For The Guardian: Alaskan opinions divided as Shell halts Arctic drilling
Here’s a quick-turn story I worked on for the Guardian yesterday, asking Alaskans about their reaction to the news that Shell would shut down Arctic drilling…
Fall day adobo-style chicken + rice (gluten-free version included!)
This adobo-style creation is an easy, satisfying fall meal, perfect to bring to someone after they have a baby.
See Alaska: Juneau (mostly food) in iPhone snaps
What came home on my iPhone after a food-preoccupied trip to visit Aunt Maridon in Juneau a few weeks ago.
City Notebook: an iPhone love letter to Fairview’s abandoned couches
In Adan Hernandez’s Fairview, the sky is pink, the puddles are full of rainbows and even the abandoned couches are beautiful.
For Alaska Magazine: Donuts on the edge of the world
Everything in Adak used to be something else. City Hall used to be the high school. The store, which is only open two hours a day (because after that electricity costs eat all the profits), used to be a community center. The Navy-issue hutches holding beer and wine at the liquor store? They used to be in some- body’s living room. The Bluebird Café (one of two restaurants in town) is in a house on a suburban-feeling cul-de-sac. The only way you know it’s a restaurant is the “Open” sign out front. About half the neighboring houses are empty.
See Alaska: Bear TV in Juneau
We had a front row seat to watch two bears making trouble in the Starr Hill neighborhood in Juneau. (With video!)
For The Guardian: “Alaska put politics aside for Obama visit”
“This is the president and this is exciting. Period.”
For Talking Points Memo: What the Lower 48 doesn’t get about Denali
In Alaska, nobody really cares if you went to Harvard, but if your grandmother was buried here, you should say so because it gives you cred. I think this is because there are only 700,000 people in this state and a whole lot of dangerous country, animals and weather. People from very different backgrounds tend to find themselves relying on each other, so we care most about stuff like whether you are the type to carry a tow strap in your truck and would be willing to pull us out of a ditch in a snowstorm. Politics come way second. Our loyalty to Denali over McKinley is driven by the same impulse.
Fight giant zucchini oppression with this recipe!
When the zucchini are as big as a small child, and you don’t know what to do, try this.
Guest city notebook: A boy from North Bliss
Growing up on N. Bliss, still in grade school, Hank played basketball in the driveway with the hoop his dad built, back before his dad went to prison.