By JORDAN EVANS
Columnist
As some of you may have read in my article last week: I strongly urge every person to become involved in politics and staying up to date with the news. You wonderful individuals who have followed my advice from last week have probably seen that our current U.S. President will be making a historic trip to the Arctic Circle. To those of you who missed my article or forgot to check up on the news, I forgive you, but let me catch you up. President Obama has been trying to bring attention to the worldwide temperature increase. This rise, though not largely noticeable here in Alva, is vividly changing the geography of the Arctic. Mr. Obama will be the first sitting president to visit the Arctic Circle. It has come out that on his visit he will not only be renaming our nation’s tallest mountain, but he will be making an appearance on the survival show “Running Wild with Bear Grylls.”
I’m sure many people will have negative things to say on this odd television appearance, but honestly, how entertaining will it watching the leader of the free world eating a meal worm or having to drink his own urine?! Now, I understand this probably will not happen the way I am picturing it, nonetheless, watching our president running around with the hard-core Bear Grylls will surely captivate a large audience. Of course, the real purpose of the show will be to draw attention to the melting North, and they will surly discuss the implications of excessive carbon emissions.
Moving on to the other matter of President Obama’s visit, the renaming of Mt. McKinley. Named after our 25th president, William McKinley, the immense mountain will once again be named “Denali.” Denali is the original name given to the mountain by the native Alaskans. Though it is respectable to have such a monumental peak named after one of our presidents, the original name has heritage and local support backing it up. As Oklahomans, this has a special connection to us. Our state’s name (meaning Red People) gives us a connection to our land’s past and it represents the men and women who embodied it. I would argue giving the name of our tallest peak back to those who have daily contact with it is more important than the formality of a presidential name.