Enough said.

On to page 19.

Back to pages 13-15

In any case, Sarah became an Alaskan.

And learned to read.

Wow.

Slow going to page 15.

Back to pages 10-12Forward to pages 16-18

Basically, at least from an upbringing standpoint, Sarah was pretty normal. It’s pretty clear where she got her spirit of political activism. And to some degree its evident how that activism was bent towards the go-it-alone (vs. communal) brand. Sarah appears at this point in the book to take more after her dad than her mom, but of course influences exist from both DNA lines.

The only real funny in this section was the oh-so-not inadvertent name dropping of Ronald Reagan (again), this time in reference to a family member. It seems she’s hellbent on making sure you get it…Sarah is a Reaganite.

Thus concludes page 12.

Back to pages 7-9Forward to pages 13-15

The first thing we’re told is that Sarah’s arrival in Alaska was foreshadowed by a massive disaster, an unprecedented 9.2 earthquake, on record at the time as the largest in North American history. It’s quite possible that Alaska was shaking in fear of the climate disaster yet to come (and yet to be generally ignored by Ms. Palin).

Regardless, we do learn one key fact about the young Sarah: she’s very independent-minded; a free spirit if you will. She attempts to fly and stubbornly refuses to accept the alphabet as is. And because its small town Alaska, she’s even allowed to walk the town alone at age four.

Of course in flying and (presumably) alphabet penmanship she eventually conforms.

But that’s all we know for now, because that’s page 9.

Back to pages 4-6Forward to pages 10-12

So the cat has had surgery again, the plate removed, and a new “fixation” put on for the new break. This one’s external so it’s non-permanent. But it’ll be another 6 weeks or so of kitty hell. There were considerations for a amputation so the cat is lucky, I guess.

Here in the picture I took Quark to the vet for a visit. He was confused. And back at home again, he’s once again acting like I must never ever leave his side. Apparently this is how he freaks out with the other one missing. Perhaps afraid I’m going to make him leave too if he misbehaves? He’s never purred so much ever.

- Eric Small, pet daddy

But for Sarah, Wasilla was her stepping stone. She would take on Juneau and the Big Oil monsters — from the comfort of Big Oil’s economic development post. From there, the governorship! She could tear through the political barriers and break down the corrupt back-room deals. Or maybe she simply had no idea what she was doing?

Anyway, back to the fair. That’s what’s important after all.

Oops, no, whiplash! Back to politics, that’s what’s important after all.

She did GREAT! She pissed off nearly everyone along the way, but that only showed she was good. Well, and the 88 approval ratings. Perhaps she was actually pleasing the public and doing right. Then the call came. And everything changed.

Thus we finish page 6.

Back to pages 1-3Forward to pages 7-9

It seems that America has lost its way through the political machine of Washington, D.C.

But perhaps Sarah and Ronald Reagan can fix it all?

We’ll have to see next time, for that’s page 3.

Forward to pages 4-6

Here are some pictures from the VERY short trip to Peoria in August of 2009. My Aunt’s Janet and Minne were visiting my Mom so I managed to find a reasonable airfare out of Vegas and got home from Friday to Sunday. We went to the Peoria Zoo (as you can see). I also got to see my friends Ginger, Ami, and Todd (all separately). Aunt Janet made a superb lemon meringue pie; Aunt Minnie a pumpkin pie and my favorite dish, macaroni salad, to which I added the requisite baked beans.

It was short, but packed with good memories. The full photo album is here.

-Eric Small, nostalgic for more pie

* WPG2 CANNOT LOCATE GALLERY2 ITEM ID 5270 ** WPG2 CANNOT LOCATE GALLERY2 ITEM ID 5285 *

What is interesting is how easily a democracy can be fooled. The great masses in today’s United States democracy are vaguely aware of how little power they wield. In actuality, it seems, the United States is actually an oligarchy. The corporations and others with wealth or power herd the masses in the direction of their choosing. Today this is evident under the leadership of the right and left wing nuts that are derailing any reasonable discussion around health care reform. The right have created terms such a “death panels” while the left insist any program without a single-payer system is corrupt. In the middle, the herds dutifully shift left or right and ultimately no one is left for common discourse.

Newspeak is alive and well but not quite in the form the adherents of Ingsoc imagined.

-Eric Small, literary deconstrutionist

Yours in nostalgic wondering, Eric Small