They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.

In the America I see from here, anything is possible - especially the impossible.

Like most Alaska immigrants, my roots continue to petition for equal time.

Mine is not a story to tell struggling writers.

It's not like Alaska isn't wilderness - it mostly is. But most Alaskans don't live in the wild. They live on the edge of the wild in towns with schools and cable TV and stores and dentists and roller rinks sometimes. It's just like anyplace else, only with mountains and moose.

People feel vulnerable when they travel. Nobody wants to be taken advantage of or talked into something they don't want. Staying at Motel 6 makes you feel smarter. In fact, I think it actually means you are smarter, but I have no hard data to support that.

Professor Al Drake encouraged me to just write the way I talk. I decided if that's what I needed to do, I didn't need to be in school to do it.