ohbyjingo

The museum’s press release:

Kodiak Celebrates Haakanson’s Achievement

On a grey Tuesday morning in September, Kodiak Islanders awoke to uplifting news. One of their own had received academia’s top honor – the academy award of scholarship – the MacArthur Fellowship. Sven Haakanson, Jr., the Alutiiq Museum’s Executive Director, was one of just 24 scholars nationwide selected to receive the prestigious 2007 prize.

Presented annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the fellowship honors scholars who show exceptional creativity, have a record of significant achievement, and display the promise of important future work. The fellowship will provide Haakanson with a five year, $500,000 award. Selection of the fellows is a secretive process. A team of nominators working for the foundation submits their nominations and then each is intensively reviewed. Haakanson has no idea who nominated him and he likely never will.

As news of Haakanson’s well deserved achievement spread through public radio and the morning papers, well-wishers mobbed the Alutiiq Museum’s phone, website and email system. “We had 15 calls in the first half hour of the day,” reported Gallery Attendant Sarah Kennedy, who staffs the usually peaceful front desk and had the happy job of greeting excited callers. The Alutiiq Museum web site received over 300 hits, and Haakanson’s family was swamped with phone calls. “We got so many calls at home, my wife Balika just stopped answering the phone!” said Haakanson.

True to form, however, Haakanson was busy working and missed much of the excitement. He was sitting in a seminar in Homer learning how to evaluate and enhance the work that he leads so ably. “He spent this momentous day doing what he always does,” noted Deputy Director Amy Steffian, “finding more ways to preserve and share Alutiiq heritage.”

“I was attending the annual meeting of Museums Alaska – the statewide professional organization for museum people,” explained Haakanson. “I knew about the award,” he said. “The foundation called me about a week beforehand and arranged for a couple of journalists to interview me for the announcement. I also told the museum’s board and staff the day before. I wanted them to share in the excitement and to know how much their hard work and support has contributed to this amazing opportunity.”

Haakanson, who is still trying to digest the enormity of his recognition, plans to save his award for retirement. “The museum can’t offer retirement benefits. We just don’t have the money. This award means that I can keep helping my people, without worrying about my family’s future.”

Yesterday, on the Capital lawn, a group of freewheelin’ citizens set the world record for the greatest number of simultaneous cartwheels.

I’ve been back for a day, and already I’m covered in mosquito bites.

I love this place! It’s great for any vegan, vegetarian, or generally healthy and environmentally conscious Pittsburgher. Don’t worry about the selection, either, because it bests most traditional grocery stores. And I was tickled to find that instead of People or Us, The Nation is sold at the checkout lines.

_{(whisper) Pssst! If you’re hungry, pop in for a snack; there are over a dozen sample stands throughout the store on any given day.}

Consider visiting its “little brother,” Kentuck Knob, another Frank Lloyd Wright home in southwestern Pennsylvania.

There I am at age two, enjoying Kodiak’s winter weather. But what am I wearing?

In the Anchorage Press’s survey of Alaska’s “Top Ten Fishermen’s Bars,” Tony’s was rated number one:

“Push open the doors and step into the Tonyzone. Neverchanging, darkly cool for beer or pool. The ever running urinals are akin to the fountains of Rome. Ask for Wendy.”

The famous Wendy just happens to be my godmother, too.

From kodiakisland.net:

100 Things To Do In Kodiak

These items are listed in no specific order.

If you live in Kodiak or have visited Kodiak and would like to share an experience, please send an e-mail and share your ideas with the world.

