1600+ / Looong Construction Project/Last Veggie Pickup

[Most of this could be considered moaning on my part, though I think that this project inconvenienced way too many people for way too long and could have been better planned an executed.  

But there is one bit of news in here that I haven't seen reported elsewhere - an explosion that cost one of the construction workers an arm, according to another construction worker I talked to.  I wanted to get that in here at the top for those who will just look at the pictures and skim.]

I'm now biked a few km over 1600, which equates to 1000 miles for the summer.  And being on a bike, I'm acutely aware of construction projects that impact cyclists.  

Construction on the curb cuts on 36th has taken forever.  At least a month now.  There's about a mile stretch from Lake Otis to New Seward where all the corners have been torn up.

This is the first picture I took on September 6 at Lake Otis and 36th.  I have to cross both streets to get to the school I'm volunteering at. 

I will say that the people working on this project have been very polite and helpful when I have to cross - pushing the button for me and otherwise making it a little easier to cross.  

This is the same corner, just looking to the right from the picture above.  Friday - Sept 27 - 21 days later!  But they were busy doing things below ground level.  

They've moved this hydrant over about three feet. (I took the picture Friday - Sept 27)  It used to be blocking the sidewalk and has bothered me for over 30 years.  I never thought they would ever dig out a hydrant and move it over.  But they did. Thank you! You can see it two days ago, well below ground level.  

On the west side of the intersection they put new curbs in a couple of days ago.  Here's what one looked like today, wrapped in plastic.  

As I say, this work has been going on for at least a month now.  A couple of weeks ago, I helped a man who was carrying his son through this mess.  I helped by getting the wheel chair through while he carried the kid.  It was a heavy motorized one.  

I asked one of the workers what the purpose of all this was.  He said to improve mobility for disabled people.  Well, it's been impossible for a month.  

And it's been like this for all the intersections along 36th.  It seems to me that completing one intersection at a time would have meant most were usable and none would have been unusable for too long.  I'm sure they have some logical explanation based on cost or that different workers do different parts.  But the result was difficult to navigate corners along the whole stretch - all torn up at the same time.  

And given that this project is at the corner where the University campus begins, it would have been nice to do this earlier in the summer when traffic to and from the University is greatly reduced.  They've also been doing work on Northern Lights at the same time - the other main access point to the University.  Traffic there has been blocked up regularly.  

Explosion

I did ask a worker about the delay the other day.  She asked if I'd heard about the explosion.  I figured that was the day the power went out in our neighborhood.  This ADN article confirms that.

But the worker I talked to also said that a worker lost his arm in the explosion and was at a hospital in Seattle.  That's not in the article and I hadn't heard about that.  I wish him well. (The woman I talked to used 'he'.)

Drivers are inconvenienced by blocked lanes and longer lines of cars trying to cross the intersection, especially at times when students and staff at the University are coming and going.  

Pedestrians along with cyclists, also more directly inconvenienced.  And people with difficulty walking had major obstacles.  In a wheel chair?  Forget it.  They did put boards here and there, but for most of the month the ups and downs of the wet dirt were impassable for wheel chair users.  And I had to dismount and walk - usually in the street to where the normal sidewalk began

I ended up taking a longer roundabout route that avoided the intersection altogether when I could.  

But,while I'm on the subject of bad bike lanes/sidewalks, I'd like to mention - again - the sidewalk on the south side of 36th west of Old Seward Highway.  The gravel spill from the big empty lot next to New Sagaya is a hazard that isn't being repaired.  Where there are curb cuts and cars drive out to 36th, there are always big holes and ruts.  They get repaired once a year or so, but quickly disintegrate.

Veggies

And, finally, Grow North Farm's CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) project ended this week.  The farm is sponsored by RAIS (Refugee Assistance and Immigration Service) under the umbrella of Catholic Social Services.  We've been enjoying freshly picked veggies since June.  And figuring out ways to cook and eat and store way more than would ever buy in a grocery store.  This week there was a box of rainbow chard, parsley, celery, and potatoes.  Then we had a choice of Brussel sprouts or cabbage - see picture below.

You can join the list of CSA subscribers next spring.  Go to the Grow North link and ask to be put on an email list so you'll know when to sign up.  

Slow Blogger

I still have pictures from last Saturday's hike to Winner Creek and a bunch of new books from Loussac Library to post.  And a couple of more political posts in draft form.  Volunteering at the school is getting me up earlier than normal and started with the day.  That's good.  And the kids are great.  

Anchorage International Film Festival (AIFF) 2024 Dec 6-15

We're less than three months away from the 2024 festival - that in recent years has been on Moviemakers Magazine "25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World" and

top "20 Film Festivals for First-Time Filmmakers."

