Okay. So here I am, in this small room that, because it’s next to a boiler room, is somewhat hot. This is okay when its -10˚ F out but not okay when it’s 20˚F out. This small room also does not have windows. My imagination is enabling me to transcend hardship – today I envisioned myself being in the cattycombs of bookdumb – I was a monk, hunched over a table – I distinctly heard Gregorian Chant music.

So Saturday – I have a plan. I am going to wear a hoodie and take in the CD player and play Gregorian chants. I’ll get someone to make a video and perhaps it will go viral. Fame is illusive, like a moth circling the flame.

The best I will ever be able to do is perhaps become a member of the sacrosanct local inner circle – I have no higher aspirations than this. I actually have no aspirations at all in regard to this project. Maybe it is because I have no aspirations that every day, all kinds of wonderful things are happening.

Alys at Butte fire station

The local community has been very supportive of the Bright Lights Book Project. Today, for instance, Julie Cascio, who works for the University Cooperative Extension Agency, took two boxes of books for her upcoming workshop, the subject being clutter. And Sharon Aubrey, who showcases Alaska writers, took four boxes of religious books.

So, the time spent down in that little room does seem to have its better moments.

This is one candle. The other is the wilderness EMT class. It’s like last semester but without the academic constriction. The academic world does not seem to know what it has become – a world in which there are rules upon rules that one gets mired in when they attempt to learn anything. Last semester was very stressful and draining. This class is being taught outside of the academic realm, by the same teacher I had last semester, Dorothy. This is through her company.

Tonight I went with the class to the Butte EMS/Fire Station and we were given a tour of the station. There is, in the world of EMS, front and back country. This station is in front country but on the edge of back country. The place where they house their equipment is huge. I saw every kind of tool and implement that you can imagine – and many, many ATVs and swamp buggies, all decked out with lifesaving apparatus. I finally climbed into one of the vehicles – me, the environmentalist who eschews such things. And Dorothy took my photo.

Tomorrow, Pete and I are going to Anchorage on a distribution run. We are also going to help make tamales, which is a fundraiser being put on by the Alaska Volunteer Association.

The candle, tonight the one end is touching. This moth is now going to get some shut eye.

Next: 31. 1/31/20: Tough Times for Some