We got bored while you were gone.
March 17, 2019 2:45 PM Subscribe
Blair Braverman (previously) just finished the Iditarod. Her fans were doing their part, too. [SLtwitter, very short story, but man it got dusty in here]
Oh, yay! I've been nervously waiting for her to finish.
That is, for her and all her wonderful dogs to finish.
posted by meese at 3:13 PM on March 17, 2019 [4 favorites]
That is, for her and all her wonderful dogs to finish.
posted by meese at 3:13 PM on March 17, 2019 [4 favorites]
OMG apparently the ugly dogs were doing a lot more than just donating to schools. They were sending food to the team managing the race, were sending "mushergrams" to all the mushers (in their native languages!), the whole thing was one gigantic hug to everyone involved with the race. Here's one twitter's attempt at tracking it all.
posted by hippybear at 3:38 PM on March 17, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 3:38 PM on March 17, 2019 [6 favorites]
It's been an utter delight watching the Ugly Dogs run wild all week (and I was delighted to chip in a few bucks to the fundraising efforts as well), and I'm so happy that Blair and her wonderful dogs completed the race. My heart personally belongs to Helli (twitter thread), brand-new to the team and underappreciated by her previous humans, who has found a home and a team to belong to in Blair and Quince.
posted by Stacey at 3:58 PM on March 17, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by Stacey at 3:58 PM on March 17, 2019 [5 favorites]
I have been addicted to the Iditarod after reading the previous post on metafilter. I read Blair's book but ended up loving more following the stories of mushers Pete Kaiser - first Yupik win!!! - Joar Leifseth Ulsom, Nic Petit and Aily Zirkle. I loved the drama and the race. and I especially want to learn more about Jessie Royer, who came in third.
I love how the top mushers all are competitive but helpful and friendly to each other. and of course the dogs...so gorgeous
posted by biggreenplant at 5:24 PM on March 17, 2019 [6 favorites]
I love how the top mushers all are competitive but helpful and friendly to each other. and of course the dogs...so gorgeous
posted by biggreenplant at 5:24 PM on March 17, 2019 [6 favorites]
but yes the #igivearod effort from the #uglydogs is phenomenal!
posted by biggreenplant at 5:39 PM on March 17, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by biggreenplant at 5:39 PM on March 17, 2019 [3 favorites]
Those Ugly Dogs are the grain of sand in the middle of a Pearl Of Pure Fuckin' Awesome.
posted by wenestvedt at 5:41 PM on March 17, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by wenestvedt at 5:41 PM on March 17, 2019 [2 favorites]
(In the spirit of the thing, I favorited all of the previous comments.)
posted by wenestvedt at 5:42 PM on March 17, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by wenestvedt at 5:42 PM on March 17, 2019 [2 favorites]
A few more links:
Yesterday's Today Show provided a good overview of what the #UglyDogs accomplished during her run. Video of Blair crossing the finish line
Somebody on Twitter said they never really understood Chaotic Good alignment before #igivearod.
-- Another mefite who got sucked into the race coverage this year.
posted by cheshyre at 5:43 PM on March 17, 2019 [7 favorites]
Somebody on Twitter said they never really understood Chaotic Good alignment before #igivearod.
-- Another mefite who got sucked into the race coverage this year.
posted by cheshyre at 5:43 PM on March 17, 2019 [7 favorites]
This is fantastic but the thought remains - why the hell don't these schools have funding for... tables of all things! IPads and fields trips could be nice to haves, sure, but TABLES?!?!
posted by thecjm at 5:53 PM on March 17, 2019
posted by thecjm at 5:53 PM on March 17, 2019
This is a great story, but I'm seriously worried about education in Alaska. Our governor wants to cut state education funding for schools by 25%, about 250 million dollars. It's literally the plan out of Kansas (and we all know how well that went).
posted by timelord at 6:00 PM on March 17, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by timelord at 6:00 PM on March 17, 2019 [9 favorites]
Well, you've got tables, it's just not enough tables, or forty year old tables that are starting to get dangerous. Maybe in the next budget...
posted by wotsac at 6:01 PM on March 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by wotsac at 6:01 PM on March 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
@thecjm I mean I can tell you why (shrinking state budgets, no state income tax, inability to access the permanent fund revenues) but I think you know the capital W Why.
posted by taterpie at 6:27 PM on March 17, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by taterpie at 6:27 PM on March 17, 2019 [2 favorites]
I am so glad to know they made it safely to the end of the run!! Well done, Blair, & dogs!
posted by Archer25 at 6:42 PM on March 17, 2019
posted by Archer25 at 6:42 PM on March 17, 2019
"Bleral" is my favorite new word of the week.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 7:41 PM on March 17, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 7:41 PM on March 17, 2019 [6 favorites]
BLER COME TO MEFI BLER
posted by wenestvedt at 8:03 PM on March 17, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by wenestvedt at 8:03 PM on March 17, 2019 [3 favorites]
Yeah.. As an Alaskan I'm happy for anything which brings resources to bush community schools which so badly need them but I can't feel warm and happy about the good work being done by all who are donating to this effort when every bit of their effort stands ready to be wiped out many times over by a stroke of the governor's pen. So much is at risk in Alaska right now and it's really hard not to just give in to despair. Whatever happens, though, bravo for Braverman.
posted by Nerd of the North at 10:51 PM on March 17, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by Nerd of the North at 10:51 PM on March 17, 2019 [5 favorites]
Quince is a much-admired longtime friend (who occasionally sends me care packages of home-cured venison jerky and copies of Mother Earth News from the late seventies and vintage Ross Perot campaign paraphernalia) and it brings me such joy to know what a fantastic team the two of them are.
