Resident and arts advocate Carol Tuynman has been talking up James Corner Field Operations’ credentials for months, telling us that the company would have a vision for our waterfront that would inspire us. The landscape design company’s presentation in Haines Wednesday night did not disappoint. Presenter Tatiana Choulika did not come with pictures or drawings of a renovated Portage Cove.…
Editor’s note: To date, this website has been solely dedicated to my own writing and thinking. But if this medium – the Internet – is good for anything, it must be about supporting free expression and protecting dissenting views. The following opinion piece was written by Libby Bakalar, an elections attorney for the State of Alaska who on her own…
There’s good news for organizers of fun runs and other recreation events held along state highways. The Haines Borough has agreed to serve as a sponsor of events, in order to fulfill an insurance requirement that has diminished the number of athletic events in town. This new policy promises to encourage more recreational activities here. For years, fun runs were…
To change the course of events, you have to organize and raise a little hell. They don’t teach that in high school civics class, but they should. History’s great men – Jesus Christ, Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi – were not beloved in their lifetimes. They were pot-stirrers maligned by authorities and resented by the masses for agitating and challenging…
What are our rarest and most valuable resources? Majestic mountain vistas can be found all over the western United States. So can dramatic coastlines. If you know where to look, the world is still teeming with wildlife. Away from big cities, there are tiny towns and corners every bit as tranquil as this place. So what does Haines have that’s…
What makes Haines special? Majestic mountain vistas can be found all over the western United States. So can dramatic coastlines. If you know where to look, the world is still teeming with wildlife. Away from big cities, there are tiny towns and corners every bit as tranquil as this place. So what does Haines have that’s just not…
Sorting through my father’s personal affects following his death, I came across a small bible and inside, a lock of black hair, tied with a ribbon. The bible once belonged to my grandmother, but there were no clues to the origin of the lock. Was it hers? Had she sent it off with my grandfather, inside the bible, as he…
Life imitates art, they say. Take the Jan. 22 story in the Anchorage Daily News headlined, “Handgun Fired Accidentally in Coffee Shop Injures Woman.” The story said a group of friends met at a Kaladi Brothers coffee shop in Soldotna Jan. 20 and one of them, a 76-year-old man, pulled out a 9-millimeter pistol he’d brought inside, for reasons the…
“Yes and through this life I’ve wandered, I’ve seen lots of funny men. Some will rob you with a six-gun, and some with a fountain pen.” Woody Guthrie, “Pretty Boy Floyd,” 1939. It’s ironic that 40 years ago, when Earth First! was being vilified for sabotaging development projects, a small group of wealthy people were getting to work…
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy created a ruckus last week with his draconian budget proposal, neatly sparing the oil industry while proposing to decimate Alaska’s public institutions and rain down hell on schools and municipalities. You can call Dunleavy a lot of things – Gov. Mongo, Caribou Trumpie, Wasilla’s Revenge – but don’t call him a liar. Dunleavy promised bigger…