For the last several years, the Festival directors were Ida Theresa Myklebost and John Gamache.  They brought us great films, enthusiasm, and organization.  Ida is a filmmaker who had had films shown at AIFF - a very moving one I remember was about refugees living in a camp in Greece.  Local selection of films was less while they were at the helm.  

This year we have two new festival directors.  I got this from AIFF: 

"Pat McGee and Adam Linkenhelt bring over a decade of collaborative experience in documentary filmmaking. Together, they have created powerful, character-driven stories that have been praised by critics from the LA Times and Variety for being "gripping," "humanistic," and "illuminating." Their notable works include "American Relapse,"

"Prisoner of the Prophet," "CAL FIRE," "Bernie Blackout," "The Deported," and "From the Hood to the Holler," which won the audience award at AIFF in 2022. Their projects have been featured on major platforms such as NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, HULU, VICE, A&E, DISCOVERY, MAX and PEACOCK.

"From the Hood to the Holler" was a very inspirational film about Charles Booker's grassroots movement in Kentucky and campaign for US Senate against Mitch McConnell. You can see the film on YouTube.

 "Kim Walsh, the newly appointed Director of Operations, brings a wealth of experience in event management and operations. Kim's involvement includes working with film festivals and industry events in a variety of roles, including Sundance Film Festival and Key West Film Festival. Her expertise and dedication will be instrumental in ensuring the smooth execution of AIFF’s operations and events.

"Caroline Murphy, the newly appointed Director of Development, brings over twenty years of experience as a producer and casting director for television and film. Caroline's career includes working with major networks and streamers. Her leadership in fundraising and building partnerships will be pivotal in advancing the growth of AIFF.

I'll let you know more as I find out more.  But I did also learn that there are two new competition categories of films this year:

1. Real-World Impact

This competitive category will feature documentaries and scripted films that strive to change the world through powerful storytelling and impactful narratives, highlighting pressing social issues and inspiring action. Emphasizing works from young and emerging filmmakers, this category aims to showcase and support independent storytelling that engages with significant causes such as LGBTQ+, climate justice, racial equity, and mental healthcare.

2. Explorer’s Achievement Award

Celebrating the incredible achievements of explorers and adventurers pushing the boundaries of the human spirit, this category will showcase films documenting physical journeys as well as exploring the emotional and philosophical dimensions of adventure. Curated by Explorer's Club filmmaker Gregory Taylor, these films will inspire audiences and honor the courage and curiosity that drive human exploration.

So mark Dec 6-14 on your calendars.  The films selected for the festival haven't been announced yet, but I know there will be lots of interesting ones to see.  And local jurors will have more say in which films are selected.  

The basic venues will be Bear Tooth and the Anchorage Museum.   

Hmong New Year Celebration

When I taught English in Thailand as a Peace Corps volunteer in the late 60s, there
were 'hill tribes' up in the mountains to the west of my town.  But we were also told there were communists in the mountains too, and to stay away.  Hmong was not the name that Thais used.  Their word, the one I knew them by then, I learned later was more of a slur than a proper name.  

Despite the alleged presence of Communists in the mountains, I kept insisting I wanted to visit a 'hill tribe' village and eventually the Assistant Police chief, whose daughters I was teaching English to, arranged a trip.  We were also given a big box of medicine to leave with the village.  It was a very poor village and as I recall, monitored by the Thai government.  

[To be clear, the pictures are all from today in Anchorage.]

  

As a volunteer, I had one significant interaction with a Hmong person.  I was on a bus (long distance, not within a city) and sitting next to a Hmong young man about my age - early 20s.  Both of us were sitting next to a kind of person we never really ever had a chance to talk to - an American and a Hmong on a rural bus in Northern Thailand. Our common language was Thai.  He wanted to know about US president Nixon and asked questions about the US and US politics.  He listened to Voice of America.  No Thai had ever asked me those kinds of questions, so I was surprised and interested.  We had a connection and it would have been nice to be able to follow through, but we were just meeting, accidentally, in passing.  

There are a number of different kinds of indigenous peoples living in the mountains of Northern Thailand, Burma, and Laos, and into China.  All with different customs and languages.  

