Walking Alone

There is something to be said about walking alone in a remote area. I find I walk more consciously and my senses are keyed into my environment with a heightened awareness. I find I smile inside and outside and take great joy in choosing my own route, be it a game trail or a ridge-line. I have a healthy respect for the less travelled trails leading high above the trees. People ask me if I bring along a fire-arm. The answer is no, however, I do bring bear spray and a knife. Human behavior actually worries me more than Kodiak brown bear behavior. The likelihood of my being shot by accident along a trail is far greater than my being charged by a grizzly.

Kodiak is great for astounding day hikes. The attached images are from a walk I took up Kashevaroff Mountain and a little farther beyond towards Center Mountain. The view across Salonie Creek is amazing as is the view toward “town”. (Notice Kodiak’s three new windmills on Pillar Mountain). The tracks in the mud were great as it had rained the night before my walk. The five-toed prints are from a small, likely juvenile, bear.

I am so very thankful to live on this amazing island…

I hate fireworks, I really do.

4 July 2009, Midnight in Anchorage, Alaska

I have decided that, indeed, I really do not like fireworks. I may even hate them.

The noise smashes around the side of the building and I hear the distant cheers of what I imagine must be a cigarette smoking crowd who find great joy in loud noises perceived as masculine and thrilling. Car alarms are going off. I want nothing of it.

Additionally, I find it a huge waste of money but wonder, were it a quiet exhibit of light set to classical sounds at Disneyland, like that of my childhood, would I be so very negative? What is it about the sound that I so detest?

Simply put, fireworks remind me of the brutality of war.

Maybe there is a primal draw to this entertainment that is happily American as this sound has never truly entered the American psyche as synonymous with WAR – as dirty and unromantic – as hell where wide-eyed fearful young men die consciously choking on their own blood.

In war movies, the sound is sterilized to remove the possibility of a human visceral reaction like I have just now. Instead, one listens to fancy soundtracks made to move men and women. Move them so that when the next war stands boiling on the horizon, we, as Americans, who love big noises and big guns, will stand ready to send our sons and daughters off to their death – choking on their own blood, knowing they are dead. The inhumanity and inevitability of it all makes me sick.

I hate fireworks, I really do.

Bear Scat on the Tundra

Ants and Shop-Vacs

When I was a little girl I loved to hang out in our garage with my Dad. I was, of course, a very good helper especially in the area of carpentry projects. My specialty was standing on wood. Recently, while setting up camp at a remote archaeological survey site, I was reminded of this great talent. My two male campmates were sawing and splitting wood like madmen while I watched – feeling like the total chick. Every so often, I would gather an armload of the cut firewood only to stack it neatly in the cook tent. How lame. Then it dawned on me, I could actually be of assistance by standing on the lengths of wood as they sawed. Okay, it was still lame, but, while I stood there “helping” I was brought back to a happy time in my childhood.

With Father’s Day looming and my unsigned card still resting on the kitchen table, I thought I might just write a quick post in honor of my Dad… the man who started my addiction to power tools… the man who I think of when the smell of sawdust fills the air…

One fond childhood memory involves using my Dad’s shop-vac. Shop-vacs are cool as they will never be found inside the house unless some sort of messy project is underway. As a child, I certainly wasn’t into helping my Mom clean the house, but give me a mess in the garage or on the driveway, and I’d jump at the chance to use the shop-vac. I would often shop-vac just for the sake of shop-vacing. It’s a wonder I have any hearing left!

This is where we come to the Father’s Day funny kid story.

Feeding the ants was another happy childhood pastime. I recall crackers and sugar where always on the menu. However, my Mom wasn’t so thrilled with this activity as the ants were, in her mind, a pest not to be assisted. So, with this understanding, part of me felt very conflicted about liking the ants. This conflict led to my combining my love of the shop-vac with the idea of helping my parents with their “ant problem”. I decided to suck up all the little critters marching along the concrete seam in front of our garage doors (after I fed them, of course). Then, I carefully unplugged and coiled the cord around the unit, just like my Dad, and felt very satisfied with myself. I had managed to be helpful and use the shop-vac at the same time! However, the forward thinking of a six year old didn’t allow for what would happen to the ants once they were in the canister. With the garage door closed and light turned off, the stunned ants regrouped and marched back out of the old school 1970’s brown and tan shop-vac. Happily for the ants, they were then much closer to our kitchen and laundry room where they liked to hang out.

In the end, the helpful surprise turned into a “what in the world” moment. I’m pretty sure my Mom discovered the mass of ants all over the carpeted area of our garage when she went to visit our secondary refrigerator that evening. This was indeed a special moment. Thankfully and much to the chagrin of my Mother, my Dad thought it was funny.

