Trae Crowder - A Comic Treasure

I get to see Trae Crowder comment regularly because I follow him on Spoutible (yes, check it out, it's one of the Twitter exit ramp sites that actively works to prevent bots and abusive behavior, run by a Black IT guy - Christopher Bouzey).  

But I realized that some of my readers may not have encountered Trae.  I don't know anyone who talks this way and I wonder how many others who do, share Trae's political leanings.  I hope, a lot.  So, if you don't know Trae, do watch the video from his Youtube channel.

As he says on here, he's basic gig is being a standup comedian.  I definitely would go see him (and many others would too) if he came to Anchorage.  

Anchorage International Film Festival (AIFF) 2024 Dec 6-14

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1. Real-World Impact

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

2. Explorer’s Achievement Award

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

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

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

Innocence Project Ribs, Veggie Pickup, Steller Turns 50

Keeping busy these days.  I'm in the third grade class daily mostly helping one young man catch up on his English but also with other kids too.  Biking in the breaks in the rain.   

Also went to the Alaska Innocence Project's BBQ Rib Cook-off.  This year their invite also mentioned there'd be veggie options too.  The baked beens were great.  

Justice is one of my most cherished values, and the idea of innocent people be locked up, even executed, moves me greatly.  Right now the national Innocence Project is working to prevent an innocent man from being executed. 

"The Missouri Supreme Court has scheduled the execution of Mr. Williams on Sept. 24, for a crime he did not commit."

Even the prosecuting attorney involved has changed his mind.

"The St. Louis County prosecuting attorney reviewed these DNA results and filed a motion to vacate Mr. Williams’ conviction because he believed the DNA results proved by clear and convincing evidence that Mr. Williams did not commit this crime."

Moving on to the execution, when there is serious question, even if not definite proof, of innocence, tells me these people are not serious about justice. 

The BBQ took place at the Alaskan Airmen's Association great building at Lake Hood float plane base.  It's a great location, but the steady rain and cloud cover that evening meant there were very few planes taking off or landing.  And one would hope they might consider a name change soon.  Airmen seems a lot sexist.  I suspect they could find reasonable synonyms, like pilots, flyers, etc.  

Picked up our Thursday veggies from Grow North Farms.  

And Friday afternoon went to the Community part of the Steller Secondary School 50th Anniversary celebration.  Here's one of the students who spoke to the crowd hold the Legislative Proclamation Rep. Alyse Galvin presented the school.  Alyse was involved with Steller a long time as a parent.  (As were we, but not for so long).  I saved this picture in fairly high resolution.  The story is pretty cool, but not sure you can read it.  Among the signatures is Sen. Jesse Kiehl of Juneau, who was a Steller student when my daughter was.  

Here's Rep. Galvin talking to the gathering before making the presentation of the Certificate.  To the side are the student speaker (whose name I didn't catch), the principal Maria Hernandez, and a parent who worked hard to organize the anniversary weekend.  

And here's Bob Reid, one of the original Steller teachers back in 1974, who came up from Texas to participate.  Bob talked about how the school got started and the ideals of creating a school where everyone participated in the decisions on courses, rules, etc.  Students, teachers, administrators, staff, and parents.  And how the vision was to bring the world into the school and involve the students out in the world.  

Bob was also a neighbor of ours before he moved to Texas, so it was great to see him again.  His major claim to fame for me was that he was the host of "Nothing but the Blues" on the then new public radio station KSKA.  

For those who can't read the Legislative Proclamation, here's part of it:

"The self-directed aspect of Steller Secondary School is a big part of what makes Steller so successful, and so unique.  With an emphasis on responsibility to self and to one's community, students, parents, and staff work together through a democratic process to set school policy and procedures.  The school ethic encourages self-advocacy and inquiry:  students are encouraged to participate in collaborative processes to determine what courses should be offered and which events will take place. 

With no bells to call students to class, no advanced placement classes, and no interscholastic sports, students who choose to attend Steller find themselves both appropriately challenged and personally engaged through the opportunity to co-create independent studies and intensives with their instructors and their peers, and to develop self-directive intensives ranging from foreign and domestic travel, sports, carpentry, drama, creative writing, sculpture, and batik, to fun with math and the chemistry of cosmetics.

