Racist Or Just Insensitive Juvenile Prank? (Those Aren't Mutually Exclusive)

 Coming back from Denali last week, we stopped at Kashwitna Lake.  Not a terribly scenic spot that day, but good for a quick break from driving.    

The bulletin board on the other hand, offered a little MatSu humor.  Even though the announcements have State of Alaska Fish and Game seals, I somehow think they aren't from the State.  And I decided not to check with the State.

This is in the most conservative borough in Alaska and I'm not sure whether there's some hidden right wing propaganda or whether this is just non-political, teen humor.  I don't think they info sheets had  been up long.  They showed no signs of rain and the staples hadn't started to bleed rust.  

Given that [the Alaska Guide says] Kashwitna comes from a Tainana Indian name, this is probably more than a little disrespectful.  

I found this about the Fukawi Indian tribe on Reddit:

Go to Jokes

r/Jokes•10 yr. ago

noccusJohnstein

"The story of the Fukawi Indian Tribe 

Our tribe has rich and long-standing history. Long time ago, our tribe wander the wilderness. For many years, we wander looking for land to call our own. Our chief led our people through mountains, valleys, seashores and plains.

People were born wandering. People died wandering. After an entire generation of wanderers were born and died, our chief, then very old, led us to top of great mountain. He stood atop mountain summit and faced his people. He looked around. He looked far and wide. He then shouted to the gods,

"We're the Fukawi! We're the Fukawi! WHERE THE FUCK ARE WE?!"

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•10 yr. ago

This was originally told by the chief in the 60s show "FTroop". But it was "Hekawee' then.

Is this really worth a post?  I guess I consider it a form a graffiti and worth noting.  Though the more I think about this, I'm getting heavy racist vibes. Should I even leave it up?  Maybe just to alert folks.  

Saturday Trip To Portage

 

Our first stop was Bird Point, to get a little beach time.  The weather was cooperative and I found I nice big flat rock to get a short nap in.

xxx

View from my rock.

Some lichen friends were enjoying the sun too on a nearby rock.

And the trail was full of pink clover and white yarrow.

There's a trail that goes along much of the road going to Portage Glacier. Here's the map.

The trail has different kinds of vegetation along the way.

Where we started, we were on the edge of a lake and there was a hanging glacier up on the rocks.  This used to be a key view point before they put the trail in fairly recently.

Here's a quiet stream with a rock garden above it.  The plant world just needs water to get a foothold, even on this vertical rock wall.

And this part of the trail has spruce trees hanging with moss.

A picnic table along the trail.

  

A faster running creek with mossy edges.

While I am a graffiti fan, this is not a place where human efforts add to the beauty.  

The angle of these grass seeds far outshines the paint on the rock.

Then we drove the little bit more to see what Portage Lake looked like that day.  

When we got to Alaska nearly 50 years ago, the glacier extended well into the lake and there were always house sized icebergs floating in the lake.  But it's been quite a few years since the glacier retreated out of the lake and back up into the mountain.  

But there was a 'tiny' iceberg floating on the other side of the lake.  I say tiny because way over there it doesn't look that big.  And compared to the old icebergs we used to see, it's pretty small.  But you can also gauge it against the snow poles on the road in the background.  They're there to help drivers see the road when the snow gets really deep.  I'm guessing they're about 15 feet high and the iceberg appears to be longer than the poles.  

Any day you get out of the house and leave your screens behind for the natural treats of Alaska is a great day, and it was.  

"What's the point of living . . ."

 Here are a some pictures from recent bike rides.  

This is a tunnel under a road I go on my main bike ride.  As I ride into the dark it takes a second for 
for my eyes to adjust and I have to be careful because sometimes there's someone sleeping in there.  The first graffiti, if it's hard to read, says, "What's the point of living if there isn't any fun?"  The second one says "I don't want to die without any scars."   (You can click on the image to enlarge it.)

Goose Lake, from this point, changes every day.  

Across the parking lot from Goose Lake is a ball field.  This morning as I came by people were carrying their folding chairs for what looked like church services.  They seemed to be sitting distanced, but I didn't really want to get closer to find out details or check on how many had masks.  

After I got home I made the frittata and as I sliced the mushroom, I loved the pattern.  

There's so much to write about, but I don't seem to have the time to say something that hasn't already been said.  This sort of post is probably better for people's mental health anyway.  

"Closed, But Still Awesome" - Snapshots Of San Francisco

We walked my grandson to his pre-school this morning along with a foldable shopping cart full of toys and other young child related items and put them into this bin of things being collected for kids who had to flee from the Santa Rosa and other Northern California fires.




And as someone who has a soft spot for good, clever graffiti, I had to take a picture of this sign inside a bus.

Lombardi Sports closed after 66 years in business.  This 2014  SFGate article discusses legacy businesses, like Lombardi Sports, that are giving way to more lucrative uses of the properties, like high rise condos.  But a 2016 SF Chronicle article says  Lombardi will become a Whole Foods store, not  high rise condos.

This hydrant begged my camera to take its picture.  I've no more to say about it.



I was taken by Cheese Plus' closed sign.  A delivery guy came with a dolly full of stuff, but the front door was locked.  It was not quite 10am, but a guy inside opened it and let the man in.

I told him I liked the sign.  He introduced himself as Joe and showed me the other side of the sign:  "Come In, We're AWESOME."


Here's Joe, below.  There's a little outdoor cafe on the side and he pointed out that the coffee was all from Equator Coffee, a coffee company that pays its farmers above market wages and, bingo, the name had a meaning beyond a ring around the center of the globe.



But I'm always a bit skeptical of business folks making claims to being super fair to their third world suppliers, so I looked up Equator Coffee.  The website is long on abstract philosophy and short on specifics of how they actually carry out their ideas.  That doesn't mean they aren't a great, conscientious company.  There just isn't much hard information there. For example, from Equator's website:

"Equator’s philosophy on coffee is built from a question: how do we create value from our perch in the coffee supply chain, standing at the intersection between local and distant coffee communities? It is this question that continues to frame our narrative as we strive to grow a business that values the stakeholders in both communities with respect for the people, the process, and the product. Equator believes that quality underlies economic and environmental sustainability, and this is the pillar of our approach. We support environmentally sound certifications, as well as practices that produce the highest quality coffee while securing a dignified life for those who produce it.  

It is no surprise that the relationships we have nurtured through the years remain at the heart of our coffee program. Brooke and Helen routinely pay quality incentives to farmers, support farming community initiatives, and provide micro-loan credits—all to ensure Equator has a consistent supply of quality coffee. Only with those practices in place can Equator’s dedicated and experienced team here in Marin transform the farmers’ efforts into a quality cup of coffee so that you can enjoy the results of all their hard work."  [emphasis added]

 I was vaguely aware of games where people become part of the performance, but only just barely.  But I wanted to find out more about this one, particularly the claim of Best Escape Room Nationwide.    I found Escape Room Tips' website which had a page titled "8 Best Escape Rooms in San Francisco:"

Real Escape Room, or this one on Polk St, Escape From the Jail, wasn't listed.

For those of you still scratching your heads out there, Room Escape Artist explains what these are all about.  Here's their  beginning:

"What’s a Room Escape?
18 june 2015 by david spira, posted in player tips
You get locked in a room with a bunch of people. The room is a puzzle that you solve by resolving the smaller puzzles that are contained within it.
These things go by a lot of names (room escapes, escape games, exit games, locked room games, adventure rooms). Whatever you call them, they’re all referencing the same general concept.
Wait… Locked in?
Yeah… Usually you are locked in the room, and your goal is to find the key to get back out.
Some states or municipalities have laws that prevent the company from physically locking you in, games in those locations have to get a bit creative."

The other day I discussed anger in the US and how we have an economic system that puts most people under unreasonable amounts of stress.  But we blame the person who has the stress, instead of questioning what it is about our system that causes the stress.  So I was ready to see this poster in that context.

Again, in a country where so many people are affected by stress, why is Sam to blame here for his heart's problems?  Rather it's the system that puts so many under great pressure.  And even if heart and cholesterol medications prevent lots of heart attacks, that takes away (thankfully) one of the worst consequences of that pressure, but not the cause.











Art takes all forms here in San Francisco.

And finally, my son pointed out this self-driving car.  I wouldn't have known, especially since there was someone in the driver's seat.  It does have interesting protrusions on the roof.

Brussels Walls - Graffiti and Green

This is a quick post as we get ready to visit friends across the Belgium border into Germany.  We just spent two wonderful days with my 90+ cousin (my father's first cousin).  More on that later, but we need to go soon.  We're driving this part of the trip and I have to pick up the car.

But here are some walls - mostly in the short five minute walk between our hotel and my cousin's apartment.  I've saved the most impressive wall for the very end below.

These first three are one long mural that goes around the corner.  It starts on the right and if you look carefully, the yellow on the left on the first one connects to the yellow on the right of the second.

And then it goes around the corner.









Here's one with lush green vines.

And I'm guessing - didn't get to check with anyone - this one with the peeling paint is what you get when you pull the vines off.  But it just may be old paint.

These vines were hanging on the wires too.









Less ambitious graffiti.

The kids playing in front of the grocery below our hotel window.










And this one was much more serious.