Like Most Alaska Immigrants, My Roots Continue

I'm Not An Impersonator. I've Only Got One Voice And Only Do One Guy And His First-person Essays.

It's Not Like Alaska Isn't Wilderness - It Mostly Is. But Most Alaskans Don't Live In The Wild. They Live On The Edge Of The Wild In Towns With Schools And Cable Tv And Stores And Dentists And Roller Rinks Sometimes. It's Just Like Anyplace Else, Only With Mountains And Moose.

That's What The American Odyssey Is Really About: Leaving Home. Leaving Home And Coming Home, And Trying To Understand The Difference.

The Media Is In The Business Of Finding Exceptions To Everyday Life. Bad Things Are Still The Exception. That's Good, Because Once Bad Things Stop Being News, We Really Are In Trouble. If People Forget That Bad Is The Exception, They Think They Live In A Horrible World. There Is So Much That Works And Is Right And Friendly And Warm. But We Take That For Granted.

I'm Real. I Believe What I'm Saying. If Motel 6 Wasn't The Type Of Operation They Say It Is - And I Stay At Them When I Travel - I Wouldn't Do Their Commercials. That Comes Through On The Radio, And That's What It's All About.