Dorene M. Lorenz

Wasted Breathe, Relationship Advice from Dorene Lorenz

2012-01-21T23:29:00.006-09:00

Q: My husband and I are in our late 30s, and were high school sweethearts. He is the second guy that I have kissed, and the only guy that I have been with. We have had our ups and downs over the years, but I really love him and want to stay with him.

That said, I feel like I am missing out on something. I listen to all my single girlfriends talk about their dates, and feel that I am missing all the excitement. Would it be bad to have an affair if no one knew about it?

A: You are missing something by being with the first boy you were ever with. You are missing a lot of pain from being rejected, a lot of disappointment from not being appreciated, and a lot of frustration from not being able to discover someone you are compatible with.

They say the grass always looks greener on the other side, and there is a lot of truth to that. You need to take a close look at your own yard. You have an oak of a husband, giving you support and strength. You have a landscape filled with the flowers of the life experiences you have shared together. You don’t have lawn, you have roses. Stop and smell them.

If you are bored, that is your fault, not his. You have become complacent in your personal growth. You are responsible for evolving as a person. You are responsible for your own happiness. You paint the picture of your life, you frame it through your eyes, he is the gallery wall it hangs on. So stop blaming your husband for your boredom.

If there is something that interests you, investigate it. Not a bronzed, buff beefcake on the beach – I am talking about reading provocative books, seeing intriguing movies, looking at art that moves you, taking in an inspiring play or symphony, going for a hike. Pursue your interests; don’t be afraid to try something new.

If your husband wants to go with you, so much the better. If he doesn’t, it will give you something new to offer for dinner table discussion. Life becomes a snoozefest really fast when we all think the same and do the same things. Share a new perspective, and both of your lives will be enriched.

Wasted Breathe, Relationship Advice from Dorene Lorenz

2012-01-15T02:53:00.003-09:00

Q: My girlfriend is driving me crazy and I want to break up with her.

We are both in our early 20s. I am her first serious boyfriend. We have been dating for just under a year, and the closer we get to that milestone the more needy and clingy she becomes.

I like her a lot, but I am not in love with her, and I want the relationship to be over. Problem is, her Dad just died unexpectedly. They were really close. She is devastated, and I don’t want the bad karma.
What can be done?

A: You need to break up with her. She is in crisis, she needs support, and you can’t give it to her. Someone else may be willing and able to meet her needs, but they can’t, because you are in the way.

Get out of the way.

You are right about the karma, you have to be clean about the breakup and be really careful not to hurt her feelings. If you are a stand-up guy, just be straight with her and tell her you are no longer interested in pursuing a romantic relationship, but are there for her as a friend. Mean it, and do it.

I am a firm believer that if unpleasant things are going to happen, best to get them all over with in one big lump instead of dragging it out. As Chekov suggested, any idiot can survive a crisis, it is relentless day-to-day drama that grinds you down.

If, on the other hand, you are a yellow-bellied woosie little 'friady cat, the best way to do this is let her break up with you.

My guess is that she has noticed your lack of emotional attachment, but since you have been dating so long, she isn’t looking at you as a disposable boyfriend. She is looking at you as someone she has invested in because he is a potential husband. This occurs frequently in women in this age group.

Stop being the man she thinks she wants to marry. She is going to want to replace her Dad, so any traits you have in common – lose them. You both like to fish, give up fishing. He was a guy who was always on time, be twenty minutes late to everything.

Stop being a man period. Be more emotionally needy and clingy than she is when you are together, it will exhaust her. It is difficult to do, but suck it up. Just be careful to not ever display jealously, inexperienced individuals often confuse jealously with someone really caring about them deeply.

This is important, stop pursing her. Return all of her calls within 48 hours, but do not initiate any contact and keep it short. Stop calling her. Stop calling her. Stop calling her. No e-mailing, no texting, no cards, no letters, no notes. Do not seek out her presence. This is vital.

Demonstrate that you have nothing in common. Let her initiate all the dates, and make them all frustrating and boring for her. For example, make her pick the movie and when she does, suggest it is a movie you have no interest in and refuse to see it – but don’t offer any alternatives.

The more boring, non-committal, and emotionally/physically unavailable you are, the sooner she is going to dump you. Obviously, don’t discuss any future with the two of you in it, make any plans together, and stop calling her honey, baby, sweetheart or any other sugarcoated words of affection.

When she finally gives you the boot, wait at least a month before you are seen in public with another girl, or until a week after she finds a new man's shoulder to lean on, which ever comes first. You are not allowed to date any of her friends for the next year and a half, she needs them more than you do.

Wasted Breathe, Relationship Advice from Dorene Lorenz

2012-01-10T10:42:00.003-09:00

Q: My longtime girlfriend was diagnosed with MS, and has had several significant attacks this year. We are both in our late 30s. She is wanting to have a child because she heard that being pregnant abates the disease for a while. I am wanting to marry her and take care of her, but I don’t want any children, and I told her that.

She disappeared.

We used to talk several times a day, everyday, for over a decade. She hasn’t spoken to me in a week. I understand that she has started seeing this guy that we know from the gym, and things have gotten far, fast. She won’t come to the door, she won’t return my calls.

In my last message I told her that I appreciated all that she had done for me through the years, all that she has done to shape the man that I have become. If she wants to date someone else, that is her right, but I wish she would just let me know she is okay and start communicating with me.

What can be done?

A: You need to give her some space. She is obviously at a cross roads in her life. She is rejecting her current unpleasant reality, and trying to create a new world of hope and possibility.

This isn’t about you, this isn’t about him. This is all about her. She is someone who thought they had a lot of good years left who has now discovered they are on a slippery slope to a poor quality of life, perhaps a quality that for her is unlivable. This isn’t an easy thing to accept.

You have been with her a long time. You are associated and woven into the fabric of this ugly reality. You don’t offer hope, hence the appeal of the new man. He does.

Hope goes a long way. It doesn’t take away the MS and the inevitable conclusion of that road, but it does offer something that has real value to someone in this position: meaning.

She wants to know that her life meant something, that she has added value to the world, that a part of her is going to be loved, appreciated, and cherished long after she has left us.

The appeal of a child goes a lot further than nine months without pain. That is something she needs, and, apparently, something you can’t give her. This is one of those conflicts that is a deal breaker.

It isn’t about love, I am sure she loves you. I am sure she appreciates all that you have to offer, and the history that you have shared. I am also sure of this universal truth: just because someone isn’t giving you what you need, doesn’t mean that they aren’t giving you all they have to offer.

If you can’t give her what she needs, a child, with kindness give what you can offer. Give her space to find her way. Give her peace, stop trying to contact her. Give her validation, by supporting her in her choices – no matter how painful they may be to you.

She knows your number, she knows where you live. Be a gentleman, and when the time comes that she takes a breath, does some reflecting, and realizes she misses you – she will find you.

Accept her friendship back with open arms unconditionally, new man or no new man attached. This may be days, weeks, months, or years from now – and how long it is going to take has a lot to do with you. The more space you give her, the more understanding you are, the sooner it will happen.

In the meantime, keep yourself busy. Go to a new gym. Make new friends. Explore new adventures. Your life has been all about her for years, reclaim it. Discover who you are now, what you are about, and what your life sans-girl looks like. You may find out that her leaving has opened the door to new possibilities that are greater than you ever dreamed.

Kinyarwanda

2011-12-04T00:07:00.001-09:00

There is a humanistic point of view that is rarely reflected on screen, but is celebrated when well executed. It is when we are allowed to discover all that we have in common through the process of dissecting all that is different between us.

Using the cross-story telling vehicle that director Paul Haggis mastered in the Oscar winning Crash, Kinyarwanda turns its brilliantly diverse kaleidoscope on the Rwanda genocide of 1994.

With compelling sensitivity, director Alrick Brown offers reference points of understanding for the unspeakable horrors of those brutal 100 days of mass murder.

The meaningful beauty of the human existence: love, kindness, respect, and good will are brushed with a master’s hand on disturbingly vibrant canvas. This film will not leave you, because you won’t want it to. It’s kindness is to elegant to fade away.

The Arctic Circle

2011-10-30T18:07:00.000-08:00

This stop-motion animation short is Canadian producer/cinematographer Kevin Parry's cautionary tale about greed.

In a story as cold as it's arctic setting, it is the little things that demonstrate the craftsmanship of the storyteller. Brevity at its finest, surgical editing, all that it needed to be and not a frame more.

The body language and eye movements of the puppet were so well articulated I quickly forgot that I wasn't looking at a real person. Captured the vice in a smart, intuitive, clever fashion.

Ihor Dawidiuk's original music underscored the action brilliantly.

A grad student project, advised by Chris Walsh, this 3:40 film was made on a budget of $750 CD. Can't wait to see what this exciting new film maker is able to do with real money.

The Wild Hunt

2011-10-30T18:06:00.000-08:00

Exquisite, masterful and compelling. Not the biggest fan of Medieval Times or the Renaissance Fair, but Director/Producer/Co-writer Alexandre Franchi's dramatic tragedy is a cautionary tale so well told it completely sucked me in.

The Wild Hunt is an ancient myth where a lost soul joins a phantasmal group of huntsmen in their mad pursuit. Seeing the Wild Hunt was presage some catastrophe, and mortals getting swept away by the Hunt could be kidnapped and brought to the land of the dead. This feature film grabs the human experience tightly with both hands and kisses it deeply.

A fantasy reenactment game mirrors real life when Erik Magnasson, brilliantly played by Ricky Mabe, crashes into the event and discovers his lost self through roleplaying.

His reluctant girlfriend, the wickedly beautiful Tiio Horn, has escaped the drama of real life to play a captured Viking princess seduced by being held a prize.

Erik's older brother, Bjorn, nailed by co-writer/actor Mark A. Krupa, takes him on a quest to steal her away from the celtics to save her from the bloodlust of the Shaman Murtagh's (Trevor Hayes) Wild Hunt.

The script is tight, Claudine Sauve's shooting is mystical, the editing is transparent, the music intuitively supports the action are a subtle, even the credits are subtle and engaging.

Mid-movie, I was so sucked into the story that I completely forgot I was watching a film.

Definitely a contender for Best Feature at the Anchorage International Film Festival.

The Last Stop [Son Istasyon]

2011-10-30T18:05:00.001-08:00

My first experience with Turkish drama was a poetic one, The Last Stop [Son Istasyon]. This beautiful film was intimately shot on location in Istanbul and Usak, Turkey by cinematographer Tolga Cetin.

The Last Stop is the first full length feature for writer/director Ogulcan Kirca. His father, Levent Kirca, stars as the retiring railroad worker Ruhi. He is a steady, hardworking man whose simple dreams include a house that has a roof that doesn't leak and a vegetable garden.

His children wish for more. Turgay (Gokcer Genc) has established himself as a conductor, Esra (Basak Dasman) tries to elevate her lifestyle through fame, Onder (Korel Cezayirli) decides to forego traditional employment and education to make his way on the streets of Istanbul.

I don't pretend to understand Turkish culture, and watching it through this vehicle offered a disconcerning look at what happens when old traditions come into conflict with the modern age. The conflicts between the generations, and between the sexes, leave one wondering what life in Turkey has to offer for the next generation.

Karma Calling

2011-10-30T18:05:00.000-08:00

This move had a lot of promise, but failed to deliver. The storyline is compelling, a Hindi family in New Jersey gets wrapped around an "Its a Small World" theme when the drowning-in-debt father gets played by an underworld Don who is connected to an Indian call center, where their smoothest operator falls for his daughter and his son mans-up to fall in love with a girl from the old country.

The treatment in this romantic comedy is so riddled with cliche that the humor fell flat. There simply was no dramatic tension to balance the madcap. Opportunity was there, it was all over the script, but this film became a study in what happens when you always take the easy choice instead of the hard one when writing a script.

Sarba Das and Sarthak Das co-wrote the script, as well as directing and producing the feature. My thoughts are it needing more maturing and editing before it was ready for the screen.

Take the Raj family. The father, Ram Raj (Darshan Jariwala) has his mailbox overflowing with collection notices, takes a loan out on his cab to buy-in to a credit fix scheme...with no consequences. The eldest daughter, Sonal (Barnali Das), answers the constantly ringing phone which seaways to her developing a relationship with Rohit Rao AKA Rob Roy (Samrat Chakrabarti). They both pretend to be someone they are not, discover the shame of misrepresenting themselves on such a superficial level that it is embarrassing to watch.

The only slightly funny moment for me was when the son, Shyam (Ansuman Das), decides to produce a Japanese rap album titled Hapa Means Weed in Japanese. He falls for Radha (Kaci Ladnier), a beautiful Indian mail order bride who is flown in to marry Dollar Store mogul Nikhil (Rizwan Manji) whose personality is as shiny as his 99 cent mechandise.

The youngest daughter Jamuna (Ishani Desai), dreams of having a Bat Mitzvah, which is expressed in a disconnected dream sequence that reads very gratuitous.

The only true comic relief comes from Mausi (Sulekha Das), Ram's sister who comes to visit from India bringing her traditional ways with her. It takes Das a while to settle into the role, but by the film's end she has become the sole character that has any creditability, although Ansuman Das was close to making that mark.

For some inexplicitable reason, Tony Sirico of The Sopranos provides voice for Ganesh, the Hindu god of success. He narrates the film and is the protagonist for the happy Hollywood tie-it-all-up-in-a-pretty-pink-bow ending. Why a Hindu god that looks like an elephant is supposed to sound like a gangster is beyond me.

New Jersey loved the film, it won Best Feature at their International Film Festival. It also has taken home an Audience Award at the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival and the Grand Festival Prize at the Berkeley Film & Video Festival. See a preview of this feature at Karma Calling trailer.

Free Happiness from the Faith of a Stranger

2011-02-05T22:20:00.001-09:00

Our Little Angel.

You can tell a lot, just by looking at someone. I could tell she was raw, it wasn’t just the eyes that were red from crying. She was fragile, hurt, needing unconditional love.

Instead she was giving it away. To strangers. I was so inspired by how brave, how truly beautiful this woman before me was. Recently divorced. In transition. In some very real ways, alone.

She had enough faith to put an ad on Craigslist in the dreaded Pet Section, offering up her eight-year old, well trained, well behaved, beautiful dog free to a GOOD home. A home that could offer this animal she had loved since it was eight weeks old things that she couldn’t - a fenced yard, kind people who would be home all day to keep it company, perhaps nice children or other dogs to play with from time-to-time.

I sent the ad to my mother, who showed it to my step-father, who replied with great clarity, “I want that dog.” Clarity is a big deal for Tom, he is in the later stages of Alzheimer’s.

When I went to pick up this frisky little schipperke, I also started crying. It was a year ago that I was in a similar situation and gave up my little papillon, Gidget, to someone who gave her a better home than I could offer.

It wasn’t an easy choice, but it was the right one.

Tom and his new best buddy.

I left my mother’s house filled with the appreciation of small miracles. Of the little black buddy who sits on Tom’s lap, looking at the window and pointing out items of interest that help keep Tom alert. She snuggles in next to him, he pets her, endlessly. Beaming.

My mother has that quiet relief that comes with knowing there is another set of eyes and ears to watch him, so she can sneak away to the bathroom for a few minutes to herself without being followed by her anxious husband.

It is such an inconsequential thing it is hardly worth mentioning, a dog passing hands to a new family. So ordinary. So very extraordinary.

The Skinny on the Skin

2010-11-29T13:17:00.002-09:00

It has been a month now since I started paying attention to my skin, and I have made quite a few discoveries.

Bella kindly pointing out my Cholesterol Deposits

1) Bella loves to see others in pain. She will get inside your head with her ready-for-a-horror-move-scream voice and tell you in advance just how pulling-teeth painful something is going to be, just to see you squirm. This strategy actually works on me. I get so dang nervous that the pain is amplified to a ridiculous level.

I have had all the different treatments twice now. The first time, it was traumatizing. More to the point, Bella was traumatizing me. The second time, when I tuned Bella out completely, it was uncomfortable, but it didn't even really hurt - and that was using a higher setting.

Lesson Learned: Don't go with your femme faille girlfriend, expecting her to hold your hand and lower your anxiety. Not if her name is Bella Coley anyway. Oh, and if you do take Bella with you, expect to be publicly ridiculed.

2) Kelly Whitworth knows her stuff. It sounds like she is making up words when she explains the science of what she is doing, but that is just her Alaskan accent coming through. Alaskan and Latin don't mesh well together. Kelly has a great bedside manner, which is just as important as being technically proficient. And she is remarkably gracious with people (Bella) who drill her incessantly, as if she signed up for taking an oral exam while performing the procedure.

Lesson Learned: Use a licensed Esthetician whom you trust. They should be able to explain things to you in words you understand, and what they are saying should make sense to the common guy. This is your face, it is a bigger deal than your hair, so don't go to the cheapest, go to the best.

I have been using Exquisite Skin Esthetics at the Alyeska Center for Facial Plastic Surgery because I appreciate the safety net of having Anchorage's "Face Man", Dr. Jack Sedwick, being accountable what Kelly is doing. Just an extra layer of security and comfort in an area where I am not messing around.

3) Not a Do-It-Yourself project. DO NOT pull a Sarah Nan and buy professional grade product such as acid off of E-Bay, and decide to ask your girlfriend who knows absolutely nothing about chemical peels to apply it for you. Especially if you live in Seward, where it takes a helicopter to get you to Anchorage medical care. There is serious science, don't build a bomb in your bathroom and have it explode on your face - the damage can be irreparable.

Lesson Learned: Hard to pass the red face test when you know from the start you are going to be walking out of the office with a red face. Not all procedures are for everyone, they should be able to defend not only what procedure they are recommending, but how they are going to apply it to you.

4) Results are worth it! I had no idea what to expect, but I understand now why this is a growth industry. I am pretty comfortable with how I look, but, as I was aging, things were starting to change - and not in a good way. Age spots were connecting on my face, giving it a splotchy tan fade. A hundred bright cherry red dots had appeared when I got pregnant with Casmir, and they never went away.

Flaws Enhanced for Photo Shoot

The skin on my lower cheeks was starting to get crepey, add a few years and that is not attractive. Fine lines created crows feet that were accentuated with Anchorage's dry air, and these growths of skin kept popping up on my face and just would not go away, despite numerous inquiries from numerous doctors.

Okay, so I asked my eye doctor and my gynecologist, and they expressed them and sliced them off, but they kept coming back. On my face. Cholesterol deposits. Ewh!

Its been a month, and almost all of those spots are gone from my face. The age spots, the red dots, and the cholesterol deposits. Almost completely away, as if they had never been there, and I have every reason to believe that this time next month...nada. My skin will look like it did when I was 20...translucent white. The little broken veins on my frostbitten nose are even gone.

The fine lines and the crepey cheeks are still there, but improvement in making them disappear is noticeably, I would say they have diminished by 30%. I don't think they will disappear entirely, although Kelly suggests that if I were willing to get a little shot of something, temporarily, they would.

There is another option, which I am exploring, that is the same theory as the Susan Sommer's FaceMaster Facial Toning System that she is pimping on the home shopping network...only the difference is instead of something passively lying on your face, Kelly plays the role of personal trainer and gets the muscles you want to focus on to exercise in a manner that is going to achieve your desired result. I saw before/after photos on this one - the result is astonishing.

I had one session, and intend to complete the series. Not as drastic or expensive as mini-face lift, and for me it appears to be a viable option.

1957 Pioneers of Alaska Grand President Robert DeArmond Passes

2010-11-29T00:24:00.000-09:00

DeArmond's Alaska State Flag design contest Submission

At age 15, Robert Neil DeArmond of Sitka contributed a design for the flag of Alaska contest in 1927; it is housed in the Alaska State Museum.

DeArmond was educated in Sitka and Tacoma, Washington; he graduated from Stadium High School in 1930.

He spent a year at the University of Oregon. DeArmond returned to Sitka after college. There, he worked in the fishing industry for 12 years.

He worked in a salmon cannery in the summer of 1930, and later received a reporting job for the Stroller's Weekly in Juneau.

1930 High School Graduation

In 1931, he traveled by rowboat from Sitka to Tacoma; DeArmond wrote a book about his travel, A Voyage in a Dory, in 1999.

In 1938 he helped found the city of Pelican, Alaska, where he served as a storekeeper and the postmaster.

The DeArmond family moved to Ketchikan, Alaska, in 1944, and Robert returned to journalism.

He worked for the Ketchikan Daily News, the Juneau Empire, and other publications in covering the Alaska Territorial Legislature.

DeArmond worked for territorial Governor B. Frank Heintzleman in the 1950s and lived in Juneau during this time

In 1958 Robert DeArmond bought Alaska Magazine.

A preeminent historian, he has authored several books on Alaska, as well as articles in the Ketchikan Daily News, Alaska Daily Empire, Alaska Sportsman, Capital City Weekly, Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Journal, Alaska Life, Alaska Review, The Sitka Sentinal, the Alaskan Southeaster, and The Sea Chest, among others.

Robert married artist Dale DeArmond in 1935, and they both resided at the Sitka Pioneer Home. Dale died on November 21, 2006. Robert passed away November 28, 2010 at the age of 99. They had two children, William and Jane.

Robert wrote, "I got something of an early start in the Pioneers. At the beginning of the year 1931, I was working in Juneau when the Grand Igloo decided to start two new organizations - Sons and Daughters of the Pioneers.

Membership was limited to the offspring of actual members of the Pioneers of Alaska. I was eligible by reason of my father’s membership, and I joined.

Robert DeArmond circa 1940

The idea of the Sons and Daughters, as I understood it, was that membership in the Pioneers of Alaska would eventually be limited to individuals who had either come to Alaska before 1910 or who had come up through the Sons and Daughters.

So far as I know, Juneau was the only place where the junior organizations were started. I left Juneau later that year and it was not until 1945 that I again lived in a town where there was an active Igloo of the Pioneers.

That was Ketchikan and I had not been there long when the secretary of Igloo No. 16 invited me to join. I pointed out that under the rules then in force, only men who had been in Alaska before `910 were eligible and that I was not born until 1911.

In the course of our conversation I mentioned my membership in the Sons of the Pioneers some 14 years earlier. He said that was good enough and I was taken into Igloo 16 and have been a member of it ever since.

Now to the Grand Igloo meetings, by 1939, partly because of travel difficulties and perhaps even more be a use of economic conditions in Alaska, the attendance at Grand Igloo meetings had dwindled almost to the vanishing point.

In an attempt to remedy that condition, at the Grand Igloo meeting in Anchorage in January 1939, Fairbanks Igloo No. 4 introduced a resolution proposing that the Grand Igloo would meet only every other year and would meet in Juneau while the Territorial Legislature was in session.

Official 1957 Grand President Photo

At that time nearly all of the 40 members of the Territorial Legislature belonged to the Pioneers, and for the next couple decades, the every-other-year sessions of the Grand Igloo at Juneau had representation from all parts of Alaska. In time, of course, as conditions changed, the Grand Igloo began to meet annually and at various locations.

In reading about the 1939 Grand Igloo meeting, I noticed one other thing that was different. Dr. Will H. Chase of Cordova was the outgoing Grand President and he was also the Grand Historian had had been for many years.

Under the system then in force, the Grand President chose the Grand Historian, and when one was found who would actually work on the history of the organization and its members, he was retained year after year.

One early Grand Historian who lived at Valdez started a monthly magazine called The Pathfinder, and with the help of other officers and members, kept it going for a number of years.

It was full of information about the various Igloos and their members. Doc Chase was the Grand Historian for at least 15 years and during the time he gathered and preserved a great deal of information about the Pioneers of Alaska.

Some years back the office of Grand Historian was made of the chairs in the progression up the ladder to Grand President. A number of hot issues were on the docket.

There were those who wanted to move the admission date from 1911 to 1920. Others wanted to observe a 30-year waiting period, and many wanted no change at all. They said changing the date would change the membership from one Pioneers to one of Cheechakos.

One group wanted to go back to annual meetings in different towns, but others said that would kill the Grand Igloo. That afternoon the delegates decided not to decide on any of the issues and no one seemed to care."

Alvin Amason Delights

2010-11-23T11:44:00.001-09:00

Alvin Amason mingles at his Alaska House: New York show

Sugpiaq artist Alvin Amason developed his world view in a remote Unangan village on Kodiak. A somewhat charmed past, for the bold use of color and whimsy which define his work whisper of happy afternoons exploring with his maternal grandfather.

Eli Matrokin was a tradition bearer and a bear guide, and their adventures were captured as the boy drew fanciful depictions of the animals that surrounded them.

Amason left the Rock to study art at Central Washington University and Arizona State. While he was inspired by the expressionistic viewpoint of Dutch American abstract artist Willem de Kooning, Amason's large, loose, and colorful style focused on the familiar territory of Kodiak's land and sea animals.

A seabird flies in front of Amason's walrus

Good natured and insightful, Amason's work often includes appendages, an idea that sprang from the oil lampadas which project from the walls of Kodiak's Russian Orthodox Church.

Several of the paintings currently available include appendages of trees and birds, but his bears dominate the collection gathered from Alaska House New York's holdings. They are delightfully larger than life, and often engage in playful confrontation.

Amason is currently the director of Native Arts at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and one of Alaska's best known contemporary artists. His wonderful expression is featured at the Anchorage Museum of History and Art, the Alaska Native Heritage Center, and the Ted Stevens International Airport.

Peeling, on Purpose

2010-11-17T10:31:00.001-09:00

The only really bad sunburn I recall was when I was in my late teens. Diana Gross, my Chugiak High School debate partner, and I went over to Hawaii on a Mark Air special - not the Captain Bly Standby, but something cheap enough that two high school students could spring for it on a weekend getaway.

Lesson Learned: Pale is Good

We stayed at her parent's timeshare condo, and I couldn't really afford to do anything. Anything. I think I came to Hawaii with $50 in spending money.

Diane sprang for us to go out on a catamaran booze cruise, only we didn't drink, and I don't recall eating either. What I DO remember is laying out on the boat, the sun reflecting in the water, reflecting off my skin, making Diana twice as brown as her normally olive colored skin turned dark and sexy.

Pasty white girl over her, I burned. Lobster Red. I knew I was burning on the boat, but had no suntan lotion with me. Nothing to protect me at all as I grew redder, redder, and still redder since the boat wasn't going to turn around for silly naive me.

The salt from the ocean crystallized in the blister pustules in my burn. When we got back to the condo Diana tried to cool me down with aloe, with ice, with Benzocaine burn spray. Nothing helped. I was miserable, and continued to be miserable for about two weeks.

The peeling was of lepros-ratic proportions. The insides of my clothes would be covered with rolled up bits of skin, and the tan lines from that swimming suit stayed with me for several years - re-appearing every time I even glanced at the sunshine. If I ever end up with skin cancer, this is the reason why.

When Bella suggested to me that a chemical peel felt like a really bad sunburn, I knew instantly this was not something I was volunteering for. I don't care how much she coo-ed about how soft and smooth your baby skin was after the week of peeling. I don't care how she says she would get the most invasive peel that a doctor would do, because the results are SO worth it. I don't care. I have NO interest in ever feeling that REALLY BAD SUNBURN feeling again.

Kelly Whitworth and her Perfect Skin

So here is Kelly Whitworth, who has been totally straight with me about the whole skin care thing, suggesting I needed a chemical peel. Bella jumped from her chair, screamed in delight, and did a happy dance. I looked at Bella. I looked at Kelly. I looked back at Bella. I had this sinking feeling I was being set up. Looked around the Exquisite Skin Esthetics area at the Alyeska Center for Facial Plastic Surgery and ENT for the nearest exit.

I thought I recalled Kelly giving me a chemical peel two weeks earlier before my microdermabrasion treatment. It was uncomfortable, but not so uncomfortable that you would write home about it. She put a layer of "friendly" acid on my face to take off a layer of the skin mantel so that the skin vacuum could do it's stuff more effectively. It really wasn't that big a deal.

Well, Kelly told me that I needed the same thing, only two or three layers of "friendly acid", since the effects are layer dependent. I also remembered some idle chit chat two weeks ago about the pain going up with each layer. So three layers would mean three times the pain as the first one. How uncomfortable was that first one? Not so uncomfortable that I am really remembering clearly. That is a good sign, right?

I look at Kelly, her perfect skin glowing back at me like the poster child of health. I look at Bella, who is smiling from ear-to-ear. Kelly, serene, calm, reassuring. Bella, her eyes flashing with unbridled enthusiasm. I close my eyes and listen to Kelly's steady voice telling me that this is only going to take about half-an-hour to 45 minutes, and the effects are really going to be noticeable.

My brain really didn't click in until it was too later. I was in Kelly's room, wrapped in a warm blanket, with a hot towel over my face, thinking of a joke that was passing around in anticipation of Alaska's next senate race.

Mark Begich and Joe Miller happened to end up in the same barber shop the day before the election. Both barbers were careful not to say a word, less a firey discussion about politics broke out and their client got so distracted they forgot to tip well.

Miller's barber finished first, and went to grab the aftershave when Miller said, "No, none of that flower water for me. I don't want my wife thinking I smell like the inside of the Bush Company."

Begich's barber finished a few seconds later, and Mark said, "You can go ahead and use aftershave on me. My wife has never been to the Bush Company."

I was chuckling to myself when Kelly put on the first layer of acid. Not a big deal at all. Then the second layer. A little uncomfortable, maybe a two on a scale that goes up to ten. Third layer brought that up to a four. It really wasn't "hot", especially with the fan blowing on my face, it was just uncomfortable. Like things are moving around on your face uncomfortable. Buggie.

Glowing with Gov. Sean Parnell at Jewish Cultural Gala

Kelly said that was uncomfortable enough, put on some neutralizer, and that was the end of the big chemical peel story. We all met up at the Mixx Grill for the Holiday Wine Expo afterwards. I was glowing like an angel. Went to the Jewish Cultural Gala the next night. I was glowing like an angel.

No sunburn pain, not like I remembered anyway. Skin was a little tight, bit scary in the mirror in the morning. But I was solid in my post care, and that went away with the application of the lotions and potions Kelly hooked me up with.

Then the peeling started. Peeling like you can't imagine. Lizards, snakes, they had nothing on me. Was more like a malemute husky's seasonal shed. You know when every brush of the dog fills the brush up. Yep, that was me, shedding my skin.

Truly disgusting. Dead skin rolls everywhere. That went on for four nasty days when I really wanted to hide in a cave.

And then it stopped. Now my skin is soft, supple, like baby new skin.
Would I do it again, in a heartbeat, like Bella suggested? Well. Yes.

All Toned Up Without 5 Minutes of Working Out

2010-11-08T18:31:00.001-09:00

You know, I am kinda enjoying being the "in the know" guy for skin care. Normally, my cousin Kim Kashevarof is the family expert. Her skin is f-l-a-w-l-e-s-s from decades of being kind to it. You would have thought I would have gotten a clue, and started out earlier on the take-care-of-what-you've-got, but instead I am working from the better-late-than-never platform.

The Flawless Kim Kashevarof

It is the curse of Anchorage. You hop out of a nice, long, hot shower and before you can even towel off you can feel your skin start to tighten and dry out. Look in the mirror and you suddenly feel 10 years older, and you look that way to.

The toner that Kelly Whitworth hooked me up with has softened that experience for me. You stick a squirt or two on a cotton ball, rub in on your face, and instantly, like a modern day miracle - all the scratchy, crackly, dry, and crinkly smooths out to normal skin.

The product has one of those really fancy pants names, Nutrient Toner. Hell, I can even remember that one. The box says that a combination of vitamins, enzymes and lactic and citric acids provides added nutrients to the skin. This solution is designed for normal to dry and mature skin, as well as those with sensitive, break-out prone skin.

Mature skin. Isn't that polite for bag lady?

Anyway, the four ounce clear container is filled with water, pumpkin ferment extract - which is probably where its earthy woods in autumn smell comes from , sucrose - which is a type of sugar NOT a type of rose, lactic acid - I'm going to pass on that one.

Propylene glycol - to blow up those red spots, citric acid - which comes from fruit trees that grow in much warmer climates than Alaska, Glutathione - the Greek Goddess of Thanksgiving dinner, Aminoguanidine HCL - which is something they made up to sound like some sexy secret ingredient that scientists would test in a lab, yeast - yeast? Really?

Dorene is Ready for Winter Skin

Eugenia Caryophyllus - which is not some southern matron but in fact another name for cloves - Leaf Oil, Cinnamomus Cassia Leaf Oil - no wonder there is a definite pumpkin pie thing going on in the notes of this product, Zingiber Officinale Root Oil - Ginger? Are they topping it off with whip cream as well?

Nope. Looks like they are finishing up with some Alcohol Denat instead. I wonder if it is a port wine or a dessert liquor. Let's see, official spin...Pumpkin Wine. Sounds like a really pretty muted burgendy-burnt orange paint color.

The Nutrient Toner is made by a company called PCA Skin. According to their website their "medical grade products incorporate the latest in medically and scientifically researched ingredients to nourish, hydrate and rejuvenate skin, delivering optimal results." Well, this toner is definitely doing the nourishing, hydrating and rejuvenating job on my face.

"Free of color additives, synthetic fragrances, harsh alcohols, comedogenic oils and other known sensitizers, they are designed to deliver results without irritation and are especially effective for helping to treat such varied skin conditions such as acne, psoriasis, hyperpigmentation, rosacea and fine lines and wrinkles." I've been using their products for two weeks now, and it is night and day. The winter dryness is no longer an issue, and I don't scare myself when I look in the mirror anymore.

Don't go looking for it at the drugstore or Nordstroms, you won't find the really good stuff there. You can only pick this up at the doctor's office, find Kelly the same place I did, Exquisite Skin Esthetics at the Alyeska Center for Facial Plastic Surgery and ENT.

Going Skin Deep without a Tongue Bath

2010-11-03T15:45:00.000-08:00

Spynx are hairless and creep me out.

Microdermabrasion. It's a long word. Actually, it maybe a couple words that I just say together really fast as if they were one. I'm not really sure.

It means superficial damage to the skin, and, when done on purpose, Kelly Whitworth tells me with a straight face that it feels like a cat is licking you.

I actually own a cat, Maggie. I don't let her lick me. It's nothing personal, I don't let the dog lick me either.

I didn't intend to own a cat, not yet anyway.
Eventually. I plan on being the scary old lady with white scraggly hair that lives at the end of the street and has wild cats running everywhere.
The one that everyone whispers is a witch. But, that isn't until AFTER my run for the US Senate as a Tea Party Candidate.

The girls asked me for a cat for Christmas last year. They wanted one that didn't have any hair, a breed they call the Spynx. It is a relatively new breed that comes from Canada where a stray female produced hairless kittens.

There actually is a decent Spynx cattery in Alaska named Woolies, which claims on their website that these in-your-face pets are perfect for everyone. I know. And later, after the disclaimer that the Sphynx is NOT hypo-allergenic, they also tell you that the Sphynx requires frequent bathing which removes the dirt, oil and dander that cause allergies.

I could not visualize myself giving a shivering hairless cat a bath once, and there is no way that it was going to happen frequently. The wrinkly folds of their skin made me feel 20 years older just looking at the picture. I tubed the idea immediately.

The girls did some more research and determined that male black cats are least likely to be adopted from a shelter, also known as more likely to be killed, so I agreed to a mature, housebroken, neutered, black adult male cat.

Craigslist pointed us to a local cat adoption operation known as Clear Creek Cat Rescue which picks up all the strays from Sarah Palin's pound and finds them new homes. They charge $60 and offer a 10 day return for any reason with a full refund. Didn't think you could get more reasonable than that.

