Alaska Permanent Fund Application Time

Between January and March, Alaskans fill out the forms so that come October, the State sends us our Alaska Permanent Fund Dividends (PFD's).   This fund was set up when the State was embarking on our giant oil bonanza.  Gov. Jay Hammond was perhaps the key backer of this idea of establishing a fund by setting aside a percentage of income from our oil revenues.  Here's what the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation website says:

WHAT IS THE ALASKA PERMANENT FUND?

A dedicated fund owned by the State of Alaska

In 1976, as the Alaska pipeline construction neared completion, Alaska voters approved a constitutional amendment to establish a dedicated fund: the Alaska Permanent Fund.

Created by a constitutional amendment

"At least 25 percent of all mineral lease rentals, royalties, royalty sales proceeds, federal mineral revenue-sharing payments and bonuses received by the state be placed in a permanent fund, the principal of which may only be used for income-producing investments."

Comprised of income-producing investments

The Fund is invested in a diversified portfolio of public and private asset classes. All investments, whether in Alaska or around the world, must be expected to produce income with an acceptable level of risk. The Fund is not invested in projects that are primarily focused on economic or social development.

Used for both savings and spending

The Legislature may spend realized Fund investment earnings. Realized earnings consist of stock dividends, bond interest, real estate rent and the income made or lost by the sale of any of these investment assets. Unrealized earnings - those resulting from the change in market value of assets that are held - cannot be spent. Most of the spending from the Fund has been for dividends to qualified Alaska residents. The Permanent Fund Dividend Division (a separate entity from the APFC) operates the PFD program, which the Legislature established in 1980.

Managed by a state-owned corporation

In 1980, the Legislature established the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation to manage Fund investments.

The idea was that the oil in the ground belonged to all Alaskans now and in the future and so the revenue generated by the fund shouldn't simply be used by the generation of Alaskans alive when the resouce was 'cashed in.'  A significant portion should be put into a fund that would continue to grow, like an endowment, for future generations.  So, at some point in the future when oil revenues dried up, the fund would be large enough that the income from investments would be able to pay for a significant part of the State's annual budget.

It was also decided that Alaskans should get dividends.  Some people, I suspect, just wanted to get their hands on some money.  Some politicians figured getting money out of the hands of the government and into the hands of the people was just good politics.  And others thought that if the people got a dividend, they would have a stake in the size of the State royalties for the oil, and would have a vested interest in making sure the State didn't get too cozy with the oil companies.  So the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend was born.

It did get held up for a couple of years because the formula for figuring out how much of a dividend each person got was challenged in court (successfully).  Originally it was based on how long someone lived in the state, but the US Supreme Court said that was unconstitutional.  

Now, 33 years after the fund was established, we have about $34 billion dollars in the fund (down from a high of $40 billion before the market crash) and Alaskans - every man, woman, and child who is a resident and files an application - gets a dividend from this fund.  The October 2009 checks were $1305 per recipient.

So, Sunday, my wife and I got onto the computer and went to the Permanent Fund Dividend Site and filled out the online application.   At the end of the process we got the following:

2010 Adult PFD Online Signature Page

[ _ ]

 

Print, sign and mail this form to: Alaska Department of Revenue Permanent Fund Dividend Division PO BOX 110462 Juneau, Alaska 99811-0462

Applicant Information
Name:	XXXXXXXX
SSN:	XXXXXXX
DOB:	XXXXXXXX
Confirmation Number:	XXXXXXXX
Filing Date/Time:	XXXXXXXXX

Read the Following Statements and Sign Below

I certify that:

I am now and intend to remain an Alaska resident indefinitely. I was an Alaska resident for all of 2009 . I have not claimed residency in another state. I was in the state of Alaska for at least 72 consecutive hours in 2008 or 2009 .

I understand that if what I say is not true, it is a criminal offense and if I am convicted, in addition to any criminal penalties:

I will lose this and all future dividends. I will be required to pay back all dividends I have been paid.

I understand that if I deliberately misrepresent or recklessly disregard a fact, I am liable for civil penalties:

I could lose this dividend and my next five dividends. I may have to pay a fine of up to $3,000.

Release of Information: I authorize the Alaska Department of Revenue to obtain confidential information necessary to verify my eligibility. I authorize the release of confidential records necessary to verify my eligibility from any public agency including Social Security Administration; Internal Revenue Service; Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, Division of Public Assistance, and Office of Children's Services. I agree that a copy of this authorization is as valid as the original.

I certify that the information I am supplying on and with this form is true and correct.

Your Signature		Date:
By submitting this application with or without signature I am consenting to registration with the U.S. Selective Service System, if so required by law.

04XXX



We could have chosen to do it all online with an electronic signature, but we still like paper and we need to send in some more information as well, so we did the one where the information is now filed online, but we have to sign these forms and mail them in.

Although the original intent was to eventually be able to use the earnings on the fund to pay for state government, people have gotten so used to getting their checks in October that they now think of them as an entitlement.  We're still getting enough money from oil revenues (it was shaky when oil went down below $10 a barrel, but Alaskans are smiling with $70 and $80 per barrel prices) that we don't need to use the earnings yet to run government.  But when we get to that point, I suspect there's going to be a big, nasty fight. 

Two  state legislators have already begun to address this (from the Anchorage Daily News Jan 5, 2009):

Sen. Hollis French and Rep. Harry Crawford want to guarantee Permanent Fund dividend checks in the state Constitution, saying if the dividend isn’t protected the Legislature will eventually use the money to pay for state government spending.

“There are some who would spend the dividend on government, and I think those voices are going to rise in the next few years as budget pressures come on the state of Alaska. Keep in mind that the dividend has sponsored college educations - just ask my son - it’s built homes, paid for medical bills, it’s an enormous part of the Alaskan economy,” said French, who is running for governor in the fall election.

French and Crawford, both Democrats from Anchorage, said today they’ll introduce a resolution to enshrine the dividend. Such a constitutional amendment needs a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate and then a statewide public vote to pass. That is a huge hurdle.

Both these men are running for Statewide office (Governor and US House) next November, so one has to assume this has to do with that election.   

Teddy Partridge Live Blogging Prop. 8 Court Challenge Now

[UPDATE August 4, 2010:  Here's a post on the decision of Judge Walker today] 

Here's  a link if you want to follow the trial in San Francisco which is challenging the constitutionality of the November 2008 California proposition that banned same sex marriage.

[UPDATE 6:39pm Alaska Time:  Here's Day 1 from a different live blogger.
It too is a gay-marriage friendly site.  I've tried to find conservative bloggers who are blogging the trial.  I'm sure they're out there, but I went through several pages of Google without success.  There are conservative posts, but not bloggers providing details from the court.]

This trial, which has the opposing attorneys from Bush v. Gore working together, is controversial on various levels.  People who supported Prop. 8 believe that the voters have spoken and the courts overturning that vote would be anti-democratic.  People challenging that vote believe the right to marry whom you choose is a constitutionally protected civil rights issue that would take a Constitutional amendment, not a simple majority vote to prevent.

Gay groups disagree about the strategy of direct Federal court challenge when the majority of the US Supreme Court is so conservative, fearing a negative Supreme Court will set their cause back.  On the other hand, should this Supreme Court affirm the right to same sex marriage, it would be a far more powerful decision than if a liberal court did.

And then there is the debate over televising this trial.  The judge originally agreed to allow parts of the trial to be shown on YouTube.  This morning the US Supreme Court, as you can read below, has stayed that plan.

Having attended the Alaska political corruption trials here in Anchorage, I have to say actually being there and hearing what is actually said, means one can judge for oneself and not be dependent on the news folks who interpret six to eight hours a day into a 30 second sound bite.

Here's the beginning of the second blog post at FiredogLake.  Click here or on the title for the rest of the post and the next posts as the appear. 

