Grab ’n’ Go Bags
Dear Editor: On behalf of the officers and board members of Sitka Babies and Books, I would like to thank the Sitka Legacy Foundation for their recent grant which will enable us to continue our Grab ’n’ Go bags for one more year. A special thank you as well to First Bank for donating the money that helped make this grant possible.
During COVID times, staying cooped up at home led to creative thinking throughout the library world, and Sitka Public Library and Sitka Babies and Books have tried to continue attending to the social-emotional needs of young patrons and reconnecting with families, while maintaining social distancing and following different recommendations from health practitioners and authorities.
In normal circumstances, we were able to provide a monthly in-person program for families of babies, toddlers, and preschoolers to achieve the goals mentioned above, however, our new world challenged us to look for creative ways to continue doing the same without the “in-person” component.
The Sitka Babies and Books monthly programs were started with the idea of providing families with opportunities to encourage at-home literacy activities through a Grab ’n’ Go program based on early literacy tips. Our program provided Grab ’n’ Go bags every other month which contained different supplies, ideas, and directions for projects around a book that was also included in the bag.
With the monies from this grant, we will be able to continue to do so for another year. Thank you so much for helping to make this possible.
Jane Seesz, Board Member,
Sitka Babies and Books
Dorik Mechau
Dear Editor: I learned of the passage of Dorik Mechau, a person that I first met when I was a freshman at Alaska Methodist University in 1969. As most know, Dorik was one of but a handful of persons directly associated with the Alaska Native Review Commission conducted by the Canadian jurist Thomas R. Berger.
Dorik’s passage is a direct loss to me: it was he who introduced me to the Great Books of the Western World – literary works that include Shakespeare, Milton, and Cervantes, my favorite authors. “Traveling” through the times of the pandemic with these “friends” has helped me to maintain my “bearings” despite the ‘‘madness’’ evident throughout the country. Tracking Rocinante and Dapple-hack and ass, respectively, of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza – I managed to keep pace with the Knight of the Rueful Countenance and his witty squire to find new pleasures in John Ormsbey’s translation, readings that kept me in good humor that prevented the world from collapsing around me.
I have Dorik to thank for introducing me to the joys of the Great Books of the Western World. I am sure he gave as much to those he touched in Sitka as he gave to me. It was a pleasure to just drop in on him at the commission’s office in Anchorage and spend time talking about “superfluous matters” relating to books and ideas. As a St. John’s College man, he always felt comfortable with good books and ideas – that I think added to the openness of the Alaska Native Review Commission. I envy the Sitkans who were able to spend time with him in casual conversation because I always found my talks with him meaningful.
Oh, how far we have traveled in life! Oh, how many friends we’ve lost!
My very best to his wife Carolyn and the rest of his family! My best to the Sitkans!
Archie N. Gottschalk, Eagle River
