By Chuck HinsonSpecial to the Turnagain Times
By Nicholas Danger
Girdwood Board of
Supervisors Chairman
Well, we made it through another summer in Girdwood. The Girdwood Board of Supervisors worked hard this summer with many issues and challenges. One was having enough GBOS members at our meetings to vote on issues. I think next summer we might go dark for the month of July since everyone is so busy, which can not be helped since we are not paid for our service and we have to work.
Jim Henderson has been very busy as the roads supervisor, and I want to thank him for the many—and I mean many—hours he has spent in on the roads with meetings in anchorage and all that is involved with the roads in our community. Jim is a master of the budget and his tireless efforts have saved you the Girdwood tax payer money, he also has a great relationship with the powers to be in anchorage that help us out a lot.
Now that summer is coming to a close, we should have a full board at our next meeting and get down to the brass tacks of running this town we call Girdwood. The GBOS has a ton of meeting coming up in the next few months and everyone who lives here needs to start coming to these meeting so we can get your input on the issues. We, as your elected officials, vote on issues that affect everyone that lives here, and we need you to tell us how you feel so we can make the best decisions. Every GBOS meeting has a public comment section where you have three minutes to tell us how you feel about issues. Please take advantage of this, we want to know. So I hope to see you all at our next meeting. Let’s look forward to a great winter and a lot of snow.
By Chuck Hinson
Special to the Turnagain Times
Back in the spring when I first saw the cover of Don DeLillo’s new book, Falling Man, I thought I would like it. The image reminded me of being a passenger on an airplane, early in the morning, gazing out the window toward serene, billowy white clouds below. Two thin black parallel lines appear from the level of the clouds and go straight up, interrupting the two words of the title, continuing almost to the top of the book, where in small letters, “A Novel” is written. The front cover picture of blue sky and white clouds wraps around to the back, where you can see the very tip tops of the twin towers. It’s obviously a book about 9/11.
Don DeLillo is one of a handful of American writers that, according to the New York Times Book Review, will likely be remembered fifty years from now, thanks to such masterpieces as White Noise, Libra and Underworld. I’ve found him to be an astute author who writes with incredible detail about the world of human beings, sometimes with a great deal of irony, one who doesn’t mind exploring the darker side of life. Now six years after the unprecedented tragedy that shook America and the rest of the world to its core, I was sure I would read something meaningful, even profound, about life after 9/11.
The story follows Keith, a disheveled 39-year-old man who has just escaped from the dust of the demise of the twin towers. With an arbitrary briefcase in hand, he wanders through the confusion until he manages to get himself to the home of his ex-wife Lianne and his son, Justin whom he hasn’t seen in a while. We find that Lianne runs a writing workshop for Alzheimer’s patients, and Justin and his friends spend their days peering through binoculars, on the lookout for another plane crash and a man named Ben Lawton. Lianne’s refined aging mother and her partner are introduced, and through small talk with Lianne and Keith, create a multitude of insights into the state of the world. Aside from that, not a lot happens.
Maybe that’s his point. Life goes on uneventfully for these people, and yet they are all profoundly changed, more inwardly than outwardly. But frankly, I was disappointed. I found myself not very engaged with these characters. And unfortunately, I found myself floundering from one section to the other. Every page or two, the “action” changed to a different character, time and setting—very disorienting and unsettling. Perhaps that was DeLillo’s intent.
There are some beautiful passages though, such as this one: “The skies she retained in memory were dramas of cloud and sea storm, or the electric sheen before summer thunder in the city…this was different, a clear sky that carried human terror in those streaking aircraft, first one, then the other, the force of men’s intent.”
Towards the end, there is a dramatic point of view change that makes the reader sit up and pay attention. At one point, the reader is feeling the tension and misgivings of one of the hijackers and next, we are experiencing the impact of the plane as it pushes Keith up against a wall and ultimately down the stairs and out of the building. There is also a performance artist character The Falling Man, who looms, literally, over the city in the months and weeks after the tragedy…”a not so subtle symbol of the hubris of trying to make art out of horror…he brought back, of course, those stark moments in the burning towers when people fell or were forced to jump.”