Many years later when I volunteered in Chiang Mai with the American Jewish World Service, Joan and I connected with S a young Karen man.  The organization where I worked asked if Joan could tutor him in English because he had been selected for a nine month long program in Japan for indigenous people from Southeast Asia, that would be conducted in English.  Like the man I'd met on the bus, he was very bright and fast learner.  He took us up to his village one weekend.  Here's the blog post I did of that day.  There are 78 posts listed under the label AJWS mostly from the two times I volunteered in Chiang Mai. [As I scrolled quickly through some of the old Thai posts, I noticed that the videos are all blank spaces.  I'll have to check and see if I can track down the originals and get them reposted.]

The Hmong of Laos have a special connection to the US because they assisted the US military in fighting the Communists in Laos during the Vietnam war and so they were given special rights to immigrate to the US after the Communists took over.  Many spent years in refugee camps in Thailand before gaining access to the US.  

So I wanted to to to the Hmong New Year Celebration in Anchorage today.  Just because.  And despite it being a gray day, it was the most colorful event I remember in Anchorage.  Even more colorful that Pridefest.

Note: I try to blur faces of kids

Unfortunately I didn't think like a blogger and do some homework before I went.  I didn't think like a blogger when I was there.  I should have asked a lot more questions.  

For instance why are they celebrating in August?

"Hmong New Years is celebrated in early December. Luang Prabang and nearby Hmong villages are great places to participate. The festival lasts for three days and according to the tradition of "Noj Peb Caug" ten different dishes of food are prepared for each day. So, this is probably the best time and place to try 30 different Asian dishes.

In-house customs involve shamans who honour spirits of wealth and healing. They release spirits to wander for awhile and then welcome them back. This is called "Hu Plig" (Spirits calling).

Outdoor New Years celebrations typically include a traditional game called pov pob (tossing a cotton ball), ox fighting, spinning-top races, and music concerts. Unique ethnic instruments like teun-flutes and khene pipes can be heard during the performances. Also, New Years is a favorable event for Hmong youth to meet a future wife or husband. In Hmong communities, ​it isn't allowed to marry within the clan group, so finding a partner is preferable during joint celebrations. Thus, young women and men dress in their best ethnic costumes to show off."  [This comes from what appears to be a travel website, so take it with a grain of salt.]

So why are the Anchorage Hmong celebrating in August?  I didn't know to ask earlier today.  Maybe because they want to celebrate outdoors (they were playing what I assumed was soccer, but I didn't look too closely) and that would be less appealing in Anchorage in winter.    

I had thought I should wear something Hmong, but wasn't really sure if I had anything.  Somewhere there's a box with different shirts from Indigenous peoples of Thailand.  I used it on a school visit once.  But I couldn't find it.  I'm not sure any of the items are Hmong.  So I ended up taking a cloth bag that I got at the 45th Anniversary of Peace Corps Thailand that had some woven strips in them.  I wasn't sure if they were Thai or possibly Hmong.  

So I stopped at a tent that was selling Hmong clothing and asked a woman there what she thought.  

No it didn't look Hmong.  Then she proceeded to point out the various different Hmong styles.  There's green Hmong, red Hmong, striped Hmong.  These are al different groups of Hmong.  She pointed out that much in this particular tent was machine woven instead of hand made.  

Based on clothing, I would say the Hmong well outnumbered the rest of us and it appeared that most of the Hmong were splendidly dressed in traditional Hmong outfits.  The woman I spoke to about the patterns on my bag said that styles were changing radically in the US and it was hard to keep up with them.  

Biking Stories This Week - Moose, Innocence, Post Cards, Bike Lanes, Big Leaves

 The moose are out this week.  Tuesday, walking toward Goose Lake we ran into a cow and calf.  Two bikers and a runner had already alerted us, as they were looking for alternate routes.  We got close enough to see them through the trees and walked back.  

Thursday, biking to up Campbell Airstrip Road, I passed a young bull with a nice growing rack.  It was the part of the trail that separates from the road.  Where I'd been warned by a driver a couple of years ago that they'd seen a bear on the trail.  So when I get to this part, I ring my bell a bunch to no one is surprised I'm there.  And down below the trail was the moose.  On the way back, I looked for him down below and there was nothing there.  Then there he was right next to the trail.  Turned back and took the road down.  Where I was able to get this picture.   You can see he's almost on the bike trail.

Then I stopped in the Botanical Garden.  They have a great plant sale.  Well, they sell plants all summer.  There's a good selection of interesting plants - local and not - that do well in Anchorage.  The plant sale is right at the front so I think you can buy plants without paying admission.  But the whole garden is worth some exploration.  And things change in there every week as different flowers start to show.

Here's some Shieldleaf Rogersia at the Garden.   These are very large leaves - the sign says China, Korea.  

They grow in the shade and my yard has lots of shade so I bought one about three years ago.  Bugs have been eating at it each year before it gets real big.  But this year it's looking better.  

