Springing On Bainbridge

Saw my first crocus yesterday.  

Spending lots of gramp time with my newly turned 9 year old.  She's such a mix of mature and thoughtful and silly and mischievous.  Listening to her mom and grandpa talking about their students, she explains that sometimes kids in her class don't answer the teacher's question because they don't clearly understand the question - even though they know the answer.  I so wish people would realize kids know so much more than adults think they do and would talk to them with respect and listen.  They will surprise you.  After all, when adults ignore their ideas, they discuss them (and the adults) with their friends.  Just like adults do.  

She also hid my wallet in a drawer yesterday and it took forever to find it when I had to pay the plumber today.  

First I had them both with the words on top.  But that didn't seem right.  Then I flipped the bottom on so you can better see this was one piece of sidewalk art in Bainbridge Island's 1% for the arts program. Words are by Margi Berger.  Artist is Carolyn Law with Benson Shaw.  

The library had a display of books for Black History Month.  

Our disgraced former president has encouraged all those damaged souls with who must put others down to feel good about themselves - whether highly educated or not - to voice their hatreds and condemn those who are fighting for an opportunity to live their lives without fear of being harassed because of the color of their skin.  That so many people are so angry and so willing to do his bidding is a sign of how sick our system is.  The accumulation of money covers so many sins - from T himself to the oil companies that continue to fight against meaningful action to slow down climate change, to the Sacklers, and so many others.  We see people rot in prison because they smoked a joint, but so may of those with money buy get out of jail free passes with fancy lawyers.  

These are people who don't want truth about the US to be read by their children.  Or yours.  

Hatred is a burden not only for the oppressed, but also the oppressor.  It's a disease of the heart, in the sense of dis-ease.  How many of T's rabid supporters were abused - physically and/or psychically as children?  Were abandoned physically or mentally by a parent?  That leaves big scars and anger that searches for a target.  Yet others so badly treated find love somewhere else and heal.  

Read some good books.

And look at the moon and sky - an experience that links you to humans (and non humans) going back to before history.  

 

Follow Up Making Sense of Redistricting Trial Post - "Socio-Economic Integration"

[NOTE:  This post is trying to dig a little deeper into the meaning and purpose of the redistricting criterion of 'socio-economically integrated.'  That takes me to some of the testimony on what SEI means, the Hickel decision, what Boroughs are.  It's a little behind the scenes of the trial.  And I'm rushing it out because tomorrow starts another day in court.  So excuse the typos and other errors and just focus on the basic points.  Thanks.]

 In Thursday's post, there were some issues I raised but didn't say much about at the time, but promised  I'd address them soon. Two - 

• 4000 pop exchange between Fairbanks and Valdez into 36
• Importance of hearing the wishes of Alaska Natives and understanding the cultures relationships, and differences 

I discussed a little further in the previous post on the four districts and two district clusters and how they're all intertwined.  

That leaves three more and I think the one on Socio-Economic Integration (SEI) is the most important given that that criterion is the hardest to prove, yet every one of the cases is based at least partially on it and the Valdez/Ma-Su cases are based heavily on it.  

Here's how I left it in the Thursday post:

Bahnke pretty much tells us that SEI (Socio-Economic Integration) is in the eye of the beholder - SEI has been used to support and to challenge districting decisions by just about every party so far.  SEI is one of the Constitutional requirements for districts in Alaska.  One Supreme Court ruling concluded that everyone within a Borough boundary can be considered SEI.  That seems like a pretty broad conclusion.  The Fairview neighborhood (with a high level of diversity and relatively low income) is socio-economically integrated with the much whiter and wealthier hillside or other south Anchorage neighborhoods?   I don't think that's true. 

So, does that mean my interpretation of SEI is wrong?  Is merely different from the Supreme Court's?  Or that the decision of the court which is now 30 years old, is ready for a fresh look?  

First, what did Melanie Bahnke say on Thursday.  From my very imperfect notes.  The Board's attorney, Matt Singer, is following up on the questions from the previous attorney, Tanner Amdur-Clark (who is intervening on behalf of the Board) who had asked Bahnke the difference between issues that were statewide issues (ie everyone in Alaska no matter where they lived would agree on) such as salmon, by-catch, oil revenues, and whether these would count as SEI since everyone in Alaska would agree.  [That in itself is a big assumption.] And it by-passes the fact that Valdez' oil concerns are different from Mat-Su's.  But Bahnke agrees there are issues that are too generally held by most Alaskans to be used to assess SEI connections for redistricting.   Then we get this  

Bahnke: It was all relative to the part of the state we were looking at, do best we could without doing harm to other places.  May not live together, but live similarly.  Urban/rural;  subsistence, REAA [Regional Educational Attendance Area]  school district, cultures, customs, traditions.  Many factors going into this,  Short hand is live, work, and play together, but many factors that go into this.  

Singer:  Is it possible to come up with a utopian plan where everyone is in equal districts where everyone is happy?   

Since the definition of utopian is 

"having impossibly ideal conditions especially of social organization"

the answer to this question is clearly a 'No' and that's what Bahnke gives him. 

Bahnke:  No, we’re the biggest state geographically."

I'm not faulting Bahnke here.  In fact her answer is refreshingly candid.  While the attorneys kept asking "Do the people in X live, work, and play with the people in Y?"  Bahnke tells us that it's more complicated than that.  And as it gets more complicated and there isn't much guidance, then it sounds like it boils down to the opinions of the Board members.  

But it points out the problem of taking such vague concepts and trying to apply them.  Is there a better definition?

Attorneys refer frequently to The Hickel Decision in the trial.  When it comes to SEI we learned early in the redistricting process that the Hickel Decision says that inside a Borough, everyone is socio-economically integrated.  So I thought I should pull out that language from that case in 1992. [However this comes from a later case.]

From Justia Law - 2001 (Alaska) Redistricting Cases footnote 8

"[8] See In re 2001 Redistricting Cases, 44 P.3d at 146 ("Anchorage is by definition socio-economically integrated."); see also Hickel v. Southeast Conference, 846 P.2d 38, 52 (Alaska 1992) ("[A] borough is by definition socio-economically integrated."); id. at 51 (quoting AS 29.05.031) ("By statute, a borough must have a population which `is interrelated and integrated as to its social, cultural, and economic activities.'")."

Let's backtrack a bit further to that statue about Boroughs:

"Section 29.05.031 - Incorporation of a borough or unified municipality

(a) An area that meets the following standards may incorporate as a home rule, first class, or second class borough, or as a unified municipality:

(1) the population of the area is interrelated and integrated as to its social, cultural, and economic activities, and is large and stable enough to support borough government;" 

This probably was true when Alaska established boroughs, but how long ago was that?  I did find  a document from the Local Boundary Commission  that suggests it was 1961:

To ostensibly carry out the constitutional mandate that the entire state be divided into boroughs, organized or unorganized, the 1961 Legislature enacted a law providing that all areas not within the boundaries of an organized borough constitute a single unorganized borough. (AS 29.03.010)

In 1960, the population was just over 200,000.  I would imagine that the writers of the Constitution envisioned that the interests of various boroughs were relatively unified.  Though I suspect they weren't taking in to account of the  interests of Alaska Native groups within the state.

In fact, that Local Boundary Commission (LBC) document which was written in 2004  raises this very question about the unorganized borough area in Alaska in a footnote.

"Most recently, the LBC recently expressed the view that the 1961 law creating the single residual unorganized borough, “disregarded the constitutional requirement that each borough must embrace an area of common interests.” , Local Boundary Commission and Department of Education and Early Development, School Consolidation: Public Policy Considerations and a Review of Opportunities for Consolidation, February 2004, p. 30."

