Our news cycles
Every now and then, a new cycle of activity or troubling matters strike towns. At times, the events are tragic beyond comprehension. Our hearts grieve for the families of those killed by a crazed gunman while attending, of all things, a Batman movie in Denver last week. In Homer, we get accustomed to not having [...]
Making difficult gasline decisions
It makes sense that Homer should do as large a build out as possible when it comes to gaining natural gas for the entire town. It makes little sense to do this piece meal when we have come to the painful lessons learned from water and sewer costs not evenly distributed throughout the town. With [...]
Greed keeps our gas prices high
Since pineapple is grown in Hawaii, purchasing your pineapple shouldn’t cost as much there as it does in, say, California. Or, potatoes in Idaho should be dirt cheap because that’s the state’s claim to fame. Apples from Washington taste great, and it’s smart to buy them from fruit stands along the highway, if that’s where you happen to be traveling.
In Alaska, we are known for producing petroleum, with a large role on the Kenai Peninsula. And we know we pay more for it than just about anywhere else in the nation. This summer’s dishearteningly high price at the pump shows that we continue to suffer some of the highest gasoline costs on the road system.
These high prices don’t just hit us hard at the gas pumps. They also hit our wallets with higher freight charges – which affects a myriad of goods and services we purchase from milk to construction goods. Not to mention a loss of tourism dollars, with tourists choosing to not travel to Alaska by highway, as well as in-state tourists staying home who might come to the Peninsula for a weekend get-a-way.
125,000 good reasons, Governor
Gov. Sean Parnell was given the opportunity to notice at least one good thing that might be accomplished in the Affordable Care Act when he called a press conference Thursday. He expressed his objections to the “loss of liberty” in the U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding most parts of the act. He talked about the [...]
Where do they end up after high school?
For high school graduates, summer is the staging territory to prepare for training programs and college. But just what happens to the thousands of Alaska high school students after they leave school? That’s an economic issue for the state, given that much of Alaska’s workforce will come from that pool of potential workers. In a [...]
The power of reading aloud
My memory of Esther starts with books, the fairy tales she read to us. Crowded as we were, we rag tag children who would soon number nine, piled on the bed around our older sister Esther. The closest kids could see the book’s illustrations best. In this way, I learned to love stories. She read patiently for a while, not a long while. During those moments and minutes, bugs bit us or snow fell into hopeful piles, and people’s quandaries came to light. Poor Jack and his mom, twisting their fates out of poverty. The trouble with magic bean stalks.
The lasting legacy of Barry Lopez
The Kachemak Bay Writer’s Conference workshop by Debra Gwartney was rapidly filling up Saturday afternoon at Land’s End Resort. Her topic was the memoir, its distinctions from other types of writings also biographical or fact-based. Apparently, a topic of importance among many of the 155 participants of the conference.
Author Barry Lopez, often called America’s conscience and its premier nature writer, is married to Gwartney. He had taken a seat in the back of the room. As more people came in, he first gave up his own seat, then he picked up chairs and set out more seats for the late comers. Finally, he was left standing throughout the nearly two-hour seminar on memoir writing. He didn’t seem to mind. He attended to the door tenderly as people came and went, to ensure the door didn’t make noise.
Alaska’s fashion innovation shines true in Homer
A poll in Travel Plus Leisure Magazine found Anchorage residents placed first in the worst-dressed, or least-fashionable, of 33 cities in America.
The best gurus of fashion, according to the poll, live in New York City.
We don’t care. If they really want to see fashion, they should come to Homer. People who value Gucci and Vivisaint, as a sign of good taste, don’t possess the same values as us. Still, wouldn’t it be a plus to show off our unique brand of fashion sense?
Karen Hornaday Park’s transformation shows cooperation
It rained on several days of the past week, these closing days of May. The sun came out periodically, granting true warmth as well. At least once, the sky appeared set to snow. Through it all, hundreds of people came together united by a single goal: Let’s build a new playground for kids. The Homer [...]
Memorial Day sets summer in motion
For Homer, Memorial Day weekend forms the first bookend to the summer season, marked on the other end by Labor Day. Between the day of honoring our fallen dead and the day designated in honor of industrious labors comes the busy tourist season. A time to pack in as many outdoor outings and vacations as [...]