Friday I had a couple of stops to make downtown.  First I dropped in at the Alaska Innocence Project.  They help prisoners who claim they were wrongly convicted and have evidence to back their cases.  They helped get the Fairbanks Four freed several years ago.  

I took an Óle course  several years ago, taught by Bill Oberly the (now retired) director and was highly impressed with their work.  

Prisoners don't get a lot of sympathy from the public, and innocent people behind bars is one of the biggest injustices in our society.  Since

Since it was a beautiful day we met in their conference room on the roof.

That's Francisco on the left and Jory on the right.  Here's a short video - under 2 minutes - that I recommend.  It talks about why people are wrongly convicted and how many there are.  

On the way to their office I found the new protected downtown bike lane.  I'd read about it in the Anchorage Daily News, but forgot about it until I came across it.  What an improvement.  No dodging pedestrians on the sidewalk or cars in the street. I could relax and just ride.  But there's not much of it - less than 1/2 mile I'd guess.  And then to get to the office I had to go back to the streets.  It even has its own street light with red and green bikes.  

Next stop was at Tim's to pick up some postcards to mail to voters.  This is probably the least painful way for introverts to be actively working to save Democracy.  [If you think I'm being alarmist, let's talk.  The mainstream media are treating the election as if Trump were a normal candidate.  He's not. Mainstream media only look reasonable in comparison with Fox.  With the Far Right capture of the Supreme Court, a Trump presidency would be the end of democracy in the US.] In this case the Environmental Voters Project combined with the Citizens Climate Lobby.  Tim's in a log cabin downtown, but this one has been modernized a bit.  It even has a touchpad to unlock the door.  

I have some work to do.  

Today was a spectacular day.  I picked up a book that was on hold at the library for me.  I think I requested it six or more months ago - The Sympathizer by Viet Thang Nguyen.  It won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the first 15 pages pulled me right in.                                           I'm still working on Many Things Under a Rock - a book about octopuses.                                                           From the library to the post office to get post card stamps and to mail a letter to my grandson who is away at camp.  The post office was closed, but I could mail the letter.                                                        Finally I could bike on.  As I said, it was a beautiful day - our warmest of the year I'm sure.

                                                                                      I doubt  the official temperature,
which is measured at the airport, was 77˚F (26˚C), but it was a nice, nice day.  

I went up Arctic to the Campbell Creek bike trail near Dimond and then back down the  trail past Taku Lake and eventually home.  I've gone, as of today, 475 kilometers, this summer.  (That means since the trails were clear enough of snow to ride.)

We had salmon on the deck this evening - with loud rumbles of thunder in the background.  That's not something we get often in Anchorage - sometimes none in a year or three.  

So keeping it fairly light today.  Happy Fathers' Day to all of you lucky enough to have this awesome responsibility. 

A Good Day At The Renaissance Faire

We went to the Three Barons Renaissance Faire Sunday at Russian Jack.  For us Russian Jack is the southern section with the Chalet, golf, and the greenhouse.  But there were only a couple of golfers there.  

Things were happening behind a playground  at Pine an 8th.  It was a cloudy/sunny day with the possibility of sun, rain, both, but it turned out just perfect for going to the Faire.  Lots of people were in costumes.  

I sent this picture to a much younger friend who tends to know lots of anime characters. 

He immediately texted back:  Lucifer, Hazbin Hotel.

So I looked Lucifer up and got this picture.  (Apparently his wings aren't always visible.)

From Aminoapps

So I sent him so more pictures to see if he could ID them too.  

The sorcerer's hat from Fantasia.  Well he said Mickey's hat, but this one is my generation and I knew that Mickey used the sorcerer's hat when the sorcerer was away to make his chores easier.  It didn't work out the way he intended.    

From Reactormag

This one he couldn't identify. They're own selves maybe.

He wasn't sure.  Hazarded it might be the Valkyrie Gunnr

Maybe she's another Valkyrie.

From Creator

And Gandalf.

From USAToday

Lots and lots of people.  Some long lines at the food booths especially.  We got to see Fractured Fairy Tales - a production of Hansel and Gretel with a narrator  (to the right), 

The woodcutter and his wife (she also played the wicked step mother in the same outfit) and Hansel and Gretel.

And a bunch of other characters, some, like the Big Bad Wolf, from other fairy tales - had to be shooed off the stage by the narrator for being in the wrong play.   It wasn't high drama, but it was cute and we enjoyed it a lot.  Sitting out in the warm sunshine didn't hurt.  (For people in parts of the country where the temperatures are above the 90s, warm sunshine here means high 60s, maybe low 70s.)

This, as I understood it, was a slippery fish, who kept interrupting the play and had to be chased off the stage.  

And this (woman on the left) was the witch, who insisted she was being maligned.  Not a witch, a widow.  And the children were destroying and eating her house that she spent so long to bake and build.  

As I said, a lot of people dressed special (very special) for the occasion.  

We bought a turkey leg.  More like an ostrich leg, it was so big (and delicious.)  

We sat out on the grass and watched jousters take each other on with big foam clubs.  

And the turkey made me sleepy so I lay back an watched the clouds roll by.  

A good day.  

Sometimes A Car Repair Shop Is A Community - Ralfy At Culmination Motorsports

I got my 1971 VW Westphalia serviced by Kurt Schreiber in Wasilla for nearly 20 years until he retired.  Around that time our 25 year old van had holes in the floor and we got wet when we went through puddles.  I worried we might lose a passenger if we hit a bad bump.  Kurt said, "Steve, you've gotten your money's worth.  Time to let it go."

Sticker shock kept us from replacing the old van.  The new one was ten times what we paid for the first one new.  But since I wanted to be in a tent and my wife wanted to be in a hotel, the camper was the compromise that we needed.  It took two years to take the leap.  

Our kids were Outside.  M, at school in Boston said the dealers laughed at her when she inquired about VW campers.  They didn't sell them.  J, in Seattle, found a new one for $5,000 less than the Anchorage price.  He drove it up to Vancouver and we flew down for a family week there, then drove it back to Anchorage.  

Since then,  getting maintenance was more like a business deal than dropping it off with a friend who knew how to fix my car and I knew I could trust.  

But when I called Arctic Imports to schedule a maintenance this year, they said they no longer

worked on VW vans.  But when I asked, they gave me the name to two places who would.  Arctic is a little funkier than most businesses, but at Culmination it seems like everyone cares about you and your car.  

Culmination Motorsports sounded a bit ominous, but their website said they specialized in German cars and did everything from general maintenance to restoration.  Perfect.  

I think this is going to be more of a community than a business relationship.  Listen to owner Ralfy talk about his business in the video below.  Why the name Culmination?   The difference between 'new', 'classic', and 'vintage.'  Who his customers are.  The 'cult' of Culmination.  Why repair shops no longer have brand names in their names.   Toward the end he explains that Eurovans are sort of like the neglected step-child of VW. 

I'd note that I haven't done much video in the last few years (and YouTube has lots more options and requirements than it used to) and I don't often blog about businesses.  Only when I'm impressed.  And, of course, there's no payment from the business in return.  

Can you find the 'bright golden 160' Ralfy mentions in the video?  For people who know where the Fire Island Bakery South Anchorage location was - that's now Rafelito's and Culmination Motorsports.  I couldn't find addresses on any of the businesses on the short stretch of 91st west of King Street when I first went there.  The street turns right and dead ends.  It was the VW vans in the parking lot that told me I was at the right place.  

So, now I'm waiting for other VW vans to honk and wave.  (Well, that sort of happens anyway.)

My Bike Season Has Begun

This is no April Fool's post.  While the bike trails through the greenbelts still have a decent amount of snow and ice, the sidewalks/bike trails along the major roads in Anchorage are pretty much clear. 

Here I am on Providence headed toward Elmore (formerly known as Bragaw).  No snow, but lots of post-snow debris.  And riding along the streets still means watching out for cars hitting puddles and splashing anyone on the sidewalk at that point.  

Here's were the Elmore bike trail dips down to let folks use the tunnel to get over the the UAA dorms.  Still clear, but the retreating snow leaves a much narrower path.  

And here I'm up from the dip looking back at the snow my tires couldn't get a grip on.  But it was all clear except for this stretch.

I've now completed the first 5.6 km of my Anchorage summer biking expedition.  

In previous summers I've imagined routes in other places as I plied the Anchorage bike trails.  I've gone from Santiago, Chile south to  Conception; Chiangmai to Bangkok;  and from Istanbul to Cappadocia.  Last  summer I didn't pick a foreign route.  But this year I've decided I'm going from Kyiv to Mariupol.  

That's 868.9 km according to Bikemap.com.  That's not quite as far as I hope to go.  Last summer I did about 1200 kms total.  Sorry the map isn't quite clear enough to read the details, but you get the point.

I'm hoping this will give me a better sense of the geography of Ukraine.  I was thinking I could go another 300 or 400 kilometers past Mariupol.  But maybe I should start in Mariupol and after Kyiv I can head west toward Poland or south toward Moldova.  .