They are saying the areas of Alaska in the unorganized borough did NOT have common interests.  

I dare say that most Alaskans who don't work with local governments have only the haziest notion of Boroughs.  Maybe they know 'it's like a county in other states.'  I myself wasn't sure how many boroughs Alaska has.  I did find this list and this map in a Local Government Primer put out by the Alaska Municipal League (can't find the date):  [The format is different in the original]

Alaska has 18 organized boroughs and a single unorganized borough. The organized boroughs are:

1. Aleutians East Borough
2. Bristol Bay Borough
3. City & Borough of Juneau 

4. City & Borough of Sitka
5. City & Borough of Wrangell

 6. City & Borough of Yakutat

7. Denali Borough
8. Fairbanks North Star Borough 9. Haines Borough

10. Kenai Peninsula Borough 

11. Ketchikan Gateway Borough 

12. Kodiak Island Borough

13. Lake & Peninsula Borough 

14. Matanuska-Susitna Borough 

15. Municipality of Anchorage 

16. Municipality of Skagway

17. North Slope Borough

18. Northwest Arctic Borough 19. Petersburg Borough

Source: DCCED

 

I'd note on January 26, Amdur-Clark asked Valdez expert witness Brace about whether he thought Valdez was in a Borough. Perhaps the Chugach Borough? (He and others also asked about whether you could drive from Cordova to Valdez - presumably to prove they weren't connected - and no one ever brought up the fact that while there is no road, the marine highway connects them, so technically, you can take your car from Cordova to Valdez.  That's a side issue but it does show the attorneys asking misleading questions.)

The point Amdur-Clark was suggestion, I'm guessing, is that perhaps Mat-Su going to Valdez was not breaking a borough boundary.  Or maybe that Cordova and Valdez are not in the same Borough. Or in any borough?  Or he was just setting Brace up for an Alaska gotcha.  From the map above, it does appear that Cordova and Valdez are in the unorganized Borough.  Brace responded that on the census maps they are in a borough.  Wikipedia says:

"Valdez–Cordova Census Area was a census area located in the state of Alaska, United States.[3] As of the 2010 census, the population was 9,636.[4] It was part of the Unorganized Borough and therefore has no borough seat. On January 2, 2019, it was abolished and replaced by the Chugach Census Area and the Copper River Census Area"

But back to my point about SEI and Boroughs.  Let's look at what the Supreme Court has said in more detail: 

From Hickel v Southeast Council 1992

"3. Socio-economic Integration.

In addition to preventing gerrymandering, the requirement that districts be composed of relatively integrated socio-economic areas helps to ensure that a voter is not denied his or her right to an equally powerful vote. 

[W]e should not lose sight of the fundamental principle involved in reapportionment truly representative government where the interests of the people are reflected in their elected legislators. Inherent in the concept of geographical legislative districts is a recognition that areas of a state differ economically, socially and culturally and that a truly representative government exists only when those areas of the state which share significant common interests are able to elect legislators representing those interests. Thus, the goal of reapportionment should not only be to achieve numerical equality but also to assure representation of those areas of the state having common interests."  [emphasis added]

 This was my point when I said (yesterday) that the most persuasive SEI argument that I've heard is from Valdez.  They point out that their interests in oil are different from Mat-Su's interest in oil.  Board members have argued this is a common interest between the two communities that have been put in the same district.  They say "Valdez has the pipeline and Mat-Su has oil workers."  Valdez responds, "Valdez people work on the pipeline and Mat-Su oil workers work on the slope."  Valdez also says that they get over 90% of their revenues from taxes on the pipeline and Mat-Su has other sources of revenue.  And most persuasive to me is that Mat-Su and Valdez are competitors on two major infrastructure projects where they compete for money from the state: on ports and on a competing natural gas pipeline corridors.

That seems to be the point that was being made in the Hickel decision:  

". . . a recognition that areas of a state differ economically, socially and culturally and that a truly representative government exists only when those areas of the state which share significant common interests are able to elect legislators representing those interests."

Valdez' key argument is that they don't share mutual significant common interests.  Most of the other arguments about SEI don't talk about how their interests need unified support from their legislators.  They are more about people feeling a district doesn't represent the neighborhood they self identify with, not how that would hurt them in the legislature.

But Valdez made that argument loud and clear:  If 76% of the voters in their district live in the suburbs of Palmer and Wasilla, then their representative is a) not going to be from Valdez  and b) not going to put Valdez' interests over Mat-Su's interests on key issues.

Truly, I don't have vested interests in Valdez.  I'm just pointing out what I see after all is said and done about socio-economic integration, the most logical arguments I've heard so far come from Valdez.  

There are two left over issues from the Thursday post:  

A lot of communication between the Board and the public was not on the record - Bahnke said that, Simpson said that, Torkelson said that, and we had the text message put on the record yesterday from Amdur-Clark to Borromeo and other emails.  Mostly they said there was just a lot of communication through conversations with the public and between Board members while traveling that ever got recorded.  Partly that's the tension between gathering enough information and documenting it.  For me the test is whether there were communications that were not documented or otherwise publicly acknowledged, that changed the outcome of the maps.  

^Reporting and the relationships you develop with your subjects - Another point I want to save for later, but it particularly relates to someone like me reporting on a governmental body over a long period of time - long enough to develop at least a professional relationship and getting to know people as more than just a role on a Board.  It's particularly apt today because of  my comments about Peter Torkelson.  This one can probably wait until after the trial is over.

I'll address these later.  Probably the last one after this part of the trial is over.   Tomorrow is more Calista.  

Day 6 AK Redistricting Trial: Putting The Puzzle Pieces Together

I've spent over a year now attending on line or in person almost all the Alaska Redistricting Board meetings.  An old overview of the Redistricting project and an index of all my posts is here and also at the AK Redistricting tap under the blog banner up top.  

Today we heard the end of the Valdez case and the beginning of the Calista case. 

• Stephen Colligan, Mat-Su's Redistricting Contractor again
• Sheri Pierce, the Valdez City Clerk on the stand again
• Kimball Brace, the Valdez Redistricting Expert again
• Andrew Guy, President and CEO of Calista, Calista Witness

The first three have all been on the stand before.  This was Guy's first appearance as we move into the Calista part of the trial.  But I'm going to hold off on that until I catch up  with other things.  This post is intended to try to make sense, from a macro view, of what's going on.

The Puzzle Pieces - D36, D29, Mat-Su and Fairbanks pieces

[There are three other areas of complaint (Eagle River senate pairings, Skagway, and Calista villages), but they don't seem to spill over into other areas so much.  So I'm not focusing on them right now.  I'd also note, if there is significant partisan consequences to this fight, I haven't figured that out yet.]

The trial is bringing out some of the things that weren't so obvious in the mapping process we saw.  I'm still trying to make sense of what was going on behind the scenes.  It's sort of like putting a jigsaw puzzle together with two exceptions:

1. All the pieces have to be within 3 or 4% of 18,335 people
2. The images on the pieces aren't that obvious 

Those images on the pieces are only slowly becoming visible - sort of like rubbing a pencil on a paper to get the image of a coin below.  They're showing up as the socio-economic ties that exist among the people in the districts, or at least that mappers claim exist.  

So let me tell you what's becoming clear.  There are two districts (D29 and D39) and two clusters of districts (Mat-Su and Fairbanks) whose population needs and  socio-economic integration claims conflict and are competing for the same territory.  The losers in this competition - Mat-Su and Valdez - have challenged the plan.  

Piece 1:  District 36 - Doyon Trying to Get Doyon and Ahtna Villages All Into One District 

The Doyon Coalition has been part of the redistricting process from early on.  They had a team that was preparing maps of the state well before the Board got the final census numbers in August and they submitted one of the Third Party maps that were adopted by the Board and taken around the state for comments.  

But what was their goal?  Through the testimony it's now clear that the goal was to get all their shareholders - Doyon and Ahtna - into one district.  If I understand this right, these are basically Athabascan villages.  

D36 & surround districts 29, FB, and Mat-Su

This has come out clearly in the testimony.  

D36 is, according to the redistricting expert for Valdez, the largest election district in the United States.  If it were a state it would be about the 8th largest in the US by size.  It goes from Holy Cross on the lower Yukon up and around Fairbanks and then back down the other side with a long straight edge against the Canadian border including Glennallen and the Copper River and the Richardson Highway communities but not Valdez.  And at the end they were able to carve out an arm reaching along the Denali Highway to reach Cantwell which as Michelle Anderson, President of Ahtna, explained has "about 30 shareholders with a Cantwell address." (It was later mentioned that there were more Athabascans in Cantwell, just not Ahtna shareholders.) 

D36 contains 4000 'excess' Fairbanks people, so it's one of the Fairbanks districts in a sense.  The others are circled in white. The Magenta outlines the Mat-Su districts and the Denali Borough, except the Cantwell cutout.  I'd note there were questions like how are Holy Cross and Glennallen socio-economically integrated?  I did notice doing this that Ahtna's headquarters are in Glennallen.  Another fact about this district: despite getting all the Doyon and Ahtna villages in, the population is 30% Native and 70% non-Native.  

Note:  You can see all the districts I write about in this post on the D36 map.

Piece 2:  District 36 - Valdez Cut Off From Traditional District With Richardson Highway Communities Partners Up Toward Fairbanks and/or PWS and now Paired With Palmer-Matsu Suburbs Instead 

This is the piece of the puzzle that doesn't fit according to the Valdez court challenge.  They argue they were the last piece for the Redistricting Board  and forced to fit in ways they argued against but lost.  75% of the population is in the Mat-Su, particularly the suburbs of Wasilla and Palmer.  Valdez has about 4000 people.  A key number in this story.  

In previous decades the Valdez district  had various parts of the Richardson Highway corridor and sometimes were joined with Prince William Sound. But in this map all the Richardson Highway communities were cut out and they have to drive over 100 miles outside the district to get to Palmer and Wasilla on the other side.  I'd note D29-0 (Valdez) is paired with 30-O to form a Senate seat.  30-O is the green district on the left and goes all the way to the edge of Fairbanks.  So after you drive to Palmer, it's another 300 mies or so to the other end of their Senate district.  

Valdez has made the most persuasive (to me) argument about why they are economically (if not socially) integrated with the pipeline corridor and that they are actually in competition with Palmer.  They argue that the port at Point McKenzie is competitive with the Valdez port for state money.  And they have competing natural gas pipeline proposals.  Thus having a Palmer/Wasilla based representative means their interests won't be represented as strongly (if at all) by their rep in Juneau.

Piece 3:  Mat-Su Cluster: Mat-Su Wanted To Keep All Their Districts In Mat-Su and Denali Boroughs - Did Not Want to be paired with Valdez

Mat-Su Borough had enough population for 5.84 districts.  They testified they'd been planning for this for five years.  They knew how to do this.  They said they gave their map to the Board, but it was ignored.   They wanted to be paired with Denali Borough to the north and along the Glenn Highway out to about Glennallen and surrounding communities.  (Can you see where this is going?)

Cantwell was eventually cut out of Denali Borough and  put into D36, though that's only about 200 people.  On the other end, Glennallen and the nearby Ahtna villages along the Glenn Highway also went to D36.  And so Mat-Su got paired with Valdez to fill out their numbers.  

Note:  You can see all of the Mat-Su/Denali/Valdez districts on the D36 map at the top of this post.

Piece 4 - Fairbanks Cluster - Board Chair John Binkley, of Fairbanks, Wanted To Keep All Five Fairbanks Districts Inside The Borough Boundaries Even Though They Were Overpopulated By 4000 People

While Mat-Su gained population, Fairbanks lost population.  They were down to enough population for 5.2 districts.  They had about 4000 people more than five districts.  Remember that number?  According to a few people who testified, Board Chair John Binkley, who was born and raised in Fairbanks and lives there now (though he spent some time in St Mary's and Bethel), didn't want to break the Fairbanks Borough boundaries.  Which meant that the five Fairbanks districts in his original map, were overpopulated.  They all were well over the 18,335 ideal size for a district, but not unconstitutionally over.  But probably too much for an urban area.  That means they would be underrepresented in the House because districts with more people have one rep and other districts with fewer people also have one rep.  Board member Nicole Borromeo and others reported Binkley was firm about this. 

Binkley testified he wanted to keep the Borough intact because, "Would I like to be moved out into a large rural district?"  

So that was the choice he saw.  People in Fairbanks would be taken out of the Borough and put into a large rural district -  D36.  But there were other options.  There had been districts in the past that paired Fairbanks to Valdez along the pipeline corridor. I don't know how much Binkley knew about Doyon's plan to have a district with all the Ahtna and Doyon villages. There was even a text presented in court from a Doyon team member to Board member Borromeo that seemed to show that they'd orchestrated a resolution from the Fairbanks Borough Assembly asking that the 4000 excess votes be moved to another district.  The question was from where in Fairbanks do you take the people?   

So when Fairbanks was broken on the west - causing an uproar from the people of Goldstream who were being moved into D36 - 4000 people went to D36.   Valdez' chances of their own 4000 people being put into  either D36 or a pipeline corridor district with the excess Fairbanks population were dashed.  

Conclusions

From what I can tell, and I'm far from certain, these are some of the consequences.

Athabascan Identity and Pride Was A Winner

Doyon and Ahtna won in the sense that their goal was to get all their villages into one district.  I think they've done that.  The main benefit that I see is symbolic and maybe even spiritual:  their territory, so to speak, is represented in a political subdivision of the State of Alaska. The political map matches the ANCSA (Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act) map.  As Ahtna president Michelle Anderson testified about the people of Cantwell, they don't feel excluded from their people any more.  While white urban folks might see a protuberance jutting into the Denali borough, that clashes with their ideal of district compactness, Athabascans see their brothers and sisters back as part of the family.  It's an important connection that is invisible to most people living in Anchorage.  

One thing that became clear to me in this trial is that most non-Native (particularly urban) Alaskans don't have a clue about rural Native Alaska. Even Judge Matthews had to be corrected on his pronunciation of the the word Calista (A ch sound, not a k sound.)  When most non-Native urban folk look at rural Alaska, we don't see all the differences between languages, dialects, family ties, types of traditional foods, and a myriad more factors that are important to the people urban non-Natives  lump together as "Alaska Natives."   These are similar to the religious, national origin, economic, racial, educational, political differences urban folk see among ourselves. Sometimes these are merely interesting, at other times they are significant.  

In this round of redistricting Alaska's Native peoples have had more input and impact on how Alaska's political maps treat the socio-economic factors that are important to Alaska Native peoples than ever before.  

A couple of notes here:

1.   While I'm pretty sure that Doyon is mainly Athabascan, I believe there was mention in the testimony that there are people from other groups mixed into the Doyon area.  Looking at Doyon's website (which everyone should do), I don't see claims that all their members are Athabascans, though it does include Athabascan history.  Ahtna's website explicitly tells us:

"Ahtna, Inc. shareholders are mainly comprised of the Ahtna Athabascan people of the Copper River and Cantwell regions of Southcentral Alaska."

