Have you missed me? I went home to Alaska — The Last Frontier — to spend some time with my peeps and get ridiculously cold in the snow. (I have soo lost my Alaska cold-weather cred.) And just to cheer you up, thought I’d share this little snapshot of an only-in-Alaska moment. This little Asian eatery is in the middle of downtown Anchorage (which, I might add, is bustling with construction of high-rise proportions and full of real downtown stuff like a performing arts center, unlike our casino-opolis downtown thingy in Las Vegas). But I digress. Where else can you eat sushi in a log cabin? And what a name!
It’s always good to get out of town every once in a while and get some perspective. And it can be incredibly refreshing to go home once in a while, too. While I always hesitate to disclose too much of my personal life — I did not start this blog to merely stare at my navel but rather to connect with the community about things larger than myself — I will share that my trip home was bittersweet as I had to face the intimate realities of advanced cancer and what it does to someone you love. My family member is in better health than the doctors expected at this point and we did manage to make the very best of our time together. (As you can see from my picture, we did our best to give cancer the finger every chance we got.) To those of you who have sent me kind wishes during this difficult time, I cannot express how much I appreciate it.
I can see that the coming months will bring some difficult turns for me personally. But in some ways, I am strengthened when I think about what is possible with The Sin City Siren and the community we are creating together. I have some ideas for 2008 that I think are very possible and give me personal inspiration. I hope they will for you, too. I believe in the strength of our community and the heart I have seen from so many of you. (And don’t hesitate to share some ideas for projects or events you have in the comments!)
I hope that over the next 12 months we can do some great work in Las Vegas. And I hope that you can all have patience with me in the coming months if I get a tad flaky here and there to attend to my personal family matters.
Happy New Year to All!
— Emmily
The Sin City Siren 
Hey Em … sorry to hear about your loved one’s cancer … I’ve been through this with family so many times (including losing my father from it when I was 18), all I can say is I totally understand. But your response (giving it the finger at every chance) is awesome. Be as flaky as you need to be. 🙂
One note of less personal and more cultural relevance … I think the snide (but accurate) remark about development in Anchorage vs. Vegas is a bit off, especially “full of real downtown stuff like a performing arts center,” given the soon-to-arrive Smith Center for the Performing Arts downtown. I guess one could argue that development of “high-rise proportions” is also happening, if not as rapidly as originally planned, with the openings of SoHo and Newport lofts last year (street-level retail and galleries opening in SoHo very soon!), Juhl (with street-level retail such as Globe Salon) and Streamline opening in ’08, the Molasky (LEED certified!) office tower opening last year, etc … Just, ya know, moving beyond the failure that WAS “casino-opolis,” which is such old news it really wasn’t worth mentioning.
Take care and have a good New Year!!
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