Thoughts on Places from Which I've Blogged

I. Andrew Halcro has a new post up, called Where the magic happens.......

It is a humorous post, showing the modest nook he's created in the corner of what looks like a home office, with a laptop on the desk, and just enough disarray to portray a blogger at work on the next post. There's also a Martini glass just far enough away from the keyboard, so that if it tips over......

The picture at top left is the only one I can remember of me at work at one of my blogging areas. It shows my MacBook, a pair of wool, fingerless gloves, the edge of a small hunting knife sometimes used as a bottle opener, the edge of a CD of Philip Glass' 3rd and 4th Symphonies, a cassette of Sir Thomas Beecham directing Richard Strauss' Ein Heldenleben, and the top of my workshop bench, custom crafted in 1997 by the nuclear sculptor, James. L. Acord, Jr.

At home, I also blog from the kitchen, from my music studio, from the new firepit, and from the greenhouse. And, like most of Alaska's progressive bloggers, I blog away from home. The first day I started blogging, I met Steve from What Do I Know?, where he was blogging from the Federal Court House in Anchorage.

I've blogged in Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California. I've also posted at other peoples' blogs from Costa Rica and London. The furthest south I've entered a post at Progressive Alaska, was from Sacramento; the furthest north, from my firepit.

A half dozen KOA campgrounds, Motel 6's and a Motel Super 8 in Arcata, California. From inside tents and RV's. My mom's house, both my brothers' houses (in Portland Oregon, and Seattle), and my sister's house. From my friend Fred James' house in Bellingham, Washington.

From shopping centers. From over 20 coffee houses in four states - in Wasilla, Palmer, Eagle River, Anchorage, Girdwood, Soldotna, Homer, Seattle, Burien, Normandy Park, Medford, Calistoga, Middletown, Folsom and Rancho Cordova.

From the Alaska 2008 Republican Convention; from the Alaska 2008 Democratic Party Convention. From Diane Benson's campaign office. From the Alaska Democratic Party Headquarters. From two post-election Egan Center spectacles in Anchorage.

I've blogged along with other Alaska bloggers at all sorts of places, as we watched events unfold around us, talked and shared thoughts and laughed & argued. Then we'd zone in to our keyboards, hurrying out the next post. Right now, Alaska bloggers AK Muckraker and Shannyn Moore are blogging from Pittsburgh, NYC and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

I started writing this post, sitting down next to the lake, with my dog, by a small fire in the fire pit. I'm finishing it in the greenhouse, where I'm about to fertilize the tomatoes, basil and peppers. If I take our motorized dock out to the center of the lake, I can pick up five different unlocked wifi signals, so I could even blog there.

Maybe I will.

Soon.

When the nice weather returns.....

II. Thousands of bloggers around the world organize their thoughts as does Andrew Halcro. Thousands work more in the field, as I often do. But Andrew, the Alaska progressive bloggers and I are all fortunate that we don't have to worry about the government coming and taking us to prison for our thoughts and blog posts. This does happen. Women bloggers, in particular, are vulnerable to all sorts of horrendous retribution.

Although Alaska bloggers Linda Kellen and Shannyn Moore have had to undergo incredible hardships for their courage and honesty, and AK Muckraker was "outed" by a supposedly somewhat progressive Alaska politician who was merely out to hurt somebody who had crossed him, compared to what other Alaska women political activists have undergone, it is no more than par for the course.

Cowards in Alaska, whether they be Mike Doogan, Eddie Burke, Thomas van Flein or whomever, usually attack people they perceive to be weak, and those - unfortunately - also usually happen to be women.

Fortunately for Alaskans, these are some really tough women.