I hope this article in Salon by writer and photographer Nick Jans, who has lived in Alaska for 30 years, gets wide coverage. Finally, the truth about Palin ~ that she represents the blow-in Alaskans who were attracted north by the oil boom of the 70s, settling in ill-planned towns like Wasilla, and whose vision of Alaska is a mishmash of oil pipelines, strip malls, fast food joints and highways clogged with gigantic SUVs and pick-ups towing ATVs, Skidoos and power boats,
I was interested to learn, too, that the ear-grating accent is an assumed one – and from Minnesota of all places, a good Democratic state.