Longtime Alaskans might remember a humorous poster called "The Alaska Dryrotta" that made the rounds of Juneau and Anchorage during the 1980s.

The author was listed as "Leinad Moolb," surely a pen name, and he
uncorked the "message found in a bottle floating down the Mendenhall
River on a bright sunny day -- no, strike that, an overcast rainy day -- in
Juneau in May of 1983.

It ended up being plastered to outhouse walls,
college dorm rooms and bulletin boards in the State Legislature offices, and
some people even printed it up on coffee mugs and t-shirts. For those
who have
forgotten the words, I recently found the text on the Internet --
http://www.myspace.com/pave_the_planet/blog/505202624 -- and here it
is. Does
it still resonate, reverberate, make sense? Its debut was a long time
ago, but has anything really changed?

''Go placidly amid the rain forest and fog and remember what peace
there may be in wood stoves.

As far as possible be on good terms with your neighbors and remember
the Natives were here first. You are a denizen of the Great Land, even
if you were born in Oklahoma or Los Angeles, and therefore conduct
yourself accordingly. Respect the signs of nature, preserve the
environment, recycle your laundry and stay away from bears, be they in
animal or human form.

As for the capitol move, who knows what Willow shall be? When you see
the eagle soar, soar with it. Fish away to your heart's delights and
hunt up a storm, but keep yourself dry with Gore-Tex and plastic
sheets. Eat of the silver, the pink, and the king, and taste the flesh
of the deer, the moose, and the mosquito. Oh yeah, and enjoy yourself
because life is short and the legislature meets tomorrow.

With your rubber boots and you raingear, strive to stay dry and let
not the climate get to you for surely there will be sunshine soon.
Believe it and pray for oil.''

http://www.myspace.com/pave_the_planet/blog/505202624

Where is Leinad Moolb now? Sadly, the humorist has not been heard from
since, but rumor has it that he's up in Nome doing something or other
there. Dermit Cole at the Fairbanks Daily News Miner wrote  about "The
Alaska Dryrotta" in 2009 in a review of a play put on in Fairbanks,
titled "Letters to the Editor."

"Letters to the Editor" was a tribute to the people of
Fairbanks and vicinity who made the ''letters to the editor'' section
of the local newspaper one of
the best parts of News Miner for decades.

"Back in the early 1980s, Melinda Mattson recognized the dramatic
potential of the letters when she produced the first version of this
play," Cole noted. "The play was one of the most popular ever produced
in Fairbanks,
and it won a series of state and regional awards. She drew upon the
words of wisdom from many of the great authors in
our town’s history, from Joe Vogler and Joan Koponen to Kevin Harun,
Eva Heffle, Ron Crowe, Cleo Hensley and the great Fred Stickman Sr."

''Gene DeWild, a retired Fairbanks teacher who
came back just for the show,'' Cole reported, ''is the
man whose name is on the theater at West Valley High
School. DeWild lived in Austria until 1994. when he retired in New Jersey.''

One of the letters DeWild brought to life in the new 2009 version of the play,
and which was apparently a hit in
the first edition years earlier, featured DeWild acting the part of the
Swami who recites the “Alaska Dryrotta,” Cole noted.

So does the ''Dryrotta" still hold up today? Are the words still
relevant, humorous, outhouse postable, or has it become obsolete
in an Internet-addicted world?