Trying and Failing...

Trying: "Going Rogue, An American Life" by Sarah Palin Harper Collins 413 pages $28.99

Failing: to get past page 121

What, you ask, was my problem? All of those pages were unrelenting commercials --

for Alaska (the stark beauty of the scenery; the bliss of hunting caribou, gutting fish for the roe)

for her parents (who made sure all of their children were athletic and self-sufficient)

for herself (Bible quotations, her determination to change government as we know it today -- Todd agreed she could do it.)

Breathless descriptions of campagning in Alaska (!) for such as: a Wasilla City Councilman in 1992.

She does present herself as exactly what any right-thinking Republican could want. Pro God, pro hunting, anti abortion, parental respect (all Republicans respect their parents; it's a WASP thing) to name only a few of the idealisms presented.

In truth, I began the book to see life as it is lived in Alaska among the settlers and natives there. Salmon fishing might be fun, but shooting your dinner would not be. In one of the many photos, her Dad is showing her and three other little kids how to skin a harbor seal! (Prior to the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 which banned this practice.)

Palin's political aspirations remind me of Jim Belushi in the "Blues Brothers" - on a mission from God! And, I would add: not.