Boris-Poe-Maggie, a black Angora

Of course, as luck would have it, they had a rare breed kitten that was solid black and was dumped because the breeder couldn't sell him. They named the Angora "Boris," and put him in with a half dozen other fosters in a trailer, where he spent most of his time hiding. He came home with us.

Boris wasn't mature, adult, or neutered, but he was housebroken. His name change to Poe, after Edgar Allen. He liked to eat the power cord to my computer, and knocked down a lamp when he got zapped, which crashed into the screen of my laptop causing the immediate unresurrectable death of my iMac. The one I perform all my work product on. The cat and I hit it off really well early on.

Oh, Poe could NOT be neutered, I discovered when I took him to the vet, because he is a girl - which is why he is now named Maggie, after the cougar in the Rod Stewart song.

Back to microdermabrasion. I went over to Kelly's office, Exquisite Skin Esthetics which is part of the Alyeska Center for Facial Plastic Surgery to get the dead skin vacuumed off my face. Well, that is what it is, really. Your face is no different than any other surface, and there are two ways that professionals use to get stuff that is stuck on off - they either sandblast or use a bagged sander. Sandblasting is when they use crystals, while a diamond head works more like a sander.

Broken capillaries ruined my porcelain doll complexion.

Microdermabrasion isn't going to work as well for me as it does for other skin types, because I have skin that is easily broken - hence the red spider web of broken capillaries that have cropped up from extreme cold and sun exposure when I was climbing McKinley without oxygen back in the early 70s... or walking to Homestead Elementary School in winter, whatever. Kelly suggests a light microdermabrasion will lift off all the lint and leave a clean surface for the next procedure, the IPL Photofacial.

After having experienced the microdermabrasion, I can say that there is more grief involved in figuring out how to say it and how to spell it than the procedure itself actually brings. Kelly showed Bella all the dead skin she lifted off my spanking-clean-to-start-with skin, it was a tidy pile I chose not to look at. Skin lint. Ewh.

In Make Up an hour later. No worries.

There was a little bit of redness that went away after an hour or so, nothing really to get excited about, and it was easily covered with make up for the Pamyua music video appearance I had scheduled right after that.

Microdermabrasion didn't feel like a cat licking my face, it wasn't wet and scratchy at all. Instead it felt like the time I got bored and decided to put the vacuum cleaner hose over my eye and came up with a hickey...only with less suction.

No, there are no photos of that, but I told everyone that my then-boyfriend, Bryan Schutt, accidentally caught me with his elbow, and he was kind enough not to correct me in public.

Microdermabrasion isn't painfully expensive, $120 a session as a stand alone or $75 when combined with another treatment. It buffs away the surface skin cells while improving circulation and product absorption. Kinda like sanding the wood's surface before you paint. I figured if I was going all out with the IPL Photofacial it only made sense to do what I could to obtain the best possible result, I know a little prep work in refinishing wood can make all the difference in the success of the finished product.

Come join me on my appointment with Kelly and Bella, and see how things went first hand. Watch the three 5 minute videos now by clicking here.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly all in one week.

2010-10-30T16:13:00.000-08:00

This has been a fast paced week. Whomever complains that there is nothing to do in Alaska between the seasons is lacking in imagination. I was privileged to be chosen to be on the feature film jury for the Anchorage International Film Festival, which requires critical screening of the features that are being considered for the top prize.

It isn't easy. I've watched all but one of the very diverse films and several are are extremely compelling. My favorite thus far is very irritating to me. It is a good film, reminiscent of some of my all time favorite films. But the director chose to flip back and forth between two languages without consideration for the setting.

I totally understand a scene where a bunch of people who all speak the same language converse in that language, thats normal. Here you find scenes where several people are in a room speaking to each other in different languages, that just doesn't make sense. Brains don't process that way.

And they also had a inappropriate score, which can throw a movie completely off balance. I want to go back in, reshoot two or three scenes and find someone new to rework the score. Then, instead of a good movie, it will be a great movie. Unfortunately, that isn't an option.

Shooter/Editor Daniel Hernandez joined us on this short

The Living Wild ~ Alaska ladies filmed our own short, a submission to the Alaska Distillery Smoked Salmon Vodka-themed short, at the Camel Rock Lounge in the Dimond Center Hotel early in the week.

It is a wonderful place to shoot, the warm reds of the walls are rich and inviting, and the sound quality in the room is nice. If you haven't been into the Dimond Center Hotel yet, get over there. Perfect place for a romantic getaway if you like contemporary style with an Alaskan flavor.

Discovered a new restaurant (for me) Crush, right across from Nordstroms. Great staff, great atmosphere, and the man2woman ratio was definitely tipped in Bella and I's favor. The portions are perfect for someone like me who wants a new flavor every ten minutes, and the prices made ordering several dishes very reasonable. I tried the Pear & Stilton salad, Truffled White Bean Pate, a plate of cheeses, fruit, and nuts, and a buffalo steak that was cooked to perfection. Would order all of them again in a heartbeat. Not a fan of the decaf mocha which was bitter, heavy, and not even close to the cream with chocolate-coffee flavoring that I had asked for.

Attended the first Alaska Miners Association Legislative Oversight Committee meeting of the season, and I have to tell - I LOVE ALASKA'S MINERS. Let me tell you why. Their biggest focus is having the process of mining in Alaska be fair to all concerned, predictable, and reasonable. They actively push the State of Alaska to pay their folks enough salary so that they can attract and retain the best quality staff possible for oversight. They are professionals who have the best interests of the State close to heart, and I look around the table and there isn't one soul who seems to be in the game to grab all the dough and run not worrying about what they are leaving behind for the next generation. I love these guys.

Got hit with some mud thrown by hopeful Lynda Zaugg at Representative Charisse Millett, that chipped me. As if we even look like we are the "partying" kind of girls in the photo she ripped from our site. Not that kind of party, anyway.

Had one of those golden moments God hands you getting my snow tires put on at Johnson's Tire Center and being able to visit with old friends I hadn't seen from in a million years, Brad Snowden and Sterling Grover.

Braved the business end of Kelly Whitworth's chair to get micro derma abrasion and Photo facial just before shooting Pamyua's new music video.

Bella and I represented the White Tribe, and we did our best to make all the other tribes look significantly better coordinated and cool than we were. Wasn't difficult.

Where is the Love?

2010-10-28T15:33:00.014-08:00

Dorene Lorenz, Charisse Millett, Bella Coley

I am disappointed by how negative this political season has become, and hope we don’t reward that type of ugly behavior. As a Seward resident, never in a million years did I think I would get caught in the middle of of mudslinging in an Anchorage race, but I have.

Recently, I produced a webisode about public servants who “Get It” entitled It's All about the Love. It was billed as a gentle reminder that we are blessed to live in a State with a small population, we all need to be kind to one another, and use more sugar than vinegar. Featuring snapshots of smiling happy faces of politicians from all parties working together, and holding our children close, I thought I had made my point.

The irony that my political statement to keep it fair, clean, and about the positive was ignored by candidate Lynda Zaugg who chose to lift a clearly copyrighted photograph off my official Living Wild ~ Alaska Facebook fan site and use it in a personal, mean spirited negative attack against her opponent is pretty painful.

I’ve never sat down for a meal with Representative Charisse Millett. I’ve never donated any money to her campaign. She has never instituted any action that I am aware of on behalf of the non-profits that I volunteer for. We didn’t go to high school together, we’ve never even traded a pair of shoes.

I like Representative Millett. I have watched from a distance how she has handled herself in her personal and professional life, and, if I lived in her district, which I don’t, I would be proud to have her as my representative. She seems to be hard working, dedicated, sound in judgment, and has Alaska’s best interests at heart.

I would not be so forward as to qualify myself as her friend. I am not a lobbyist. I certainly am not her “political insider” - I didn’t even have her personal contact information until I became aware of this Zaugg deal - and it was only given to me because it is inappropriate to discuss election information over her legislative e-mail address.

Lynda Zaugg, however, placed my photo of Representative Millett, myself, and my cast mate Bella Coley on both sides of a mailer boldly suggesting that Millet was “Partying with Lobbyists and Political Insiders Downtown while claiming that she had pneumonia."

It is beside-the-point that the party was the Mayor’s Charity Ball, that Representative Millett volunteers her time as a board member for the Red Cross, one of this year’s beneficiaries of the event, and Millett made a brief show of support then went home early.

What is very disturbing is that hopeful lawmaker Zaugg felt that it was okay to break federal law, make sophomoric disparaging comments about her opponent, and tell bald face lies about people and situations she has no knowledge of.

This demonstrated lack-of-character is a painful example of what has become commonplace during this election season... because Alaskans have allowed it to happen. It is time to stop rewarding bad behavior and get our public servants back to a space where they actually serve the public.

Things about Dorene you Never Knew, and Never Wanted To

2010-10-25T19:43:00.000-08:00

I don't wash my face. I know that sounds odd, but it is true. Not to say that I walk around with a dirty face. I stick it under the nozzle in the shower and give it a good blast, and rub make up remover around on a cotton ball until the color stops coming off before I go to bed...but in the American sense, I don't wash my face.

I don't take a hot washcloth and fill it up with soap and scrub my face like the kitchen floor. I don't draw the sink full of water and stick my head in like I am dunking for apples. I just don't do these things. Having the skin on my face feel crispy clean is not a pleasant sensation for me.

So when my now personal skin whisperer Kelly Whitworth tells me that I have to wash my face TWICE a day, I am just a bit skeptical that I am going to be able to pull this off. Dorene Translation: Face Washing = drying cracking skin and water all over the floor. Now that's something to look forward to.

PCA skin Creamy Cleanser comes in a slick skinny plastic bottle with a smart black cap and smells like the Nikiski soap they sell at Flypaper that comes wrapped in wool. Just slash some warm water on your face, rub a tiny bit of cleanser between your hands, and rub-a-dub-dub. Then splash more water around rinsing off the cleanser.

Not a fan of the mess, but afterwards my skin feels...clean. Not squeaky clean, just clean. Clean is important, because all the rest of the lotions and potions that Kelly has crammed into my bag get absorbed into the skin, and if there is something between them in and skin we start to have issues.

"The epidermis layer of the skin contains an acid mantle layer which limits the amount of substances entering though the skin that affect the body to a minor degree," says the PCA website. Yes, it is true, I actually looked this up before I applied something specifically designed to remove my protective acid mantle layer shield.

I don't know much about the science of skin, don't really want to know much about the science of skin. I bet Kelly can spell epidermis without looking it up on dictionary.com so I am taking her word for it on the stripping off the acids theory.

The bottle tells me that it is filled with a nourishing blend of rose hip seed oil, aloe and amino acids and that it infuses skin with antioxidant and cell-regenerating benefits for radiant, younger-looking skin. Key Ingredients: Rose Hip Seed Oil, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Sunflower Seed Oil and Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice. Those all sound fairly familiar and not quite so scary.

Lets move down to the fine print. Ingredients: Water - actually surprised it is the first ingredient because this stuff is thick. Glycerin - that makes it a soap, cough, cleanser. Caprylic - no idea, Behenyl Alcohol - a cocktail I don't drink.

Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate - I'm going out on a limb and suggest this might have something to do with coconuts and the ability to suds up but it has been two decades since I was the spokesmodel for Alaska Shampoo and I don't remember much from that lifetime.

Hydroxpropyl Methylcellulose - Sure, right on that one. Phenoxethanol - clueless. Hamamelis Vinginiana (Witch Hazel) Water - Witch Hazel, good for dying up zits! Score one for Dorene for figuring that one out!

Sodium Cocoyl Glutamate - hmm, salt coconut molecules? Rose Canina Fruit Oil - Rose hips. Sucrose Sterate- Sugar that can't reproduce? Yucca Shidigera Leaf/Root/Stem Extract - One of those pointy desert plants. Hellanthus Annuus (sunflower) Seed Oil - Big yellow flowers with crunchy centers, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice Powder - Why would you powder juice instead of adding less water? Not getting that.

Xanthan Gum - Not quite like Trident, just guessing. Lacandula Hybrida Oil - sounds like something used for happy ending massages in a bad porn movie, and Potassium Sorbate - which sounds like a Japanese ice cream flavor to me.

End of the blog, it works and is no more messy than liquid soap and significantly less messy than the hard bar of Dial I used to have to clean up after when I was married, so I'm down with it.

Susie Chapstick

2010-10-23T23:43:00.001-08:00

I am not a lotions and potions kind of girl, but I have this uneasy feeling that today marks the day that I officially moved into that category.

It started out simple enough - shower, which means shampoo and condition my hair and shave. Floss and brush my teeth. Pull hair into ponytail. Apply mascara and lipgloss. Meet Bella and Kelly at Cafe del Mundo.

Not a lot of steps to my daily routine. Seward has an ideal humidity for my skin type, so my beauty regime mostly consisted of what I didn't do. Didn't smoke. Didn't drink. Didn't stay out all hours of the night. Didn't get up at the butt crack of dawn.

My cousin Kim, who has flawless skin, would always gently insist that I do something. She would kindly offer me a bottle of nectar to stave away the wrinkles, and later complain about the quality of my complexion.

That was then, this is now. Anchorage is a desert, and the dry air makes my skin hurt. In the world of HD, every fine line is magnified and captured for posterity. Bella complains about the amount of time she spends Photoshopping my pictures so I don't look like a grannie.

Both she and Kelly looked flat mortified when I shared that I often use Vaseline and Chapstick to moisturize my skin in the winter, and Bag Balm in the summer. Oil of Olay got way to complicated for me when they rolled out the different tiers of product, but I'm telling you right now it did right by my Grandma Mom.

When I accepted Kelly's kind offer to set up a program to take better care of my skin, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Now Kelly Whitworth is a trained professional, a medical esthetician, she does this skin stuff for a living so I will quickly grant she knows what more about skin than I ever care to. She rolls out all these latin words like I roll out sugar cookies. I think she even knows how to spell them.

I was honestly thinking Kelly would suggest some miracle creamy thing you slapped on when it got cold so your cheeks and nose wouldn't get more frostbit, and something else around the eyes to smooth out the wrinkles that was featured in a Popular Science issue that I missed.

No such luck. The large bag was filled with boxes and bottles. Filled. It came with written instructions that laid out how a counter full of products would be applied in which order twice a day. Twice a day.

Against my better judgment, confident this was going to be a waste of time, I spent a ridiculous amount of time removing all the packaging. Literally filled up my bathroom garbage can with cardboard and plastic.

And then I went through the list. One pump here, apply to face, floss your teeth. Another pump there of a different product, apply to face, brush your teeth. Yet another pump of yet another product, smear it around, brush out your hair while it is soaking in. You get the idea. Ridiculous.

Except. Well, okay. I hate to admit this, but after following the 500 steps of skin care Kelly lined out, my skin feels softer that I can ever remember it feeling. It doesn't feel itchy, flaky and tight at all, and I only did it one time. I know, so much for my give-it-the-old-college-try-then-blow-it-off theory - the stuff actually works!

There is no way I am going to be able to go through all the products and understand what they are in one sitting, or several. Kelly spent the better part of two and a half hours walking me through them this afternoon. I replaced all that data with the movie Karma Calling, which I watched tonight with the rest of the Anchorage International Film Festival Features Jury. Hey, I'm a natural blonde, and the short term memory is full, when new data comes in something has to go out.

I'll try knocking the products off as I figure them out and distinguish the serums from the creams and the toners for you. Thus far, all I can say is that everything seems to smell good, and a little bit goes a long way.

The Price of Beauty

2010-10-20T20:22:00.000-08:00

Alyeska Center for Facial Plastic Surgery and ENT. Dr. Jack Sedwick seems like a cool guy and all, but it sounds scary as hell. Not ready to set foot in that door, but Exquisite Skin Esthetics, their in-house healthy skin specialists, is completely my speed.

Bella Coley, Kelly Whitworth & Dorene Lorenz

Mostly because I have met Kelly Whitworth. Kelly can hang. She is beautiful, smart, clever, and a straight-up girl friend who graduated from East a year or two after I graduated from Chugiak.

So when Kelly looks at me across the oak library table at Cafe del Mundo and says, "Now Dorene, don't get offended. These broken capillaries on your face - I can make them go away," she has my complete and undivided attention.

I spent time laying on a beach towel smelling like coconut butter and even more time wondering if my eyelashes were going to freeze shut. And, frankly, the last five years have been exceptionally stressful and have noticeably aged me.

I wake up in the morning and the person I see in the mirror looks significantly more tired, and old, than the person on the inside. Skin has a lot to do with that. The only tan in my face are the age spots, and Miss Never Wears Make up is now slapping foundation on like I'm Marcel Marceau to even out all the redness.

Dorene Lorenz all dolled up.

Dave Harbor waking up one morning and deciding that he wanted to take my picture really was the tipping point for my becoming self conscious about my skin.

Dave is a great guy. Dave is a great photographer. Dave doesn't use Photoshop.

Dave took this shot of me completely dipped in make up. Guess what the make up doesn't cover. Wrinkles. Thank Anchorage and it's desert dry climate. Ridiculous.

The red on my nose and lower cheeks make me look like I've just come in from winter. Those ever present brown patches on my cheeks aren't doing me any favors either.

Kelly does what she calls Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) Photo Skin Rejuvenation. She promises that it is gentle. Gentle is a good word for me, 'cause I am a total weenie. Won't ever see me getting a tattoo, why? In a word, pain.

IPL is not a laser. It uses flashlight technology to minimize redness from capillary damage or rosacea by shooting it with broad spectrum light. I'm leaning forward in my chair. Then she tells me that it takes several one hour sessions to make it all go away. I'm leaning back in my chair. Bella pipes up that she has used it before to remove a raccoon mask from her face, and it is the bomb. Deep breath, exhale.

With IPL the darkly pigmented/red blood cells of the skin absorb the energy of the light, and the heat is transferred to the wall of the cell or blood vessel wall which causes its destruction. So brown spots, spider veins, and broken capillaries go away.

Little energy is dissipated to the surrounding tissue, so it is uninjured, and the skin surface remains unharmed. The heat that is deposited into the dermal layers of the skin stimulates collagen production, which give skin improved elasticity and a luminous, more youthful appearance. Bye, bye fine lines and wrinkles.

Dorene Lorenz completely naked.

Since I am a pasty white person, although technically translucent is more appropriate description, Kelly tells me I am a good candidate for Photofacials. Medium complexions do fine, darker complexions not so much. Finally, an advantage to being a Snow Queen!

IPL is like a photo facial? You don't have to hide out for a week afterwards because your skin looks like hamburger? Just a minor sunburn and swelling for a couple hours immediately afterwards? And then, just like after a sunburn, skin gets dry, sloughs off, and you have to stay out of the sun for a week? Okay, I'm in. Not like I am going to see much sun anytime soon.

Did you take a close look at this photo of me without any make up on whatsoever? Dave Harbor will spring snap you in the parking lot - be forewarned. Clearly the fine lines are not quite so fine, and the redness is also well defined. Nothing pretty about that, and it is only going to get worse.

Although Kelly assures me that I can expect to see immediate results, treatment gets broken up over six months to optimize the healing process. It isn't cheap, the $1750 cost will eat up a dividend check. I pause to reconsider.

The most expensive medical procedure I have had to-date was getting laser surgery to correct my vision, and that has easily been the biggest miracle of a gift I ever gave myself. Every single day I am blessed with being able to see clearly. Now that I can actually see myself in the mirror, it only makes sense to invest in making what is staring back at me look healthy.

So this woosey little 'fraidy cat is going to go for it. Pray for me.

Sarah Palin: Tease VIP Preview

2010-10-18T15:40:00.001-08:00

Who is Sarah Palin? She once was Valley Trash from Wasilla, now she is a national icon. Somewhere beyond the stereotypes is the real person. In this exhibition I stripped those stereotypes down to the naked truth. Most all are titillating, one, distinctively, is not.

Sarah Palin: Slick.
Her back to Alaska as she looks out to a seemingly
endless horizon to a future greased by spilled oil wealth.
Is this what you see when you look at Sarah?

Sarah Palin: Tea Party Queen.
The life of the party, this red queen stirs things up while the Tea
Party twirls around a 2012 presidential bid.
Is this what you see when you look at Sarah?

Sarah Palin: Caribou Barbie.
A plastic icon that has a hollow head and a nice rack,
a role model for women that offers an unhealthy ideal
that is self destructive to maintain.
Is this what you see when you look at Sarah?

Sarah Palin: Peep Show.
Looking past the iron curtain, she exploits
her window of opportunity.
Is this what you see when you look at Sarah?

Sarah Palin: Wink.
She's got moxie, a game player, intimate yet distant.
A tease who flirts with the idea of going all the way.
Is this what you see when you look at Sarah?

Sarah Palin: ACES.
The ultimate Hockey MotherILF, a pitbull with lipstick,
proudly displaying her ACES dog tag bling.
Is this what you see when you look at Sarah?

Sarah Palin: North Star Feud Flag.
She is the star centered in a strong blue field,
but she earned her stripes taking on a long list of contenders.
Is this what you see when you look at Sarah?

Seriously? Sarah Palin: BRAzen is too...brazen?

2010-10-13T21:09:00.001-08:00

Sarah Palin: BRAzen. No longer a hibernating sow, this "Wide Awake Grizzly" has got her bling on and is ready to take on the world. Inspired by former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Features "Awake" tea bags supporting faux grizzly fur cups trimmed in rhinestones, velvet, and satin.

There was a considerable amount of time between when I wrote my description of the BRAzen bra and the time it was shown in the Wild Bras on Parade, a benefit for Casting for Recovery, a non-profit that supports survivors of breast cancer.

It seemed odd to me that in the marketing of the piece by CFR my description had been seriously altered...the "Sarah Palin" words had been removed - which kinda changes the whole point of the piece. Out of context the art makes no sense, and as an artist, I look randomly foolish. It is unseemly.

Never in a million years would I consider my bra, and its description "offensive" - just don't see how it could go there. Empowering, yes. Compelling, yes. Provocative, yes. Funny, yes - especially since it is faux fur. Offensive? Seriously, offensive?

Yet, apparently, that is how it is viewed by the decision makers at Casting for Recovery. It was suggested that it be shown at my Sarah Palin: Tease art show this week, Bella Coley was going to wear it and walk around with the silent auction bidding sheet working up the donations for this cause.

That idea came to a screeching halt fast. Now if they had said that it wasn't their policy, that once the art bras were handed over they were theirs, and they liked to keep them together as a show I would be very respectful of that, and the matter would have been done with - no complaints from me. Well, they did say that actually, and I respect that.

Problem is, that isn't all that they said. Read it for yourself if you don't believe me - I have attached an excerpt of the offending letter below. Frankly, I am in the odd space of being offended because someone suggested that my artwork, which was intended to be uplifting, was, in fact, offensive.

My tender feelings are hurt. As an artist I feel suppressed, censored, my voice squelched. I feel like I have been treated poorly, for even though Martha's letter was very well crafted and polite - the point of her matter was...offensive.

Now I am sure that there are those who will say that I am over reacting, and maybe I am. But I get to own my feelings, and if this is how I feel, this is how I feel, and no one can take that away from me. Same way that I can't take away how Martha feels offended by BRAzen.

So where does that leave us? I haven't decided yet, other than I am no longer interested in participating in any of their retreats of fundraisers in the future. What do you think?

Dorene

...It is very important to our organization we not take a political position or any position which might exclude anyone from considering participating in our retreats.

It is important Casting for Recovery is viewed as a program for everyone, without any affiliation to other politics or causes – the purpose for our art event is to establish an image in the community more than to make money to operate our retreats.

We are aware 1) by choosing our particular theme we are using a bit of a racy event to gain attention and 2) we respect the expression of art in the community is best uncensored. However, we feel we need to stay true to our purposes and plans too – of being inclusive of everyone and trying hard not to offend. ...
I hope these comments will help you understand why we will not permit the use of Bra-Zen as you proposed. The artwork has been donated to Casting for Recovery to be used at our discretion. I’m sure your best intentions are that our organization realize its goals and purposes. ...

I look forward to continuing to include you and your friends in supporting Casting for Recovery events. As we plan for next year’s event, we invite you to propose a new direction for our consideration.

Most sincerely, Martha

Who is Sarah Palin?

2010-10-13T18:16:00.001-08:00

Is she a plastic figure with vacant eyes, and a great rack like Caribou Barbie? Is she the hottest MILF in the grandstands, as big a booster to the Anchorage Aces hockey team as she is to the ACES gas tax?

Is she an opportunist, taking advantage of her window of opportunity in an international Peep Show? Is she the wild party girl, spinning the Republicans around as their Teaz Party Queen? Or is she something altogether different, or indifferent, a Slick siren who turns her back on her audience to look out to broader horizons greased by spilled oil?

New cultural myths are stripped naked in Alaskan artist Dorene M. Lorenz’s new exhibition, Sarah Palin: Tease which opens this Friday, October 15th at the Club Soraya in the Sunshine Mall at 333 West Fourth Avenue, Anchorage from 5:00-8:00 pm.

Provocative. Titillating, Compelling. A must see for anyone who has an interest in drawing back the curtain to explore who the real Sarah Palin is, and what she is about.

www.DoreneLorenz.com

Sterling Challenge

2010-10-12T08:53:00.000-08:00

Reading my latest issue of Backyard Poultry I noticed an ad from Greenfire Farms that rather struck my fancy with its snazzy layout. What I discovered was nothing short of inspirational.

They carry an exceptionally rare breed of chicken native to Sweden called the Hedemora that lays eggs to 5 degrees and forages to -5 degrees. Same latitude and weather conditions as...Anchorage, Alaska.

That got my attention. I searched the net over and found out more about this very compelling breed, and found a lot to like. And a lot to think about.

What if we can one up the Swedes by developing a bird in Alaska that not only lays in cold climates, but lays exceptionally rich chocolate shelled eggs, and is a larger-better eating bird?

Of course, I immediately rang my favorite breeder, Tori Yancy at Sterling Meadows Hatchery, and suggested we develop a breed we call the Sterling.

When I visited Tori last week she showed me a splash Orphington hen that was nothing short of wonderful. She was gentle, soft, fluffy, and beautiful. Orphingtons have a unique body shape, and small combs that are less likely to get frostbitten. Ring any "foundation stock" bells? Sterling roses are a blue lavender color and smell exceptionally sweet, why shouldn't Sterling chickens be the same way?

I put some money down on an order for the Alaska Hamptons. I want Sterlings to be our signature bird, and carry a flock of 50 or so breeding stock to launch the breed. Tori has agreed in concept to take up the challenge, warning that it will take several years to perfect the Sterling Special. Currently, Buckeyes are the only bird breed credited to being developed by a woman - today we are starting out on changing that. You heard it here first!

Sarah Palin: Star of the North

2010-10-11T17:37:00.000-08:00

Like most of my ideas for paintings, inspiration came organically through a rather predictable route.

Two great statemen were lost, legendary icons in Alaska - Wally Hickel and Ted Stevens. There was much discussion around their passing, and I woke one morning with a clear focus on my "take aways" from these two.

Both had something more than my Stars of Gold series in common, an uneasy relationship with Sarah Palin. Wally had championed her early on, then walked away. Ted had been kicked in the ribs by her several times when he was down, but didn't punish the State for the blows he got from her Governor. They were steady men. Hardworking. Dependable Pioneers of the Greatland. Both had war raged against them by Sarah Palin.

Sarah Feuds. Seemed to me that she had a few, so many, in fact, she could wave a flag full of them on her battlefield. A Feud Flag. I had no idea what I had gotten myself in to.

I first heard of Sara when my step-father, Tom Walker, was Chief-of-Police in Seward. Apparently, she had unceremoniously dumped the Wasilla chief shortly after being elected mayor. Didn't sit to well with Tom. She kicked the Wasilla librarian as well. Then there was that bit with Randy Reudrich, and Andree McLeod, Zane Henning, and lets not forget Frank and Lisa Murkowski. She could run stripes with their names.

Mike Wooten, Lyda Green, John Bitney, John McCain...then I hit the motherload with a Google search. Newt Gringrich, Kate Gosselin, Steve Schmidt, Emily's List, John Kerry, Scott Brown, Frank Bailey, John Kerry, Rahm Emanuel, the National Organization for Women, The Family Guy, Oprah, Asley Judd, Arnold Schwarzenegger, David Letterman, Dan Fagan, Joe McGinniss, the US Export Import Bank, President Obama, Levia Johnston and lets not forget Katie Couric - who started it first, after all, with that stupid "what do you read" question.

Val Henning was right, who hasn't Sarah Palin had a feud with? I've got the study finished, but I think I am going to need a much bigger canvas for the final.

Stars of Gold: Governor Wally Hickel

2010-10-06T07:36:00.000-08:00

He wasn't a close, personal friend. He didn't know my name. I was not someone special to his life, nor he to mine.

But Wally Hickel was a steadfast figure, always looming larger than life in the background - no different that Mt. McKinley in the Anchorage skyline. Ever present, striking, magnificent, and at times, the light would bend and the largest mountain on the continent suddenly appeared even grander, larger, closer.

Wally was the same way. Humble, approachable, hardworking. His ideas were larger than life, his work product grand and idealistic. When he fell, it was a giant hitting the ground, a large depression remained when he picked himself up, and went back on his journey.

In what seems like another lifetime I put together an event known as the Top of the World Cargo Summit, where the Municipality of Anchorage wooed deep pocket developers and international business concerns. The keynote speaker bailed last minute, I called Wally out-of-the-blue, he graciously stepped in.

With no notice, he delivered a speech that kept these slick businessmen spellbound. His calming presence, the wise Pioneer offering trail tales of hard work, adventure, and the joy of loving a country as captivating as Alaska were a compelling call to action to would-be economic explorers.

He was a star to set your course by, for by following in his path youwere sure to make your way home. North, to Alaska.

Sarah Palin: BraZEN

2010-09-30T10:46:00.001-08:00

My first art bra was inspired by Alaska's former Governor Sarah Palin, BraZEN features faux Grizzly fur cups on a red "Awake" tea bag foundation.

Join me at Two Friends Gallery (341 E. Benson Blvd.) Friday, Oct 1st between 5-8pm for the grand opening reception for “Foundations for Recovery 2010” featuring all new Wild Bras on Parade!

Show your support of Casting For Recovery’s uplifting program for breast cancer survivors.

Moose Chili and Salsa Dancing with Sarah Palin

2010-09-29T19:44:00.004-08:00

Excited to be showing again in Anchorage this year. This exhibition combines two of my related Sarah Palin-inspired series that are specifically designed to provoke shock, arouse excitement, stimulate discussion, challenge newly formed cultural myths, and explore whether the publicly titillating figure of Sarah Palin whetting national interest in Alaska through her effrontery is really a positive for the state.

It is being held on Friday, October 15th from 5-9 pm at Club Soraya, which is located at 333 West Fourth Avenue in Downtown Anchorage, Alaska.

I am thrilled about the Moose Chili development. Cooking instructor, columnist, caterer Suzette Lord, the author of Suzette's Alaska Cooking and Suzette's International Cooking, is going to host the People Choice Award for the Moose Chili Cook off. She will offer commentary on the top three chili placers, and be the breaker should there be a tie.

Alaska's Official DJ Showcase is a dance marathon

2010-09-06T10:50:00.001-08:00

It has been 25 years since I have been to The Avenue. I went there once. That was enough.

Some things do change as time rolls on, and the scene at this 4th Avenue landmark is one of them. The crowd is still there, but now they all look like they need to go to classes at UAA in the morning. Was told the drinks are well priced, noticed the line at the door moved quickly, and I actually like the new carpet they put in.

We weren't there for the re-model, we were there for the music, and the music... well, as one contestant once said, "Dick, it has a beat and I can dance to it."

Celebrating their first year anniversary, Alaska's Official DJ Showcase is all about dancing. The music is well mixed and varied, the DJs are focused on the tunes not promoting themselves as personalities. If you want to dance, and I mean dance all night long, this is the place to go.

Forget finding a partner - this is not Homecoming. No one sits quietly in a chair next to the wall waiting for their intended to walk across the room and ask them to shake a leg. The entire venue is a dance floor, even the folks shooting pool in the back are moving to the beat as Ross Young, Mojo and DJ James demonstrate their mad skills in a funky techno-extravaganza.

A rotation of nine DJs heat up the floor every week. DJ Juba and Dig Sista got the party started, and it bounced the building. Just watching the show on the floor is well worth the trip. Every Sunday night, it is hip, it's happening, put your dancing shoes on and get your groove back.

Martin Luther King Avenue is Hooey

2010-08-06T05:33:00.000-08:00

Let me get this out in the first sentence, no disrespect to Martin Luther King. He is a larger-than-life iconic character backed by a great public relations machine.

That said, comparatively, King didn’t do much for me, and I find it offensive that Anchorage has just named a major byway after him.

“Don’t say such things, it isn’t worth offending the masses and forever being known as a King-hater,” a no-doubt wiser-than-me friend suggested.

Why should I worry about offending people who don’t worry about offending me? And I don’t hate Dr. King, what I hate is that in pushing him forward into the limelight we are pushing worthy Alaskans further into the shadows.

Alaskans who are just as deserving as Dr. King, in some ways more so. Alaskans who should be uplifted and revered on their home court before a man who never stepped foot on our soil.

Elizabeth Peratrovich comes quickly to mind. I don’t need Dr. King’s civil rights movement because Peratrovich broke trail in Alaska while King was skipping out on his high school prom to attend Morehouse College.

Peratrovich. An Alaska Native. A woman. Two steps below a black man in the world of discrimination.

Peratrovich didn’t have bus loads of people standing behind her when she walked up the capital steps to face a room full of cranky white guys who weren’t worried about offending her. Peratrovich bravely provided testimony which cultivated passage of Anthony Dimond’s Anti-Discrimination Bill in 1945.

Anthony Dimond. Great guy. Not an Alaska native. Not a woman. I am sure you have heard of the name as there is a nice major road named after Dimond on the southside of Anchorage. Forgive me, I digress.

No, Peratrovich was pretty much standing alone on that day. She was beautifully eloquent. She was full of the conviction. Her dream became the reality that I have lived, and I am very grateful for that.

A small percentage of Alaskans even know Peratrovich exists, and she isn’t even close to being a contender nationally. Naming a major byway after our home grown civil rights leader is the least we could do.

Colonel Norman Vaughan is another glory stealer. Now I am not dishing Vaughan. I knew him, I enjoyed the hell out of him, I think he is wonderful.

If you talk about Alaskan heros of exploration, Vaughan is the first guy to be mentioned in almost every conversation. Man has a mountain named after him, for Pete’s sake. In Antarctica, where he did his exploring, on the other side of the planet.

No one mentions Ada Blackjack. Blackjack was the sole survivor of an arctic expedition in the early 1920s. A city girl who was hired as a seamstress, she didn’t know how to hunt, trap, fish, shoot a gun, or live off the land.

When the other members of the party left her behind to tend to an expeditioner who eventually died of scurvy, Blackjack had to survive the arctic winter alone in a canvas tent with little food and lots of polar bears.

Blackjack demonstrated in her character a deep well of faith, loyalty, courage and determination. A true hero of arctic exploration. An Alaska Native. A woman. A person who felt the sting of discrimination often in her lifetime.

Who learns about Blackjack in school? Where is the Blackjack monument? Blackjack building? The major road in Alaska’s largest village dedicated to Blackjack?

I wish it were just Blackjack and Peratrovich that are getting the short end of the stick, but they are just at the top of a long list of Alaskans who aren’t getting the honor they deserve. With name recognition more outwardly aware types might at least ask “Who was Benson, Klatt, O’Malley, or Spenard?” No one knows to ask, “Who was Blackjack?” and so her remarkable story to lost to most.

I am all for giving snaps to Dr. King in his hometown. Bully for him. But this is Anchorage, Alaska. We should acknowledge the honors and achievements of Outsiders after we have distinguished our own. It is the least we can do.

Octopus One

2010-06-08T19:50:00.000-08:00

July First Friday Show at Snow Goose

2010-06-06T11:02:00.000-08:00

Will be having my First Anchorage First Friday Show upstairs at the Snow Goose featuring Kenai Fjords Underwater Ballet. The Artist's reception will be around 6:30 that night, with a Girls Night the following Friday. All pieces are for sale. Love to see you there!

Classic Dorkings

2010-05-02T18:40:00.001-08:00

The Classic Dorking or Darking Chicken

by Dorene M. Lorenz

History

Dorkings are recognized as the only purely British breed, possibly the oldest pure breed lineage,

and historically have served as foundation stock. The Light Sussex and Faverolles are two breeds which boast of having Dorking blood in their ancestry.

While most giant poultry originated in Asia, there is no real evidence that Dorkings have Asiatic blood.

Although they are classified as an English bird by the American Poultry Association, Dorkings have their own unique history with strong Italian and American ties.

A five-toed rooster with plumage typical of Dorkings accompanies the god Mercury in a third century AD mosaic found in Carnuntum, the Roman capital of the Pannonian Province on the Danube, known now as Austria.

While Julius Caesar was reigning over the Roman Empire, Italian writer Columella described chickens closely resembling Dorkings in his text Rei rusticae libri. He described the breed as "square-framed, large and broad-breasted, with big heads and small upright combs...the purest breed being five-clawed."

The Dorking remained a prominent breed in Italy for some time, Ulisse Aldrovandi, an agricultural historian of the Italian Renaissance, referred to the White Dorking as an ancient fowl.

The Roman armies brought this versatile fowl with them as they made their way north to England. The city of Dorking was known in the seventh century as the settlement of 'Deorc Ingas', or the place where Deorc's people lived, and the regular discovery of Roman pottery and other artifacts supports that it may haven been a Roman settlement on Stane Street, the main highway from London to Chichester on the English Channel.

During the reign of Queen Victoria, Dorking’s poultry market was the largest in England. The Dorking breed’s very white, fine-grained, flavorful and juicy

breast meat was favored by the Queen, who was also partial to the delicate texture of their eggs.

Today, this Surrey city delights in its heritage with a ten-foot high steel statue of a Dorking cockerel located on the Deepdene roundabout. The esteemed bird also graces their coat-of-arms.

Dorkings first appeared in the 1845 British Poultry Show, and immediately bounced across the pond. The Dorking has a long history in America, coming over with early settlers. Many early American homesteads benefitted from the superior qualities of the Dorking, and the Silver Dorking variety was developed in America in the 19th century.

Captain Morgan of the London packet ship Victoria, attempted for several years to import the birds to America, and finally succeeded with the assistance of a former passenger, Dorking clergyman, Mr. Courtney, in 1847.

Morgan sent a note with the birds, apologizing for the high price, suggesting: "The chicken breeders of Dorking have adopted a sort of principle, that they will send away no birds alive, except capons, as they desire to retain them as much as possible amongst themselves, in which, by caponizing, they carry on quite a profitable trade, and they can only be had by particular favor. They have very much improved them of late years. The old white sort is altogether bred out, and the speckled and grey varieties are now all the rage. They are larger and better formed than they formerly were, and altogether are perhaps the best barn-door fowls in existence, at least these people so esteem them."

Capt. Morgan arrived in America with a noble cock and five superb pullets of the Dorking breed. Morgan bragged that the pullets laid nearly the whole voyage, a feat unmatched by any other breed of fowls crossing the Atlantic with him.

Today Dorkings are one of the most recognizable breeds of chickens in the world. Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia’s Frontier Culture Museum and Massachusetts’ Plimoth Plantation's Rare Breeds program include Dorkings

as they were one of the most common fowl in America prior to the Civil War. Dorkings have become a “threatened” breed according to the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy.

Characteristics

There are two forms of combs allowed in the breed: the rose comb which evolved in the north, and the single comb which was developed in the south.

Early American breeders crossed the Dorking with the Cornish or Indian Game to create an early maturing table fowl with fine quality meat.

Dorkings may need separation from more aggressive breeds, as they are very docile, and known to be shy, gentle and easily tamed. They are fond of being petted, and though far from cowardly, are not at all pugnacious.

The Dorking are one of the most hardy and durable birds in existence.

Rose-combed varieties thrive in colder climates, live in a colder coop, and can bear being penned up in a darker space with a roof. Although all types do very well in confinement if the enclosure has several nesting spots, they do best with a lot of space, preferring to free range over large areas. With high quality feed, and good care, they mature at two years-old and live up to seven years.

Appearance

The rather large but fine head usually has a fairly big, evenly serrated, single comb, tending to lop at the back in laying hens, ending on a full-feathered, rather short but graceful neck. Because the single comb is relatively large, these birds need protection in cold weather to avoid frostbite.

The rose-combed Dorkings, have a rather crude comb that is broad in front and tapers off into a spike or leader, projecting almost horizontally backwards.

The bird’s build is elongated, with a broad, wide, deep and projecting breast. The line of their back is practically horizontal, ending in a tail of medium high carriage creating a somewhat ‘rectangular’ shape, which is more rounded rather than flat or square. The port is usually majestic, and a pleasing, quiet air of good breeding pervades their general appearance.

Their fine, unusually short, pinkish-white legs end in unfeathered feet with five instead of the usual four toes, making for a low stand. The fifth toe can contribute to foot problems, which can be avoided by using large, low perches. Birds with four toes often appear among hatchlings and should not be bred, although they still make friendly and interesting pets.

Dorkings have brilliant red-mahogany eyes. They are one of the few breeds that produce white-shelled eggs while displaying red earlobes, combs, and wattles. They all have white skin. Their fairly long tail is carried well spread; for such a large, broad, heavy, and thick soft-feathered breed they are good flyers.

Color Phases

In 1874, the American Poultry Association admitted the Silver Gray, Colored and White varieties into the American Standard of Perfection. The Red Dorking, one of the most ancient of the color varieties, was not admitted until 1995. 1998 saw the admission of both the RC Cuckoo and the SC Cuckoo. The Dorking Breeders Club is working toward admission of several other old color varieties.

Silver grey and colored adult cocks reach nine pounds, cockerels eight, hens seven, and pullets six. Well fatted, capons can go as high as 12 lbs., and during the 19th century were preferred in England to all other breeds for capons. White Dorkings are somewhat smaller, with the cocks averaging seven pounds and the hens six.

The most common variety is the silver grey or silver partridge. They are a strikingly handsome bird, often referred to as the traditional Norman Rockwell-style of chicken with pure white hackles and saddle on the cocks, with a black cowl and underparts. They have a single bright red cockscomb. Hens have a delicate slate-grey colored back with pencilled darker markings a salmon breast, and hackles which are silver striped with black. The dark is a darker shade of grey with a black crescent and a salmon breast.

The Red Dorking is similar to the silver grey, but is a very dark red mahogany with a black crescent on the breast and back. Hens have a bright fold head and neck, heavily striped with black, and a rich salmon front which shades to golden brown to blend with the body color on the sides.

White Dorkings, or partridge-coloured white, are a pure white with no straw tinge.

The Cuckoo variety can have either a single or rose comb. The overall appearance of the feathers is slate. All sections of the bird have feathers crossed by irregular light and dark bars that are short of positive black and white, each feather tipped with a dark bar. Male may be one or two shades lighter than the female.

Colored males have a pale grey head dominated by a single comb. The neck and saddle have light straw-colored feathers with a wide black stripe extending down the middle of each feather and terminating in point. The front, wings, coverts, breast, body, and cape is black, and the back is black-laced round the end with straw. The main tale and coverts are a lustrous black with greenish-black sickles. Hens have black heads and necks, which are banded with a narrow edging of straw color, which matches their shafts. The front is a dark salmon edged in black. The tail is a dark brown penciled with gray on the surface and black on the inside.

In its long history, many color varieties have been developed and have their advocates, including spangled, Japan, red speckle, penciled, black and fawn. Dorkings are also available as bantam.

The chicks can be very difficult to sex for they look are very similar on hatching. It is not until they get their first adult feathering and either have a red or black breast that the difference is clear.

Egg Production

Dorkings are excellent layers, producing three eggs a week or around 140 eggs per annum. They lay well, earning a three-egg rating from Henderson, although their medium-sized eggs may be either cream coloured or tinted, tending to have a more pinkish rather than a brownish tinge to it.

They tend to lay more eggs in the spring and summer rather than the winter and the fall. The Dorking lays well for the first few years but is noted for being exceptionally broody if given the opportunity. At times entire flocks have been known to refuse to lay, preferring to set on eggs to incubate them.

Glenn Drowns flock from Sand Hills Preservation Center in Iowa is recorded to be exceptional layers and being hardy even at temperatures of 25 below zero. They are known for being the best of nurses.

Meat Production

Dorking meat is excellent, being lean and tender. In 2009, the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, Humane Farm Animal Care, Slow Food U.S.A, Chefs Collaborative and Ayrshire Farm, held a first-ever heritage Chicken Choosin’.

The event was designed to highlight the culinary value of the rare chickens, and the people’s choice was hands down the Dorking. Organically raised Dorking was found to be lovely to look at with sumptuous flavor in both the light and dark meat. It was also credited with having some of best textured breast and thigh muscling in the entire Chicken Choosin’ taste test. A heavily fleshed bird, the Dorking gives a large, full-flavored carcass with a large breast that is very lightly boned for its size. A famous recipe associated with the Dorking is Surrey Roast Chicken.

In the 1847 edition of American agriculturist it was suggested that, “There is one peculiarity with the true Dorking chicken which we have not observed in other breeds, namely: at about six weeks to three months old, they fully develope the shape and style of the grown bird, being then remarkably heavy and compact in the body, and are thus early fit for the table; and with good feed they get very fat like a young China pig. They then, for the next month or two, stretch out in length of leg and body generally, and do not get into compact shape again till nearly grown, when they develope their deep, full breaste, and long, broad, round bodies, in that superior degree, for which they are deemed so valuable by all gourmands who are so partial to their flesh.”

In 1976, the Dorking Club of North America was founded in order to locate breeders of the Dorkings and assure the survival of the breed. Rarely seen at Poultry Shows, a Dorking Production group took Best of Show honors at the 2009 Alaska State Fair. The Dorkings came from Sterling Meadows Hatchery, reside at the Alaska Hamptons, and are owned by the author. Their names are Chaz, Fleta, Tilly and Ethel.

"Cook"ing up the Orphington

2010-04-04T15:25:00.000-08:00

Photos and Story

By Dorene M. Lorenz

In 1886, a large, bold, upright chicken stratched its way into being. English enthusiast William Cook wrote in the Fanciers Gazette that he crossbred Black Minorcas with Black Plymouth Rock, then crossed the progeny with clean-legged Langshans to create the Black Orpington. The end result was a table fowl with excellent meat, a prolific winter production of brown eggs, easy to breed and fast to grow.

Cook was born in St. Neots, Huntingdon, England in 1849. He worked as a coachman in Chislehurst, Kent at the age of 14, but the poultry on a neighbor’s farm soon caught his attention. Cook and his wife, Jane, moved to Tower House in Orpington, Kent, and began to breed chickens, two daughters, and three sons.

The business of William Cook and Sons grew to include a London office at Queens Yard, 105 Borough London SE. Cook invested his time in publishing his magazine, Poultry Journal, giving lectures, writing Poultry Keeper's Account Book, making an intensive study of poultry diseases, and selling medicines, food, and fattening powder.

Cook’s birds were introduced into various Dairy shows in England, and won much acclaim. At the 1886 Chrystal Palace Poultry Show, Cook won grand prize for his Black Orpington pullet. By 1888, Orpingtons were given their own classification, and Cook’s bird took home the cup.

1890 was a big year for the Orpingtons. The Cook family moved to Walden's Manor, which they renamed Orpington House, and Cook’s eldest child, Elizabeth Jane, took over the operation. Single Comb Black Orpingtons were first exhibited in America at the Massachusetts Poultry Association Boston Show, and the first consignment of Black Orpingtons were also imported to Australia.

In 1894 Cook created his most popular Orpington, the Buff, which became the symbol of the Orpington Rugby Football Club. The Buff was produced from crossing the Golden Spangled Hamburg with the Buff Cochin and Dark Dorking breeds.

Buff Orpingtons were one of the most popular varieties. Mature Buffs typically start laying at six months, producing large brown egg every two to three days.

1897 saw the introduction of the introduction of the Speckled or Porcelain Orpington, which was named “Jubilee” after the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria, who accepted a pen of these birds. The Buff Orpington Club was founded in 1898. The late H M Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother was Patron of the Club and showed regularly.

Cook and his children continued breeding Orpingtons to other color variations including Blue, Mottled, Spangled, Red, Partridge, Birchen, Chocolate (Bantam only), Cuckoo, Gold Laced, Lavender, Lemon Cuckoo, and White.

Cook made a large exhibit of Black Orpingtons at the 1895 Madison Square Garden Show in New York, but they were slow to gain popularity.

In 1896, four Blacks were exhibited at New York by C. S. Williams of New Jersey. William McNeil of London, Canada entered one Black cockerel at the Boston show in 1897, and five Blacks were shown in New York, by George M. Shaw in 1898. A careful examination of records shows no other entries at poultry exhibitions in the United States.

New Jersey’s Wallace Willett wrote that in October of 1897 Farm Poultry printed a picture of William Cook and his Black and Buff Orpingtons, along with Editor A. F. Hunter’s account of meeting Cook and touring of his Orpington poultry farm.

Hunter said that Cook's business included the shipment of 10,404 sittings of eggs in nine months. This instantly gave Willett “Orpington fever”, and he immediately took steps to import two sets of Black, Buff and White Orpington eggs from Cook.

Previous to 1898, perhaps a dozen Blacks had come to America. Willett imported the first of Cook’s Buff and White Orpingtons into the United States, but he wasn’t the first New Jersey boy with skin in the Buff Orpington game.

New Jersey’s Charles E. Vass imported Buff Orpingtons from another successful English breeder, and was the first to exhibit them in America at a show in Pennsylvania. Vass made two entries at Boston, and he and his neighbors made seventeen entries when Single Comb Buff Orpingtons were first exhibited at the Madison Square Garden Show in 1899.

There were 43 entries at the New York show in 1900. Willett made his first exhibit at Madison Square Garden, winning two firsts with his two Cook Blacks and nothing with his two Cook Buffs.

In 1901, Vass, Willett, and Doctor Paul Kyle increased their entries to nineteen single and one pen of Buffs. Orpington fever took hold in America. By the 1910 New York Show, 157 Single Comb Buff, 122 Single Comb Black, 134 Single Comb White, 17 Diamond Jubilee, 5 Spangled, 25 Rose Comb Buff, 13 Rose Comb Black, and 5 Rose Comb White Orpingtons were exhibited, for a total of 478 Orpingtons.

Orpingtons have a wide chest, broad back, and a relatively small head, comb, and tail; a combination which creates gentle contours that are attractive to the eye. Soft, profuse feathering, which almost hides the legs of the bird, creates a curvy shape with a short back and U-shaped underline. A heavy bird at eight to ten pounds, its fluffy feathers make it look distinctively large.

In 1902, Cook was honored with an award of the Poultry Club Medal. His thriving business interests included poultry farms from South Africa to America.

A New York Times article that ran on January 10, 1903, covering the New York Poultry, Pigeon and Pet Stock Association Annual Show at Madison Square Garden read:

“William Cook of Kent England, who has been very successful in the matter of prizes, spoke highly of the American judges and the American breed of poultry yesterday. He said that the judges here were vastly superior to those who officiate in the majority of poultry shows in England, and that their awards were in every instance very satisfactory. The Cooks, father and son, had a large number of Orfingtons on exhibition, and they won twenty-three first and seventeen second prizes for birds, and a first prize for eggs. In two classes they were beaten by the birds shown by the Willow Brook Farm, Berlin, Conn., which was awarded first prizes for its single-comb buff Orfington pullet and cock.”

Cook arranged his great string of English Orpingtons in a clever manner at one end of the show’s big arena, and the fulsome press notices of his exhibits in the daily papers launched a real Orpington boom in the United States and Canada.

Willett wrote that “as an advance agent, William Cook was in a class by himself; as a salesman he was a star, the prices realized by him for Orpingtons at that memorable show being exceedingly high. The purchasers were men of wealth, as a rule, who realized that aside from the fancy end, it would be a good business investment as well. A study of the comparative growth in popularity of Orpingtons…will justify the judgment of these shrewd fanciers who bought at that time.”

Orpington fever was running high when William Cook died in 1904. Cook was sick when he returned to England, went for a brief holiday to Skegness, took ill on the day after his arrival, and died from emphysema. He was buried with his wife in Star Lane Cemetery.

Wallace P. Willett became the editor and publisher of "The Orpington." He and Charles Vass, Dr. Paul Kyle, Frank W. Gaylor and William Davis were the early pioneers of the breed in America.

Few believed at the time that Orpingtons would thrive in a commercial climate in the United States. Objections to chicken with black legs and white skin were lodged against Black Orpingtons, and later the white or pink legs and white skin of Buff and White Orpingtons were considered a serious marketing handicap as Americans demanded yellow-skinned and yellow-legged poultry.

Cook’s masterful promoting and advertising for the breed was at work in England, Australia, Africa, and America. He took full advantage of great quantities of free advertising by cleverly writing on poultry topics, and demonstrated his shrewdness as a breeder and dealer as well.

With a blind eye to its defects, and a loud voice shouting its superior qualities, the result of Cook’s efforts was that for a while Orpingtons were the most popular fowl in England, and White Orpingtons were dangerous rivals of the American Plymouth Rocks, Wyandottes , Rhode Island Reds, and Leghorns.

In Australia, the Black Orpingtons were bred with the Australian Lanshans. In a 1922-3 Papanui Test, a Orpington hen named Kismit Dot laid 342 eggs in 51 weeks. In 1923, Australorps Farms Ltd. imported the birds back to England. The Poultry Club refused to recognize them as a separate breed, first calling them Austral Orpingtons, and finally Australorps.

Elizabeth Jane Cook married R. Wakeman Clarke, and ran William Cook and Sons until 1933. She exported birds all over the world, and was one of the first to use airlines for shipping fowl.

The Orpington is a highly intelligent and docile bird and is suitable for families with small children. Hens mature at a young age, will set and rear chicks on their own if allowed to do so, and are attentive mothers.

Orpingtons are a cold-hardy breed and thrive well in both confined spaces and as free-range birds. They lay between 110 and 160 light brown eggs year round. Still considered a multi-purpose bird, it is bred for meat and egg production as well as for show purposes.

Orpingtons are listed as “Recovering” by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, “Endangered” by the UK’s Rare Breed Survival Trust, and they are at Number Five in the Rare Breeds Trust of Australia’s Poultry Top Ten.

Resolved by Dorene M. Lorenz

2010-01-23T17:41:00.000-09:00

What I enjoy the most about this painting is what can only be enjoyed viewing it in person.

There are two rather distinctive sides to this great, powerful woman.

If you view the painting from deep stage left, she appears very in control, distant, aloof, someone who holds their cards very close to their chest.

If you view the painting from deep stage right, she is wild, warm, inviting, on the verge of bursting in to a big smile and telling all her best secrets.

Angry Otter by Dorene M. Lorenz

2009-12-28T22:38:00.002-09:00

Fat Bike

2009-12-11T17:11:00.000-09:00

I was happy that director Carl Battreall's documentary on the Susitna 100 Fatbike race is a 26 minute short, because I would have had to kill myself if it was any longer.

The filmwork was fine, the story one new to me, but there was no dramatic tension, humor was a little weak, and the fastest action was a cutaway of a dog sled team going down the Iditarod trail.

Sapsucker review

2009-12-11T17:06:00.000-09:00

Christopher Holmes has spent a bit of time watching the Jeff Foxworthy show, because this backwoods bird killer is about as redneck as you can get. This twelve minute short features the hillbilly talents of Phillip Ward as Emitt, the wannabe hunter and Nikolas Hunnicutt, who offers of some of the film's better humor as the voice on the walkie talkie. Part of Permafrost's Martini Madness at the Beartooth Theaterpub.

Death in Charge

2009-12-11T16:34:00.000-09:00

Devi Snively grew up reading some really dark material, and had something she wanted to say about the Columbine Massacre, so she created the morbid Death In Charge. The Grim Reaper unexpectedly turns into babysitter in this creepy short that explores just what happens when we really wish our parents were dead.

Undercurrent

2009-12-11T15:50:00.000-09:00

Canadian director Jock MacDonald's Undercurrent explores nine minutes of an explosive section of time for a couple. Didn't really buy into the acting, seemed a bit contrived. It was screened as part of the Permafrost Martini Matinee.

Against the Current review

2009-12-09T21:40:00.013-09:00

Elizabeth Reaser has always been a compelling actress to me. I first noticed her in the role of Inge Altenberg in the poorly distributed Independent film, Sweet Land, where she carried all the emotional water for this difficult WW1 period film.

Inge is a German orphan who worked on a farm in Norway before immigrating to Minnesota to marry a reclusive farmer that she has never met.

The role involved mastering multi-lingual dialogue on the fly, but Reaser embraced the scandalized Inge, and managed to bring a great deal of dignity and sensitivity to the role.

It is one of the best narrative features I have ever watched, and I bought a copy for myself, my mother, my mother-in-law, my movie-buddy girlfriend, and my sister. It was that good.

Reaser's next feature, The Family Stone, is a family drama in which her character, Susannah, a pregnant housewife with a willful daughter in tow, spends Christmas with her rambunctious siblings and their love interests as well as her dying-from-breast-cancer mother and heartbroken father.

It is a quiet role, with a few small, meaningful moments, and Reaser is quickly shadowed by the conflicts that surround her. In Twilight and Twilight: New Moon, Reaser's role is disappointingly that of a walk-on.

Against the Current's director, Peter Callahan, offered Reaser a role she was really able to sink her teeth in to. Liz, a barmaid turned school teacher who has nothing to do over the last three weeks of spring break, becomes the reluctant participant in checking off the last box in her new friend and eventual love interest Paul Thompson's (Joseph Fiennes) Bucket List before he commits suicide.

It is through her eyes that we follow the emotional roller coaster of the film, and come to resolution. Her past performances serve her well in this conflicted and complicated role, and the subtleness of her craftsmanship is not lost.

Joseph Fiennes can play the troubled romantic who is lost in his sense of lost without opening his mouth. It is all over the face that God blessed him with. What is impressive is all the swimming in the Hudson River that he appears to be actually doing himself. "Brrhh" and "ewwhh" come quickly to mind.

Mary Tyler Moore has fun with her role as Liz's crazy, pretentious mother who delights in the misfortunes of others. Michelle Trachtenberg enjoys a few moments as her sex pot niece who enjoys leading the distracted astray.

Scene stealer is Justin Kirk as Jeff, the wanna-be actor/serious bartender best friend whose clever banter and frustrated inner conflict frame the film.

Jeff wrapping his head around his responsibilities to himself, and to Paul, create a springboard for the audience to have a discussion that lingers long after the popcorn food baby is gone.

The film plays again on Sunday, December 13th at 3:15 p.m. at the Beartooth Theaterpub.

Paddle to Seattle, Journey Through the Inside Passage

2009-12-09T13:29:00.000-09:00

Josh Thomas and J.J. Kelley are goofballs. There is really no better description for these two fun loving, wise cracking, adventurous souls who spend a summer trekking from Seward to Seattle in homemade sea kayaks.

Make no mistake, this is a buddies movie. Two dudes, hanging out, doing what dudes do. Quintessentially so, Paddle to Seattle could actually define the genera.

Which is why I loved it, from the opening scenes to the closing credits this unpretentious, good-natured film embraces the better moments of well-spent youth. There is honesty in every shot, a little rough editing here and there, but overall a very solid piece that won’t fail to please as an Inside Passage travelogue.

I made a similar voyage a few years ago, only in a much larger vessel that zipped across the Gulf of Alaska like it was a pond, and didn’t have near the fun these two displayed in their three month journey.

Must see film, especially for boat captains. Plays again on Friday, December 11th at 5:45 pm at the Alaska Experience Theater.

Birthday

2009-12-09T13:07:00.000-09:00

I have to admit that I wasn't looking forward to watching the World Premiere (in competition) of Birthday. A movie set in a brothel reviewing a prostitute's birthday just didn't seem like my cup of tea. I was way off base in my pre-judgment of this insightful, rather beautiful movie. 

One would never guess that love would be so profoundly expressed in such an unexpected place. Natalie Elefhteriadis nails this role with subtle grace and a depth rarely seen in an actress starring in her first feature.    

Kestie Morassi has a strong supporting role as the lost soul of Lily, a great standout that touched a bit of what Pretty Woman would have been like if Minnie Driver would have been caste instead of Julia Roberts. 

Before you run to the next showing, forewarning to the delicate that there is nudity, strong language, and a lot of sex in this movie...but it all is a foil to demonstrate the tenderness and kindness that all are looking for.

Congratulations to Australian director James Harkness for a rare flower that bloomed beautifully.

Plays again on Saturday, December 12th at 10:15 pm at Beartooth Theaterpub.

Godspeed

2009-12-07T00:16:00.000-09:00

Robert Saitzyk directs this dark film written by Cory Knauf and shot in the Anchorage/Palmer area. Very, very, very creepy film. Well done, but creepy.

Violent, disturbing, uncomfortable, creepy. Not a fan of this type of movie, gives me nightmares, but am quick to acknowledge that it is well crafted.

Plays again on Friday, December 11th at 9:45 pm at Alaska Experience Theater 1. Leave the kids at home.

Mount St. Elias

2009-12-06T19:41:00.008-09:00

Director Gerald Salmina scores with this story about two Austrian alpinists and an American free ski pro who attempt the longest descent in the world.

The unexpectedly hilarious Axel Naglich, Jon Johnston and Peter Ressmann star in this truly breathtaking documentary that didn't fail to please the packed house at the Beartooth Theaterpub.

This dramatic, beautiful, soulful film is on my must-see again list, and I have a number of friends that I am dragging with me because I know they will enjoy it.

Plays again on Thursday December 10th at 7:30 pm at Beartooth Theaterpub.

In the Company of Moose

2009-12-06T16:49:00.001-09:00

Director: Jonathan VanBallenberghe

Biologist Vic VanBallenberghe studies moose in Denali National Park in this rambling absent-father-bonds-with-30-year-old-son documentary. If you love moose, you are going to love this picture. If you are interested in predator contol issues, this is a must-see film. If you cry during Hallmark Hall of Fame moves, you can see this one and still walk away feeling like a man.

Plays again on Thursday December 10th at 5:45pm at Alaska Experience 1.

Year of Denali

2009-12-06T16:47:00.001-09:00

Director: Roger Bishoff

Eleven-member team summits Mt. McKinley in the ultimate-best-possible-weather climb of the mountain by young, healthy, good-looking folks who are not mentally weighed down with a lot of introspection.

An uneventful "what I did on my summer vacation" documentary with amazing scenery that isn't well featured. Never thought that a McKinley summit would be boring, but they managed.

Plays again Thursday, December 10th at 5:45 pm at Alaska Experience Theater 1.

Adopt a Sailor

2009-12-06T14:45:00.001-09:00

Set in pre 9-11 New York, this tortured feature about cliches is full of them itself.

Charles Evered's look at a gallery owner (Bebe Neuwirth reviving all the neurosis of Lillith Crane) and her emasculated professor/filmmaker husband (Peter Coyote, sucking his thumb while curled up in the fetal position on the floor) while hosting a young sailor from Turkeyscratch Arkansas who is on shore-leave for a day before shipping out to (God forbid) go war.

Yikes.

Playing again on Monday, December 12th at 7:45 pm at Out North.

Bomber is the Bomb

2009-12-05T23:48:00.001-09:00

Who better to see a movie about a British WWII vet taking a bittersweet journey to Germany to find atonement than British WWII vet, 90 year-old Father Norman Elliott, who hasn't been to a movie yet during this millennium.

I met Bomber's brilliantly witty writer and director Paul Cotter at the Anchorage International Film Festival's grand opening gala last night at the Beartooth Theaterpub. It was immediately evident that if that man was able to find talent to work with him, his natural tale-telling abilities would carry the storyline through.

Fortunately for all of us, Cotter was able to convince the wonderfully understated Benjamin Whitrow to play the graying Alistar. Whitrow shines in his ability to project so much dialogue in so few words. Most of the pivot point truths in this film rest on Whitrow's bowed shoulders, and he takes us on Alistar's internal journey with great finesse.

Eileen Nicholas dances with the opposite extreme as the neglected Valerie, an aging housewife finding her voice and developing an ability to demand the same respect and consideration for herself as she is accustom to negotiating for those she loves.

Shane Taylor takes on their struggling son, Ross, an overeducated commercial painter who apparently has missed his calling in vocation. Taylor's strong performance as the catalyst opens up some of the films more surprisingly raw moments that blur the boundary of what is pulled from Cotter's personal experience vs. what is pulled from his imagination.

Shot on location, using civilians as extras, the film reads as real as a travelogue. Rick Siegel moves the story forward with small steps; capturing a bouncing basketball, a four-legged whisper making its way past the shadow of a car at night, and even a well placed mooing cow (God must really love Siegel to give him such a gimmie shot) to keep the energy flowing when the camera isn't moving.

It was difficult to tell what Norman Elliot enjoyed more, watching Bomber or bantering with Paul Cotter. The audience at the Beartooth seemed pressed by the same conflict during the after-movie Q & A. With great expectation we look forward to seeing what he is bringing us next.

Pachamama

2009-12-05T16:55:00.001-09:00

This feature by writer/director Toshifumi Matsushita was filmed in the unlikely combination of Japan and Boliva. It is a sweet coming-of-age movie, a slice of life about a young Inca boy who goes on a months-long journey with his father to barter the salt they harvest from the lake.

If you ever wondered what Boliva was like, with landscapes as rich and elegant as its textiles, this is surely a gentle journey. Not a fan of the dream sequences, or the local music, both of which are featured heavily by Matsushita, the simple rural lifestyle with its lama caravan makes for it with great texture and reassurance that no matter where in the world you are the joy of humanity is the same.

Plays again on Sunday, December 13th at 12:30 pm at Beartooth Theaterpub.

Dear Lemon Lima

2009-12-05T14:05:00.004-09:00

Suzi Yoonessi may not know enough about Alaska to know there is few things cheesier than having the main character perform an "Eskimo Igloo dance." She may not realize just how weak it is to claim poverty as the reason she chose to shoot the film in Seattle - but I am forgiving her, just this once, because this syrupy tween movie is so much more than that.

Vanessa, played by Eagle River's urethral Savanah Wiltfong (any relation to CHS graduate Eric Wiltfong?) captures the conflict of the politics of being Alaska Native in urban Alaska. Vanessa claiming her heritage and making it her own during the "Igloo" dance is the money shot of this movie. Read that as Phillip Blanchett saved the day. Seriously, saved the film.

Other standouts include Shayne Topp as Philip Georgey - the boy-you-love-to-hate love interest, Zane Huett as Hercules Howard - the boy-next door with helicopter parents; and Maia Lee as Madeline "Nothing"Amigone - the life-filled daughter of morticians.

Yoonessi addresses serious issues with the dark humor reserved for those living in areas where near death experiences confirm God's intent for you to still be breathing on a weekly basis. She was able to accomplish this with a gentle kindness rarely seen in films today, especially those dealing with teenage girls. It was refreshing to watch values being taught instead of preached, and embraced instead of rebelled against.

A must see for Alaskan teens, Dear Lemon Lima plays again on Sunday, December 13th at 5:30 pm at the Beartooth Theaterpub.

Hipsters

2009-12-05T01:22:00.002-09:00

I wasn't prepared for this Russian song and dance feel good movie. Set in 1954, this film bounces with the groove of the stilyagi - a Russian youth moment at the peak of communism where the teens improbably copied American rockabilly styles and danced to jazz.

It dealt with some really dark issues, and, true to its Russian roots, did so with great humor. Would like to be able to watch it again without the distractions of the Anchorage International Film Fest gala opening festivities, for I feel the film is worthy of the private screening for true appreciation of its multi-layers commentary. NEWSFLASH: JUST NOMINATED FOR A GOLDEN GLOBE AWARD FOR BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM.

Playing again on Saturday, December 12th at 7:30 pm at Beartooth Theaterpub.

Putting it to Paper for Sarah's Next Book

2009-11-29T12:02:00.000-09:00

With great zeal I lifted my Breast Cancer pink Tul gel pen, grinning like my Todd just won the Iron Dog, and with great zest and exuberance focused my sharp Governor’s eyes on the signature line of the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, our great state's robust solution to the American energy crisis, which I single handedly used to teach those big good old boy international oil companies, and their dirty stinking lobbyists, that we Alaskans are carving our own destiny with our own rules, to our own benefit, and if they don’t like it they can take their business somewhere else, but we know that they won’t, because this is the best possible business model for them to go forward into our great big beautiful state, into our pristine salmon-filled waters, and majestic purple mountains, and caribou-rich/predator-free arctic tundra, and, like I always say, drill baby, drill!

Territorial Legislature

2009-11-18T11:10:00.000-09:00

"SUNHAUS AT SEWARD” TO BE NEW NAME FOR JESSE LEE COMPLEX

2009-10-26T18:16:00.001-08:00

Seward Phoenix Log
May 28, 1970

“Sunhaus at Seward”, a variation of the name submitted by Miss Toni Kirkpatrick of Seward, was selected by the judges as the winning entry in the contest to rename the Jesse Lee properties.

Toni will receive a $500 scholarship to the University of Alaska for her entry, “Sunhouse”.

The judges, officers of the Development Corporation of North America, Andy’s International, and other allied firms, also chose names for the three condominium complexes being planned. Full-year membership to the exclusive “Hunt Club”, incorporated within the development and valued at $200 each, went to Mrs. Frost Jones of Kenai for her suggestion “The Capricorn”, to Mrs. Bertha Glud of Seward for her entry “The Talgonda,” and to Mrs. T.J. Martin of Anchorage for suggesting “The Seacomber.”

The same of the pubic dining-cocktail facilities will be Andy’s. The private club and its facilities will be known as “The Hunt Club” and the private Hunt Club Lounge will be known as “The Golden Horn Lounge.”

Congratulations to the winners! The names will be an attractive addition to his new venture.

RESTORE THE JESSE LEE HOME BEFORE IT IS LOST TO NEGLECT

2009-10-26T18:01:00.001-08:00

Seward Phoenix Log
March 9, 2006
by Dorene Lorenz

It is a humbling moment, when elders point out the intrinsic vale in that which you have never considered. Dr James Simpson did that for me last week. He had flown up from Oregon to attend a meeting of the Friends of Jesse Lee Home. Long flight for a two-hour meeting, even it it is to organize an effort to restore Alaska’s most endangered historic building.

Simpson is a former resident of the Jesse Lee Home in Seward, and a man of well-chosen words. he started reading a list of dates the benchmarked events relevant to the Jesse Lee Home. Tow of them I circled on my notepad, April 15 - selection of the state flag design; 2007 - 80th anniversary of the Alaska state flag.

Being Seward born, growing up with Benny Benson flying paper airplanes with the neighbor kids, our history as the birthplace of the Alaska state flag is something I have always taken for granted. I loved the Hesse Lee Home because she is the most hauntingly beautiful building I have ever seen, but I was oblivious to her true beauty.

Simpson changed that for me. Driving to the bank this morning, I saw the Jesse Lee Home grandly sitting on the hillside, her stucco walls and big timber beams an elegant frame for a rich legacy.

Simpson’s stories began to repeat in my head. The story of a woman in Unalaska who offered to take in a few children who were orphaned by an epidemic in the Aleutian Islands. How that number grew significantly, and quickly, as entire villages were wiped out.

How in the mid-1920s Seward donated 80 acres to the Jesse Lee Home, declared a holiday, and every man in town went up to clear the land for the building. How one woman raised $50,000 back when it was an immense amount of money, to build a dormitory for the girls. How the children raised money, pennies and nickels at a time, for a stature of Balto and their names were placed inside the base of the statue. The base is still there, I wonder if the names are.

Standing in the window of the Jesse Lee Home, looking at the moon rising above the reflecting mountains, Resurrection bay flat and calm as a lake, it is easy to be centered. Easy to imagine a young Native boy looking out the same window, finding the North Star as his guide, and determining that as an appropriate symbol to guide a territory into statehood.

Easy to imagine Fanny, sitting in her flowered kuspuk, quietly, resolutely, thoughtfully piecing eight gold stars as she sewed out first flag. East to feel the pride and excitement of children brought here from every corner of the state, missing their birth families while embracing their Jesse Lee family, children who stood on these wooden floors as they watched a bold field of blue meet the sky for the first time.

It is a legacy that is shared by all Alaskans, this moment, this symbol, this inspiration, this place. The Jesse Lee Home must be restored before it is lost forever from neglect. it falls upon us now to realize that saving our past secures Alaska’s future.

DEVELOPER WANTS TO COVERT FORMER ORPHANAGE TO HOTEL

2009-10-26T17:41:00.002-08:00

Seward Phoenix Log
Jun 25, 1998

by Roger Kane

The owners of the hulking skeletal remains of the Jesse Lee Home for Children, Frank Irick, has teamed up with Anchorage developer Dan Claugus to convert the old orphanage into a 60-room hotel and hospitality training center.

A floor plan is scheduled to be delivered to community development director Kerry martin, next week and a site plan will be complete and ready for city inspection July 15.

The ambitious plan to renovate the Jesse Lee Home by May 1999 will be presented to the Seward Planning and Zoning Commission at the regularly scheduled August 5 meeting.

Jim Garbeff, representing Prochaska and Associates, and architecture and engineering firm in Kansas City, will be creating the plans for the project.

Garbell said the 36,000 square foot building is in surprisingly good shape for its age.

He credits the solid condition of the structure to one o f the building’s former owners who stripped the building of all interior wall coverings, doors, and windows.

Garbell said that allowed air to circulate through the building and prevented moisture from building up in the walls and rotting the building’s frame.

Irick said the building will be stored as near as possible to its original condition, excepet for the roof.

When the orphanage was built, the roof was shingled with cedar shakes, but Irick said they will probably replace the cedar shingles with sheet metal to reduce the weight.

Claugus and Irick have established the Kueuit Foundation, a nonprofit corporation that will be governed by a seven-member board of directors. Kueuit will own the hotel when it is completed.

Claugus said the hotel will house convention facilities, a Native museum, library and consignment gift shop, as well as a restaurant.

Irick said he has contacted Alaska Vocational Technical Center director Fred Esposito about staffing the restaurant’s kitchen with students in the institutional-cooking course.

He said Esposito was very receptive to the idea, as students there are only trained to cook for large groups at AVTEC and receive no single-service training.

Esposito could not be reached for comment on the project.

Irick also hopes to develop other training programs to help educate hospitality-industry workers on a proper serving techniques and Alaska history. He said many servers he’s encountered have poor people skills and don’t know what to tell their tourist customers about Alaska.

JLH RESORT PROPOSAL 1970

2009-10-25T18:10:00.002-08:00

COUNCIL HEARS OF PLANS
FOR JESSE LEE FROM CORPORATION

Seward Phoenix Log
January 15, 1970

For the ninth time n 15 months the deteriorating Jesse Lee buildings were the focal point of City Council deliberations Monday night. Former Councilmember Oliver Amend introduced Chifford Schoen and Paul Finetti, representatives from the Development Corporation of North America, to the Council.

Mr. Finetti spoke enthusiastically of the potential of the Jesse Lee buildings for conversion to a modern condominium resort complex. He said that his corporation was seeking a certificate of convenience for a direct flight from Seattle to Seward, using Lockheed Electras.

After a lengthy question and answer session with the two men, Council considered a motion to place the Jesse Lee buildings and surrounding land to public bid by advertising in Seward, Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau papers.

Prospective bidders could bid on the buildings and five acres of land, the buildings and all of the land (approximately 20 acres), or only the land upon which there are no buildings. Watch bid was to be accompanied by a comprehensive development plan for Council consideration prior to awarding the land to the successful bidder. THe City, of course reserves the right to reject any and all bids.

Bidders will be notified that approximately 9,000 square feet of the area at the western boundary of the Home does not belong to the City. City Manager Filip says that it wll take from six to nine month to quiet title to the three lots involved.

If the prospectus for bid meets with Council approval, the bids will be opened about the first Thursday in March.

THIS WEEK IN CITY HALL
by Jim Filip
September 3, 1970

At a special meeting held for that purpose, the City Council unanimously approved terms of a contract between the City and the Development Corporation of North America. The contract deals with the rehabilitation and development of the former Jesse Lee Home in Seward and surrounding properties.

The contract, executed by Mr. Cilfford Schoon, President and Mr. Clinton Stewart, Secretary, specifies that work will commence within 15 days or no later than September 11, 1970. Work in this first phase will include general preparation and maintenance activities, including cleaning of existing structures, roof repair, removal of windows and replacement with thermopane units, landscape units, landscape work and preparation of final plans for the remodeling of the present structures. The contract sets a deadline of three months for the work to be concluded under phase one.

Phase Two calls for the start of remodeling of the interior of the existing structures and to begin sales of condominium units which will be completed within five weeks after each sale. Construction of 25% of the units will be completed on or before APril 1, 1971 as called for in the development contract.

Phase Three sets out construction work in the commercial and recreational areas and this phase shall be substantially complete on or before April 1 1972. This phase included the restaurant, cocktail lounge, rathskeller, cocktail facilities in two arcades. In addition there are plans for a private key club, dining room, lounges, sauna and steam room, and enclosed heated swimming pool, indoor squash and handball courts and four tennis courts convertible to skating rinks in winter.

Phases Four and Five call for additional structures in the form of apartments and a convention center and will be constructed as need warrants. The convention center will be built at the option of the Developers. The apartments will be started by June 1, 1972.

CG HOUSING NOT PROTESTED AT PUBLIC HEARING

2009-10-25T14:52:00.003-08:00

Seward Phoenix Log, July 13, 1972

The City Council received no opposition Monday night from the public during the hearing on the proposed sale of approximately four acres of Tract A-1 in the Jesse Lee Heights Subdivision to the Coast Guard.

The CG plans to build five four-plexes and has been granted funds by Congress recently for the project here in Seward.

City Manager Jim Flilip said the lawyers had informed him the suit by Tom Smith against Jesse Lee which has been pending for some time will be brought to court in September.

In other Jesse Lee related matter, Council approved a new plat of the subdivision Addition No. 1. This plat establishes Swetman Avenue as it exists today instead of the position shown on previous plats.

Council members Hill, Crisp and Vincent were absent.

NOTICE OF PUBIC HEARING

The Seward City Council will hold a Public Hearing on the proposed option to see approximately 3.708 acres (Tract A-1, Jesse Lee Heights Subdivision) at 6.7 cents per square foot ($10,800.00) to the United States Coast Guard for use as residential site for the proposed construction of twenty three-bedroom units.

The Public Hearing will be held on Monday, July 10, 1972, at 7:30 P.M. in the Council Chambers. The Public is invited to attend and speak on this subject during the Public Hearing.
/s/ James R. Filip
City Clerk-Treasurer
Req: 5003
Pub: 6/29 and 7/9/72

FAREWELL BENNIE

2009-10-25T14:27:00.002-08:00

July 6, 1972 Seward Phoenix Log

Benny Benson, designer of the Alaska Flag, died in Kodiak Sunday. he will be mourned by people all over the State-but no one more than Seward where as a boy of 13 he designed the flag.

Bennie’s ties to Seward remained strong even though he lived in Kodiak where he worked as an airplane mechanic. He returned to Seward frequently-for conventions and events of the B.P.O. Elks, American Legion, and various celebrations.

He was honored guest in Seward on the 4th of July in 1967, Centennial year.

At that time the historical plaque commemorating his designing of the flag was presented ot the CIty. It now is displayed at the Seward Community Library. The library at the new William H. Seward Elementary School bears his name. Benson Drive in Jesse Lee Subdivision was named for him also.

He was born in Chignik on October 12, 1913, son of a Swedish man and an Aleut woman. He was proud of his heritage. When he became an orphan he came to the Jesse Lee Home in Seward-it was while he was living there that he designed the flag for a contest sponsored by the American Legion in 1927.

He was a nephew of Eva and Alice Lowell-daughters of Frank Lowell, the man who homesteaded the area on which the City of Seward now stands. Mount Eva and Mount Alice were named for the two sisters.

Bennie had a leg amputated in 1969 but soon returned to work. He married a second time in 1970. He is survived by his wife Anna and his two daughters Mrs. Anny May Herman of Minneapolis, Minnesota and Mrs. Charlotte Irvin of Ewa Beach, Hawaii. He is also survived by four grandchildren.

All who knew him will miss Bennie - but few men leave something as wonderful to be remembered by as Bennie did. Every time we see the flag we will remember.

Cook-ing up the Orpington and Australorp

2009-10-22T01:45:00.005-08:00

In 1886, a large, bold, upright chicken stratched its way into being. English enthusiast William Cook wrote in the Fanciers Gazette that he crossbred Black Minorcas with Black Plymouth Rock, then crossed the progeny with clean-legged Langshans to create the Black Orpington. The end result was a table fowl with excellent meat, a prolific winter production of brown eggs, easy to breed and fast to grow.

Cook was born in St. Neots, Huntingdon, England in 1849. He worked as a coachman in Chislehurst, Kent at the age of 14, but the poultry on a neighbor’s farm soon caught his attention. Cook and his wife, Jane, moved to Tower House in Orpington, Kent, and began to breed chickens, two daughters, and three sons.

The business of William Cook and Sons grew to include a London office at Queens Yard, 105 Borough London SE. Cook invested his time in publishing his magazine, Poultry Journal, giving lectures, writing Poultry Keeper's Account Book, making an intensive study of poultry diseases, and selling medicines, food, and fattening powder.

Cook’s birds were introduced into various Dairy shows in England, and won much acclaim. At the 1886 Chrystal Palace Poultry Show, Cook won grand prize for his Black Orpington pullet. By 1888, Orpingtons were given their own classification, and Cook’s bird took home the cup.

1890 was a big year for the Orpingtons. The Cook family moved to Walden's Manor, which they renamed Orpington House, and Cook’s eldest child, Elizabeth Jane, took over the operation. Single Comb Black Orpingtons were first exhibited in America at the Massachusetts Poultry Association Boston Show, and the first consignment of Black Orpingtons were also imported to Australia.

In 1894 Cook created his most popular Orpington, the Buff, which became the symbol of the Orpington Rugby Football Club. The Buff was produced from crossing the Golden Spangled Hamburg with the Buff Cochin and Dark Dorking breeds.

Buff Orpingtons were one of the most popular varieties. Mature Buffs typically start laying at six months, producing large brown egg every two to three days.

1897 saw the introduction of the introduction of the Speckled or Porcelain Orpington, which was named “Jubilee” after the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria, who accepted a pen of these birds. The Buff Orpington Club was founded in 1898. The late H M Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother was Patron of the Club and showed regularly.

Cook and his children continued breeding Orpingtons to other color variations including Blue, Mottled, Spangled, Red, Partridge, Birchen, Chocolate (Bantam only), Cuckoo, Gold Laced, Lavender, Lemon Cuckoo, and White.

Cook made a large exhibit of Black Orpingtons at the 1895 Madison Square Garden Show in New York, but they were slow to gain popularity.

In 1896, four Blacks were exhibited at New York by C. S. Williams of New Jersey. William McNeil of London, Canada entered one Black cockerel at the Boston show in 1897, and five Blacks were shown in New York, by George M. Shaw in 1898. A careful examination of records shows no other entries at poultry exhibitions in the United States.

New Jersey’s Wallace Willett wrote that in October of 1897 Farm Poultry printed a picture of William Cook and his Black and Buff Orpingtons, along with Editor A. F. Hunter’s account of meeting Cook and touring of his Orpington poultry farm.

Hunter said that Cook's business included the shipment of 10,404 sittings of eggs in nine months. This instantly gave Willett “Orpington fever”, and he immediately took steps to import two sets of Black, Buff and White Orpington eggs from Cook.

Previous to 1898, perhaps a dozen Blacks had come to America. Willett imported the first of Cook’s Buff and White Orpingtons into the United States, but he wasn’t the first New Jersey boy with skin in the Buff Orpington game.

New Jersey’s Charles E. Vass imported Buff Orpingtons from another successful English breeder, and was the first to exhibit them in America at a show in Pennsylvania. Vass made two entries at Boston, and he and his neighbors made seventeen entries when Single Comb Buff Orpingtons were first exhibited at the Madison Square Garden Show in 1899.

There were 43 entries at the New York show in 1900. Willett made his first exhibit at Madison Square Garden, winning two firsts with his two Cook Blacks and nothing with his two Cook Buffs.

In 1901, Vass, Willett, and Doctor Paul Kyle increased their entries to nineteen single and one pen of Buffs. Orpington fever took hold in America. By the 1910 New York Show, 157 Single Comb Buff, 122 Single Comb Black, 134 Single Comb White, 17 Diamond Jubilee, 5 Spangled, 25 Rose Comb Buff, 13 Rose Comb Black, and 5 Rose Comb White Orpingtons were exhibited, for a total of 478 Orpingtons.

Orpingtons have a wide chest, broad back, and a relatively small head, comb, and tail; a combination which creates gentle contours that are attractive to the eye. Soft, profuse feathering, which almost hides the legs of the bird, creates a curvy shape with a short back and U-shaped underline. A heavy bird at eight to ten pounds, its fluffy feathers make it look distinctively large.

In 1902, Cook was honored with an award of the Poultry Club Medal. His thriving business interests included poultry farms from South Africa to America.

A New York Times article that ran on January 10, 1903, covering the New York Poultry, Pigeon and Pet Stock Association Annual Show at Madison Square Garden read:

“William Cook of Kent England, who has been very successful in the matter of prizes, spoke highly of the American judges and the American breed of poultry yesterday. He said that the judges here were vastly superior to those who officiate in the majority of poultry shows in England, and that their awards were in every instance very satisfactory. The Cooks, father and son, had a large number of Orfingtons on exhibition, and they won twenty-three first and seventeen second prizes for birds, and a first prize for eggs. In two classes they were beaten by the birds shown by the Willow Brook Farm, Berlin, Conn., which was awarded first prizes for its single-comb buff Orfington pullet and cock.”

Cook arranged his great string of English Orpingtons in a clever manner at one end of the show’s big arena, and the fulsome press notices of his exhibits in the daily papers launched a real Orpington boom in the United States and Canada.

Willett wrote that “as an advance agent, William Cook was in a class by himself; as a salesman he was a star, the prices realized by him for Orpingtons at that memorable show being exceedingly high. The purchasers were men of wealth, as a rule, who realized that aside from the fancy end, it would be a good business investment as well. A study of the comparative growth in popularity of Orpingtons…will justify the judgment of these shrewd fanciers who bought at that time.”

Orpington fever was running high when William Cook died in 1904. Cook was sick when he returned to England, went for a brief holiday to Skegness, took ill on the day after his arrival, and died from emphysema. He was buried with his wife in Star Lane Cemetery.

Wallace P. Willett became the editor and publisher of "The Orpington." He and Charles Vass, Dr. Paul Kyle, Frank W. Gaylor and William Davis were the early pioneers of the breed in America.

Few believed at the time that Orpingtons would thrive in a commercial climate in the United States. Objections to chicken with black legs and white skin were lodged against Black Orpingtons, and later the white or pink legs and white skin of Buff and White Orpingtons were considered a serious marketing handicap as Americans demanded yellow-skinned and yellow-legged poultry.

Cook’s masterful promoting and advertising for the breed was at work in England, Australia, Africa, and America. He took full advantage of great quantities of free advertising by cleverly writing on poultry topics, and demonstrated his shrewdness as a breeder and dealer as well.

With a blind eye to its defects, and a loud voice shouting its superior qualities, the result of Cook’s efforts was that for a while Orpingtons were the most popular fowl in England, and White Orpingtons were dangerous rivals of the American Plymouth Rocks, Wyandottes , Rhode Island Reds, and Leghorns.

In Australia, the Black Orpingtons were bred with the Australian Lanshans. In a 1922-3 Papanui Test, a Orpington hen named Kismit Dot laid 342 eggs in 51 weeks. In 1923, Australorps Farms Ltd. imported the birds back to England. The Poultry Club refused to recognize them as a separate breed, first calling them Austral Orpingtons, and finally Australorps.

Elizabeth Jane Cook married R. Wakeman Clarke, and ran William Cook and Sons until 1933. She exported birds all over the world, and was one of the first to use airlines for shipping fowl.

The Orpington is a highly intelligent and docile bird and is suitable for families with small children. Hens mature at a young age, will set and rear chicks on their own if allowed to do so, and are attentive mothers.

Orpingtons are a cold-hardy breed and thrive well in both confined spaces and as free-range birds. They lay between 110 and 160 light brown eggs year round. Still considered a multi-purpose bird, it is bred for meat and egg production as well as for show purposes.

Orpingtons are listed as “Recovering” by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, “Endangered” by the UK’s Rare Breed Survival Trust, and they are at Number Five in the Rare Breeds Trust of Australia’s Poultry Top Ten.

Reasonable vs. Crazy People

2009-10-08T16:32:00.003-08:00

If a reasonable person doesn’t like guns, they don’t buy one.
If a crazy person doesn’t like guns, then no one should have one.