In the end, the characters have different reactions to what has happened in their lives. “There was one final thing, too evident to need saying. She wanted to be safe in the world and he did not.”
Even so, Keith and Lianne adapt to each other’s points of view and stay together for the sake of their son and hopefully for their own good. In other words, life goes on, but things are different.
Chuck Hinson owns Girdwood Books and News
The Cajun Queen: Glazed roast duck a holiday treatHolidays in the bayou country didn’t necessarily mean turkey. With good hunting in the fall and winter, the main dish might be any sort of delicious game. Smoked ham from an earlier boucherie might grace the holiday table or a beautiful baked fish. Turkeys did not thrive in the wet marshes and large grocery stores were not plentiful. A beautifully glazed roast duck was appropriate, with side dishes of rice dressing and colorful marquee choux, which was apparently learned from the Natives. Often if the head of the household was far from home in the winter
Trapping and camping in the marshes, he could not afford the time to come in for the holiday. In that event, the Holiday was merely held over till his arrival home, and then his price for the pelts could buy presents for all.
Well, enjoy this tasty dish, and I hope I was able to put a little spice in your day.
Until next time, Bon Appetit. And don’t forget to drop me a line or suggestion: Cajun QueenAK@aol.com
I would love to hear from you. Click image for larger recipe
Ginny Grupp
Special to the Turnagain Times
“I would love to try yoga, but I’m not flexible and everyone in class will be better than me.” “I’m not looking for a new religion.” “Isn’t that a stretching class?” There is some truth and some myth in all of these statements. These are the common threads that run through the minds of many potential yogis and yoginis. So, here is a brief explanation of what yoga is and how you (yes, you) can take that first step into class at any time.
“Yoga” as we practice it here in the western world often (although not always) refers to the Hatha yoga tradition. What does that mean? Hatha (pronounced ha-ta) is a Sanskrit word which literally means “physical” or to “force.” Breaking the word down into ha the masculine and that the feminine, together we have a balance of opposites. Yoga derives from the Sanskrit word “yuj”, which means “yoke” or “union”. Hatha yoga, therefore can be translated to mean the union of opposites through physical practice.
Yoga is not a religion in itself. Some yogic philosophy has been incorporated into religious traditions, but the practice of yoga is not religion in itself. It is a path to controlling the mind through movement and breathing. The physical practice of yoga—what we see in our local gym or studio—is simply a practice developed to prepare the body for meditation. The use of movement and breath quiets the mind and readies the muscles so that the mind can be clear and conscious to meditate. Finding a comfortable position for the physical body while the mind is quiet—perhaps for hours—is not easy. Yoga practice facilitates meditation.
Yoga is also not just a stretching class. Your flexibility may change with your yoga practice as you become more fit. In each class we incorporate strength and stability through movement and breath. Each instructor teaches class in his/her own style. Some may focus more on strength, some more on flexibility—both are integral to yoga practice.
Who will you find in a class? Surprise! Students range in age from children to elders and everyone in between. Strength and flexibility vary greatly, too. Some students can do headstands and move into positions that don’t seem possible to us mere mortals. Others cannot touch their toes even if they bend their knees. This means there a place in class for every body. Keep in mind that if you can breathe, you can do yoga.
Beginners and students of all levels are welcome in class. The most important aspect of yoga is to listen to your body. Some days it will say, “I feel great, let’s try that back bend.” Other days it will say, “Please take care of me, I don’t feel so well.” The goal is to be able to hear, interpret and honor all of the messages your body sends you. Only you can hear them.
Yoga is offered at multiple gyms and studios in Anchorage every day of the week. In Girdwood yoga can be found at Our Lady of the Snows in the Meadows Community Room on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Join us to find your place in class.
Ginny Grupp holds a Master of Science degree in Exercise Science and Health Promotion and is a 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance.