| July 1, 2005 The Bramble Bush by Kevin Morford You have me at a disadvantage. I have never been a columnist before, while you have most likely read many columns from many different columnists. Nevertheless, I have accepted Insurgent49's invitation to become a regular columnist, so I ask for your patience as I settle into a new role. Since this is my first column, I want to introduce myself, and provide you with some of my background, not for purposes of self-aggrandizement, but so you will have some context for evaluating my columns. I make no claim to be “neutral,” or “impartial,” or “unbiased,” whatever those words may mean. I will be expressing opinions as well as facts in my columns, and I will be selectively choosing the facts that I present in each column. It may help you evaluate my writings if you know a little bit of my background. I grew up in western Oregon and Washington, the oldest of four children. In junior high school, I decided to become an attorney, inspired in part by reading my parents’ ACLU newsletters about legal victories in civil rights cases. I was also greatly influenced by demonstrations against the war in Vietnam. I was co-editor of my junior high school newspaper, and consider it a badge of honor that two of my editorials were censored by the school principal because they were too liberal for his taste. In 1979, I graduated from Western Washington University with a self-designed major entitled “American Environmental Politics.” While in college, I spent some of my summer vacations working in Alaska, and decided that I would live there after finishing my schooling. After graduating, I worked for a year at a frozen foods plant, and then attended the University of Puget Sound School of Law, graduating in 1983. I have lived and worked as an attorney in the Anchorage area ever since that time. In Alaska, I have been politically active with several organizations. Among these are Alaskans Concerned About Latin America, the Anchorage Greens, the Green Party of Alaska, and Alaskans for Peace and Justice. My legal practice has been almost exclusively in the civil arena (as opposed to the criminal arena). Within the area of civil law my practice has been quite varied. I have helped people with many types of matters including personal injury claims, construction litigation, landlord tenant disputes, real estate transactions, breach of contract disputes, drafting legal documents, and yes, toxic torts and environmental claims. I have represented corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, sole proprietorships, other attorneys, non-profit organizations, and individuals. I have traveled internationally, spending a total of about two years of my life in other countries, although not all at once. I have visited Canada, Mexico, Europe, North Africa, Central America, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia and Fiji. I worked many different types of jobs before becoming an attorney. To earn money, I have done crop harvesting, farm work, salmon processing (slime line), food processing, hod carrying, beach logging, photography, graphic arts, printing, and work as a legal intern. I am fortunate to have found a wonderful partner and lover, and we have been married for almost ten years now. So that’s my life in a nutshell. I have not tried to summarize my political philosophy in this column. You can get a taste of that from the articles I contributed to Insurgent49 before I became a columnist, and you will get a chance to learn more about that from my future columns. In those columns, I will try to educate, amuse, outrage and arouse you to take action to make this a better world. I do not claim to be infallible, so I am always willing to listen to constructive criticism. None of us is as smart as all of us. You can post messages to me on the Insurgent49 message board, or send me an email through Insurgent49. Personal attacks will be cheerfully ignored. As for the name of my column, “The Bramble Bush,” it is inspired by a Mother Goose poem: There was a man in our town, And
he was wond'rous wise,
He jump'd into a bramble-bush, And scratch'd out both his eyes, And when he saw his eyes were out, With all his might and main He jump'd into another bush, And scratch'd them in again. For me, the significance of this poem is that if you jump deep into a tangled subject like a bramble-bush (or politics), it might cause you to be unable to see things the same way that you did previously. But if you don’t give up, it just might give you a new way of seeing things. I’m jumping in head first. I plan to have fun with this, and I hope you will too. p. s. If you are in town on Monday, July 4, come see Alaskans for Peace and Justice’s float in the parade downtown. Kevin Morford is a political activist and an attorney in private practice in the Anchorage area. He can be reached at kmorford@insurgent49.com. |
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| Copyright
2005
Insurgent Media. All Rights
Reserved. in-sur-gent (in sur'jent), n. 1. a member of a group which revolts against the policies of its leadership. |
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