News from the North

Regardless of how you feel about Sarah Palin and whether or not you feel like throwing your lot behind the opinions of someone who knew her back when, this whole Anne Kilkenny situation is pretty compelling evidence that one person's voice can still make a difference.

For those who don't know what I'm talking about, last week, a woman from Wasilla, Alaska emailed her friends a letter discussing her opinion of Governor Sarah Palin. And, in case you want confirmation that she's the real McCoy, she was on yesterday's NPR show All Things Considered.


Notably--especially from a feminist perspective--Kilkenny is also quoted in this NY Times article, which, among other things, discusses Sarah Palin's alleged attempt to have books banned from the library.

(There's already been much talk in the blogosphere about the book banning issue, but for some reason I can't my references, except this one from the blog Feminist Law Professors.)

Also, two articles from The Anchorage Daily News, originally published in February 1997, shed some interesting light on the issues:

"Wasilla keeps librarian, but police chief is out" | February 1, 1997
and
"Foes back off their push to recall mayor" | February 11, 1997

Consider this your Palin update for the day. Tomorrow I intend to actually talk about something else (shocker). Promise.

Bonus Update: Renee over at Womanist Musings found an image of the lovely button some Republicans were wearing at the RNC: "Alaska Governor Sarah Palin: The Hottest VP, From the Coolest State." Of course, that's not sexist because calling a woman "hot" is a positive thing. Right? Right.

Bonus Update #2: Just to insert some levity into the Sarah Palin debates (thanks to Feminist Gal's post about Palin for the link), Sarah Haskins, on what it means to be a P.A.N.T.H.E.R.: