Getting Ready

I had my first ‘going out’ experience in Juneau. Before our staff party, I went to the Triangle bar with a couple people from work. We sat at the bar and after I ordered an Alaskan Amber, the bartender asked me where I lived. “Here,” I said, “I live in Juneau.” The bartender was surprised and said, “Oh, I haven’t seen you before.” So I explained that I had just moved to Juneau a few nights ago. It turns out that she had lived in Wrangell before as well, but she was only 12 at the time and had previously lived in Seattle and Wrangell was much too small for her. As most people in Juneau are, she was surprised when I said that I had enjoyed my time in Wrangell. In fact, after people here find out that I once lived in Wrangell, there first question is always, “Did you like it there?” And when I say that I did, they are almost too shocked to say anything else. There’s this silence on their end as if I’ve just spoken in a language they don’t understand.

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The crew I'll be working with for the next four months moved our TV cameras and other equipment into the press room of the Capitol today. The whole building was buzzing with energy – legislators moving into different offices, boxes crowding the hallway, movers pushing computers here and files there. Everybody’s getting everything into place for the session to start on Tuesday. It was a pretty good feeling to be a part of this machine, this bigger entity. I’ve never been in a press room, I’ve never gotten a press badge before, I’ve never worn a radio with an earplug. I’m nervous that I’ll mess up and miss taping some important moment of Alaskan legislative history, but I’m also excited to be in the fray, to get an inside look at how the Alaska legislature works.

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It was sunny in Juneau today, which is amazing since I just wrote that sunglasses weather is a rarity. The sky was bright blue and the mountains were radiant. It was one of those quintessentially beautiful Southeast Alaska day, which is always the best reminder of why one lives in Alaska at all.