Boys and Girls

Today has already been an adventure. We walked to vote this morning, leaving about 7 am expecting to encounter huge lines, but for the first time, most people I know voted early. Also, the ballots were very simple- president/vp, US Senate and Rep, one state rep, one bond issue and judges. And really, who voted this morning that hadn't already made up their minds?

We voted in the University Baptist Church, in a hallway with about 9 booths with the seniors sitting at a table just up the stairs. The question ballot people had a sequestered area.

When I first came to Alaska in the 70s, people had big sheets of copied ballots to mark their "X". Each voting place did their own counting and call in, even in villages. It took 2 days or so to get them all done (although how long does it take to tally 30 ballots in Circle?). The election was already called usually before most people got to vote, because in those days, Alaska had 5 time zones, so even Seattle might be 4 hours different. Those were also the days when the evening news on RATNET, Rural Alaska Television Network, was one day late. You would get Tuesday's news on Wednesday if the jet brought it up by VHS casette from Seattle. If the jet was cancelled due to bad weather, you'd hear Monday's news again.

Even phone call news was problematic since we had an 18 month wait to get a phone in Fairbanks. When we did finally get a phone, we had a party line, sharing our line with another family who had a different ring. In villages on the mainland, the village phone was usually in the "city" office, so you had to hurry down after work and hope it was open for a quick and non-personal call. In SE Alaska, due to the mountains, one community I lived in, namely Tolstoi Bay, didn't have any landline. Since it was a floating logging camp with no attachment to land, we had only a marine radio. Officially, our raft community was a vessel.

So, in spite of the fact that the federal government has a huge impact on Alaska, the election was very removed from our daily lives. The US government sends mega-$$ in the form of military bases and projects, Native health care and education, all our main roads are federal, our resource industries are federally regulated and the majority of Alaskan land is held by the US government. Interesting and unknown to most Outsiders who think Alaska is a charity. I'm sorry to say that Palin is bringing notice to Alaska in a way that isn't very positive.

After voting, I visited a friend for only a few minutes (shoutout to Stephanie, Jacob, Toby and Sarah) and then went on a visit to the new Boys and Girl's Home. The 30 kids now living in the residential treatment center have difficulties in their lives, an understatement. Some are victims of the social service system (too many foster home placements), some are on probation from juvey jail, some have been victimized in every way imaginable, some have committed too many victimless crimes like running away, and finally, some are emotionally disturbed. This new facility (see photo) has a school and residence, runned in collaboration between FCS (Family Centered Services) and the non-profit Boys and Girls Homes organization. This school is the end of the continuum of services- the kids here have no other options- this is the most restricted environment possible for emotionally disturbed kids. Fortunately, the staff is really experienced- almost all are retired educators who voluntarily have come back to work.

The rest of the day will be consumed in cleaning, doing some followup to Hoonah and Ft. Yukon gigs and working on a proto-type sling for under our hammocks. Enjoy the clear and cold with fresh snow. Can't be beat.