I have never been one to celebrate the New Year. It always seemed like an artificial construct. I celebrated my own new year, the start of the school year, which coincided with introduction of the new models of cars when … Continue reading Welcome To 2021
This year on Times Square, according to the press release (which doesn’t get around to telling you that no one is invited to be there until the 4th paragraph, talk about burying the lede), the program will include the traditional … Continue reading What Are You Singing New Year’s Eve?
Two hundred and forty four ago a resolution written by Thomas Jefferson and moved by John Adams passed the Continental Congress. It read, in part: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they … Continue reading July 4, 2020
Thirty years ago, this week my family was in Berlin. We had been there 10 months earlier and saw a wall that looked permanent. Three months later we saw it come down on TV. We went back in June 1990 … Continue reading 30 Years Ago This Week — Berlin.
June 6, 2020 Thirty years ago, this week we were in the Czechoslovakia. We were there because in 1989 we took our kids to Berlin to see the wall. Two and a half months later it came down. In 1990 … Continue reading 30 Years Ago This Week
Back in 1993 member of the committee drafting the Albanian Constitution asked me who was right in their view of government, Jefferson or Adams. I thought about an answer and told him this story. Later I was asked to tell … Continue reading After 247 Years, Jefferson Still Lives!
In which I say goodbye to a ship named Prinsendam – the second time around. I was new to Juneau, looking across Gastineau Channel from my home in North Douglas. A neat little cruise ship pulled into Juneau’s dock. It … Continue reading Goodbye Old Friend
Matzi (Albanian for cat) came into our lives when our cat “Smite” died. Our husky dog, Merlin, went into mourning, with a keening howl that would not stop. We went to the shelter to find a “rescue cat.” We asked … Continue reading Matzi
Twenty nine years ago my life changed forever. The Berlin Wall fell. We had been in Berlin the summer before and the wall looked permanent. We went back the next summer in time to see streets opening in the Wedding … Continue reading Walking the Line Between Hope and Despair.
Two hundred and forty two years ago a resolution written by Thomas Jefferson and moved by John Adams passed the Continental Congress. It read, in part: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that … Continue reading JEFFERSON STILL LIVES !!!
Around 150 Sitkans joined other people in other cities around the US in a “Families Belong Together” march. To be precise Suzi and I counted 147 people march past us while I was taking pictures. We met several more at … Continue reading Remember — It Could Be Us.
60 years ago, when I was eleven, I got a lot of birthday cards, but they all came from New York and New Jersey. Probably all came from within a 30 mile radius of the Empire State Building. Five years … Continue reading Reflections on Turning 71
Two hundred and forty one years ago a resolution written by Thomas Jefferson and moved by John Adams passed the Continental Congress. It read, in part: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that … Continue reading After 241 Years…. Jefferson Still Lives!
Here is tranche 2 of the pictures of today’s march in Sitka. Sitka is lookin’ good! Click here to look at tranche 1 of the photos. Continue reading Sitka in Solidarity, Tranche 2
I have not seen anything like it in Sitka. Estimates vary from a low of 500 to nearly 1,000 people marching respectfully. I saw people for all sorts of different causes from all walks of life, and many different persuasions. … Continue reading Sitka In Solidarity
This is supposed to be one of those “milestone” birthdays. Even the Bible mentions it, ominously. “Three Score and Ten” is the measure of man’s life. But I’m not feeling like I’ve passed a milestone. Other birthdays were different. When … Continue reading Reflections On Turning 70
Fifteen years ago today Serbian president Milosevic fell from power. It was a day of great joy and celebration. On October 5 Milosevic fell, on October 6 I tried to get a Serbian visa, the embassy was closed. On October … Continue reading October 5, 2000
It’s Throwback Thursday. This is a letter from November, 1993. I edited out the middle of the letter, where I talk about our time in Vlora, for reasons of length. But I remember we went swimming in the Adriatic Sea … Continue reading A 1993 Albanian Bus Adventure, Tirana to Vlora and back
This is a letter from 1993. I pulled it out of my digital files because an Albanian friend posted pictures from this area on Facebook. I got into a Facebook conversation with several Albanian friends about the pictures and this … Continue reading A Trip to Northern Albania, 1993
This coming Tuesday is primary election day in Alaska. I’m beginning my “Throwback Thursday” posts with my family letter about being a municipal election monitor in Albania. Albania was a new democracy and people took their newly won privileges … Continue reading Albanian Municipal Election Day, 1996
Today is Elizabeth Peratrovich Day in Alaska. In 1945, during the debate in the Alaska Territorial Legislature on a bill mandating equal accommodation for people of all races, a senator asked “who are these people, barely out of savagery, to … Continue reading Elizabeth Peratrovich Day
One of the problems with the lifestyle I have chosen is that I don’t always have access to a radio station when I need one. When I heard that Pete Seeger had passed on I really felt a need to be on the air, to talk about Pete, to play his music, to connect with my “tribe” of folkies and activists. Facebook and this blog will have to do. The first time I interviewed Pete Seeger was in May, 1972 after a concert at Mankato State University. I remember it because it was the day Nixon announced we were mining … Continue reading Pete
September 8, 2012 Dear Friends, I got out of Africa last Friday but it was a struggle. When I got to the radio station I noticed two rips in the bottom of my brand new, “lifetime guarantee,” ultra-light, ultra strong suitcase. Turning it over I found another rip in the bottom and one of its “feet” coming loose. Getting a new suitcase in Juba on short notice was not an option so I used the whole roll of duct tape I carry to hold the suitcase together. Suitcase patched, Christina came into the office looking stricken. “I have a … Continue reading Final Letter from South Sudan, I post one last photo gallery and fly out.
August 30. 2012 Juba, South Sudan, Dear Friends, My mother once asked me why I didn’t stay home like she did, close to her parents. I told her it was because of her father, my grandfather, who at 13 was apprenticed to trade as a grocer in Derry City, hated it, and ran away to sea. His travels took him across the North Sea to ports exotic to him (Rotterdam and Hamburg) and then across the Atlantic to Halifax, and New York, and finally, coasting the Eastern Seaboard. He told me his favorite port was Baltimore, “A man can … Continue reading Letter 8 from South Sudan, where I wonder if I am getting too old for this.