great Alaskan woman

i don't recognize the Alaska that's being represented in the media the past few days. our newest Alaskan export is not doing us proud. she is a caricature at best, and does not represent me, period.

but, tonight she has me thinking of a great Alaskan women.

from Two in the Far North:

"Here in Alaska people still count, as much today as in the twenties. I would love to think the world will survive its obsession with machines to see a day when people respect one another all over the world. It seems clear as a shaft of the Aurora that this is our only hope. My prayer is that Alaska will not lose the heart-nourishing friendliness of her youth-that her people will always care for one another, her towns remain friendly and not completely ruled by the dollar-and that her great wild places will remain great, and wild, and free, where wolf and caribou, wolverine and grizzly bear, and all the arctic blossoms may live on in delicate balance which supported them long before impetuous man appeared in the North.
This is the great gift Alaska can give to the harassed world."

- Margaret Murie (1902-2003)