WELCOME TO THE ALASKA PROGRESSIVE REVIEW!

Welcome to the Alaska Progressive Review!

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) -
pro·gres·sive
–adjective

1. favoring or advocating progress, change, improvement, or reform, as opposed to wishing to maintain things as they are, esp. in political matters: a progressive mayor.
2. making progress toward better conditions; employing or advocating more enlightened or liberal ideas, new or experimental methods, etc.: a progressive community.
3. characterized by such progress, or by continuous improvement.
4. of or pertaining to any of the Progressive parties in politics.

lib·er·al
-adjective

1. favorable to progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs.
2. (often initial capital letter) noting or pertaining to a political party advocating measures of progressive political reform.
3. of, pertaining to, based on, or advocating liberalism.
4. favorable to or in accord with concepts of maximum individual freedom possible, esp. as guaranteed by law and secured by governmental protection of civil liberties.
5. favoring or permitting freedom of action, esp. with respect to matters of personal belief or expression: a liberal policy toward dissident artists and writers.
6. of or pertaining to representational forms of government rather than aristocracies and monarchies.
7. free from prejudice or bigotry; tolerant: a liberal attitude toward foreigners.
8. open-minded or tolerant, esp. free of or not bound by traditional or conventional ideas, values, etc.

Michael Richmond here. I live in Fairbanks, Alaska, and have since June, 2001. Before that, in Juneau, AK for the previous three years. And before that, in Missoula, Montana, from 1990-98. A university-oriented town that has a vibrant counter-culture, and which was a great influence upon my adult personality.

This is not just a blog for travel and adventure postings. Those are always a good thing, and you'll see plenty of that here. But I also want to inject incisive political commentary, from a liberal/green Alaskan perspective. Many people, especially recently, think of Alaskans as selfish, conservative/gun/hunting nuts with little exposure to outside ideas and perspectives. Sure, we have our share of those types, as does any state in the USA. As a whole, Alaskans are kind and friendly people, who care about their neighbors. Because we have to, in our sometimes harsh and unforgiving environment.

To get started, I'd like to introduce one my favorite writings, from an unfortunately very prophetic novel written in 1993, by an author named Starhawk. The book:

THE FIFTH SACRED THING

Declaration of the Four Sacred Things

"The earth is a living, conscious being. In company with cultures of many different times and places, we name these things as sacred: air, fire, water, and earth.

Whether we see them as the breath, energy, blood, and body of the Mother, or as the blessed gifts of a Creator, or as symbols of the interconnected systems that sustain life, we know that nothing can live without them.

To call these things sacred is to say that they have a value beyond their usefulness for human ends, that they themselves become the standards by which our acts, our economics, our laws, and our purposes must be judged. No one has the right to appropriate them or profit from them at the expense of others. Any government that fails to protect them forfeits its legitimacy.

All people, all living things, are part of the earth life, and so are sacred. No one of us stands higher or lower than any other. Only justice can assure balance: only ecological balance can sustain freedom. Only in freedom can that fifth sacred thing we call spirit flourish in full diversity.

To honor the sacred is to create conditions in which nourishment, sustenance, habitat, knowledge, freedom, and beauty can thrive. To honor the sacred is to make love possible.

To this we dedicate our curiosity, our will, our courage, our silences, and our voices. To this we dedicate our lives."

Vaya con Dios

Miguel