As part of Stellar's commitment to their motto, "only the educated are free," and their recognition that education of the individual occurs in the context of an interdependent world, the school heavily emphasizes service to community, both through a sustained commitment to service intones community, region, and state, and through a commitment to one another within the school's peer mentoring and leadership opportunities."

I'd note, that while it says "no advanced placement classes, and no interscholastic sports," students are free to arrange those activities at other schools in the district.  My daughter took advanced placement classes at another high school and she took German at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) while she was in high school.  And NBA player Trajan Langdon played basketball for East High School while he was at Steller.  

The school was named after Georg Steller, (from Wikipedia):

"Georg Wilhelm Steller (10 March 1709 – 14 November 1746) was a German-born naturalist and explorer who contributed to the fields of biology, zoology, and ethnography. He participated in the Great Northern Expedition (1733–1743) and his observations of the natural world helped the exploration and documentation of the flora and fauna of the North Pacific region.

Steller pursued studies in theology and medicine before turning his attention to the natural sciences. In 1734, he joined the Russian Academy of Sciences as a physician, eventually being selected to accompany Bering's expedition to the uncharted waters between Siberia and North America. Steller kept detailed records of species and cultures encountered, as well as ocean currents during the journey. . ."

Among the regular visitors to our backyard, the Steller's Jay was named after Georg Steller.  (The photo is from a 2014 post and I wrote then that I did nothing to enhance the color. The light was just right.)

So connecting several threads here, I took Dr. Margritt Engel to the Steller anniversary celebration.  Dr. Engel was my daughter's UAA German teacher while my daughter was at Steller.  But more important, Dr. Engel translated Georg Steller's journals from the expeditions to Siberia and North America.  She brought two with her to give to the school for their library and to arrange for further interaction with the school and scholarship on its namesake.   

Harris Was Presidential, But Trump . . .

Trump scowled and scolded and lied expansively about Harris and Biden and bragged about how everything he ever did was the greatest accomplishment anyone has ever seen.

But Trump did sound authoritative.  Every lie was said with absolutely certainty on his part.  People who listen to tone, but don't pay attention to the words or the truth, and haven't paid attention to politics until now, may have been impressed at how 'strong' he sounded.  His lies were non-stop, but he sounded coherent, not the way he rambles on his Tweets and at his rallies.

But Harris was logical, calm but firm, and full of facts and plans, though she didn't have time to get into much detail.  She did goad Trump regularly and it clearly got to him.  

To me, Harris was a far better debater throughout.  But I cannot guess at what people who still haven't decided about which candidate to vote for.  The fact that they are still uncertain is something I can't fathom.  

1400 Cloudy Kilometers And A Very Short Pencil

Friday I passed the 1400 kilometer mark on my bike since April. According to Google that's 869.9197 miles.  That's more than I did last summer or the summer before.  And it's only early September.  200 more kilometers shouldn't be an issue.  1600 would be, well I was thinking 1000 miles, but since I had the conversion table up, I checked.  It's only 994.2 miles.  Google says I need to go 1609 km to get to 1000 miles.  But that's doable too.  

While that may seem like a lot (I hope it does), in perspective it's not that much for a whole summer.  Kristen Faulkner, of Homer, Alaska, won the Olympic road bike race. 

She rode 158 km (98 miles) in "a fraction under four hours."  That's more than a tenth of my summer production in four hours!  Even accounting for the fact that getting to and from the bike trail includes some stop signs and traffic lights, and the bike trail requires some slowing down for walkers, dogs, and occasionally moose, and that she's to a bike much more suited to going fast . . . well you get the idea.  My 1400 km is good exercise, but nothing sensational.  

I did see an obituary today for a man older than I am.  He died after an ebike accident on the Bird to Gird route.  Mine is not an ebike. 

You can watch Faulkner below.  [It seems you have to click the link and watch it on YouTube, not here.]

In recent weeks there have been lots of cloudy, even rainy, days.  But most days had times when biking was good and the sun even made appearances.  