Prop 8: Liveblogging Perry v. Schwarzenegger (Pt. 2)

By: Teddy Partridge Monday January 11, 2010 9:17 am

Phillip Burton Federal Building and Courthouse in San Francisco

[Ed. note: Teddy is live on scene in San Francisco. Part one of his liveblog can be found here.]
Lawyers are settling into their places; it’s 8:38 here. Perhaps the SCOTUS stay has delayed our start here? Twitterers casting the SCOTUS stay as “the first loss for the Olson/Boies team.”
Counsel table camera is now having a little earthquake of its own.
Court personnel setting papers up for Judge Walker.
We still don’t have sound; I sure hope that the AV team remembers to turn it up when they start.
We are reminded not to use any cameras or recording equipment in the overflow courtroom. There is a judge standing by ready to issue contempt orders! A couple of people put away cameras.
This room we’re in is very 1960s ceremonial, lots of wood paneling and not-very-impressive portraits on the wall, perhaps of retired judges? There is a huge plate at the center of the front wall with a large eagle done in gold leaf, the entire wall is grey marble. The room where the trial is actually going to be held looks very similar, except there’s room on the dais for only one judge, while in this room there are fifteen judges’ chairs.
The court recorder just sat down at her seat. . . [for the rest click here.]

A Month of Vegetarian Meals

I'm not the cook these days.  There have been times in our marriage where I did a lot more cooking, but I just don't have the interest in doing all the planning and shopping etc. and J seems to be much more into it and creative and talented these days. 

But trying to be vegetarian does mean constantly looking for different things that are tasty.  So one day I googled something like "one month vegetarian meals" and got to Eat Close to Home., which had a link to a pdf with "Vegetarian Meals for a Month."

Emily Springfield's 12 pages, which I stapled into a booklet, have a

1. Recipe for one main dish for five nights a week for a month (two adults, plus 2 kids)
   
   
2. Weekly shopping list and pantry list

The beauty of this is that you can simply check the pantry list (make sure you have onions, soy sauce, salt, etc.) and then take the shopping list without having to take the time to go through all the recipes to make your own list. 

As excited as I was, before I posted, I wanted to make sure that a) J would go along with this and b) the meals were any good.

Well, I'm here to report, Joan thought it looked great and we had a lot of new (to us) dishes that were fairly easy to make and almost all the meals were winners.  We are two adults though, and I suspect some nights the mythical two kids might have been a bit hungry.  The intro says

• Each week has one or two "dead easy" meals that require little prep and are ready in under 30 minutes (unless you cook brown rice;  then you'll be done in 45 minutes) [it's suggested the brown rice be all cooked at once at the beginning of the week]
  
• Each week has two "average" meals that will take 45 minutes - 1 hour for all prep and cooking
• Each week has one or more "involved" meal that might be best done on a weekend
  

So, go to Eat Close to Home and you can find the recipes at the pdf link.  Rather than put the links to the pdf here, I think you should stop by the original blog to get them.  The link at the top goes to the post with the month of meals she dated March 29, 2008 (the month we ate.)  This link here at the bottom goes to the post that links to a month of meals dated Sept. 12, 2008 (I'm just printing this one out.)

Bon Appetit! 

Winter Green

As I was spraying (nothing evil, just water) some plants this morning, I realized while I put up flower pictures in the summer, I haven't done much here with the indoor plants.  Most of what we have, through  evolution, is very hardy for our dry, neglectful indoor climate.  Given we are gone for periods of time, these are the ones that have proved hardy during periods of drought.  They also survive short winter daylight hours, though we do have some good south facing windows.  We once fussed with lighting, but no longer.

We brought this bromeliad back from my mom's backyard, maybe 15 years ago. It did bloom a few times in the beginning, but not recently. It has nasty thorns and I stick it in the corner and trim the thorns off the tips of the leaves. I think this is less invasive than declawing a cat. I'm not sure what the evolutionary advantage of the thorns is. Perhaps to keep away animals that would eat or otherwise hurt the plant. There aren't any of those in our house, so it shouldn't be a problem.  From the Bromeliad Society International:

Bromeliads are members of a plant family known as Bromeliaceae (bro-meh-lee-AH-say-eye). The family contains over 3000 described species in approximately 56 genera. The most well known bromeliad is the pineapple. The family contains a wide range of plants including some very un-pineapple like members such as Spanish Moss (which is neither Spanish nor a moss). Other members resemble aloes or yuccas while still others look like green, leafy grasses.