If a reasonable person is a vegetarian, they don’t eat meat.
If a crazy person is, they want to ban all meat products for everyone.

If a reasonable person sees a foreign threat, he thinks about how to defeat his enemy.
A crazy person wonders how to surrender gracefully and still look good.

If a black man or Hispanic is a reasonable person, they see themselves as independently successful.
Their crazy counterparts see themselves as victims in need of government protection, (or compensation).

If a reasonable person is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation.
A crazy person wonders who is going to take care of him.

If a reasonable person doesn’t like a talk show host, he switches channels.
A crazy person demands that those they don’t like be shut down.

If a reasonable person is a nonbeliever, he doesn’t go to church or pray.
A crazy person wants all churches and prayers to be silenced.

If a reasonable person decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may
choose a job that provides it.
A crazy person demands that his neighbors, (the Gov't) pay for his.

VENISON VERSUS BEEF - THE TASTE CONTROVERSY ENDS

2009-09-13T10:17:00.002-08:00

VENISON VERSUS BEEF - THE TASTE CONTROVERSY ENDS

FROM THE UNITED STATES VENISON COUNCIL

Controversy has long raged about the relative quality and taste of venison and beef as gourmet foods. Some people say that venison is tough, with a strong "wild" taste. Others insist that venison's flavor is delicate. An independent food research group was retained by the Venison Council to conduct a taste-test to determine the truth of these conflicting assertions once and for all.

First, a Grade-A Choice Holstein steer was chased into a swamp a mile and a half from a road and shot several times. After some of the entrails were removed, the carcass was dragged back over rocks and logs and through mud and dust to the road. It was then thrown into the back of a pickup truck and driven through rain and snow for 100 miles before being hung out in the sun for a day.

After that it was lugged into a garage, where it was skinned and rolled around on the floor for a while. Strict sanitary precautions were observed throughout the test, within the limitations of the butchering environment. For instance, dogs and cats were allowed to sniff and lick the steer carcass, but were chased away when they attempted to bite chunks out of it.

Next a sheet of plywood left from last year's butchering was set up in the basement on two saw horses. The pieces of dried blood, hair and fat left from last year were scraped off with a wire brush last used to clean out the grass stuck under the lawn mower.

The skinned carcass was then dragged down the steps into the basement where a half dozen inexperienced but enthusiastic and intoxicated men worked on it with meat saws, cleavers and dull knives. The result was 375 pounds of soup bones, four bushel baskets of meat scraps, and a couple of steaks that were an eighth of an inch thick on one edge and an inch and a half thick on the other.

The steaks were seared on a glowing red hot cast iron skillet to lock in the flavor. When the smoke cleared, rancid bacon grease was added along with three pounds of onions, and the whole conglomeration was fried for two hours.

The meat was gently teased from the frying pan and served to three blindfolded taste panel volunteers. Every one of the members of the panel thought it was venison. One of the volunteers even said it tasted exactly like the venison he had eaten in hunting camps for the past 27 years. The results of this scientific test show conclusively that there is no difference between the taste of beef and venison.

Mourning Losses at Morningside

2009-09-04T14:32:00.004-08:00

In territorial days, Alaskans could be one of three places…Inside (in Alaska), Outside (anywhere else), or Morningside (Morningside Hospital).

Fairbanks residents Karen Perdue and Ellen Ganley are two of the bravest women in Alaska. They have volunteered for one of life’s most difficult tasks: blindsiding people with the tragic circumstances of their long-lost loved ones.

The women didn’t wake up one morning and decide to answer this call. They had been working on the Alaska Mental Health Trust History Jukebox, a project offering remarkable insight into the long struggle to provide quality mental health services in Alaska from the perspective of the people who participated.

A three-day trip to the National Archives resulted in the discovery of 42 boxes of Morningside Hospital records. Perdue and Ganley brought what they could back to Alaska, uncovering a story that reads like a Hollywood script as it brings to light the tales of the unfortunate patients there.

Prior to Statehood, mentally ill or retarded people would be declared “an insane person at Large” in a court hearing before a jury of six laymen who would be impaneled to “to inquire, try and determine whether the person so complained of is really insane.”

Contrary to the American concept of justice, these court trials for insanity laid the burden of proof upon the accused person. A friendless soul in the throws of a hangover might prove so unresponsive to questioning, so ignorant of the importance of the hearing, or simply so inept with the English language, that the lay jury might in good conscience adjudge him “insane as charged.”

Edward Cannon fought for an Alaskan institution, suggesting it “will stop a lot of railroading [of patients] on frame-ups by crooked territorial appointees who wanted to settle their revenges in this way.” No transcripts of Alaskan commitment hearings were made.

Alaskans deemed mentally ill were subjected to a over a week in a straight jacket while traveling via steamship and rail, as they made their way to Morningside Hospital in Portland, Oregon, a private facility owned by Wayne and Henry Coe and financed by the Federal Government. Perdue and Ganley estimate the total number of patients at Morningside may range between 3,500-4,500.

Most patients arrived without any type of clinical history or diagnostic records, without ever having been examined by a physician, much less a psychiatrist. According to Bob Bartlett, “numbers of patients who were committed to Morningside died a few hours after admission because they had not received proper medical care while in detention, while waiting for transportation, or while en route to Oregon.”

In their blog, Ganley writes, “It was never clear to me when Morningside started admitting children. The patient lists during the early years seemed to be populated by miners, gamblers and others who came North to seek their fortunes. By the time Alaska assumed responsibility for providing mental health services to its citizens in 1956, a significant percentage of patients at Morningside were children with developmental disabilities. Some admitted soon after birth.”

A survey of Morningside admissions conducted in 1941 by Doris Freeburger found the average patient was a single male in his 30-40s. At that time, 58.4 % of the population was not diagnosed. Dementia, panic depressive, epileptic, senile, mental defective, general nerosis, paranoid, trama, drug addiction, and a high rate of alcoholic psychoses rounded out the population’s reported aliments. About half of those deemed as “mentally defective” were Alaska natives who spoke poor English.

Over the years, multiple inspections of Morningside painted a grim picture of life in the facility. Admissions procedures were characterized as “comparable to the apprehension and commitment of a criminal” with the words “archaic, cruel, inhumane and essentially barbaric” underlined in the report.

One report noted, “The greatest shortcoming lies in the fact that practically no psychiatric treatment is afforded the many patients who urgently need such treatment. The professional staff is inadequate numerically and professionally to provide the required treatment.” One clinical psychiatrist, with a minimum of training, was available for the psychiatric care of 344 patients at the time.

Under the open hospital model, Morningside patients were controlled through sedatives rather than lock and key. New patients received a regular psychiatric interview, after which electric shock and/or insulin shock was often prescribed.

A “violent and hazardous” treatment, insulin-coma therapy was found to be used “dangerously” at the “grossly understaffed” hospital “without sufficient professional personnel.” Some of the patients selected for insulin shock therapy were poor risks as they were over 65 years old, or suffering from serious physical ailments.

It involves injection of insulin for the purpose of inducing a temporary coma, which is terminated after some 15 – 30 minutes by administering glucose, sometimes intravenously but usually by means of a tube inserted into the stomach either through the nose or mouth while the patient is in a coma. Because of the danger of introducing the tube into the lungs and drowning the patient with the glucose, a gavage should be done only by medically trained doctors and registered nurses.

But when the insulin shock therapy treatment was inaugurated by Dr. Thompson at Morningside Hospital, there was only one registered nurse at Morningside. Her duty hours were from 6 am to 2:30 pm, and after she left the attendants would terminate the secondary insulin coma, which often developed several hours after the initial treatment. Many gavages were performed without records being made of the procedures.

A Congressional committee found that a number of patients died either as a direct result of the insulin therapy treatment or within 24 hours after undergoing the shock, with substantial evidence indicating that some of the deaths may have occurred from drowning of patients while being gavaged by attendants without benefit of proper oversight.

In a number of case,s the committee found “shocking instances of neglect of patients”. It was a common practice for elderly patients who lacked control of their eliminative functions to be “strapped to stools in the lavatory” for many hours. In one instance, in 1950, a patient who was “usually” kept strapped to the pot chair “all day”, was found dead of exhaustion.

In 1953, a patient who vomited during an epileptic fit was placed into a bathtub and doused with buckets of water instead of being cleaned with a sponge or cloth. The patient, whose head was under water at times during the epileptic seizure, died a few minutes later.

“The evidence before the committee indicated that when medical examiner Dr. Keller was first assigned to Morningside Hospital in April 1947, he found conditions at Morningside deplorable, with inadequate staff, and improper care and treatment verging upon outright abuse.” Suggested one government report.

Those who died were “buried without regard for common standards of decency” including interment of more than one individual in a single grave. Government reports noted graves of Morningside patients were near a ravine, overgrown by tall grass, and unmarked. Outer caskets were not used. It was determined that because of confusion in records as well as absence of markers, it would “be difficult or impossible to locate and identify some of the bodies if a relative should wish to disinter a deceased patient.”

Karen Perdue and Ellen Ganley are spending their free time sifting through dusty boxes, compiling information, and posting it up on MorningsideHospital.com. The Wall of Names of Morningside Patients sees constant additions.

At the National Archives are nearly all of the Morningside patient lists from 1904-1950s, contracts, investigation reports, personnel records, medical officer reports, and administrative correspondence. There are also telegrams, vouchers, and letters. Some of the letters concern the custody and care of mental patients, and discharge of cured individuals.
Perdue and Gangley have set up a website, MorningsideHospital.com, to disseminate information on committed Alaskans. Efforts to assemble a database of patient names and information has begun, but is missing the estimated $15,000 needed to complete the task.

For now they are working their way through the paperwork they brought home, posting information on their website, and helping the friends and families of Morningside patients find answers to questions that have lingered for decades.

1975 New Frontier, Inc. Sale

2009-08-26T15:07:00.003-08:00

Alaska Business Brokers
June 8, 1972
Seward Phoenix Log
278-3541 or CA4-3082

For Sale:

Several choice lots in Jesse Lee Heights Subdivision overlooking Resurrection Bay.

Notice of Public Hearing
December 7, 1972

The City Council Meets Monday, December 11th, at 7:30 pm in the Council Chambers. A public hearing on the proposed option to purchase a portion of the Jesse Lee Heights Subdivision by the United States will be held. The public is invited to attend and to seak on this subject if they so desire.

Last Frontier Wins Jesse Lee Bid
Seward Phoenix Log
January 18, 1973

The bid opening for the Jesse Lee Land Sale was held on Monday, January 15, in the City Council Chambers. The only bid received came from Last Frontier, In., an Anchorage firm composed of shareholders in ATX Travel, Inc.

The bid price offered was $35,000 or approximately seven centers per square foot. The City had established a minimum acceptable hid of six cents per square foot.

Last Frontier, Inc. proposes to utilize the existing structures as a hotel/motel complex if a Feasibility study they will conduct if their bid is accepted proves that such a rehabilitation project is worthwhile.

Last Frontier, Inc., was represented at both the bid opening and the Council work session by Anchorage attorney for the firm and one of its stockholders, Mr. James R. Clouse. In discussing the future plans, Mr. Clouse noted the problems of rezoning, replatting and rehabilitating the existing structures. He was of the opinion the future of the buildings would have to be determined after the feasibility study had been completed.

The bid results will be officially presented at Monday’s regular City Council meeting and if Council desires to accept the bid, a public hearing will be advertised and held on February 13th (the Tuesday following Monday’s holiday).

If no objections of a substantial nature are received, the Council may pass a resolution authorizing the sale on February 26th and the sale will become final on March 26th following the mandatory 30 day waiting period.

When questioned if this time period represented a problem, Mr. Clouse indicated it did not affect the corporation’s plans. Members of the public may comment on this bid during Monday’s Council Meeting if they so desire.

Jesse Lee Sold Again
TV, Jesse Lee Are Council Topics
February 15, 1975
Seward Phoenix Log

Council voted unanimously to sell the Jesse Lee property to Last Frontier, Inc. for their bid of $35,000, after some public discussion Monday night.

Last Frontier, Inc., proposes to rehabilitate the existing buildings if economically feasible and make them into a hotel-motel complex to serve year-round travelers. ATZ Travel (parent company) has begun packaging tours – groups could be directed to Seward and entertainment facilities could be carried on all year.

If the structures cannot be saved, Last Frontier plans to salvage as much as possible and build the complex along the same architectural lines as the existing structures.

In public hearing local businessman Norman Waggy said, “This is one of the things Seward needs and I’m for it.”

“I’m listening to the bid,” said Pat Williams, “If Last Frontier finds they cannot make use of this land they could hold it. I would like to see the City hold onto this valuable property – raze the buildings and appoint a committee to study the best use of the land. If the committee decided to sell-the property should be advertised much more widely than has been done. I’m saying this in the interest of Seward-the future of Seward, although I know this will not be a popular opinion.:

Dick Beissner, location contractor, stated, :I didn’t hear a schedule offered of money to be spent over a period of years.”

Mayor Richardson replied, “There isn’t any. We tried to give a little latitude when we advertised this time – I don’t thing we can tie them down to any amount.”

Beissner then asked if Last Frontier under present regulations could subdivide into building lots and sold if they choose not to build. Richardson said this was prohibited.

Lyson and Lenore Morgan

2009-08-26T14:25:00.003-08:00

Seward Phoenix Log
June 21, 1973

Lyson and Lenore Morgan, former Seward residents are visiting here for several weeks.

“We’re staying at the Rogers Apartments, 3rd and Adams, Apt.4”, said Morgan, “and would be happy to have our friends drop by”.

Morgan was administrator of the Jesse Lee Home form 1960-62.

“We went out to the Jesse Lee site and looked around”, said Mrs. Morgan. “Made up feel kind of sad to see the condition of the buildings because we have so many happy memories of the old place. But the rest of the town looks just wonderful”, she added. “It’s so nice to be back, even for a little while”.

“There have been so many changes here in 11 years”, Morgan said, “but they seem to be for the good of the community”.

Morgan retired two years ago after 38 years in social service work for the state of Wisconsin.

The Morgans report they saw Tom and Aretta Howell and Mr. and Mrs. Delbert Robbing last year while on vacation in Arizona.

Miss Bertha McGhee

2009-08-26T14:00:00.003-08:00

Former Seward Resident
May 13, 1973
Seward Phoenix Log

The friends of Miss Bertha McGhee, a former resident of Seward, will be interested to know that she plans to leave Alaska in July to make her home in Kansas.

The Women’s Society of Christian Service of the Anchor Park Methodist Church of Anchorage invites all friends of Miss McGhee to attend a tea on Sunday, May 16, from 2:00 to 5 p.m. honoring her for her many years of service as a missionary.

Jesse Lee alumni who knew Miss McGhee are especially invited at the home of Mr. and Mrs. W.S. McDonald, 3027 Wentworth Street, Anchorage, who are also former Seward residents.

Miss McGhee came to Seward to Jesse Lee Home in 1940 and has served under the auspices of the Mission Board of the Methodist Church for 31 years. Before coming to Alaska she served for two years in the Navaho Mission School at Farmington, New Mexico.

During her years in Alaska she has served in various capacities at Jesse Lee Home, at the Seward General Hospital, which formerly was a mission hospital, and as a lay minister servicing Moose Pass, Hope, and Cooper Landing.

When Jesse Lee Home was moved to Anchorage in January of 1966, Miss McGhee moved with it, serving there until her formal retirement in October, 1969. Since that time Miss McGhee has served as secretary of the Anchor Park Methodist Church.

Ode to Arreta

2009-08-26T13:46:00.003-08:00

By Elsie Whitmore and Virginia Wingo
July, 1970

From out of the West, came Arreta and Tom
In the Early 30’s, before the bomb.
To Jesse Lee Home, a place of reknown,
Becoming in the process, the busiest gal in town.

A pillar of the church, a Sunday School teacher,
A cooker of dinners, a friend of the preacher.

She sewed for Bazaars, she painted the Church,
She broke her leg, when she fell from her perch.

She swished her skirts to a Western beat,
And even I this was excessively neat.

As was her house, ’twas a star in her crown,
It was homey and right for the busiest in town.

A weather taker, come rain or come shine,
No matter the meeting, was always on time.

An Eastern Star, a Homemaker too,
With the Library Board she had much to do.

She baby sat without a frown,
And Rainbow made her the busiest gal in town.

She made a good chief, and an Indian Grand,
A positive woman, never bland.

She has kept the same old husband from the very first,
Always implied he was best not worst.

She has two sons of which she is proud,
And Grandsons praises she sings aloud.

Now she’s retiring and with her things,
In a sliver trailer will spread her wings.

She’ll travel and visit all over the land,
Many a journey she has planned.

Now Arreta, my dear, we’d like you to know,
How much we’ll miss you, wherever you go.

No one can ever fill your gown,
Or take the place of the busiest gal in town.

Tom and Arreta Howell have traveled the country enough for a while now, and have settled near their son Harold. If you’d like their winter address it is: 16 Triplet Way, Marysville, California, 95901.

Alaska State Fair Poultry Show

2009-08-25T09:12:00.003-08:00

Have never entered anything in the Alaska State Fair. We thought about it a couple years ago after attending the Ninilchik Fair for the first time. My daughter wanted to enter her two heritage bronze turkeys, Buck and Miss Cuba. Casmir had eyeballed the competition and figured they were a shoe in.

Came home and discovered that Russ Maddox's dogs had used them for chew toys, and they had passed away. Not a pleasant thing to deal with.

This year we decided to enter our goats and birds. This move was also hit by tragedy. Our handsome roan, Craigafer, developed congestion issues and passed away. Taylor was the unhappy receiver of this news, she loved that little goat. Our other goat, Oliver, is also coughing, so we put him on antibiotics and left him at home with a couple chickens for company.

Packed up the rest of the birds, and are headed north. Stop by the Poultry Exhibit and give the birds a gander. They will be on display until August 31st.