Ten minutes to write. Less time to read.

Something happened on June 7, my birthday.  It won’t get a lot of publicity, but it’s important anyway. So instead of writing about the birthday dinner and the various acknowledgements and the restaurant’s flour-less cake with the symbolic candle, I choose to talk about Denali, located in Alaska.

Does the word resonate?  Maybe. But if it doesn’t, then let me tell you that Denali is the Alaskan Athabaskan word for what is more popularly known as Mt. McKinley, the highest peak in North America.  The first person ever to reach the summit did so on June 7, 1913.

Here’s the issue.  Many people want to rename the mountain Denali; others, particularly legislators from Ohio who claim President McKinley as their own, block this legislation every single time.

C’mon.  Why wouldn’t we want a mountain in Alaska to have an indigenous name?  After all, did President McKinley ever climb it, much less visit? It’s not as if we’re denigrating the Father of our Country or the Great Emancipator or even a more contemporary President.  McKinley probably doesn’t make many Top Ten lists of Presidents, so I say Ohio should give up.