In general they are inexpensive, easy to grow, require very little care, and reward the grower with brilliant, long lasting blooms and ornamental foliage. They come in a wide range of sizes from tiny miniatures to giants. They can be grown indoors in cooler climates and can also be used outdoors where temperatures stay above freezing.
Bromeliad History

Bromeliads entered recorded history some 500 years ago when Columbus introduced the pineapple (Ananas comosus) to Spain upon return from his second voyage to the New World in 1493. On that voyage he found it being cultivated by the Carib Indians in the West Indies. Within 50 years this tropical fruit was being cultivated in India and other Old World countries.

[Note:  while they do say "recorded" history, I'm wondering if they checked whether the Incas or other American societies ever wrote anything about bromeliads.]
The one on the left is a much smaller one I brought back this fall from my mom's yard.  It was a victim of the fence building, but it's doing fine now.  







This plant underleaf looks pretty dangerous, and when our kids were little, they stayed clear of it, but really those are soft and fuzzy.  It's a begonia that my mother-in-law had and there are now a lot of folks who have plants that were originally cuttings from that plant. 

It too is extremely hardy, easy to propagate, and it has flowers every year. There just beginning now. When they really open, they'll be pink. And we'll be in Juneau. They last a month or more.



Here's a bit of the stem that kept our kids far from this plant.



In checking out begonias, I think this is a rhizomatous begonia as described on Brad's Begonia World:

Rhizomatous begonias comprise one of the largest if not the largest group of begonias. They are differentiated from the other types of begonias in that they grow from stems (rhizomes) that grow along the surface of the soil. As they grow, the stems put out new roots. There are some semi-upright rhizomatous but even these will fall over and root back to the soil like the other rhizomatous if allowed. There is also a group of rhizomatous that put up upright stems from the creeping rhizome.


Begonia 'Bushmaster'Most rhizomatous begonias are grown for their interesting foliage that comes in various colors and patterns. The majority being shades of green, black, silver and brown. Many also have interesting spirals in the sinus of the leaf or ruffled edges. Nearly all are seasonal bloomers that require a short day period to set blooms, so are late winter to spring blooming. Even though not grown for their flowers, they do put on a spectacular display of blooms during their short bloom season. Except for the few upright types, most rhizomatous begonias make attractive mound shaped plants. Rhizomatous begonias can live in less light than most of the other types so are the best choices for really shady areas. Many also do quite well as ground covers for shady or semi shady areas.

Horticulturally the rhizomatous types are broken up into a couple dozen types based on leaf size and growth. For the purpose of this article, culturally there are four basic types, common type, upright type, upright jointed, and distinctive foliage. Most of the cultural items of this page apply to areas where begonias can be grown outdoors all year. Begonias can be grown outdoors in cold climates but must be brought indoors before frost in the fall.

The philodendron is another hard to kill plant.

While looking up philodendron, I came across this story. It's from the astral world, and since there's not further evidence of more rigorous testing, I think he's reading too much in. But that doesn't negate the possibility that there's more to plants than we think. Maybe the bromeliad appreciates having it's nails clipped.

    The story starts with Cleve Backster of the Cleve Backster School of Lie Detection. It was in 1966 that the curious Backster decided to hook up a polygraph machine to one of his philodendron plants to measure the time it took for water to reach the large leaves. Backster noticed that the plant was measuring what would be excitement in a human subject. He then tried different things with the leaf that had the polygraph electrode attached - even sticking the leaf in a cup of hot coffee. The plant showed no other reactions and even seemed to be getting bored after 15 minutes of testing. [Follow the link for the rest of the experiments.]

The bamboo we drove back from Portland five years ago. It involved getting them inspected and certified to take through Canada and back into the US at the Alaska border. We'd found someone at this rural bamboo nursery outside of Portland from Minnesota and picked varieties that he said grew outside in Minneapolis. But I haven't had the heart to plant them outside. I would say they are surviving, but not thriving. Perhaps this summer I'll plant one outside against the house.

