Extremism
Dear Editor: What a horrid sight seeing mobs attacking our nation’s Capitol showing signs of the Nazis and anti-Semitism. Here in Sitka last week I saw a young man with a sweatshirt embroidered with ‘‘Hitler’s SS’’ on the back. The sight made me sick to my stomach.
My father-in-law was a doctor serving under Gen. George Patton in World War II. They liberated the Ohrdruf concentration camp and later Buchenwald. Battle-hardened allied troops who saw death daily were so shocked by what they saw, they openly wept. Many U.S. soldiers stated that never in their lives had they ever stared at such evil directly in the face! Now, more than ever, our soldiers knew what they were fighting for and who against.
Supreme Allied Cmdr. Gen. Eisenhower forced the local townspeople to tour the camps to see what was happening there. He wrote that conditions of indescribable horror prevail. Bestiality and cruelty are so overpowering as to leave no doubt about the normal practices of the German SS in these camps. He sadly predicted that someday there will be people who say none of this ever happened.
Thousands of young Americans died fighting in the war to rid the world of fascism. The Holocaust itself was at least in part the result of the constant flow of hatred rhetoric. Our country needs to rid itself of all extremism in rhetoric and actions, far right and far left.
Mike Trainor, Sitka
Imagination Library
Dear Editor: Today marks Dolly Parton’s 75th birthday. You have seen a lot of Dolly lately with documentaries, book and album releases, charitable events, a major donation to COVID-19 vaccine development, Christmas special, and, as always, Imagination Library. Dolly’s early life in poverty lead her to make sure children everywhere had access to books. Since its founding, the Imagination Library has provided monthly books to children from their birth to age 5. A child entering kindergarten will have received 60 books from the foundation by the time they enter kindergarten. In total, more than 150 million books have been provided to young children worldwide.
The Sitka Imagination Library will be celebrating Dolly’s birthday this Saturday, Jan. 23, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. in the Elks Lodge parking lot. Cupcakes and books will be given away at this grab-and-go event. Families with children 0-5 are encouraged to come. Masks and social distancing are encouraged.
Not a member of Imagination Library? Please come anyway. We encourage all families with children 0-5 to enroll in the program by visiting imaginationlibrary.com. Imagine if 100% of Sitka’s children were enrolled! Thanks so much for Sitka’s Imagination Library board. Nicole Filipek, Jill Kisaka, Mindy Lowrance, Maribel Barragan, Judi Blankenship and Belle Kincaid work hard to raise the local match to keep the current 271 children in the program.
Again, a very happy birthday to Dolly Parton. Tune in to KCAW’s Transglobal Music Express on Tuesday, Feb. 9, from 2 to 4 p.m. when host Jasmine Shaw dedicates a show to Dolly Parton and the Imagination Library. Help Sitka get to that 100% by encouraging your eligible friends to enroll!
Kari Sagel, Sitka
Global Connections
Dear Editor: I would like to tell you what I know about the great Chinese people. Everything I need to know is part of the exquisite violin I purchased directly from China, not so many years ago. The fine-grained face is Sitka Spruce. The figured maple sides and back are either Canadian or Eastern European maple, it doesn’t matter. The complex design and beautiful tone is a product of multicultural trial and error combined over more than a millennium. The craftsmanship is Chinese. Sure, they made a fine violin to sell it. But they combined global traditions, influences and Sitka Spruce.
The English and the American dialect we use is an Indo-European language. History overlaid and interwove Greek, Persian, Roman, Celtic, Germanic, Norse, and French customizations. We can abuse our language to lie. That is what we do when we generate separatist conspiracies. But the abuse cannot withstand the strength of our multicultural common thinking in plain English.
Our thinking is a blend from global sources. So let’s keep it together. We belong to one world. It is a great world. It is global.
John Welsh, Sitka
