Tlingit elders pass on the Box of Daylight story on to each new generation. It explains how Raven brought light into the world.  There was a dark time when a shaman kept the sun, moon, and stars in bentwood boxes. Through cunning, Raven brought light to the world by opening the boxes. Carvers often illustrate the story by showing Raven holding in his beak a disk representing the sun. Today, with its dusk-at noon light, reminds rain forest dwellers of the value of Raven’s gift.

On our walk through Downtown Juneau, Aki ignores the ravens even though they croak at her for attention. The melting snow reveals too many tempting smells for the little dog to focus on anything else. The snow and ice are mostly gone but I still have to skip and hop behind her to avoid the piles of soggy dog poop that spot the sidewalk. I think we need a new law of thermodynamics: dog poop can created but it cannot be destroyed, just carted off the to landfill in black plastic bags.