And this is the surviving tamarind. It grew to this point from seed in about three weeks and has stayed like this ever since. The other two plants succumbed to lack of water, even though I was watching pretty closely.



And here's the world outside this cocoon of temperance.

Two and a Half Weeks Past Solstice

I took these while I was clearing some of the old snow from the driveway today. I did play with the background of this bit.

Kaleidoscopic Radio Dreaming

Before I ever got up this morning, before I was even really awake, NPR had already fed my morning dreamscape by poking a number of dormant brain cells.    Laura Veirs  talked about Carol Kaye the rocking 60's bassist I 'met' last year in the movie "The Wrecking Crew" that played in the 2008 Anchorage International Film Festival.  Plus Veirs, who has studied Chinese, mirrored my experience of learning and losing many characters.  Damn, they must be in there somewhere. Her music was soft and soothing, but it was when she said,"Wow, there are a lot of songs in this guitar" that I slid somewhat into consciousness.  My MacBook has a lot of stories in it and I need to set them free.  And my pillow claimed me once again.  But then there was Elizabeth Gilbert talking about "Eat, Pray, Love" and her new book "Committed" and how she and her Brazilian lover had committed to live together forever, but not to marry.  Both had had bad divorces.  But then the INS stepped in and marriage became the only practical solution if they wanted to live together and be in the US at all.  My 39th wedding anniversary is coming up this month and we've managed to stay together by never stopping too long,  moving on to next another stage of love. As things become routine, comfortable, and even stale, we start that scary task of pushing into unexplored and risky interpersonal territory, until we get to the exhilarating other side and new understandings of ourselves and how we are together.  We've been edging towards another such crossing and Gilbert's words about marriage poked those cells where I've been working on what I need to do.  I drifted back into sleep with scattered brain cells glowing in shades of peach which somehow I need to convey to J.  My dreams wandered on until I was in a classroom hearing anthropologist Paula Holmes-Eber lecturing marines about how when they blow up a bridge in an Afghan village, it means the farmers on the other side can no longer bring their vegetables to market and no longer earn a living and a whole tribe becomes impoverished.  And the parts of my brain that handle the differences between short term and long term impacts of what we do lit up before I dozed off only to become hazily aware of a discussion of committing Facebook suicide.   That pulled me into consciousness abruptly as I heard (not necessarily what they said) about wiping out friends and shutting down accounts and their being blocked by Facebook.  Fortunately, Facebook is a minor distraction in my life as I've never quite taken enough time to figure out how to make it work for me.  It's there, I see my wall when I get an email message saying someone has contacted me, and I even updated my profile the other day, but while Facebook suicide seemed extreme, I was reassured. 

And so I now face another day, my brain bombarded with ideas and directions and I have to focus on those I can actively pursue and let go of the others until another time when they are ripe and I am ready to take them on.

CS, in answer to your question about how do I manage to find new ideas to write about everyday, perhaps this is a partial answer.  A lifetime of ideas is buried in the grey matter and each day asteroids strike parts of my brain, reigniting dormant thoughts, only a few of which ever get captured.  Of course, this is true of everyone.  You just have to make room in the rush of life's demands to pay attention.

More Steps on the Way to Juneau

I'm still trying to figure out the right way to blog about this upcoming Juneau gig without bringing heat onto my boss.  He's seen the other posts that have touched on this and thought they were fine, so let's proceed.

Yesterday I went into the office to meet with Rep. G about the idea of setting up a Legislative Fellowship program and more hiccups because of my unusual status.  The regs have four clear categories of legislative folks:  legislators, staff, interns, and volunteers.  It turns out that volunteers tends to mean people who come in and work for a few hours, either someone who knows the representative or to get the experience of working in a legislative office.  There's a high school program, for example, where students do some work for a few hours a week.

My category is volunteer.  But I'm actually going to be more like a regular staff person.  Staff get keys to the office and id's for the computer system and email accounts.  Volunteers do not.  So there was some discussion about how to get me the staff access while I'm a volunteer, and also whether I need it all.  Probably getting into the building and office shouldn't be a serious problem since there ought to be others there when I need access.  But since they want me to be in the loop on things, having an email account and access to the internal system seems necessary.

