Another day at the Alaska State Fair. I have figured out how to avoid the crowds and general mayhem, in essence making this as much a spectator sport as possible.

I don’t have a traffic story today. Hardship sells and I have nothing to offer, for which I am grateful. I got going early this morning thinking that I did not want to have to deal with hanging out in a car for perhaps up to two hours. No, this is one of the worse things I can imagine. So I got going early, maybe had a five-ten minute wait before getting into the orange lot.

I got a good spot in the parking lot and continued on into the fairgrounds. It was really nice – a beautiful morning, sunny and cool. I went to the barn, filled the cart with books, and did the distributing. This was actually the best part of the day.

And if you think about it, I was productive in those two hours, and I would not have been productive, in the car, just slowly inching forward.

The gates opened at 11:00 a.m. I was in the barn and watched them all come – for the next several hours it was a sea of humanity. I did not know that there were this many people in Alaska.

I got out there and passed out books. I wore my Dr. Seuss hat and sandwich board sign most of the time.

Elizabeth, a literacy volunteer, showed up and was a great help. I got to thinking – yesterday and today, I had on hand educators who without any trouble, put literacy at the forefront of their BLBP thinking.

Then Sharon showed up – Sharon, in her 80s – came with costumes. She had the kids doing dance routines – I had thought that the kids Kupboard people might look askance at her, but no, they thought she was wonderful.

All this with the live entertainment at the Borealis Theatre going on next to us.

Inside the barn, I opened up books from the Library of Congress – this was viewed with great interest by the fairgoers. Good books, interesting and clean.

I spoke with one woman who commended us for having all the newspaper boxes all over the fairgrounds. And all the other feedback was positive.

The only hard part of the day came when I went back to the hotel and saw all the books that still needed to be cleaned. Nothing had been done, and most likely nothing will be done in my absence.

There is absolutely no balance in my life right now. I am reaching for the stars with my left, dominant hand, but the other hand is hanging limp down by my side. I am missing being at home with my animals who are languishing away – and none of them are getting any younger. The same is true of myself.

Oddly enough, I am looking forward to tomorrow and what the day is going to bring. Maybe I am hitting my stride in this most peculiar marathon.

Next: 222. 8/18/25: Ginsberg Obituary