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Aggressive deportation policies, like those that have been enacted since President Donald Trump's inauguration, tear families apart - including elders and the family caregivers they depend upon. Since 1980, the share of households headed by an immigrant has doubled (from 7 percent to 14 percent in 2012). In 2009, 16 percent of households headed by an immigrant were multi-generational, compared with 10 percent of households with a U.S.-born head. Many immigrant and refugee elders depend on their...
We used to have two cars until a few years ago when the 1992 Dodge Grand Caravan suddenly made loud clunking noises and stopped running – forever. On the one hand we were sad to see her go. My wife and I had lots of shared memories about taking the “red rocket” on camping trips around Alaska, and even a three-month car-camping excursion down the Alcan and around the western half of the United States. On the other hand, two cars for two people seemed a bit excessive. We could save thousands of dollars a year by sharing a single car. Lower...
Four small cannons in Sitka, which started out in Unalaska, stand in testimony to Alaska's occupation by Russia and the subsequent transfer of Alaska to America 150 years ago. The Northern Commercial Company in Unalaska donated the cannons to the state of Alaska two years after statehood. The artifacts date back to the 1700s, when Lord Baranof ruled Alaska for Russia as its manager and governor. The antique guns, made of bronze, weighed about 500 pounds each and had the date 1723 stamped on...
For over 50 years, L.Q. Jones was a familiar supporting character actor in some 100 films and hundreds more television shows. Lanky, tough and athletic, he could tackle any role although was often cast as the 'heavy' in westerns and dramas, projecting the 'bad guy' image with merely a sinister smirk or a menacing twinkle in the eye. Jones turned 90 on Aug. 19, and two days later hosted a showing of "The Wild Bunch" at Grauman's (now the TCL) Chinese Theatre. Born and raised in Texas as Justus...
It used to be a rare thing to meet someone who worked from home and actually made a decent income. Some people say they could never do it. They’re not self-starters. They can’t deal with the distractions. They’d feel like they were always at work. Then there are people who work from home, for an employer or for themselves, and never want to “go to work” again. Who actually works at home? In 2015, only about 3 percent of workers, or 4 million people, worked from home. As millennials swarm the workforce and always talk about work-life balance,...
Let me tell you a story. I promise I will eventually flounder my way to a relevant point. A few years back, on a cold winter day, I was out walking my dogs. At one point the boy dog suddenly began pulling in one direction, and the girl dog in the other. It caught me off guard, and I happened to be standing right on an icy spot. My feet went out from under me, and with both hands tied to the leashes, I was unable to get a hand down to break my fall. I went down hard. The next day, realizing that...
Q. A few months ago I used my email address to gain access to a website. It turned out I was not interested in the site, but I am still flooded with junk email from the site despite using the “Unsubscribe” link. Is there anything else I can do? A. Sadly some companies are more lax than others when it comes to respecting your email privacy. If a company fails to honor an “unsubscribe” link, your options are limited. Stop clicking unsubscribe and just delete the message without opening it. Mark it as spam or create a mail filter rule that se...
Editor's note: This article is part of a monthly series from the Diverse Elders Coalition, focusing on different segments of the senior population. My grandfather passed through the Golden Gate - where the Golden Gate Bridge would later be constructed - in October 1903. He arrived in the time between the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Immigration Act of 1924. By 1924, the U.S. government had completely blocked the immigration of people it deemed undesirable, including Asians, Arabs,...
My column has been AWOL for the last couple of issues, and I apologize. I became one of the “walking wounded” in early June after a fall which broke my right arm. Despite having an extensive workplace safety enforcement background, I willfully and stupidly violated the three points of contact rule by not using the hand rails. My fall broke my right arm and rendered me incapable of independent living for several weeks. This article isn’t about my injury, which is healing, and I expect to be at...
Our lives with our animal companions are defined by rituals. Here are a few that have taken place in our home: Monkey barks every morning as soon as we wake up and continues until breakfast; Blue begins silently commanding us to bed at 9 p.m. every night – staring at us as he moves toward the bedroom; Elsie meows for the bathroom faucet to be turned on so she can sip water from the running stream. Some of these rituals still happen, others ended years ago with the passing of that animal, and o...
Enterprising newsmen published the first issue of the Yukon Press in March 1898. The 14-page effort shared the news of the day from St. Michael to the upper Yukon. With the discovery of gold along Interior rivers and in the Klondike region, thousands of stampeders flooded into the wilderness of Alaska looking for their pot of gold. Circle City, located about 160 miles northeast of present-day Fairbanks, got its start in 1894 as the supply center for the Circle Mining District 50 miles to the...
The list of actors with whom Barbara Rush shared the big screen is impressive. "I did work with a lot of interesting and talented men," said Ms. Rush from Los Angeles. "And actresses, too, such as Jane Wyman. I found the nicest people were actually the biggest stars because they were all so gracious and helpful." Just considering 1958's "The Young Lions," she worked alongside Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift and Dean Martin. "It was a serious war film, but Dean still made me laugh – a lovely m...
Remember 1987? If you lived here in Alaska, you might remember that it was the absolute nadir of the recession. Oil prices had dropped, jobs had gone away, houses had been abandoned. Generally speaking, it was not a good time and place to start a career. But there I was, fresh out of law school and returning to my hometown. Growing up and going to college here in Anchorage, this had been an exciting boomtown. In the three years I was gone, it had become more like a ghost town. If you’re an a...
