Tag: Iditarod

Meeting Mary Shields

I think on this trip I am learning how to be old. Tonight I was talking with someone about Mary Oliver’s instructional book on poetry, how reading it depressed me because I’d wanted to think that poetry was so utterly an art. Every page… Continue Reading “Meeting Mary Shields”

Envy

All day I had a red wine and dark chocolate hangover. It’s what happens when you pour wine into hotel glasses. Your sense of proportion goes out the window. The same is true about giant chocolate bars. As long as you don’t eat the… Continue Reading “Envy”

Radiant

Pink still means something to me. I know it’s not supposed to. I know pink has been exploited, used for profit and for keeping girls in their place. Pink is trite, the flag of gender stereotyping, the dog whistle of sexism, making it easier… Continue Reading “Radiant”

Stop with the Rope Pushing

I am becoming overwhelmed by extreme pluck. Today’s megadose came by way of Cindy Abbot who decided to cope with a diagnosis of a super rare and potentially fatal disease by climbing Mt. Everest and then doing the Iditarod sled dog race, thereby becoming the… Continue Reading “Stop with the Rope Pushing”

Littlehead

“Did seeing them make you doubt your whole life?” We’d just spent an hour in an exuberance festival created by Kristin and Andy Pace, co-owners of Hey!Moose Kennel, twenty-somethings who take turns racing their sled dogs in the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod. “Yeah,… Continue Reading “Littlehead”

The Rarest Gold is Here

I came all the way to Alaska to find a level playing field. There isn’t a Men’s Iditarod and a Women’s Iditarod. There is just the  Iditarod. The Iditarod is one very long, 1,049 mile, sled dog race that starts in Anchorage and ends… Continue Reading “The Rarest Gold is Here”

Iditarod Chronicle

We are dressed in layers. Our parkas are bunched up under the seat, We are wearing our new boots good for -30 degrees. My husband has twelve New York Times magazines in his satchel along with an extra pair of shoes. We are in… Continue Reading “Iditarod Chronicle”

Get on the Bus, Gus

This dog was waiting to run a thousand miles. While other dogs were barking, a couple howling, many eating slurried concoctions of boiled meat and high test kibble, and some being stowed back in their snug kennels for a quick nap, this beautiful blonde dog was… Continue Reading “Get on the Bus, Gus”

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