Not to belabor the whole igloo thing, but...
Greetings from NYC. I am safely ensconced at a friend's house in Brooklyn, where I am enjoying the view of Manhattan and typing away on a Mac Power Book thingey. My friend's husband just published a book, "Father Knows Less" and is getting crazy publicity and doing a whole bunch of readings and signings and stuff.
Oh, and it's been a while, so just in case you've forgotten - Bong Hits for Jesus!
So a couple of days ago I was pleased to note the entire lack of igloo-related questions posed by family members. Not something to opine about every day, but it gets revisited once in a while when I am down here in the Lower 48 and the insta-Alaskan celebrity.
Sooooo. I was watching late night television, cable in fact, when I paused from desperately flipping through channels in search of anything worth watching (hello, Deirdre!) I happened upon some new late night talk show called "Chelsea Lately."
Don't ask, okay?
So, her guest was a young woman in a rather revealing red dress associated with the Playboy empire - I tuned in midway through the segment and it was pretty late, so that's all I know. But the woman, who I assume worked at the Hefner mansion, grew up in Ketchikan, in fact. (I'll refer to her as the Playboy Chick or PBC.) And the PBC mentioned that she had vacationed with her coworkers in Alaska, but that "Heff" (presumably Hefner) hadn't gone. And the host asked, "What? Is he afraid of Eskimos?" And suddenly they were discussing Alaska. So the conversation turned to Alaska, dirt roads, nice place to be from, etc, etc. Usual stuff. But then the million dollar question came from the host.
How is global warming affecting the igloos? She was very concerned about the status of igloos due to global warming. And given how little a lot of folks know about AK, ya know, not surprising.
But the poor former Ketchikan chick - clearly, this was not a topic she had considered. So she gave it her best shot as an impromptu Alaskan ambassador and went the logical route, confirming that indeed, global warming is a problem for the igloos.
Man, I better notify some friends out on the coast - they'll be bummed to hear that their igloos are at risk.
6 comments:
At risk? Mine have already melted!
Look, there's going to be a serious housing shortage in Alaska in the next few years. We're already seeing it here in Ester, where no one--and I mean NO one--has been able to build their winter abodes yet. NO SNOW! can you believe it? Maybe igloos are a waning fashion down in the southlands, but up here in the Interior they are a mainstay of the winter construction season. My husband, who is in the construction trade, is going to be out of work this winter the way this is going. And he's not the only one--we're seeing carpenters and other builders frantically working all hours this fall because they can tell there won't be any work this winter, or at least, not enough to go around.
There's going to be a serious downturn in the building industry this fall, you mark my words.
You guys rock.
But we need outrage. We need to start a "Save the Igloos" campaign. I'm thinking picketing, bumperstickers, and maybe an "Ice-In."
Any takers?
Hmm. This would have made a great editorial...too bad I used that space for the Ester Chamber of Commerce.
But hey, why not just ship up those new-fangled snow-making machines. I bet we could get the Department of Dorkland Security to requisition 'em on behalf of ol' Uncle Ted, declare a national emergency, you know.
Those southerners can ski on kudzu chips.
It's always fun telling Alaska stories to folks down here in Oz... They have NO concept of a real winter, and, yes, you can convince them we all live in igloos and mush to work :)
Damn. What with Uncle Ted's (and the rest of our sorry ass delegation's) apparent legal woes, we are going to lose our chance at a snow-making machine for the igloos earmark.
I mean, it's gonna costs MILLIONS to make enough snow to keep the igloos from melting.
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