2.  My spellcheck thinks Athabascan should be spelled Athabaskan.  I was confused when it changed my spelling, but I let it be.  But now as I look at the Doyon and Ahtna websites, I'm adding Athabascan with a c to my laptop's dictionary and taking out Athabaskan with a k.

Valdez Was The Biggest Loser

In yesterday's trial session, Intervenor attorney, Tanner Amdur-Clark, questioned Valdez City Clerk Sheri Pierce.  He challenged her assertion that the Board didn't really consider Valdez until the very end when everything else was locked in and there weren't any options left that Valdez wanted.  

He asked her if she had been to the September 17 session or the September 20 session.  Like any normal person, she couldn't tell for sure about random dates like that, but didn't recall hearing discussion of Valdez.  

But fortunately I have all my posts about the 2020 Redistricting Cycle indexed on a tab on the top of this blog.  So I went there, scrolled down, and checked those dates, pulled up the posts, and searched for 'Valdez.'   September 17 was when the third parties presented their maps and were questioned by the Board.  I don't have any details, just links to the proposals.  Mostly the third parties made presentations.  On September 20 the board questioned the third parties about their maps.  Amdur-Clark asserted that Nicole Borromeo talked about Valdez that day.  She did.  But she was merely questioning Tom Begich about the Senate Minority's decision to put Valdez in with Cordova and Kodiak. (The Board's final map puts Cordova with Kodiak, but leaves out Valdez which is also on Prince Willam Sound..)  When the Board spoke about Valdez, it was in the context of other districts.  The focus wasn't on Valdez until the end.  

Valdez made the best case I've heard at the trial on socio-economic integration (one of the Constitutional requirements for districts and a topic covered exhaustingly in this trial).  While others talk about why people are similar or different, Valdez is the only one I've heard that argues why it matters for their district.  The argue there are key economic issues - competing ports and competing natural gas pipeline proposals - where Valdez and Mat-Su are in competition.  A legislator representing both communities will be hard pressed to represent the interests of both communities fairly.   75% of the population of D29 live in the suburbs of Palmer and Mat-Su.  Valdez knows that means 

• it will be almost impossible for someone from Valdez to become the representative and 
• on the key issues of major infrastructure funding, the D29 rep will lean for the Mat-Su proposals.  

In a pipeline corridor district that Valdez wanted to be part of, the whole district would have the same interests as Valdez in these major projects.  (Valdez lists a lot of other issues they have in common with the pipeline corridor folks.)

Mat-Su Didn't Get What They Wanted, But Didn't Lose That Much Either  

I don't really see any serious legislative problem for Mat-Su.  It's true they are over populated by an average of 2-3% overall, but that's well within the limits.  There are some issues about parts of districts that, say Palmer thinks belong to them (the hospital) but are in another district.  However, they didn't make clear how that would hurt them in the legislature.  

They don't want to be paired with Valdez, and it certainly makes it trickier for a representative to have such spread out population centers, but Mat-Su has 75% of the voters in that district and should get what they want from their legislator.  

Some of the complaint I heard from Steve Colligan, their mapping expert, was frustration that although Mat-Su had begun planning for this five years, had gotten professional mappers and software, had prepared districts that met with their local needs (the hospital was together with Palmer, roads were divided in ways that made sense to the population living on them, etc.) the Board seemed to ignore all  that and did what it wanted, creating less perfect districts.  There's may well be more that I missed or wasn't stated.  

The pairings may also impact who runs for office.  Mat-Su has some of the most conservative legislators in the state, including lifetime Oath Keepers Member, David Eastman, whom the Alaska legislature is investigating for belonging to a group that advocates overthrowing the government  

Where the lines are drawn affects which potential candidates are in which districts, but I'm not up on those details and couldn't tell you.   

Fairbanks 

I know the least about the implications of Fairbanks.  The fact that the population that went to D36 came from the west Fairbanks community of Goldstream seems like a political decision.  Goldstream itself has almost 3600 people (notice how close that is to the 4000 number that keeps popping up) and it's a left leaning community.  In the testimony they said they were a short drive from the University, and many people work there.  Dermot Cole, a journalist from Fairbanks, says that cutting off the Goldstream community takes a strongly liberal leaning community out of the Fairbanks voting mix and puts them into the rural district that Doyon created, diluting liberal voting in Fairbanks.  The Division of Elections shows that the two Goldstream precincts voted for Biden 54%- 46% for Trump.

OK, that's enough for people to chew on.  It's just my take and I may have missed things.  Doing all this online and not in person means I can't easily chat with people mingling around the courtroom to get other insights.  But it also lowers everyone's risk of COVID.  But since we're near Seattle now being grandparents, the electronic connection is the only way I can keep track.  

Making Sense of Today's Redistricting Board Trial Testimony [UPDATED Formatting]

 [UPDATE Sat. Jan 29, 2022 - The numbering got messed up horribly in the original posting and I'm fixing that now.  Blogger is tricky with outlines and if you break them accidentally anywhere it screws them all up.  Peter should be #3 overall, not #5 of the new narratives. So I've also bolded the headings of each discrete point.]

I jotted down notes today about things I thought I should write about.  I do have 14 1/2 pages of single spaced typed notes, but you really don't want that, I'm sure.  So let me talk about what struck me as meaningful  from today's testimony.  

