Alaskans

"Congress passed a law that no mosquitoes could enter McKinley National Park." (Old Sourdough, 1931)



Watching a great tide of resistance to Barack Obama's attempts at healthcare reforms typifies so much of the spirit of the American psyche and nowhere is this more evident in that vast piece of the earth called Alaska, home to the ancestors of some of the most resilient and independently-minded people of this planet - and not least entrepreneurial if only for titbits of gold and reservoirs of oil. The spirit of a hundred thousand sourdoughs remains.



It calls forth today any number of camouflaged yahoos on ATVs whooping it up with their guns in the middle of the night (Knik River camping) to hardy folk plying lives in the teeth of frigid winters and mosquito borne summers. Nature in its extremes is unavoidable. It is fed on, played in, marvelled at, cowered before and lived in in a way that most of us are at far remove from. Swimming against the stream verges on obligation. Not so strange that Sarah Palin crept out of this woodwork to most Alaskans shame. But amongst them are people passionate about preserving a piece of glorious planet and living as far away from Washington while they're at it.



"There is one word of advice and caution to be given those intending to visit Alaska for pleasure. If you are old, go by all means. But if you are young, wait. The scenery of Alaska is much grander than anything else of the kind in the world and it is not well to dull one's capacity for enjoyment by seeing the finest first." (National Geographic Society President Henry Gannett, Member of the 1899 Harriman Expedition to Alaska)



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