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: A Public Defender's Life in Alaska

So, today most of the people in the State got their PFD. Am I bitter? Hell yeah! $3269 per person. I didn't think I would be bitter. After all I chose to move here and I know that non-citizens have different rights than citizens. I guess it just pisses me off that I am considered an Alaskan when it comes time to take my money but not to give it to my family. When I go to pay sales tax or property tax or personal property tax or auto registration fees etc etc, I have never once heard "sorry sir, but you are not a true Alaskan, so that is waived for you". I like to think that I am true Alaskan, despite my citizenship. I heat my house with wood. I cut up moose (I have been tanning this hide) and feed my family the moose, bear, salmon and halibut that I can scrounge or kill. I drive a '89 Subaru Wagon (the classic Alaska automobile). I believe in leaving people alone, unless they need help. I came here because, to echo the words of Chief Justice Rabinowitz in Ravin v. State 537 P.2d 494 (Alaska 1975) "Our territory and now state has traditionally been the home of people who prize their individuality and who have chosen to settle or to continue living here in order to achieve a measure of control over their own lifestyles which is now virtually unattainable in many of our sister states." True, I don't believe in banning books or forcing women to have babies they don't want or saying that I oppose things that I have supported. So maybe I'm not a "true" Alaskan after all. Funny. I just don't feel that way.
I think this blog has chronicled how much I love this place and how much I have enjoyed it. So, tonight, I'm going to be bitter. I may not have been born here but I am as "Alaskan" as anyone else. Well, maybe not. The fact is that I am $3269 less Alaskan than everyone else.

Full post as published by A Public Defender's Life in Alaska on September 13, 2008 (boomark / email).