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Dreams in/of Alaska
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Dreams
- Hits: 1932
Now I've had 2 dreams while in Alaska. More than 2, actually, but 2 that I remembered to write down.
First - I will give the gist of some recurring dreams I've had of Alaska - One, that I've driven there from Edmonton / Calgary - wherever - it's surprisingly close, just past Jasper, I should have been? Why haven't I been? And I drive up round past the horn, the substantial body of the State, there are inlets and Killer whales, and I return to Canada by driving along the rocky borders of a long lake that runs through central Saskatchewan...
My dream Geography is a bit messed up....
But there's a similarity in tone, feeling, it's the rose tinted color of memory when I'm there, the inlets, always at night, the ocean and the killer whales...there are the questions, why do I return via Saskatchewan (and what is in Saskatchewan?), why is it so close, what does - in my dream, Alaska mean....?
***
That dream I've had, in varied forms, a few times before going. So I think then that perhaps I'll have some great dreams, some ---- I don't know. I don't - any recognition or dejavu I have while I'm awake.
In Alaska, I have 2, both while on the Ferry.
***
The stewards and pursers very friendly, wearing papier mache masks, painted to look like ventriloquist dolls from the 50's, static, none moving their lips but all with the painted happy expressions of idiots...it's the wrong boat but they won't let us off...there's this millionaire on board, he's ordered a sundae brought from the port of call, the biggest in the world to celebrate his wife's birthday, the biggest in the world so that we can all be offered a bite...
***
and there's the other dream: Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates
A book of naughty fairy tales, pale blue cover, it looks like a cheap reproduction, I've met a group of 5 women on a quiet street in Alaska who are quietly demanding satisfaction, naked, I am with (??) who goes and finds me 2 copies of the book in a thrift shop, for some reason it's important I have this, when I wake all I remember is the meaningless phrase: "Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates" ...
Sitka
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
- Hits: 2385
From Juneau it's the ferry for 2 days to Prince Rupert.
The weather is bad, cool, rainy, blowing. I am told by other, more regular passengers, that this is the norm.
We've our own berth, and so retire there to read, occasionally walk the decks, see the inane movies in the lounge.
When the Purser announces that for those interested we'll be stopping in Sitka for a couple of hours and any passengers interested can book a tour, I sign up. Never mind that it's at 2:00 AM, anything beats the monotony of the voyage.
Now the first place we go is the Russian Orthodox Church - St. Michaels, the center of Russian Orthodoxy in North America. And our guide is immensely informative and we are surrounded by Russian Icons, from as far back as the 15th Century, there are artworks and candleabra and there is much to look at and photograph, but I dare not look too distracted....
Our guide is very well informed, and my hopes that we'll have a moment to peruse the collections are dashed, an hour lecture and we're done, on to the next destination.
It's 3:00 AM, black outside, raining, we pass various points of interest - the Salmon run (and here he stops on the bridge and tells us about the millions of Salmon below we can't see, because it's pitch black and raining, finishing with "it's quite a sight...."). There's the old WW2 Army base and there's the totem poles, all of which are nigh on invisible in the pitch black of night.
And eventually, as the sun is beginning to pale the sky and there's a hint of daylight in the east we head back to the Ferry. The girl hasn't found it so interesting, me, I've loved it.
Juneau
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
- Hits: 2065
An uneventful trip on the Ferry, the scenery; glaciers and mountains, is beautiful.
There's talks on whale watching, we see none, other passengers report distant sightings of the spume and splashes.
We reach Juneau and it's beautiful - the glaciers behind the city, the way that they've done an amazing job of preserving the older buildings, built up and down mountainsides, there are shops filled with maritime antiquities, old books, it's somehow all very cool.
Our first stop is a hotel, any hotel, and we end up paying $200.00 a night for one in central Juneau. That's life in the big city.
But on the plus side we can walk around and explore, which we do.
The next day we find a place where we can pan for gold (aptly named "gold creek") and show some in the pan - my obligations for the trip are now fulfilled and the daughter has to acknowledge that I was right - although she begrudges me the creek ("It's called gold creek dad....").
We walk out to a point near the city and explore the tidal pools, no great discoveries here, mostly a crusty bed of mussels that the daughter is loathe to step upon, and then it's time to leave again upon the ferry...such is this whirlwind trip of Alaska.
Occupying Wall Street
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Rants
- Hits: 2687
The discontent grows. First the London Riots, then the Americans occupying Wall Street. The police, despite being paid by the people, are not answerable to the people and do as they please, whether it be arresting under age protesters or macing peaceable demonstrators.
This is foreseeable, entirely, as people generally discover that the system is rigged against them, there's that vague discontent that comes from misgovernment and the realization that capitalism by it's nature is evil, that a 2 party democracy is no democracy at all, that corporations have all of the rights of individuals without any of the responsibilities or expectations, that through every crisis that crushes a hundred, a thousand families there are those at the top who still get richer.
It's the French revolution all over again, with the only qualifier being that the difference between the haves and the have-nots in the French revolution was no where near what the difference is now. The rich with their contempt for the mules who've carried them to where they are now, the powerful who make the policies that favour the rich, the police who enforce with cruel zeal and immunity their long held fantasies of policing, and the disquiet grows.
The deficit is overwhelming, this "money as debt" is not working out, the debt will never be paid. It could be paid tomorrow, the wealthiest in the country could pay it down immediately without any impact or notice to their day to day lives, it is, after all, only numbers somewhere held in a computer, but to do so would be to relinquish some measure of control or power, would be to acknowledge guilt or accountability, would be give up what they've so hard won or inherited.
They'll resist, who wouldn't? But this gross inequality could be easily remedied, and people are beginning to sense the injustice of it all.
This diet of candy bars and television, it's made the people weak, it is what, after all, it was formulated to do, education is no longer education - to be educated is to be worried, no, it's all trade-school and employment, keep the wheels of this juggernaut turning, it must be fed. more oil, gas, hours at work, with savings and due diligence you can still get ahead....
The day will come when we lift their heads upon pikes, the rich and the powerful, their money and power, numbers held in a computer, so vast as to be mere abstractions, will vanish, it was after all only an illusion and when this is done we'll be free.
Meanwhile the people are occupying wall street, burning London, and the people are restless, there is that vague, undefinable sense of having been cheated, swindled, but the machinery has grown so large and complex that no one can put a finger on where it all went so terribly wrong....
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