Clockwige: Judge Matthews, Peter Torkelson,
Tanner Amdur-Clark, Matt Singer

Take aways

1. While I, like others, was worried about political gerrymandering in Eagle River, I  missed the coordinated efforts to put all the Doyon and Ahtna villages into one district.  Well, I didn't totally miss it.  Doyon reps were there at most meetings, including attorney Tanner Amdur-Clark who is now the attorney for the intervenors.  
1. the text messages revealed yesterday and today - a few, I expect we'll be seeing more - reveal communications between Amdur-Clark and Nicole Borromeo over the efforts to get all Doyon and Ahtna villages together.  And another text shows coordination between Borromeo and Marna Sanford, a member of the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly, trying to get the Assembly to pass a resolution saying that because they were overpopulated (their five districts were each considerably above the 18,335 ideal district size) to get Chair John Binkley to back off on his strong attachment to the idea that Fairbanks should just absorb the the excess 4000 people over 5 districts to keep Fairbanks intact.  This also relates to the Valdez case, because by putting those 4000 people into D36, it meant that Valdez' 4000 people couldn't be in D36 where they wanted to be.  
2. Are thsee bad things?  Human beings follow two different sets of rules - human, rules of loyalty to family and community and people versus the rule of law - those rules that government sets up for us.  These often come into conflict with each other.  That's why, for example, spouses are not compelled to testify against each other in courts of law and why we have nepotism rules. When I lived in rural Thailand, the loyalty rules took precedence over the legal rules. What I realized in Thailand was that the people in my town depended on each other for many things, including helping each other plant and harvest rice.  Survival over the centuries had depended on community cooperation.  When I got to Alaska I slowly began to realize there were a lot of similarities to that sort of communal culture among Alaska Native peoples.   
3. Doyon was working openly and explaining its objectives in public meetings.  They weren't trying to get more politicians elected from any particular party.  They seem to have been trying to get the electoral districts to match how the people of Ahtna and Doyon see themselves.  
4. There were a lot of assumptions on my part about how the GOP appointed Board members seemed to be getting advice from people outside the public participation process.  Advice that wasn't reflected in the public testimony.  Particularly on how to draw lines in Anchorage and then with the Senate pairings and the allocation of staggered terms.  If there are similar text messages or emails from the Board members, we haven't seen them yet.  And while I missed this behind the scenes communications by Borromeo, it fits in with the testimony of Budd Simpson and others today who said that there was a lot of feedback from the public that wasn't on the record because it came in discussion between two Board members, say while traveling, or in conversations about the maps with the public on the tour around the state with the maps
5. Again, what Doyon was doing was what every other community and local governmental unit was doing - lobbying for what they thought was best for their people.  That's different from lobbying to impact which party dominates in the legislature.  
2. The new narratives.  At the end of the debates over the House districts, there was a lot of concern that Bethany Marcum had changed the Anchorage House districts at the last minute and created a district that put an East Anchorage neighborhood with Eagle River.  There was a great deal of surprise in the end when Budd Simpson voted in favor of the previous map that didn't have that new Muldoon-ER district,  while Marcum and Binkley no.  
1. What had happened? Why had Simpson voted against his team on the Board?  He said later that he'd been convinced by the overwhelming testimony against putting ER and Muldoon together that way.   Though he no longer felt that way when Marcum did the same thing with the Senate pairings.   
2. Today we got a new narrative about Marcum's no vote on the House plan (that passed 3-2)  Marcum’s new explanation for voting against the successful House map was that her vote was a signal to the people of the state that she knew there were issues and not everyone was happy.  She knew it was going to pass anyway, so didn't matter.   
3. Maybe that's true.  Maybe Budd Simpson had said he was going to vote yes on the map.  Or maybe Simpson surprised Binkley and Marcum the way he surprised everyone else.  Or maybe they agreed that he would vote no on the House districts, but then vote yes on a Muldoon-East Anchorage Senate pairings, which he did.  Even though the testimony from Eagle River and from East Anchorage was still overwhelmingly against the pairing.  
4. More likely in my mind, this is the new narrative to explain that first vote. Let's see what comes out in the next few days. 
3. Peter Torkelson and the Deviation Number Mistake - Torkelson has been the Board's Executive Director since December 2020, about the same time I started monitoring the Board.  From my very first contact with Torkelson  he's been very open, receptive to my suggestions for making the website easier for the public, and he's given me information and documents I've asked for.  He was always ready to help out.  He and his staff created a very helpful website and populated it with all sorts of information for the public.  Including getting the videos and audios of Board meetings up within days at most.  He's also gotten all the public testimony up very quickly.  And even though I wrote the other day, reflecting on the third party mapping teams and Stephen Colligan's testimony - and before the outside expert Kimball Brace testified - that next time the Board really needs people with more experience and expertise with GIS and mapping software, I think that Torkelson has a great sense for the tech side and did reasonably well as did the Board.  But I'd echo Chair John Binkley today when he was asked how well he thought the Board's final map was.  He said it was as good as any of the proposed maps. Maybe.  But it wasn't the best possible map that they might have achieved with a team of really skilled technicians.  
1. That said, Torkelson was grilled today about not having a degree in computer science or training in GIS before this job.  Steve Jobs and Bill Gates never finished their degrees either.  Not comparing Torkelson to them.  Just saying that people with natural aptitude and drive can achieve a lot.  And Torkelson had a rarer skill - the ability to work well with people and keep his cool under pressure.  He also has a strong public service ethic.  He wanted to make the best maps possible, knowing that ultimately he took direction from the Board. I didn't have as much contact with the Deputy Director TJ Presley, but I only had positive experiences when I did.  And Eric Sandberg, who I knew when he worked with the 2010 Board, is also a dedicated and talented tech.  
2. I also have to note that there was mention the other day, from Outside expert for Valdez, Kimball Brace, that there was a problem with the numbers on the deviation table* that was part of the Final Proclamation Plan.  He explained something about when they changed the numbers of the districts at the end, a bunch of the districts - Calista's attorney Schecter said 28 - had wrong numbers.  Today Schecter followed up on that.  He was very concerned that these numbers were up on the website and were incorrect.  This was at a time when attorneys were gathering data for their lawsuits.  He was particularly concerned that when Torkelson discovered and corrected the numbers that the site didn't say anything about the numbers being corrected.  It would have been hard for someone working with the numbers to realize that they had been changed without such notice.
3. I know how hard Torkelson worked and how dedicated he was to accuracy.  He explained to me at one point how he and (I think) Eric Sandberg had duplicated the Census data separately to make sure they had downloaded it correctly and they really had the true numbers.  (They didn't get a hard copy, they had to download from the internet and then later got the hard copy, which they then checked to be sure the original had downloaded correctly.)  So I'm sure part of Torkelson was mortified at the problem with the deviation table.  The Board's attorney Singer in redirect tried to repair some of the damage.
1. The numbers were correct in the original list on November 5 when there was a lot of clamor for them from local governments and the media.  It was only four days later, when that had died down, that the new district numbers were applied to the districts and the new deviation table made, that something happened to some of the numbers for many of the districts.
2. The numbers for the districts that Schecter's client - Calista - is interested in, were not affected.
4. It's not clear to me how the error was discovered.  Brace (Valdez' hired expert) seem to imply that he had discovered the problem when he testified the other day.  But today it sounded like Torkelson told Valdez attorney Brena in the deposition.  In which case it would seem Torkelson found the error and fixed it, but didn't widely announce it, but he did say he told the Board's attorney and assumed he would notify people if that was necessary.
1. (I would say that on this blog when I change substantive comments, I try to always make that clear.)
4. The East Anchorage plaintiffs have a race based argument that they want to add to the record that is opposed by Board’s counsel, presumably about the affect of the ER pairings.  This is just an alert.  There have been some cryptic comments about this yesterday and today.  The last court documents added to the Most Requested Cases page on their website are dated 1/20/22, so the public (including me) hasn't had access to them, so I don't know what East Anchorage attorney has asked of the judge.  I just know that the Board's attorney is strongly opposed to whatever it is.  
5. ^Bahnke pretty much tells us that SEI (Socio-Economic Integration) is in the eye of the beholder - I think I'll leave this for a post on the weekend.  But it is significant because it's one of the key criteria for whether a district is constitutional and there's been a lot of discussion based on whether key disputed districts meet that requirement.  
6. A lot of communication between the Board and the public was not on the record - Bahnke said that, Simpson said that, Torkelson said that, and we had the text message put on the record yesterday from Amdur-Clark to Borromeo and other emails.  Mostly they said there was just a lot of communication through conversations with the public and between Board members while traveling that ever got recorded.  Partly that's the tension between gathering enough information and documenting it.  For me the test is whether there were communications that were not documented or otherwise publicly acknowledged, that changed the outcome of the maps.  
7. Can you drive to Cordova from to Valdez?  This was a question that was asked of a number of witnesses today (and I think yesterday).  Everyone said no.  But I would point out that the Marine Highway goes from Cordova to Valdez and, yes, you can take your car or truck on the ferry and 'drive' to Valdez and the Richardson Highway. That's why it's called the Marine Highway.  
8. ^4000 pop exchange between Fairbanks and Valdez into 36 - This one I'll save until the weekend too. It's important to understand these cases.
9. ^Reporting and the relationships you develop with your subjects - Another point I want to save for later, but it particularly relates to someone like me reporting on a governmental body over a long period of time - long enough to develop at least a professional relationship and getting to know people as more than just a role on a Board.  It's particularly apt today because of  my comments about Peter Torkelson.  This one can probably wait until after the trial is over.
10. ^Importance of hearing the wishes of Alaska Natives and understanding the cultures relationships, and differences - another biggie that needs to wait

*The deviation table is the list of each district and how much each deviated from the ideal district size of 18335 shown in actual numbers and in percentages.  This would be used to determine if a district was over or under populated and by how much.

^I've marked those topics I'm postponing discussion on with the carat so I can find them easier and remember to expand on them.  