Thank you, Dad, for thinking the massive ant population in the shop-vac and on the garage floor was funny. Happy Father’s Day!
Love, Your Favorite (and only) Daughter

My Opinion Piece: The Death Penalty in the State of Alaska - What is Mike Chenault Thinking?

Where’s the pith Mike Chenault?
In my opinion, vegetarian burgers have more meat than Speaker Chenault’s argument surrounding his desire to pass what is currently called House Bill 9 - “reinstating” the death penalty in the State of Alaska.

Excerpt From Mike’s E-News - Why I Introduced HB 9
23rd February 2009 written by Mike as an opinion piece he submitted for distribution to Alaska’s statewide media.
(Please check out the link)

Here’s the Second Paragraph

“The impetus for HB 9 really comes from what I view as society’s inability to reform or rehabilitate certain criminals. People who commit the most monstrous of crimes will not have the opportunity to reoffend if a death sentence is imposed. 36 states currently have a death penalty on their books, whether they use it or not, and while I don’t believe it’s a deterrent to crime, I believe it should be an option for the justice system to brandish against the most heinous unremorseful criminals in our society.”

So, by his own words, Mr. Chenault doesn’t think the death penalty is a deterrent. On this, we agree, however, I don’t think people in prison need to be put to death for fear of what they might do in the future. Is state sanctioned murder really the ONLY option? Nothing like a false dichotomy.

Are 100% of those “certain criminals” unable to be reformed or rehabilitated? How will we know who can be reformed and who can’t. Can you tell by looking at a person’s face or skin color? Maybe if we do a credit check on those “certain criminals” we will be able to know who to put to death and who should be allowed to happily live out their days in a prison cell. The truth is – we don’t know and we never will know. This, my friends, is why the death penalty should have no place here in our world.

In fact, the American Bar Association (bunch of liberals) has a program called the “Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project” (no kidding) as they are “Working to Obtain a Nationwide Moratorium on Executions”. Their website is pretty clear – “The ABA, while taking no position on capital punishment per se, therefore has urged the federal and state governments to halt executions in order to take a hard look at the growing body of evidence showing that race, geography, wealth, and even personal politics can influence every stage of a capital case - from arrest through sentencing and execution. (5 March 2009, http://www.abanet.org/moratorium/why.html)

And don’t even get me started on the magic of DNA evidence. All those “certain criminals” would be dead right now if people like Mr. Chenault had their way. Tell the mother of the man who was put to death in error that you are sorry. Is there a statistical calculation for the number of innocent people we, as a society, are willing to sacrifice in order to play out juvenile desires for revenge based in feelings of helplessness and fear? Or darker yet, the hang ‘em high crowd could just be looking to take out a couple of them there people as they aren’t like us.

I could rip on Mike’s opinion piece until we are out of “certain criminals” to hang. The task is easy and I suggest that you take the time to read his piece (www.mikechenault.com). He covers the issues of cost, admitting it is less expensive to keep the person alive and assures us that he believes that the death penalty should only be used in cases where there is no question of guilt or innocence. Golly gee, how about that? We should only kill the guilty ones – only the problem is that time has shown WE are fallible.

Fallibility is common to ALL people – period. There will always be criminals from one end of the spectrum to the other. We spend so much time wringing our hands about stereotypes of criminals that we ignore the heinous crimes committed by “white collar” criminals. This type of criminal exacts a far greater toll on society in comparison to the “certain criminal” types. Dollar for dollar and the sheer impact on the number of lives, white collar criminals are a far greater threat to society. From dumping noxious cancer causing chemicals in our environment to selling over the counter drugs with known deadly side-effects – the impacts of such crimes are no less violent than what we see on the news each night – only the investigations / prosecutions are far less funded and are not very interesting when crossing over the AP - or when trying to get re-elected.

What's with the Name?

As anyone with a blog knows, choosing the name of your posting place is no easy task. The possibilities are endless and definitely set the tone. Hence, my runner up name did not make the cut - "Imperative Detritus" - as it just does not work for where I might want to take the blog.

So, what's up with the name I chose?

Moxie - as in courage - determination - energy - verve
Salty - as in humor - sharp - witty
Pith - as in the essential part of an idea or experience

Maybe all of this is obvious. Maybe I am no stranger to you. Maybe by these three (4) words you already know me and the personality of my blogspot...

In posts to come I expect you to comment where you feel compelled and don't hold back. Let me know if you think my perceptions make sense or are just a load of crap. Tell me if you enjoy the photos and the stories placed here for your rumination. I appreciate your time...