Also as a fellow writer, I should also add that if you love Bler's Twitter feed, do her the honor of buying her book, Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube. It's really exceptionally great. Q is a stunning writer, too, and Googling will turn up a couple essays that are absolutely worth the read.
posted by tapir-whorf at 11:26 PM on March 17, 2019 [10 favorites]
Also as a fellow writer, I should also add that if you love Bler's Twitter feed, do her the honor of buying her book, Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube. It's really exceptionally great. Q is a stunning writer, too, and Googling will turn up a couple essays that are absolutely worth the read.
posted by tapir-whorf at 11:26 PM on March 17, 2019 [10 favorites]
I've been following Blair on Twitter for a while and pitched in toward one of the GoFundMe efforts too. Let me tell you, when she was dormant for that long time on Wednesday, it was nervewracking.
She stopped 2 miles or so out of Nome yesterday and I said to my husband, "I bet Blair's putting the coats on the dogs and is putting Pepe* in single lead for the last stretch! And then Pepe brought them home and I bawled.
I'm personally Team Grinch, but Helli won my heart. It's so good to find your pack!
*named after Pepe LePew, the skunk. Not any other image.
posted by kimberussell at 6:46 AM on March 18, 2019 [7 favorites]
She stopped 2 miles or so out of Nome yesterday and I said to my husband, "I bet Blair's putting the coats on the dogs and is putting Pepe* in single lead for the last stretch! And then Pepe brought them home and I bawled.
I'm personally Team Grinch, but Helli won my heart. It's so good to find your pack!
*named after Pepe LePew, the skunk. Not any other image.
posted by kimberussell at 6:46 AM on March 18, 2019 [7 favorites]
I can't decide whether I love Flomp Husky or Kratu more. Kratu is my hero, but Flomp Husky is a better reflection of my inner character.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:06 AM on March 18, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by jacquilynne at 7:06 AM on March 18, 2019 [3 favorites]
Puppers and teamwork are 2 things guaranteed to make me cry, so watching them cross the finish line and seeing her pet each one of them to say thank you/good job left me a soggy mess.
posted by coppermoss at 7:07 AM on March 18, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by coppermoss at 7:07 AM on March 18, 2019 [7 favorites]
I only just yesterday saw the thread introducing Helli, somehow I had missed it last fall. So adorbs.
Didja see that the reason Colbert got dropped was that, according to Q, he got into the sled bag and ate 15 lbs of chicken skin...
These dogs! They're such people.
posted by suelac at 10:37 AM on March 18, 2019 [9 favorites]
Didja see that the reason Colbert got dropped was that, according to Q, he got into the sled bag and ate 15 lbs of chicken skin...
These dogs! They're such people.
posted by suelac at 10:37 AM on March 18, 2019 [9 favorites]
Does anyone know what happened to Cindy Gallea? She scratched in Safety, only a few hours from Nome...
Also, she's 67 and makes me feel like it's not too late to take on some more adventures...
posted by suelac at 1:46 PM on March 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
Also, she's 67 and makes me feel like it's not too late to take on some more adventures...
posted by suelac at 1:46 PM on March 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
🐔
🐔 🐔
🐔 colbert 🐔
🐔 🐔
🐔 🐔
🐔
I TRIED
posted by fluttering hellfire at 1:59 PM on March 18, 2019 [5 favorites]
🐔 🐔
🐔 colbert 🐔
🐔 🐔
🐔 🐔
🐔
I TRIED
posted by fluttering hellfire at 1:59 PM on March 18, 2019 [5 favorites]
Victoria Hardwick has finished! Iditarod 2019 is over.
Congratulations to all the mushers and the doggos.
posted by suelac at 3:27 PM on March 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
Congratulations to all the mushers and the doggos.
posted by suelac at 3:27 PM on March 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
According to a tweet from Bler, Cindy G had dropped her lead dog a ways back and didn't feel that the remaining team could handle the hills into Nome without that leadership... She's still amazing, though I'm gutted for her that she got so close to being the oldest woman to finish.
posted by TwoStride at 5:11 PM on March 18, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by TwoStride at 5:11 PM on March 18, 2019 [5 favorites]
... so apparently Blair spent last August doing a 21-day stint in the woods of South Africa, as part of a Naked and Afraid episode. Which is airing this coming Sunday on Discovery channel.
I seriously don't know how I feel about this, but Blair seems very upbeat about it.
posted by suelac at 2:48 PM on March 20, 2019 [1 favorite]
I seriously don't know how I feel about this, but Blair seems very upbeat about it.
posted by suelac at 2:48 PM on March 20, 2019 [1 favorite]
Oh dear. I want to watch it because Bler but also very much do not want to watch it.
posted by The corpse in the library at 3:52 PM on March 20, 2019
posted by The corpse in the library at 3:52 PM on March 20, 2019
There’s a good-looking game called The Red Lantern coming up (cw for trailer link: violence between animals). Apparently you play an Iditarod musher lost in the backwoods. And you can indeed pet your dogs.
posted by Countess Elena at 4:53 PM on March 20, 2019
posted by Countess Elena at 4:53 PM on March 20, 2019
Yeah there's like a 10-minute mini-ep of Bler's training for Naked and Afraid where she skins and eats a snake and... yeah, I'm out.
posted by TwoStride at 6:35 PM on March 20, 2019
posted by TwoStride at 6:35 PM on March 20, 2019
Blair's audio diary was aired on All Things Considered today. 8m.
posted by hippybear at 4:21 PM on March 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by hippybear at 4:21 PM on March 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
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