and do what salmon do. Then years later, they swim back, aided by the mysterious inner workings of fish physiology, to the stream of their birth and they “spawn till they die.” ‘Tis the season for spawning, in…
Open Thread
Back from Labor Day weekend in beautiful Resurrection Bay. Got relaxed, got sunburned, got lots of pictures. Life is good. I’ve never seen such amazing weather in September in Seward. It was warm and sunny and in the 70s. Amazing. Everyone was out enjoying the weekend. There were power boats, and sail boats and kayakers everywhere. Here are several kayakers out enjoying the last bit of summer in one of the most scenic spots around.
Union Voices at Netroots. New Media, New Economy.
Opening Keynote – Chuck Rocha Closing Keynote – Richard Trumka
Open Thread – Coming in for a Landing
Well, we’ve finally reached the end of our flight from Houston to Anchorage. I’m glad everyone’s been enjoying the pictures. I had a lot of fun taking them. It made the time go fast, which is nice on a 6.5 hour flight! This last shot is of the Cook Inlet mudflats, and Anchorage in the background. So please make sure your seats are in the full, upright position, and that your tray tables are locked. Fasten your seatbelts, and make sure your carry on items are stowed beneath the seat in front of you. Thank you for flying MudAir. We…