Blacks Targeted On TikTok

 I was talking to an African-American friend today (who is also very much an American, by the way) who told me his TikTok account has been hampered by bots who target his messages that use words like 'white' as violating TikTok rules and it's taking just too much time to fight this.  

I don't use TikTok - I have enough online distractions so I've limited myself - so I wasn't aware of this issue.  But it seems to be longstanding and I'm guessing it's a well organized campaign - like the CRT nonsense - to suppress black voices.  From the people who use terms like 'cancel culture' to accuse others of doing what they themselves are actively doing.  

From a  July 2021 NBC piece:

"Tyler tried a number of phrases, including ones declaring his support for “Black Lives Matter,” “black people,” “black voices” and “black success,” and simply stating “I am a black man” — all of which would immediately trigger a pop-up message prompting him to “remove any inappropriate content.”

But putting “supporting white supremacy” or "supporting white success” in his bio did not prompt the same inappropriate content message. Neither did 'I am a neo-Nazi.'”

It says TikTok apologized, but it's clearly an ongoing problem for my friend.  

Here's a TIME article almost exactly one year before this article on the same issue, just to show its ongoing.   

From a January 2022 article at Insider, we can see the source of the problem my friend was reporting: 

"TikTok told Insider that all of the content cited in the Media Matters study was removed from the platform for violating its hateful behavior policy. Additionally, the company outlined anti-abuse efforts that it has built into its product, including its addition of new controls that allow users to delete or report multiple comments at once and block accounts in bulk."

My friend was reporting what he called bot accounts that would report comments with the word "white" as violations and TikTok would remove them.    Here's a message he got from someone who reported him to TikTok and got things taken down.   

This is, presumably, a white guy telling a black guy he's being racist for talking about white racism.

I'd note that for TikTok content creators with tens of thousands of followers, their income stream is  cut way back when their content is blocked.  

From a December 2021 NYTimes article specifically on the TikTok algorithm :

"the app is shockingly good at reading your preferences and steering you to one of its many “sides,” whether you’re interested in socialism or Excel tips or sex, conservative politics or a specific celebrity. It’s astonishingly good at revealing people’s desires even to themselves — “The TikTok Algorithm Knew My Sexuality Better Than I Did,” reads one in a series of headlines about people marveling at the app’s X-ray of their inner lives."

This article focuses on how the algorithm addicts users and the information it collects on users as the paragraph above indicates.  This leads to concerns about national security because of TikTok's Chinese origin.  It doesn't discuss how the algorithm determines inappropriate content.  

So, this is just a heads up for people like me who only see TikTok videos when they are reposted in other social media.  African-Americans appear to be targeted and their messages are getting censored.  My friend's issues were about using words like 'white' and having people complain to TikTok and getting things blocked.  

The Difficult Life Of Flight Attendants And Passengers

When we waited for our plane in LA, there was a large group of men, say mid twenties through forties, maybe fifties.  They kind of invaded the waiting area and were speaking to each other in another language.  And they were less than fastidious about their masks.  I'd guess five to ten had their masks on their chins much of the time.  Others didn't have their noses covered. 

When we got on the plane, I mentioned this to one of the flight attendants at the entrance as a bit of a warning.  She said she'd already heard.  We sat down.  The lady next to us was handicapped and needed assistance getting up to let us pass to our seats.  She was agitated.  The men were still breathing mask free around us.  She said she'd told Alaska Airlines before we boarded.  She had health issues and was worried about getting COVID.  She got an attendant and explained her concerns and pointed out that the men around us had noses and mouths showing before the attendant arrived.  She even got the captain to come out and talk to her.  

It's not clear how good their English was (presumably some better than others) and if they could even understand the captain's announcement about keeping masks on.  But they did know they needed to be masked and did pull them up when an attendant was nearing.  This wasn't a political statement.  It just appeared to be avoidance of an inconvenience.  

The men pulled up their masks when asked to and then they would slip off again.  Around us there were four or five offenders.  We took off.  Soon the lady next to us got the attendant again and wanted to move.  We decided to just stick it out.  An American Airlines flight attendant soon replaced the woman who got assistance to move to another seat.  The attendant was headed to Anchorage to celebrate his birthday with friends and relatives.

Throughout the flight the masks went up when attendants came by and then down again.  

It's a tricky business when you are up in the air.  The flight attendant sitting next to us told us that it was something like three warnings and then you go on a no fly list.  But it didn't appear that was happening.  The flight attendant sitting with us left and then the original woman was back next to us.  

When we landed we were all told to stay seated while those who needed assistance got helped off.  An attendant was there to help the woman next to us and the nearest offender stood up and helped her get up too.  His mask was in place at that point.  

I'm just thinking about the calculations the airlines make.  This was a large group - maybe 20 or 30  good sized men.  Were they flying up to work on the Slope?  Fishing?  Who knows?  Was Alaska Airlines weighing the loss of a bunch of passengers against trouble in the air?  It was a five hour flight.  No one wanted to land midway and drop off anyone.  The attendants were clearly avoiding confrontations and the men didn't refuse to wear masks.  They complied when asked.  Alcohol was not an issue.  

I already had  concerns about flying on a plane full of masked people with Omicron spiking, when it turned out I'd be flying with some unmasked and partially masked passengers.  You could say that we're overreacting - most people who are fully vaxed and masked are less likely to get COVID and if they do, not likely to get too sick.  That's what I told myself.  

As a blogger, I know pictures pique people's interest.  But as a person, I'm not comfortable putting any pictures of these folks up.  

Just want to let everyone know that even the Airline that banned an Alaska State Senator is walking a fine line between enforcing the mask rules and looking the other way.  

To the person who wrote a letter to the editor (Anchorage Daily News)  yesterday complaining about the Airlines giving in to the unions and cutting back in-flight services, I'd say the flight attendants' lives are hard enough as it is without spending lots of time among the passengers.  And serving alcohol is clearly not a good idea. Sure, a lot of people would like a drink on a flight and for most it wouldn't be an issue.   If people really can't get through a flight without a drink, it would seem to be an indicator of a problem that needs attention.  Not having alcohol on board (and I'm not completely sure that's the case) keeps the skies a little calmer.  

What's The Big Deal About 2022? It's An Arbitrary Number. Think Bigger

A goal of this blog is to get people to break out of patterns of thinking so they can see the world or some portion of the world differently.  To step back and recognize '"truths" they believe as actually just one way of knowing the world.  

So New Years Day seems a good time to meddle with our concept of being in 2022.  Because for Jews New Years happened several months ago and it is 5782.  For Chinese, New Year is a month off and it will be 4730.  For Thais the New Year will begin in Aril and they will usher in the year  2565.

It's good to have rituals around time.  They help us step back and think about what we've done over a period of time. Teaching is a great profession because you get to start fresh with each semester - it's not just one continuous long slog.  Birthdays help us reflect as do anniversaries.  Or the changing seasons.  

But it's also important to remember how arbitrary the numbers can be.  There is some connection to the natural world.  365 days is close to how long it takes the earth to revolve around the sun.  But other cultures pin their years to the moon.  But much about time is a human decision about how things should be.  

Calendars Through The Ages tells us:

Before today’s Gregorian calendar was adopted, the older Julian calendar was used. It was admirably close to the actual length of the year, as it turns out, but the Julian calendar was not so perfect that it didn’t slowly shift off track over the following centuries. But, hundreds of years later, monks were the only ones with any free time for scholarly pursuits – and they were discouraged from thinking about the matter of "secular time" for any reason beyond figuring out when to observe Easter. In the Middle Ages, the study of the measure of time was first viewed as prying too deeply into God’s own affairs – and later thought of as a lowly, mechanical study, unworthy of serious contemplation.

