CORRECTION: In a Page 1 story about an illegally taken mountain goat in the May 23, 1950, edition of the Anchorage Daily Times, the name of U.S. Navy Ensign Ward P. Riggins was misspelled.
Correction notices are a head-slapping fact of life at newspapers and, I think, one of the glories of the fourth estate: the willingness to promptly admit what is, for so much of society, inadmissible: Uh, we got something wrong and here's the right information.
In the case of the above, promptness was hampered by not learning of the 61-year-old mistake until a letter from Mr. Riggins -- whose name was given as "Wiggins" in the original article -- recently arrived at the Daily News (the Times being defunct for nearly 20 years now) and floated into the vicinity of my desk.
Riggins had written his own account for his hometown paper, The Press-Sentinel of Jesup, Ga., published May 18 of this year. He recounted shooting the goat out of season and with the wrong kind of hunting license, apparently in plain sight of the military facilities in Whittier, for a feast on his ship, the USS Thuban, which was docked there.
Some corrections are difficult to put into the word format used in correction boxes. I once wrote an article accompanied by a bar graph; the numbers were correct, but the bars were mixed up. The solution, I was told, was to republish the numbers, which had been right all along, rather than re-do the graph.
Then there's the matter of last week's "Reading the North" column on page E-5 of last week's Arts & Life section. Among the books noted was John Minichillo's "The Snow Whale," a savvy and satirical remake of "Moby Dick" set in Inupiat country, amusing, well-written and targeted for the adult reader with a taste for good literature.
The information in the blurb was all correct, but the picture of the book jacket was from an illustrated book for kids with the same title by the prolific English children's author Caroline Pitcher.
The right cover for Minichillo's novel, with our apologies, is printed here.
At least it didn't take 61 years.
Reading series begins
Speaking of writing for grown-ups: Essayist Richard Rodriguez, best-known as a long-time contributor to the PBS "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," will kick off the Summer 2011 Northern Renaissance Arts & Sciences Reading Series with a reading and talk tonight at UAA.
It's the fourth annual edition of the event, held in conjunction with UAA's Department of Creative Writing & Literary Arts, MFA Program in Creative Writing, which will continue for the next nine nights.
A number of Alaska authors are featured, along with national culture critic Curtis Wright, whose observations have been featured in Harper's, Orion, The Village Voice and Playboy. Wright will speak on Monday, July 18.
All readings are free and open to the public. All take place in the UAA Fine Arts Building recital hall starting at 8 p.m. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Here's the full schedule:
Today: Richard Rodriguez
Monday: Judith Barrington, Ed Allen, Anne Caston
Tuesday: Jo-Ann Mapson, Ernestine Hayes, Derick Burleson
Wednesday: Graduating students reading
Thursday: Nancy Lord, Valerie Miner, Zack Rogow
Saturday: In Room 101 of the Rasmuson Building: David Stevenson, Craig Childs
July 17: Eva Saulitis, Josip Novakovich, Carolyn Turgeon
July 18: Curtis White, Linda McCarriston
July 19: Sherry Simpson, Rich Chiappone
Met basso in Fairbanks
It's a big week for opera lovers in Alaska as Opera Fairbanks presents "The Elixir of Love" ("L'elisir d'amore") with international star Paul Plishka in the comic role of snake-oil salesman Dr. Dulcamara.
The romantic lead of Adina will be sung by Fairbanks soprano Jaimie-Rose Guarrine, wife of UAF music professor Karl Knapp, whose career is taking her to big parts in Santa Fe, N.M., Wolf Trap, Va. and elsewhere in the Lower 48. Anchorage's Syndee Waggoner will sing the part of Adina's friend, Giannetta. Gregory Buchalter will conduct the fully staged production at 8 p.m. on Thursday and Saturday in the Hering Auditorium at Lathrop High School.
Tickets are $45-$65; $20 for students and children. And, yes, this is one real-deal opera that actually is suitable for children.
East student at Kennedy Center
East High's Brett Lindsay, 17, is among 55 music students selected from around the country to participate in the National Symphony Orchestra's Summer Music Institute.
Lindsay, a cellist, will be involved in workshops, classes and performances culminating with a concert July 24 in the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Elizabeth Schulze, who led the Anchorage Symphony in a program that included Brahms' 2nd Symphony in 2004, will be directing this performance, which will feature more Brahms -- his Symphony No. 4. The concert is free. Wish I was there.
More information at nationalsymphony.org.
Reach Mike Dunham at mdunham@adn.com or 257-4332.
By MIKE DUNHAM
mdunham@adn.com