Daily Sitka Sentinel

July 8, 2020, Community Happenings

GoFundMe Set Up For

Maytorena Sisters

A GoFundMe account has been  set up for Karen and Michelle Maytorena, sisters who were badly injured watching the Sitka fireworks on July 3. As of this morning, $8,975 had been donated to the account.

Karen was medevacked to Seattle for medical treatment.

‘‘At this time, the full extent of the financial impacts of this accident is unknown, but we do know assistance will be needed,’’ organizers of the account said. ‘‘At this time, the best way to help is to donate miles towards their travel or any dollar amount you are able to contribute towards medical expenses.’’

To contribute to the account go to: https://www.gofundme.com/f/karen039s-recovery-expenses.

To donate Alaska Airlines miles go to: https://www.alaskaair.com/miles/transfer?lid=mainmileageplan:points:transfer&int=AS_ShareorGiftMiles_TransferMiles_-prodID:BuyGiftTransferMiles. Donors will need to enter the following information: First Name: Michelle; Last Name: Maytorena; Mileage Plan Number: 145749030; Email: marvelous michelle315@gmail.com. The family asks individuals not to email to this address for any other matter.

IN REVIEW:

Local Author Explores New

Direction in Mystery Series

“What is Time to a Pig?” a Cold Storage Novel, by John Straley. (Soho Crime, 264 pages, hardcover.

If Sitka was a fictional town, it would need a town author, and that author would need to be John Straley. He is so local and taken for granted that he, and his main character Cecil Younger, are now part of the local ecosystem, mostly terrestrial, sometimes not. We’ve become accustomed to Cecil Younger novels in which thinly veiled locals stumble along Katlian Street after the bars close, all in the familiar November rain.

In 2008 with his masterful “The Big Both Ways,” John Straley took his writing in a whole new direction, through Depression-era history and to the fictional town of Cold Storage, a place loosely reminiscent of Pelican, Tenakee, and Hoonah. Cold Storage is where John Straley located his new novels, post Cecil Younger. “What is Time to a Pig?” is the third in this “Cold Storage” series, and it’s a big, bold, new departure. 

Here Straley writes a true mystery yarn but also explores the limits of the genre. He wanders into Michael Chabon territory with a bit of alt-historical chaos, takes a detour to the edge of dystopian sci-fi, and goes right back to a realism that is more real than the grittiest of noir writing. Now it’s not just the cliché dive bar but intimate vignettes that highlight the essential humanity of the characters.

We briefly contemplate the universe through the eyes of the gaunt elderly man who wets his diaper, and of the woman who cleans him up before her shift is over. We get a feel for the traumas of detention. We experience the strange way that evening hangs around through sunrise on a casino floor. Then Straley brings us back to the fantastical again, to a maximum-security prison on the edge of Southeast Alaska. A revival cult, a repressive government, and foreign agents all converge on Yacobi Island as they search for a lost thermonuclear weapon. The characters all think they are deadly serious, and they are deadly indeed, but their deadliness is that of a Marx Brothers syndicate intent on recreating a Quentin Tarantino movie in the fog. As in all Straley novels, a raven performs his antics just offstage – perhaps he is the only one who knows the answer to the title / joke / Zen riddle: “What is Time to a Pig?”

“What is Time to a Pig?” is a fitting book for these stranger-than-fiction times. Enjoy the poetry. Ride along with the plot. Laugh and cry. Turn the page. Do it again.

–Paul Norwood, Sitka

Climate Meeting

Set for July 11

Sitka Citizens Climate Lobby will meet virtually on Zoom 9 a.m. Saturday, July 11. 

The national meeting speaker is Dr. Renee Lertzman, an environmental psychologist who will talk about climate stress and creating a powerful approach to engagement and social change for climate solutions. 

The local Sitka meeting starts at 9:45 a.m. To get directions to both Zoom meetings, email sitkaclimatelobby@gmail.com by Friday evening.

The agenda includes June lobbying experience, planning for leader endorsements of the Energy Innovation  and Carbon Dividend Act, other bipartisan climate legislation in both Senate and House, and racial injustice.

All can participate and find out what to do during social distancing about global warming. 

Emblem Club

Officers to Meet

Sitka Emblem Club 142 invites officers to meet 7 p.m. Thursday, July 9, via Zoom.

Officers should check their email for the Zoom meeting link.