Q. My family is spread all over the country, but we keep in touch on Facebook. Do you have any suggestions for things we could do online together? A. My mother, who will turn 80 next year, used Facebook to help her create the ultimate family photo album. Once a week she would select an old family photo and upload it to Facebook. Uploading is easier than ever, since smartphone cameras can digitize images as well as scanners once did. Once online, she would caption the image to identify who was in it, where they were, the date, and any other...
Editor, I read your July edition. As usual, there were many articles on Medicare, most apparently talking down to recipients. Have you ever considered an article from the recipients’ viewpoint? First off, please remember that most of the people enrolled in Medicare pay premiums for Medicare and D and Supplements. Medicare is not free. Are statistics available on the total paid to Medicare? Supplements are quite expensive but they must be profitable to insurance companies or the companies would not offer them. Often, medical practitioners s...
This is an ongoing series from the Diverse Elders Coalition, looking at different segments of the senior population. Hispanics and Latinos make up the fastest-growing demographic of the U.S. population. In 2015, the Hispanic population reached 56.6 million, making Hispanics the nation’s largest ethnic/racial minority, constituting 17.6 percent of the US population. It is projected that by 2060, the Hispanic population will reach 119 million, or 28.6 percent of the U.S. population. In addition to rapid population growth, Hispanics and Latinos a...
A pachyderm named Annabelle, who became prolific with a paintbrush and easel, is responsible for the creation of the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage. It all started when Jack Snyder saw a tongue-in-cheek come-on for a Chiffon toilet paper contest for grocers in 1966. The Crown Zellerbach company ad announced: "$3,000 or a baby elephant" to the winner. The Anchorage grocer won the contest. Snyder then startled the tissue paper executives when he said, "I'll take the elephant." One can just imaging the...
Whether singing her own words or those of others, the sublime vocal talent of pop/folk singer Judy Collins has been drawing audiences for over 50 years. But it almost never happened. "I contracted polio as a child and later tuberculosis when I was in my early 20s," recalled Collins from her home in New York. "My school teachers told me I was suffering from growing pains but when I was around 11 and the pain became severe, I went to the doctor who said I had polio. Of course, there was an...
“I’m just gonna leave everything to Bubba,” says the gent across from me. “That's certainly doable,” I tell him. “But what's the reason you’re disinheriting your other kids?” “I’m not really disinheriting them,” he says. “Johnnie has some alcohol problems. Dolly is fine, but if her no-good husband gets his hands on the money, he’ll spend it all. So I’ll just leave it all to Bubba, and he’ll take care of the other kids.” “So... when you say you’re leaving it to him, I take it you mean, he’ll b...
Q. How do I dispose of a smartphone? A. These guidelines apply to most electronic devices, everything from smartphones to PCs. There are two concerns, protecting your privacy and proper recycling. If the device is only a few years old and still operates, you could sell it, extend its life by passing it along to a family member, or donate it to a charitable organization. The longer the device can be used, the less impact there is on the environment. Eventually, every smartphone reaches the end of its useful life. No matter what, do not d...
Despite the fact that this bill has over 100 Congressional co-sponsors, you probably have not heard about H.R. 676, The Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act. This legislation would: • guarantee access to comprehensive, high quality, affordable health care to all U.S. residents; • allow you to go to doctors and hospitals of your choice (unlike private insurance, which often forces you to use their list of doctors and hospitals); • not require you to pay copayments or deductibles; • not surprise you with huge unexpected medical bills....
Editor's note: This is the eighth article in a series from the Diverse Elders Coalition, looking at different segments of the senior population. I don't let cold weather stand between me and exercise. I enjoy pulling on my cleated hiking boots, grabbing my walking sticks and taking a brisk walk on an icy sand beach on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. It does something for my spirit. I can enjoy it now at age 73 because I have the muscle mass and tone to extend myself. I can actually work up a sweat! I...
Baseball has long been a staple of summers in Alaska. And when Anchorage baseball fans wanted a semi-pro team in 1969, they knew they could count on George "Lefty" Van Brunt to coach the boys of summer from the first base side of the plate. Lefty's career with the Anchorage Glacier Pilots began that year when the Anchorage Community got serious about baseball because the adult league's all-star team could never beat the Fairbanks team. "The Gold Panners used to come down and kick our butts,"...
Best known for her roles in musical theater, Tony-nominated actress and singer Susan Watson released a collection of 14 Broadway and jazz standards on her CD "The Music Never Ends" last fall. "Some of these tracks I had sung earlier in my career and others I had always heard and loved, and just wanted to get them recorded," said Watson from her home in Sherman Oaks, California (see www.susanwatsonmusic.com). As an added bonus, says Watson, six of the songwriters on the CD were women well into th...
I grew up in the '70s. Back then, young people tended to sow their wild oats fairly indiscriminately. Sometimes, one of those wild oats sprouted. Those of you with grayer hair than mine, or at least with a good historical perspective, might point out that this sort of thing has been going on since... well, probably since the dawn of time. Even the Old Testament is complete with such stories (think Bathsheba). "Les Miserables" is based on such a sad tale. But back then, before the sexual...
