Eight years later, supporters of adding a second verse to "Alaska's Flag" believe the state's indigenous people will finally get recognition.
"There's a different mentality now," state Sen. Albert Kookesh, a Tlingit and leader in the Alaska Federation of Natives, said Thursday.
A bill to officially add the verse is working through committees. The verse references Benny Benson, the Native boy who in 1927 designed the territorial flag that eventually became the state flag.
The first attempt to include the verse was in 1987, shortly after it was written by the late poet laureate Carol Beery Davis, a friend of the original song's author and composer. The verse is widely known, taught and sung as part of the song; the Alaska Youth Choir sang it during the Legislature's opening session ceremonies earlier this month.
Some of Davis' friends and her daughter testified in favor of the verse at a Senate committee hearing Thursday; no one testified against it.
Davis' friend Connie Munro pleaded with lawmakers to finally make the verse official.
"I don't have many years left," she said, after recounting how she encouraged Davis to write the verse decades ago.
Lyrics to "Alaska's Flag" and proposed 2nd verse Alaska's state song:
Eight stars of gold on a field of blue -
Alaska's flag. May it mean to you
The blue of the sea, the evening sky,
The mountain lakes, and the flow'rs nearby;
The gold of the early sourdough's dreams,
The precious gold of the hills and streams;
The brilliant stars in the northern sky,
The "Bear" - the "Dipper" - and, shining high,
The great North Star with its steady light,
Over land and sea a beacon bright.
Alaska's flag - to Alaskans dear,
The simple flag of a last frontier.
---
Proposed second verse:
A Native lad chose the Dipper's stars
For Alaska's flag that there be no bars
Among our cultures. Be it known
Through years the Natives' past has grown
To share life's treasures, hand in hand,
To keep Alaska our Great Land;
We love the northern, midnight sky,
The mountains, lakes, and streams nearby.
The great North Star with its steady light
Will guide all cultures, clear and bright,
With nature's flag to Alaskans dear,
The simple flag of the last frontier.
---
Source: Senate Bill 43.
I think that second verse is a fair effort, but one that comes across a bit heavy-handed, which is why it probably won't - and probably shouldn't - fly.
What irks me about the verse is that second sentence, which I find bizarre in structure (okay, it's poetic) but also in meaning. What IS the meaning of "Through years the Natives' past has grown to share life's treasures, hand in hand, to keep Alaska our Great Land."? Either I need sweep away more morning cobwebs or this sentence simply has no meaning.
"The best buffet in city."
LOVE your verse! Sadly, it really does represent Alaska.
The gold of the early sourdough's dreams,
The precious gold of the hills and streams;
These are two lines I'd remove from the first verse. Alaska is about so much more than bling-bling, which is what the vast majority of gold in turned into. That's not necessarily a bad thing, I just think it doesn't represent what Alaska is or should be about enough to make it part of the state song. The hills and streams aren't that beautiful after the gold mines come in and alter them. I think the hills and streams are more precious than the gold in them, but that's just me. :-)
"We who live daily in the interiors cold,
well were getting raped, to light our household,
We can barely afford to plug in our toys,
Cus of the profit that's made, by the Good Ol Boys"
Because, a song is more important then all the problems of the residents. Gotta be politically correct, and all warm and caring.
Do you folks realize how much these ninnies are getting paid out of our state coffers to waste their time on nonsense like this?
If Benny did not feel the need to blow his own horn with a verse about himself back then, I doubt he would want it done now.
Maybe a better idea is to put smiley faces on the stars on our state flag.
I also vote the legislature use its short amount of time to take care of more important business than our state song, like building a natural gas pipeline with part of the Permanent Fund that would be owned and operated by Alaskans. Oh yeah, and legalizing industrial hemp. :-)