I've mentioned in an earlier post that I'm back in the third grade - as a volunteer.  I don't want to say much about that, because the privacy of the kids is a paramount concern.  I do want to say that working with these kids is pure joy.  And given the education cuts in the State budget, the kids and their teachers need all the help they can get.  

I'd call out to any retired teachers to volunteer.  But also to people who weren't teachers, but also just people who are good with kids.  I contacted the school first and they told me to fill out a volunteer form on the Anchorage School District website.  Figure out what skills you have to offer.  Just being a caring person. who's willing to follow the lead of the classroom teacher, is all you need.  Sometimes I'm walking around and just watching kids doing their work and helping out if they have trouble.  Sometimes I've been given a group of kids and listen as they read from their reading lesson book.  Sometimes I spend more time with one kid who needs extra attention.  You can work out how much time to spend - from an hour a week on up - with your local school.  

I imagine that there are people who would cause the teacher more grief than having no one helping.  But most people can do this.  I guess my superpower here is that I remember being a kid - especially things I got in trouble for, or would have if I'd been caught.  I remember what I was thinking.  Like during nap time in pre-school when I couldn't sleep.  There was a finger-sized hole in the paint on the wall next to my cot.  This was thick greenish (in my memory anyway) that bulged a bit from the wall.  By the time nap time was over, the hole was much, much bigger and Aunty Helen (the pre-school owner) was not happy with me.  But it wasn't malicious.  It was just curiosity.  So when kids are curious, I'm much more understanding than Aunty Helen was. (Actually, she and I were generally good friends.)

So while I don't want to say too much specific, I can show you this picture of one kid's pencil.  While I'd like to say it's a sign of thrift, I think it's more about the kids' general fascination with pencil sharpeners, both manual and electric.

 

Some Much Needed Civil Service History

From the August 31, 2024 LA Times: [Note the digital and facsimile editions have different titles.]

 

As someone who taught public administration at the graduate level, I'm well aware of the lack of knowledge of what 'the civil service' is.  So let me give you some background.  

Before the civil service was created in local, state, and federal governments, we had what is often called "the spoils system."

Briefly, 'to the victor, go the spoils.'  Winning candidates gave jobs to the campaign supporters.  This was the payoff for working on a campaign.  Qualifications were not nearly as important as loyalty.  This included positions as low as garbage collector and as high was head of the budget.  

Aside from the incompetence and corruption this led to, it also meant that whenever someone from a different party won, the whole government was thrown out and new people were put in place.  And had to learn from scratch, generally without any help from the fired former workers.

Political machines, like Tammany Hall in New York, would recruit new immigrants coming off the ships to work on their campaigns with the promise of a job if they won.  [US citizenship was not required to vote back then.  That changed later.  The Constitution gave the states the power to run elections and decide qualifications to vote.  The Constitution didn't ban women from voting, the states did.]

At the national level, this came to a head when Andrew Jackson was elected president and invited 'the riffraff' that elected him to the White House in 1830.  But it wasn't until a disgruntled office seeker assassinated President Garfield in 1881 because he didn't get the position he sought, that Congress got serious. 

In 1883 they passed the Pendleton Act that set up a civil service system based on merit.  

Merit, as in the 'merit system' means that positions are filled based on merit, or on one's qualifications for the job, not who you know.  

Local governments in New York and Boston didn't move to merit systems until the early 20th Century.  

Those merit systems weren't perfect.  The inherent biases of the day meant that women and Blacks weren't qualified except for what Trump would call 'women's jobs' and 'Black jobs.'  

And even today, the top level jobs in most governments are still filled with people who are loyal to the head of the government - whether that's a mayor, governor, or president.   Not only does that include cabinet officials but a top layer of 'exempt' positions.  Exempt meaning they are not covered by the merit system.  They can be hired and fired at will.  Usually the newly elected official picks people based on their loyalty to his policy as well as his professional qualifications to do the job.  But clearly that second part doesn't always happen.  The only check on this, is a required vote of approval by a legislative body - the US or state Senate, a City Council.  But if the newly elected executive  has a majority in the legislative branch too, that approval is often pro forma.

People hired through a merit system process also have job protections.  They cannot be fired except for cause - for violating the law, the policies or procedures, for gross incompetence etc.  Whereas the appointed (exempt) positions don't have such protections.  

After his 2016 election, Trump was frequently frustrated by career civil servants, who didn't jump to follow his often illegal instructions. The media have dubbed these people (who included many appointed positions as well) 'the guardrails' that kept Trump somewhat in line. He wanted the Justice Department to punish people who opposed him.  He did battle with the civil servants in various regulatory agencies who followed the law rather than Trump's illegal bidding.  

So, when we hear that Trump wants to destroy the civil service, as stated in the LA Times headline above, this is what we're talking about.  

He doesn't want a system that hires qualified people who cannot be fired except for cause.  (Again, for cause, means they have to do something that violates the laws, the rules, or is grossly incompetent or corrupt.)  He wants government workers that do his bidding without any resistance, without them telling him 'it's against the law.'

He wants to fire all those people who were hired based on merit (their qualifications to perform the job).  These include Democrats, Republicans, and non-partisan employees, and replace them with people whose main qualification is undying loyalty to Trump.  

That's pretty much all I want to say.

One of the very best books on this subject is Robert Caro's The Power Broker.  It's a biography of Robert Moses who played a major role in getting a merit system in place in New York.  It's a massive [1168 pages] book.  But it is also riveting as it goes into detail on how the idealist young Moses evolved into the powerful and corrupt power broker of New York. And in doing so tells the story of the civil service. Not only did the book win the Pulitzer Prize, it was also selected on most lists of the 100 best non-fiction books of the 20th Century. I challenge you to read the first hundred pages and not want to turn the page.

Back To Third Grade

Yesterday was one of those on again off again sunny cloudy days.  This is better than weeks with no sun.  As long as your daily routine is flexible, you can go out when it's sunny.  Riding to Grow North Farm yesterday, the clouds were doing their best to block out the sun even though there was lots of blue.  

At the garden, everyone (the subscribers) got collard greens, parsley and garlic.  Then we got to choose two from this table which included:  cauliflower, radishes, beets, bak choi, salad greens, and carrots.  (Except maybe for the carrots, the picture doesn't do them justice.)

On the way home the sun was getting closer to breaking through the clouds.

I know I promised something about 3rd grade.  Here it is.  

Today the sky was similar.  I went to the school I volunteered at last spring.  

Last year the teacher had 30 kids!  The average elementary school class size was 23 and the recommended size for 1st-3rd is 15.  

This year she has only 21 and you could see the difference on her face and attitude.  (But maybe that's also the difference between the beginning of the school year and the end.)

It looks like I'm going to focus on a kid with limited English.  He did some of the work with a lot of help and did a find-the-words puzzle with a lot less help.  I'm hoping mastering basic English will make help this kid blossom.  The school doesn't have an teacher for basic English (can't fill the position I was told.)  They have tablets with lots of educational stuff on them.  There has to be stuff for learning English.  I can also check what the library has.  And I'll just create stuff to help him build his vocabulary and speaking and listening skills.  He did tell me, in careful English at the end, the names of his brother, sister, and mother.  

Last year was very rewarding and I think I can do a better job this time round.  

From Offensive To Disgusting Ads That Litter Online Landscape

I just sent an email to editor of Florida Bulldog complaining about an ad that kept appearing as I scrolled down an article that pointed out that Donald Trump had failed to register as a convicted felon as required by Florida law and that as a convicted felon he probably voted illegally in the Florida primary.  That was something I wondered about after reading an article a while back about how Florida was making it difficult for former felons - who'd won the right to vote via referendum - to actually do so.  

This certainly isn't the worst of the online ads I've seen.  And it's not even terrible, but looking up these nostrils every time I scrolled down was really annoying.

I was polite and understanding.  It's a non-profit publication that seems to write important stories.  I'm sure it doesn't have much clout.  

[I was letting this post sit until tomorrow when I could reread it and edit.  But I'd note that I got this response from the Florida Bulldog's editor about two hours later:

"Thanks Steve. I agree with you and have let our ad server know to exclude such ads from Florida Bulldog’s pages.

Should you check us out again, please let me know if this returns.

Regards,

Dan Christensen - Editor"]

[And as I looked at the article again this morning, it seems better.  There's a no-sugar ad that showed up three times, but it was not nearly as bad as the nose hairs.  But then the nose hairs makes these other ads seem 'ok.'  That's part of the normalization process.  Trump lies so much that it is no longer news, but Walz gets attacked for saying he got an award from the Chamber of Commerce when it was really the Junior Chamber of Commerce.]

But I'd like to see the multitude of online platforms that take ads to join together to demand a little more taste from advertisers.  Am I being priggish?  I don't think so.  It's really like litter along the road and in our parks.  It's like how we've become used to the nastiness of the GOP - the lies and disinformation and racism.  And then suddenly we saw the Democratic convention that, for the most part, had none of that.  (And the Dem's attacks and snide comments about Trump and the GOP were the necessary response to the years of unanswered bullying from the other side.)

We don't need to live in the garbage pit that online advertising has become.

Advertisers don't want to be next to offensive online content.  Why should good online content be surrounded by trashy ads?

I get it.  Advertisers believe (and possibly correctly) that the more disgusting their pictures are, the more viewers look at them.  

And one publication like the Florida Bulldog or even The Anchorage Daily News, or even The Los Angeles Times can't fight this alone.  This goes for media that are only online as well.  

But they are all part of professional associations that can collectively fight the trashing of their sites.  

Another problem is when pictures are placed next to a story in a way that makes the viewer think the picture is related to the story rather than an ad.  

And have you  ever let an ad on Youtube go past the 5 second skip ad period?  I have a few times just out of curiosity.  They're old time scammers that reel viewers in with outlandish claims and the promise of an antidote if you listen long enough.  The two I looked at longer then linked me to another video, that dragged me along without ever telling me the 'newly discovered treatment that doctors don't want you to know about because it will cost them billions of dollars.'

These ads are sitting there waiting to spread conspiracy theories, sell quack medicines, and generally replace factual and science based information with nonsense. This sort of crap used to be confined to outlets like the National Inquirer  where the average normal person laughed at the absurdity of the headlines about alien invasions.  Now this stuff saturates our lives.  It's helped made Trump seem like a viable presidential candidate to some, whereas the slightest peccadillo used to immediately disqualify a candidate.

I original thought I should offer more images to make my point.  But you all know what I mean.  It's hard to escape for anyone who spends any time online.  

But when you come across something like the nose hairs above (or the more gruesome images you see regularly) copy it and send it to the editor or the publication and ask them to fight back.  You can send a link to this post if that's easier.  And as the response I got from Dan Christiansen of the Florida Bulldog shows, sometimes they listen.

Note:  When I decided to not have ads on this blog, it was more a general aversion to everything being commercialized.  I'd once had a subscription to Ad Busters* which supported my adversion (yes I intended that). I didn't then imagine how trashy online ads would get.

*I linked to Ad Busters, but it's really evolved way beyond just critiquing ads when I used to read it.  

Yes, there are ad blockers.  My computer says I have them turned on.  But the advertisers seem to have outfoxed the blockers.  But if any of you have successful ad blockers, let me know.  Here are a few links I found looking up ad blockers:

https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-skip-youtube-ads

This one is focused on YouTube.  Says you can pay a monthly fee to be ad free.  Isn't that like the mafia?  We won't break your windows or your knee caps if you pay us a monthly tribute.  

https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/2765944?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop

Suggestions from Chrome

https://support.apple.com/en-us/102524

Suggestions from Apple

This Lady Has Put It All Together For You

 A good, clear, emphatic explanation of why people need to vote every election for Democrats.  She explains how the government works for people who don't seem to get that presidents can't do most things without Congress.  How the Supreme Court can also stymie and president, especially the one that the Federalist Society has stacked in favor of the rich and against most people - especially people of color and women.  

It won't take long and it will seem to go by faster because of how she presents it.  

This is one to share with others, particularly those who don't vote cause "it's not their thing."    

Hmong New Year Celebration

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

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

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

  

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

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

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

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

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

Note: I try to blur faces of kids

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

For instance why are they celebrating in August?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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