1. Visit St. Paul Harbor and watch the boats
2. Visit St. Herman Seminary—the chapel is a replica of the original Russian Orthodox Church built for St Herman’s mission in 1795
3. Go whale watching
4. Visit the Russian Cemetery
5. Get a book and learn about the creatures in the tidepools
6. Visit the Alutiiq Museum
7. Go salmon fishing
8. Shop till you drop in downtown Kodiak
9. Golf at Bear Valley Golf Course
10. Walk the trails at Fort Abercrombie State Park
11. Drive to the end of the Monashka Bay road
12. Go tide-pooling at Fort Abercrombie
13. Watch the float planes at Trident Basin on Near Island
14. Charter a boat and check out our waters
15. Visit Northend Park on Near Island
16. Watch the activity in the harbors from Near Island Bridge
17. Visit the ferry dock when the ferry is in and watch the people
18. See the Baranof Museum
19. Visit the Russian Orthodox Church
20. Visit the Alaska Fish and Game and look at the displays
21. Bike through town
22. Try the public library for some interesting history on Kodiak
23. Watch the big boats at St. Herman Harbor
24. Walk the docks at St. Herman Harbor and look for steller sea lions
25. Visit the Coast Guard base
26. Visit the Buskin River State Recreation Area
27. See the bears and eagle displays at the Kodiak Wildlife Refuge Headquarters
28. Try an ocean kayaking tour
29. Drive to the top of Pillar Mountain for some great views
30. Go on a hike
31. Visit the Fishery Industrial Technology Center on Near Island
32. Drive to Roads End for lunch or dinner
33. Take a scenic air tour by plane
34. Visit the Jewel Beach at the Coast Guard base
35. Go fly fishing on one of the many rivers
36. Go surfing at Pasagshak (really!)
37. Hike to the top of Pillar
38. Visit the Kodiak Fishery Research Center on Near Island
39. Have a beach picnic on Roslyn Beach
40. Sit at Buskin Beach and watch the tide
41. Take a nap when it rains
42. Have a day picnic at Fort Abercrombie
43. Visit the World War II Museum at Fort Abercrombie
44. Rent the local video, Grabbing Grounds, watch it, and then find a job crabbing in the Bering Sea!
45. Go bird watching
46. Climb Barometer Mountain or
47. Stand at the bottom of Barometer, look up at the trail, and then say, “Oh man, I’m not that bored!”
48. Go on a dive charter
49. Go on an Audubon hike
50. Count how many sea gulls you see
51. Go on a bird watching charter
52. Rent a movie—we probably have some you’ve never heard of
53. Drive to the Anton Larsen Pass
54. Take a river float trip
55. Look for puffins
56. Rent a kayak and explore our shoreline
57. Check out Kodiak’s many varieties of flowers
58. See our local talent at Northern Exposure Gallery
59. Look for petroglyphs
60. Go to the Kodiak Inn—upstairs in the hall to the restaurant are pictures of the 1964 earthquake
61. Visit Casey the bear at the First National Bank of Anchorage (“the bear bank”)
62. Visit Carrie at Red Dog Nursery for a flower fix
63. Visit the National Bank of Alaska for the crab display (“the crab bank”)
64. Order some to-die-for crab dip at The Chart Room at the Kodiak Inn
65. Visit the Army National Cemetery
66. Find the Old Russian Well
67. Find the Tsunami High Water Marker for the ‘64 earthquake and tsunami—hint: it involves the police
68. Visit the Fisherman’s Memorial at the harbormaster’s building
69. Visit the Selief plaque on Lower Mill Bay Road
70. Pamper yourself—you’re on vacation!
71. Sun tan on Buskin Beach
72. Try some local smoked salmon
73. Check out the artifacts, pictures, and eats at Henry’s Great Alaskan Restaurant
74. See some fabulous fireworks at midnight on July 4th
75. Go on a bear viewing trip
76. Visit the “Welcome to Kodiak” chain saw carving downtown
77. Stroll Rotary Park
78. Have a great sandwich at Beryl’s
79. Buy a few gifts at Norman’s downtown
80. Take lots of pictures to show-off at the next neighborhood dinner
81. Drive past Pasagshak and see the rocket launch site
82. Go to Woody Island
83. See the buffalo herd on the way to Pasagshak
84. Visit Fossil Beach
85. Listen to Hotline 10 AM weekdays on 101.1 FM (local radio show: buy, sell, and trade with lots of opinions)
86. Build a fire on the beach and roast hot dogs and marshmallows
87. Skip rocks in the ocean—we have lots of nice, flat ones
88. Fish until you can’t fish anymore!
89. Take in a show at the Orpheum Theater
90. Catch a huge halibut
91. Build a sand castle
92. Lay down in the grass and watch for eagles
93. Get a book and learn about all the birds on the island
94. Take a long walk on the beach at sunset
95. Find out about all those boats: trawler, gillnetter, purse seiner, crabber, and longliner
96. Ask around town about a pooping moose….we have a few
97. Charter a flight and visit one of the villages on the island
98. Buy something to take home to friends and family
99. Just sit and look at the ocean and our beautiful mountains
100. Enjoy your stay in Kodiak—we’re glad you’re here!

I fell in. In January! Still a great site, perhaps for boating moreso than swimming, intentional or otherwise.

From Wikipedia:

“José Guadalupe Posada (February 2, 1851 – January 20, 1913) was a Mexican engraver and illustrator.

He was born in the city of Aguascalientes, where he learned the art of lithography and, by 1871, was working for a local newspaper called El Jicote (“The Hornet”). After a few years, he eventually joined the staff of the Mexico City publishing firm of Antonio Vanegas Arroyo, creating various book covers and illustrations. Much of his work was also published in sensationalistic broadsides depicting various current events.

Posada’s best known works are his calaveras, or skeletons, which often assume various costumes, such as the Calavera de la Catrina, the ‘Skeleton of the Female Dandy’, which was meant to satirize the life of the upper classes during the reign of Porfirio Díaz. Most of his imagery attempts to make a religious or satirical point. Since his death, however, his images have become associated with the Mexican holiday Día de los Muertos, the ‘Day of the Dead.’ They draw on medieval art traditions of the danse macabre and Native American motifs.

Largely forgotten by the end of his life, Posada’s engravings were brought to a wider audience in the 1920s by the French artist Jean Charlot, who encountered them while visiting Diego Rivera. While Posada died in poverty, his images are well known today as examples of folk art. The muralist José Clemente Orozco knew Posada when he was young, and credited Posada’s work as an influence on his own.”