As a result, it wasn’t until 1582, by which time Caesar’s calendar had drifted a full 10 days off course, that Pope Gregory XIII (1502 - 1585) finally reformed the Julian calendar. Ironically, by the time the Catholic church buckled under the weight of the scientific reasoning that pointed out the error, it had lost much of its power to implement the fix. Protestant tract writers responded to Gregory’s calendar by calling him the "Roman Antichrist" and claiming that its real purpose was to keep true Christians from worshiping on the correct days. The "new" calendar, as we know it today, was not adopted uniformly across Europe until well into the 18th century.

The same site tells us about the beginning of counting the years.  

"Was Jesus born in the year 0?

No.

There are two reasons for this:

There is no year 0.

Jesus was born before 4 B.C.E.

The concept of a year "zero" is a modern myth (but a very popular one). In our calendar, C.E. 1 follows immediately after 1 B.C.E. with no intervening year zero. So a person who was born in 10 B.C.E. and died in C.E. 10, would have died at the age of 19, not 20.

Furthermore, as described in section 2.14, our year reckoning was established by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century. Dionysius let the year C.E. 1 start one week after what he believed to be Jesus’ birthday. But Dionysius’ calculations were wrong. The Gospel of Matthew tells us that Jesus was born under the reign of king Herod the Great, who died in 4 B.C.E.. It is likely that Jesus was actually born around 7 B.C.E.. The date of his birth is unknown; it may or may not be 25 December."

 I'd note for those Christians who feel they are discriminated against, most of the world uses the Western calendar that is roughly based on the birth of Christ.  Even if they also have calendars based on other events.  

Let's look at some other New Years from different cultures.

Indian New Year Diwali

"One of the most celebrated Indian New Year is 'Diwali' ', which means 'the celebration of lights'. Deepavali symbolize the starting of the Hindu New Year which is generally the main holiday of India. This festival is celebrated in the month of Kartika, which generally falls in the October. Diwali is an holiday in India, Nepal, Guyana, Malaysia and Singapore. Even though, it is a Hindu festival and has deep Hindu mythology connected with its origin, people from different religions also celebrate Diwali. As the name implies, Diwali is celebrated with lights, lamps and fireworks. The main reason behind Diwali celebration is to get away of the evil, which is symbolized as darkness, and to follow the paths of virtue."

From The Heart of Hinduism:

"Various eras are used for numbering the years; the most common are the Vikrami Era, beginning with the coronation of King Vikram-aditya in 57 BCE and the Shaka Era, counting from 78 CE. In rituals the priest often announces the dates according to KaliYuga, (see Kala: Time). For these three systems, the year 2000 corresponds to 2057, 1922, and 5102 respectively, though the last figure is subject to some debate."

Telugu New Year

"is known as Ugadi, which is derived from "Yuga Aadi" means New Age. According to the Hindu mythology Lord Brahma has created universe on Chaitra Shuddha Prathpade thus Telugu New Year is celebrated on Chaitra Shuddha Prathipade which is also first day of the lunar calendar. Telugu New Year is bright full moon day of the first month of spring."

Enkutatash – Ethiopian New Year!

"Every year on September 11, Ethiopians celebrate their New Year. The holiday is called “Enkutatash,” which literary means the “gift of jewels.” This naming came from the legendary visit of the Ethiopian Queen Sheba to that of King Solomon of Jerusalem back in 98 BC. During her visit, this famous queen of Ethiopia brought the king a collection of “jewels.” Upon her return home, the queen was restocked with a new supply of “enku” (jewels) for her treasury.

Ethiopians called the New Year “Enkutatash” because the period the queen arrived back to Ethiopia coincided with the New Year’s celebration in September. Celebrating the New Year in September, however, is originally connected to the Bible as it is the period that God created the Heavens and the Earth and so this period should be the beginning of a New Year."

Songkran - Thailand  From a post I did in 2008 when we were living in Chiangmai.

Chiang Mai.com gives an overview of the holiday of Songkran (the link is no longer any good)

"The family sprinkling scented water from silver bowls on a Buddha image is a ritual practiced by all Thais in on the third day of Songkran, known as Wan Payawan. This is the first official day of the New Year and on this day people cleanse the Buddha images in their homes as well as in the temples with scented water. The family is dressed in traditional Thai costume and wearing leis of jasmine flower buds. The water is scented with the petals of this flower."

I'd recommend visiting the post this comes from to see how it goes from a reverend washing of Buddhas to a free for all water fight in the streets.  

She knows I have a camera, so she's offering to douse me just a little bit.  It ended up down my back.  There are over three posts on our Songkran in Chiangmai.

And there's a Part 2 and Part 3 as well that go into different aspects of Songkran.

This year in Thailand the new year will be 2565

The Burmese New Year is related to the Thai New Year.

"Burma’s most important festival

Taking place from April 13 to 16 each year, the Buddhist festival of Thingyan is celebrated over four to five days, culminating on the Lunar New Year Day.

Water throwing is the distinguishing feature of this festival, and you’ll find people splashing water at each other almost everywhere in the country.

Thingyan traces its roots back to a Hindu myth. The King of Brahmas called Arsi, lost a wager to the King of Devas, Thagya Min, who decapitated Arsi. Miraculously, the head of an elephant was placed onto Arsi’s body, and he then became Ganesha.

The Hindu god was so powerful that if his head was thrown into the sea it would dry up immediately. If it were thrown onto land it would be scorched. If it were thrown up into the air the sky would burst into flames.

Thagya Min therefore ordained that Ganesha’s head be carried by one princess after another who took turns for a year each. The new year thus has come to signify the this annual change of hands."

Chinese New Year:  (This is a great site, with almost everything you could want to know about Chinese New Year)

"Chinese New Year is celebrated by more than 20% of the world. It’s the most important holiday in China and to Chinese people all over. Here are 21 interesting facts that you probably didn’t know about Chinese New Year.

1. Chinese New Year is also known as the Spring Festival

In China, you’ll hear it being called chunjie (春节), or the Spring Festival. It’s still very wintry, but the holiday marks the end of the coldest days. People welcome spring and what it brings along: planting and harvests, new beginnings and fresh starts."

This year it begins on February 1, 2022 and it will be the Year of the Tiger.  It will be the year 4720.

Jewish New Year - The ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are very holy days - time to reflect on one's failings and to ask for forgiveness from God and from those you have wronged.  It's also a time to forgive those who have wronged you.  It's currently the year 5782.

You can see more here.

So let's not get so hung up on 2022.  Today is just another day, following yesterday.  Let's be sensible in dealing with COVID. 

1.   Let's work hard to preserve the US democracy - with time and with money. Write your members of Congress.  Help those organizations fighting voter suppression.  And figure out who is doing Stacy Abrams work in your state.  And if nobody is, find some partners and do it yourself.   

2.  And let's also do everything we can to take national and world action to minimize the impacts of climate change.  For that, I'd suggest connecting with Citizens Climate Lobby, the most focused and efficient organization I know of.  

3.  Be kind, but not a sucker.  Know your power - don't underestimate it or overestimate it - and stand up to bullies when that's feasible and protect others who are targeted.  Take a self defense class if you feel threatened.  Our former president has given his followers to act on their worst impulses.  But don't give up.  The super power I wish on everyone is the power to make everyone around you feel loved.  

 

AIFF 2021Lune- Fascinating Film Covering Many Issues

 The Bear Tooth was practically empty today.  The film was huge.  It quickly expanded from a mother/daughter relationship into mental health, race, art, parent/child relations in general, money wealth and love wealth, South African elections, dance, Judaism, Palestinian/Israeli conflict.  I'm sure I'm missing something.  I think a great editor could have trimmed it back a bit - it says it was 113 minutes, but seemed longer.  The actors were outstanding - all of them.  Watching someone off their meds is disturbing, but the actor was so good!

The only thing that bothered me, may not be an issue except my ignorance. The main actor was a white, South African who'd emigrated to Canada.  She sounded a lot more than a woman I know from London than a white South African woman emigrant to the US.  But perhaps whites in South Africa have different accents.  

I want to reiterate that there are quite a few films that will be shown live this week, as well as the whole online array of films.  I know.  We've all gotten comfortable with our various streaming subscriptions and the comfort of staying home to watch.  And it's cold out, etc.  

But seeing the last two films on a big screen was great.  And it's really safe if you're fully vaccinated.  Everyone is masked (except when eating).  They block out the two seats on both sides of your party when you reserve online at the Bear Tooth.  Far more space from others than we just had on the airplane from Seattle.  And the ceiling is much higher than in a plane.  And the food is better.  Though I was disappointed to learn that if you order from the restaurant, they no longer bring it to you.  They treat it like any other to go order.  They text you that it's ready.  Really that's what they said.  They are getting lots of take out orders and it takes up to 45 minutes they say.  But who wants their phone to ping during a movie?  Who wants to get up and leave the movie to pick up their food?  Only the person who was dragged to a movie she hates and would love the excuse to leave.  Otherwise, no one.  

This is a customer service and management inflexibility problem that's easy to fix.  They can text the Bear Tooth Theater food staff and have them pick it up and deliver it.  It's not hard.  

But other than that, pick a couple of films and get yourself out of the house and into a theater.  If you've already bought a pass for the online, still do it.  Yes, it will cost and extra $10 plus service fee, but just do it.  

And now that there are no 'films in competition' it's harder to figure out which ones you want to see.  Even then, there were films I thought were better than the films in competition.  In any case I invite, implore, folks who are watching films at home to share your favorites so others can find them.  Use the Festival's FB page or even leave comments here.  

And with all the trees decorated with ice today, it was worth being out in such a magical natural wonderland.  

OnThese Grounds is playing at 6pm tonight at the Museum

80,000 Schnitzels is playing at 1pm at the Bear Tooth tomorrow (Sunday)

For Ticket Information: www.anchoragefilmfestival.org.  That's really not that helpful.  For the Bear Tooth, go to their site and you can buy tickets online or at the theater.  For the Museum, not sure you can get them online.  Same with  E Street.  Just go.  

Redistricting Board Has Posted The Video From Their Final Meeting Where Bahnke and Borromeo Refused To Back Down - See Below

 

The last Redistricting Board meeting was contentious, even explosive. I commend the Board for quicly posting the video of that meeting for all to see and judge for themselves.

Joint Redistricting Board, 11/10/21, 9am from AlaskaLegislature.tv on Vimeo.

Here's the link to the page with the video and many more.   Watch the Nov 8 video and see if you can find where John Binkley called for a vote on the Senate pairings. I missed it and I was there.

There's lots more to talk about this event.  I think it will be seen as the day that two Alaskan Native women stood up and refused to be polite and obedient partners of the three white Board members who pushed through a 3-2 vote to approve what seems to many to be a blatant partisan gerrymandering of the Eagle River senate pairings.  John Binkley, who throughout this process has been friendly and open and conciliatory, seemed like a different person was he pushed this through.  No attempt to find a way to resolve this other than the 3-2 vote.  He wanted to erase their names from the Proclamation because they wouldn't sign it. It took the Board's attorney to resolve the issue by proposing that people sign the document as approving or opposing.  This was a big day for Alaskan Natives all over the state and for everyone who believes in fair, non-partisan redistricting.  

[UPDATE Nov 13, 2021:  After watching this again, I think there are a number of important issues.  One is the point, made by Melanie Bahnke, that this shines a light on how things get done by elected and appointed officials, not just in this case, but in all situations.  Also important to me was that neither Bethany Marcum nor Budd Simpson, when asked, chose to counter anything that Borromeo and Bahnke said. 1.  Because they can't offer any legitimate rebuttal, and 2) because they know they have three votes to two votes. ]

Some Reasons Why The 2 Eagle River House Districts Should Be Paired And The East Anchorage/Muldoon Districts Should Be Paired

 The Alaska Redistricting Board is on the verge of NOT pairing the two Eagle River house districts into one senate districts, and not pair the Muldoon east Anchorage districts into a senate district.  Instead, when the got a sense of the Board, it was 3 (Marcum, Binkley, and Simpson) - 2 (Bahnke and Borromeo) to pair one ER district with JBER and the other with the northeast Muldoon district.  Here are a list of reasons why that's a bad idea.

1. The key argument made for pairing the two ER house districts with JBER and Muldoon was the common Socio-economic Integration (SEI is one of the state criteria for districts)  of having active and retired military in those areas.  There were no numbers provided - just “a lot”.  In fact, there are retired military and veterans all over Anchorage.  There are other SEI factors like income, ethnicity,  and lot and house size that shows these districts are not SEI.  

2. There is no shortage of support for the military in Alaska. They have discounts at most retail outlets.  They have discounts at the DMV, at the University of Alaska.   There's Veterans Preference for jobs,  tax credits for employers who hire vets, and discounts for fishing and hunting licenses.  Discounts at state parks and on the state ferries for disabled Vets,  and discounts for all vets on the Alaska Railroad.  They have a special lounge at the airport.  Everyone loves veterans.  

3.  20% of the Senate is made up of people who have served in the military, though veterans make up 11.9% of the adult population. There are  at least four more in the House.  And there are committees for Veterans Affairs in the House and  Senate.  Plus there is a State Department of Military and Veteran Affairs.  There is no shortage of support for veterans.

4.  There are no Hmong, Samoan, Latino,  Somali, Korean Senators or representatives in the Alaska Senate or House.  These are the people who suffer the most discrimination and are more likely to be in lower income levels.  Their voice is diminished by these pairings, while the military is already one of the most favored populations in Alaska.

5. Although the ER-East Anchorage pairing might seem contiguous, the vast majority of people in the ER district live eight or more miles from Muldoon, while the two Muldoon districts are small enough together to walk across in a couple of hours.  And the populated areas of the two ER districts are far more compact than the ER-Muldoon district.  It seems that some Board members emphasize compactness when that favors their interests, deviation when that does.  They tell us that all of Anchorage is SEI so it doesn’t matter within the Anchorage Borough.  But now their key argument for these Senate pairings is SEI of the military population.  And they even said out loud that this would create two ER Senate seats.  And we all know ER is far more Republican than East Anchorage.  Eagle River's two Assembly members are much more conservative than the East Anchorage Assembly members.  [SEI = Socio-Economic Integration, one of the State requirements for districts.]

6.  While the point was made that ER and JBER folks shop in Muldoon, Muldoon folks are far less likely to go to ER or the Base to shop. And if they aren’t connected to the military, getting on base is a hassle.  

7.  East Anchorage, along Muldoon has a bustling and diverse community that works together.  There are many people of color and immigrants in that area.  Splitting them up and pairing them with the predominantly white ER weakens their representation and violates the spirit if not the letter of the VRA.  

9.  Last redistricting round, the Board paired an East Anchorage district with an Eagle River district for the Senate pairing.  The result was that the only African-American state Senator lost her next election.  This was not an accident.  And it appears the same sort of gerrymandering is being attempted with these ER and East Anchorage districts again to the detriment of very underrepresented populations.   

Please pair the two ER districts together and the East Anchorage districts together.