20 Years: All That’s Changed is Everything and Nothing August 15, 2009

I’ve just returned from 10 glorious days in Kodiak, Alaska for my 20 year high school reunion.  I captured 8 hours of video, wrote 3 new songs, and took scores of photos.  Best of all, I reconnected with classmates and THE WILD.  I can still smell the smoke from the driftwood fires, the fish rotting in the creeks, the salt air cleaning me inside and out.  Here are the lyrics to a song that I penned with my pal, Jennifer Beardsley.  I performed it at our 20 year reunion party at El Chicano’s.  It was written for our classmates, to the tune of a certain Guns ‘n Roses song that we all loved.  89 is FINE!!!!

 

Julia and Jennifer on the float plane from Larsen Bay to Kodiak, AK. 8/5/09

EVERYTHING AND NOTHING
Lyrics by Julia Francis and Jennifer Beardsley
Copyright 2009 No Shrinking Violet

 

Shed a tear, I was missin’ you, my class of ’89
It took all my airline miles to get here
Some lost weight and some lost hair, but there’s one thing that we all share
20 years roll back with a shot and a beer

 

Where were you when you lost it?
Where were you when you tossed it?
All that’s changed is everything and nothing.

 

Too young for the bar, so we drank Luckies in our car
Cruising the road to Chiniak
She puked on your pants, before the teen center dance
Got the evil eye from Mr. Kubiak

 

Where were you when you lost it?
Where were you when you tossed it?
All that’s changed is everything and nothing. 

 

He touched me out of bounds, late one night at the Rodeo Grounds
Straight up now tell me are you really gonna love me forever
He said let’s just be friends, thank God there was no Facebook then
I was a sucker for any guy in leather

 

Enough Bartles and Jaymes’ and you won’t care what their names is
Coastie says ‘Hey baby, you got a nice rack’
You got spew on your shoe, at the VFW
Tomorrow morning your boat leaves for Afognak

 

Everything and nothing….changes…
Everything and nothing….changes…

 

Scorps had a really cool truck, but did he ever get a single fuck
Larry Ledoux tellin me what do to, and I’m breaking own my own curfew
I just want to fit in, I’m waiting for my life to begin
Everybody’s cooler than me, I’m as morose as Morrisey
I want you to see me, I want you to know me
I want you to hold me, just hold me, please hold me…

 

As I look around the room, I see the story’s the same
We did what we had to do to make it
New friends may come and go, but only you and I know
Our special strength and how this island shaped it

 

Where were you when you lost it?
Where were you when you tossed it?
All that’s changed is everything and nothing.

Narcissism. The Last Frontier? July 29, 2009

I’m headed to Alaska next week for my high school reunion, and am thrilled at the tining of political events, so pleased to know that Sarah Palin won’t be raining on my parade.

Seattle’s Pepper Schwartz has authored a biting and thoughtful blog about the Lipsticked Pig, titled, Why Sarah Palin Fascinates (and Horrifies) Me.  Let me know what you think.

……”I know women are not immune from [narcissims], but I am always startled when I see it. After all, most little girls, including myself, were told to be nice, play fair, and support others. Even those of us who rebelled and went after our own best interests usually retain some of the “people pleasing” aspects of our early childhood personality. When you see a woman who appears to have no desire to please others, unless she is benefits from her actions, it is a bit breathtaking. So Sarah leaves me quite breathless. She is grandiose, high maintenance and extremely selfish and therefore deluded about her qualifications. She is used to charming the socks off of most people (and especially men), and she has a certain contempt for everyone as a result of getting away with it a lot of the time. Her speech about “Not being a quitter” just because she was deserting the governor’s office in mid-term, was a miracle of contempt for her audience. Her desire to stay on the road and in the spotlight without consideration for her large young family, a special needs baby and a teenage mother of her grandchild, is ambition without the slightest nod to other’s needs. She is as ruthlessly self-indulgent and narcissistic as any man ever born. She reconfigures my previous thinking about gender and narcissism….”  Read more.

The 49th State January 12, 2009

Alaska is calling me!

My mom just posted a bunch of photos on her blog from my childhood in Alaska.  This is one of my favorites.  I loved my dog, Kiska.  When we left the Last Frontier, we had to give her away (saddest day of a kid’s life!) and she went on to be an official Alaskan sled dog.

Julia and Kiska in Chugiak, Alaska

And then we took on the snowmobiles. Below, you can see me on the Kitty Kat my parents got for my sister and I. The first time I rode it all by myself, I confused the gas with the brake, and nearly ran into the dog pen next door where our neighbor was raising many sled dogs who all howled in unison whenever the ambulance went by. I think this photo captures the moment before I barely missed crashing into the pen. Somewhere in my brain, I must have wanted to free those dogs. After this incident, my Dad turned the motor WAY DOWN.
Thanks for the memories, mom.

Brake! Brake! Use the brake!

Drill, drill, drill, drill, drill, drill, drill, drill, drill, drill, drill, drill, drill, drill, drill. Drill. September 18, 2008

I myself grew up in Alaska: I have seen the Polar Bears with my own eyes, and I have witnessed the ‘drilling’ of some of our most precious natural resources: young women.  I went to high school with scores of girls who were pregnant by local drug dealers before they were 17 years old.  They spent their weekends partying at the ‘end of the road’ – drinking and sleeping with guys in their 20s and 30s – fishermen, drug dealers, high school dropouts.  We lived on an island – Kodiak Island – it was hard to imagine a life outside of our little circle of wilderness.  The men were wild, the animals were wild.  Being a teenage girl in that setting taught me how to survive in unique ways – and ever since I have believed in my heart that one day I will find a way to support and educate other young girls who are presented with limited options in an unforgiving environment.  Next year is my 20 year high school reunion and I am anxious to go back and find out what has happened to so many of those young women who never left the island, whether they wanted to or not.  Sadly, this is not just an Alaskan issue, it’s a nationwide issue.  And clearly, Sarah Palin needs to get out more.  Scratch that - Sarah Palin just needs to get out.  Bye-bye Sarah.  Thanks but no thanks.

If you’re with me (and even if you’re not), check out this post by Eve Ensler, who says it well.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eve-ensler/drill-drill-drill_b_124829.html