Rep. G's vision for me is something like a scholar in residence and he'd like to see a program like that in the legislature.  Early on in my career I had a NASPAA Fellowship (NASPAA is the National Association of Schools of Public Administration and Affairs).  That program was set up for young public administration faculty to have work experience in federal agencies and I spent one year at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in DC working as a program and policy analyst.  I got to work with people like the director of the National Weather Service and a key job I had that year was to study the impacts of applying user fees to  NOAA services and products.   And during the budget process, I got to play the role of OMB (Office of Management and Budget) and question the department heads on their proposed budgets in mock hearings before they really went before OMB.  The Fellows from different agencies meet regularly to share experiences. It was a great program that gave me lots of valuable experience and insights that helped me a lot when I went back to teaching at the end of the Fellowship.

Later in my career I had a Fulbright Fellowship in Hong Kong.  But that was a more traditional teaching position at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.  But it did lead to more  research and connections in China. But it had some of same characteristics of getting to know a new institution and working with the other Fulbright Fellows in Hong Kong that year.

The general idea about such fellowships is to get professionals and/or scholars to work in a legislative or governmental setting where there can be a mutually beneficial relationship.  It's usually on a limited time basis - one session, one school year, one year - and then they go back to their primary employer.


So, I've been looking at different programs that embody the ideas that Rep. G has in mind.  What I've found so far is this: 

• There are a number of Legislative Fellows programs in different
  states, California, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Oregon, to name a few.  But
  these are really what I'd call internship programs because they are for
  undergraduate and graduate students.  Alaska already has this sort of program, it's called the Legislative Internship Program.  
• The White House Fellowship program selects about a dozen
  professionals a year from a wide array of professions to work in the
  White House or in Federal agencies.  They basically work for their
  agency for the year with special meetings of the Fellows as a whole.
  This was the model I was looking at - though, perhaps it might make
  sense to have something just for the legislative session.
  
  
• There are a number of Congressional Fellowship programs - for
  Americans and for citizens of select countries around the world to come
  to the US and work in the Federal and even in some state legislatures.
  (It might be useful to see if Alaska can snag one of these..)  Many of
  these programs seem to be organized by other agencies that do the work
  of selecting the Fellows - Fulbright, Professional Associations (ie.
  engineers, pharmacists, etc.)
  
  
• There are similar Fellowship programs that place fellows in Federal
  Agencies. 
  
  
• There are scholar in residence programs as well.  The NY City library
  has one, but most seem to be at Universities. 
  

So now we are trying to pack stuff. Some things are easier than going to Thailand. We can have our mail forwarded for example. There's a caravan of legislative folks driving down to catch the ferry at Haines and someone in the office said I could give him a suitcase to take along. We have a housesitter set up to move in. But I know there will be a million last minute items. But what happens happens and worrying isn't going to help much. Everything seems to work out one way or another.

Ignite

I met Dean Franklin when I took a picture of his (I assumed) wife and daughter at the Peking Opera presentation by the Confucius Institute last November.  He told me about Ignite - a program he's working on that gets community people talking about things they're passionate about.  I was interested, but as it turned out, it's happening the day after we leave for Juneau.  But he emailed me some information about it and I can certainly encourage you to go and send me your report so I can post it.  (Luckily, I didn't delete my junk file tonight, cause that's where the email was. )  It's another free Anchorage event that promises to be worth more than a lot of stuff you have to pay for.  


The next Ignite Anchorage conference will be held at the
Snow Goose Theater one week from tonight, on Thursday, January 14th at 7pm.

We've got some great speakers lined up to give some fascinating presentations:

• Nils Andreassen "Vibrant Democracy"
• Cindy Baldwin "How Toastmasters Can Help YOU Be a Better Communicator and Leader"
• Marian Call "The Art and Science of Songwriting"
• Cindy Franklin "The Best Job You’ll Ever Have"
• Sarah Hurst "Transforming Alaska History into a Play and Graphic
  Novel"
• Karen Keller "Off the Shelf"
• Karl LeRay "What the @!#%$! Do Those Motorcycle Hand Signals
  Mean?"
• Bob Nicoll "There is Power in the Clarity of Your
  Articulation"
• Aliza Sherman "I Survived Winter in Tok, Alaska"

We are also holding a food and fund drive for Food Bank of Alaska at this event. We are asking all attendees to bring a donation of food or a monetary donation to help Food Bank of Alaska restock their warehouse for the new year. Food Bank of Alaska is typically running low on food and funds in January due to their generous contributions to our fellow
Alaskans over the holidays. If you are bringing a donation of food, please see Food Bank of Alaska's shopping list to find out what they need. If you plan to make a monetary donation, please bring a check made out to "Food Bank of Alaska".


If you haven't already done so, register to attend now (click that big red button just below). It's free, it will be fun and you'll be supporting a good cause.

Interesting People and Events at UAA

I had a meeting at UAA Wednesday and the walk over in the new snow was wonderful.

These palm bending tree trunks looked a lot more 

mysterious in a night picture not long ago.

And Nikki Giovanni will be speaking on campus January 21, 2009.  We'll be in Juneau by then so I'll miss this, but you've got a warning now to put this on your calendar.  And if you don't know who she is, go to the library and check out one of her books and start reading before she gets here.

Here's a sample (taken from ncat.edu)

Balances  

in life
one is always
balancing
like we juggle our mothers
against our fathers
or one teacher
against another
(only to balance our grade average)
3 grains of salt
to one ounce truth
our sweet black essence
or the funky honkies down the street
and lately I've begun wondering
if you re trying to tell me something
we used to talk all night
and do things alone together
and i've begun
(as a reaction to a feeling)
to balance
the pleasure of loneliness
against the pain
of loving you 

I also visited with Fannie, with whom I worked in the past.  She had a great picture up on the wall.  

Her niece, Nicole, from Napakiak, was Miss Indian World 2008-2009.




Fannie also had a picture of her nephew as her screen saver.  He's in Iraq and due back in April.   




While I was in the College of Business and Public Policy I had a chance to meet the Interim Associate Dean, Dr. Claudia Clark.  We chatted a bit and then it got interesting when I learned she was also a filmmaker.  An award winning filmmaker.  She won an award for best production last year for twelve 1 minute shorts on the International Polar Year Educational Outreach and is up for another award this year for her historical biography of Alaska's Bob Bartlett.  It's called Mr. Alaska: Bob Bartlett goes to Washington.  In the video she talks a bit about it.  

 



And at the film website, I couldn't help but steal this picture of Bob Bartlett.  Regular readers will surely know why I like it. 










I also learned that Freakonomics author Stephen Dubner will be in Anchorage at the end of January to talk at the Anchorage Economic Development Council (AEDC) and that he'll spend a day with UAA students. 

Lt. Gov. and I Agree on Body Scanners

I was pleased to see that the Lt. Gov. of Alaska and I are in complete agreement on body scans for most passengers as an approach to security at airports.  I suspect on most other issues we aren't nearly so closely aligned.  Craig Campbell presents the position much more clearly and persuasively than I did in the previous post.   Some quotes from his piece in today's Anchorage Daily News:

While serving as Alaska's commissioner of the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, which oversees state Homeland Security, I questioned the use of full body scanners at airport security checkpoints. I quickly determined their use was an excessive and unnecessary invasion of personal privacy. . .

 Full body scanners create graphic images of our bodies that, as the ACLU pointed out, are "pictures of virtually naked bodies that reveal not only sexual organs but also intimate medical details such as colostomy bags and mastectomy scars." Full body scanners amount to a visual strip search by depicting a naked electronic image viewed by a federal agent.

We are told that the images will be immediately deleted from the system after the passenger exits security. Really, we already know that e-mails are not eliminated when deleted from computers and that these images can be reconstituted. . .

 We can achieve safety without infringing on personal liberties. Abdulmutallab's explosives would have been detected if existing security procedures, already in place, had been fully utilized. We don't need knee-jerk reactions that deprive Americans of yet another civil liberty in the name of security to ensure air travel is safe.

I hope the Anonynous commenter in the previous post reads this whole piece by a man who oversaw Homeland Security in Alaska.