Don't Push It

It's official. After much debate, I'm proud to announce that Alaska will now celebrate Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples Day. An excellent idea and overdue. Still, it's strange that there's been such controversy over the naming of that day while I've never heard any concern over something else named for a 15th Century Italian explorer--our country!

Amerigo Vespucci may not have been the most prolific explorer or the first European to visit the New World, but he was definitely the best PR man. By relentlessly glorifying his own exploits, he was able to put his name on two of the world's seven continents. Non male!

So, will we remain America, or will this re-naming campaign catch up with Vespucci as it has with Columbus? It may someday, but for right now maybe we should just settle for what we've got.