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August 4, 06 Amy Without hesitation, I will say that the best thing about Kodiak is the people. One thing that many don't know about me is that I have been a recluse my entire life, mostly shunning human companionship and opting for the company of my dog. It's only since coming here that I have discovered that human contact and interaction is the only thing that is of any lasting value. Amy Peterson has been one of the people who have given me the opportunity to make this important discovery. Because of this discovery, I will forever be a kinder, more tolerant, more compassionate human being. Amy is getting on the ferry on Monday to move to Maine. I've only known her a few short months, but she has been one of the people in Kodiak who has touched my life most. What can I say to describe Amy that isn't a cliche - she is a breath of fresh air in a toxic world, but there is much more. Trying to explain the details of what she is about would be an exercise in frustration, so I'll have to be content with the knowledge that I am a changed person for the better for having known her. What I will say about Amy is that she immediately brings you into her life by talking about her world - or more acccurately about her four dogs. Amy talks a lot, and mostly she talks about her dogs. In her words, she makes a short story long. It's comforting, like a persistent sun shining on your back after a rainy spell. As long as Amy is talking about the misadventures of Laszlo, Dexter, Magpie and Noah, you know that all is right with the world. Who needs to worry or think about anything else? It's the fact that Amy embraces her four dogs as family, and you should realize how important that is. There is not a hint of frustration if she senses that you are not getting the details, it's not about that. It's implicit and immediately apparent that it's not important that you comprehend the significance of Laszlo not eating the chicken that he chased around the yard at Larson Bay, it's because she wants you to know that you are part of the family. We are bound by the fact that our common lives are happening around us, and we can't fail to concentrate on the details that fill the hours. All life builds toward and radiates from a single moment. Amy found a way to capture moments and share them with others and keep them alive for herself. Everyone has something that they care about more than anything else. For some it's kids, for some it's working to preserve the past, for others it's nature. For Amy it's her dogs. Whatever you think is important, if you grab onto it and make it real, and share your passion and your love and your goodness with pure thoughts, you will be a better person and you will spread this goodness to everyone you encounter. It's up to us whether or not we capture what we can from the moments that fill our lives. It's up to us if we decide to let other people in. I'll extend my new gratuitousness to believing that Amy's goodness needs to be spread around. The fortunate folks in Portland, Maine deserve some light, we cannot selfishly expect to have her all to ourselves here in Kodiak.
July 4, 06 Near Island From my ofice window I can see a busload of children playing on the beach at Near Island. They don't have to think about traffic, or bears or the relentless push of economic necessity that will ultimately degrade their lives and the lives of their children. For now, Near Island is pristine, and natural and safe. Birds and dogs and children co-exist in a beautiful, accessible and friendly environment that can be taken for granted because, this is Alaska after all, and there is no end to nature's bounty. Welcome to the 21st century. Dreams and souls and the future are bulldozed faster than you can blink. At what point do we realize that our soul is missing, and soon after that, when does it no longer matter? It's a scary process because we don't even know it's happening until it's done. Near Island is under attack. Last month a new ferry terminal was announced. This month there is talk of a jail. I know from inside sources that residential lots on the island are being hotly debated. Humans are losing sight of the role nature plays in the development of a soul. A generation that grows up in an environment filled with Wal-Marts and McDonalds will fail to gain an appreciation for a forest, or a mountain or the ocean. As the years pass, children will forget that once upon a time Near Island was pristine, and natural and filled with trees and cars were few, and all that will matter is how to exploit what's left to make more money. I am not naive enough to think that the bridge was built without a future vision of economic development. But things evolve, and what made sense twenty years ago might not be the best answer for now. There is always going to be more money. What is on Near Island can never be replaced. Open the gate to development and create an atmosphere of commerce and before you know it there will be a McDonalds on Near Island. With less to lose it is easier to accept the decline of a resource. It happens one step at a time, but make no mistake, once it starts the ending is inevitable. As someone who has seen too many beautiful places ruined by development, I am asking the residents of Kodiak to stand up and do something to preserve Near Island as the treasure that it is. Do not lot let this amazing resource go because those in charge have somehow convinced themselves that giving away this treasure in favor of short-term economic benefit is the right thing to do. Do not take for granted the fact that there is a place of unbelievable beauty and solitude in the middle of the city. Do not let the soul get sucked out of you without a fight.
June 19, 06 Apocalypse Many in high positions of power in the U.S. government see the accelerated deterioration of the Earth as a good thing, as there is no deed more worthy, no abuse more justified than that which helps hasten the Second Coming. SUVs, war, gluttony, ozone depletion, Condi Rice? All good stuff for quickening the imminent Apocalypse. There is another scenario, similar but also completely different. Since ancient, pre-Christian times, mystics and wise ones have had their own version of Armageddon, though theirs involves far less screaming and much less hellfire and fewer Constitutional amendments promoting hate. It does not involve leaving billions behind to fester and kill and drink pig's blood and remain wallowing in hell. It is instead a time when those whose hearts are luminous and whose perspectives are clear and whose minds are open and whose spirits are unpummeled by dogma and monotheistic self-righteousness will merely slip over to another plane. As for the rest, they will be resigned to experiencing this life all over again, and again, and again, until they get it right - eternal life at last. It's just like the Christian Rapture, except flipped over and inverted and made transcendent and pure. And the trees, and the polar bears and the orcas will breathe a collective sigh of relief.
May 11, 06 What does Apple Computer have in Common with Kodiak? I've decided the White House is now just like Microsoft - they have the power, but not the skills or brains. They are fanatics with no abilities beyond the capability to throw up a cheap facade. I keep reminding myself that it is only temporary. Every few years, the cycle peaks and then reverses direction. There is cause for alarm this time. Not unlike global warming, some things are self-sustaining and irreversible. I fear that we live in a time when creativity is being wiped from the curriculum of our schools and being replaced with fear. Dreamers are ridiculed and branded as fools, and we are taught that the only way to live is to work to further the purpose of others. In this environment, a thousand would-be Mother Teresas will not feed the hungry, great artists will not paint, and bold adventurers will do no more than daydream behind a desk. This slow death is gaining a foothold. Too many are blind to magic and creativity, and where once society embraced passion and a pioneering spirit, it now shuns them. Hard work and innovation have been replaced with apathy and fear in a populace of jackals and ravens eager to snuff the flame of passion in all who posess it. Analogous to the Microsoft monopoly, at some point the current becomes impossible to resist, even when deep inside a nagging voice is whispering that something just isn't right. The backlash of this duplicity is a desire to kill the remaining spirit of those who dare to be different. I believe that hope lies with those who live outside the mainstream. That's a big reason why I live in Kodiak.
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