Nome Newbie
There's a new lawyer in town, apparently. I haven't actually met him but he has a blog and posted the following about his Saturday evening adventures, which is rapidly making the e-mail rounds of town. I'd link to it but apparently he's disabled the post. So here it is for the blogospher-ic record.
UPDATE: Wes e-mailed me and asked me to take his post off this web site, citing his desire to lead an "anonymous life". I've done so since they are his words, not mine, and we both live in a small town together. I've left the post up, however, so your excellent discussion in the comment thread is preserved.It's funny... I went to a lot of the same places Wes was at at the same time and wrote an e-mail to a friend the next day about what a great night it was.
UPDATE: I just spoke to Wes on the phone for a story on his new job and I can report he is a decent, well-spoken, and interesting person. I look forward to meeting him.
14 comments:
That had me in stitches. He definitely has his work cut out for him now. That’s the problem with folks like him and me: we live by the fingers but it looks like the folks of Nome will probably just give him one finger after this. He’s probably a nice guy and just needs a nice mountain man to help him. A Brokeback Mountain Man.
Looks like he deleted his blog. Give us a heads up when and if he starts another.
Thanks for the story.
If he disabled the blog, he must be regretful. Making the rounds around town is one thing, but how fair is it of you to re-post his entry?
Be careful of the words you say, keep them soft and sweet, you never know, from day to day, which ones you'll have to eat.
That comes to mind when I read this. Ol' Wes certainly filled his plate huh?
Wow. This is not the first time a newbie published something like that (I remember a female Alaska journalist penning something similar a few years back), but it is usually the same: generalizations about 'the natives' (as if the variety of cultures and their values are only one way), disparaging remarks about the attractivesness or lack thereof of the locals, and an overall tone of smug superiority.
Which is not a way to introduce yourself or endear yourself to your new neighbors.
As a big fan of Nome (and by no means ignorant of some of its problems) I'd say to him, "Don't let the door hit you on the ass..."
Dunno, it sounds pretty accurate to me. Also, Nome is pretty extreme, even by Alaska standards. It's probably a big shock to go directly from the Lower 48 to Nome. Most people need some kind of intermediate step or steps, say Anchorage, then Fairbanks, then maybe Nome.
Also, there's absolutely no question, at least in the mind of this particular Alaskan (and I've lived here a lot longer than most, for what it's worth), there's way, way too much drinking and drunkeness in Nome. It's a big and obvious problem.
Well, how much context do people have here? Certainly the new guy hasn't experience much and to label that a representation of a Nome weekend-drunk night is not fair.
I did not make it downtown last weekend but I was told from a friend who was there that the drunks weren't even Nome people!! It was a convergence of miners and engineers---Outsiders working the new Rock Creek mine---and people from villages passing through town, letting off some steam.
Yes, Nome gets crazy more often than some, but it's not to that extreme all the time. And that's the description from my friend who grew up here and even remarked on the nasty scene that Saturday.
The blogger may be look forward to meeting the new lawyer, but if I were the new man, I would says it's NOT likewise.
Well, how much context do people have here? Certainly the new guy hasn't experience much and to label that a representation of a Nome weekend-drunk night is not fair.
I did not make it downtown last weekend but I was told from a friend who was there that the drunks weren't even Nome people!! It was a convergence of miners and engineers---Outsiders working the new Rock Creek mine---and people from villages passing through town, letting off some steam.
Yes, Nome gets crazy more often than some, but it's not to that extreme all the time. And that's the description from my friend who grew up here and even remarked on the nasty scene that Saturday.
The blogger may be look forward to meeting the new lawyer, but if I were the new man, I would says it's NOT likewise.
Bobbie Burns wrote,
"Oh wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us
To see oursel's as ithers see us."
If you don't want people to write about people passed out on bathroom floors and toilets overflowing with piss and vomit, don't have them.
I am probably one of the only people in town to have actually met Wes before. I was over at Airport Pizza the other night and he was there reading by himself.
I have to agree with the blogger here in that he is a very nice and decent person.
I think we have to understand what it was like when we first came to Nome. I came here from the lower 48 myself about 10 years ago. After talking to Wes, I learned that he grew up in downtown Chicago and has lived all over the world, after spending considerable time in Tel Aviv and Hong Kong.
Wes could probably still pass for a high schooler, even though I imagine he is close to 30.
How bad of a person could he be? He is here because he wants to work with poor people who can't afford an attorney. Geeze, what an awful person!
I certainly haven't met Wes yet but I've heard tons about him and his blog. People are mad because he was so quick to judge Nome and the people in it, but we are no better if we judge him based on one blog entry. If you are being really honest with yourself, everyone had some of the same impressions when we first moved to Nome. The only error I see is that Wes forgot that blogs are public and just about anyone can have access to them. I think he realized the err in his ways when he removed his blog from the Internet. Nome is just one of those places that takes time to realize how great it is.
Well then, if’n Ol’ Wes wants to help folks, he will have to recognize us for our faults as well as the good deeds he will see. Given time, he will see the same things I did when I go to Nome: First rate people who sometimes, like people all over, have first rate problems in some areas. I wish him well; I just hope he can be given the chance to prove his mettle. Should he stick it out, we will in all probably have a good hand to have in Nome.
I hope Wes does continue his observations, even if he chooses not to do so publicly. Many of us Alaskans, as Wes points out in this reposted entry, are from the Lower 48. Some of us kept journals of our arrival. I always enjoy going back to mine to read my first impressions and compare them to my current reality. I hope the community of Nome will give Wes a chance to learn more about his new environment. He sounds like a potentially great ambassador between Nome and his friends all around the world, and I imagine he is going to bring interesting perspectives and new knowledge to the community. Good luck, Wes.
Ahh. The pen is mightier than the sword. Wes is probably painfully aware by now (based on the buzz in Nome these days) that it's not advisable to stab your new neighbors.
or, as they say: Don't shit where you eat!
Welcome to Nome Wes. You may have just earned a blue ticket.
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