New Idea for OBS
Shall we try this? Read this article I found. What can it hurt? Shall we post something like this in the local newspapers?
Some Mat-Su unmarrieds look for ways to meet a mate
By KYLE HOPKINS
Anchorage Daily News
Published: November 22, 2005
Last Modified: November 22, 2005 at 04:36 AM
WASILLA -- On a recent Sunday, Angela Helvey sat at the Valley Hotel bar in Palmer with a cup of peppermint tea, a hardcover book of short stories and a sign advertising a new Mat-Su singles club.
Helvey, a 48-year-old substitute teacher new to the area, isn't looking forward to spending the holidays alone. She put out notices encouraging singles to come to the bar Nov. 6 and help her launch the group.
People stole glances at her as she read, but nobody sat down, Helvey said. "I felt like a hooker or something."
Some Valley singles say the region is, if not a romantic wasteland, at least a desert of married couples and people they've known for so long that any past chemistry has long since hardened into friendship.
Lacey McDaniel, 23, grew up in the Mat-Su and said the people she hangs out with are the people she's known since fifth grade. Dating one would be like dating her brother.
McDaniel is a bartender at Schwabenhof, a small, log-sided bar off the Palmer-Wasilla Highway. The sign at the beginning of the driveway depicts a buxom blonde holding three beers in each hand. Inside, all the wooden chairs appear handmade and steins decorate the windowsills.
McDaniel has been thinking of trying to start "speed dating" here, an event that allows people to sit down and talk to lots of other singles for a few minutes at a time, to see if anybody clicks.
But McDaniel said many young locals still see Anchorage and its larger array of restaurants and bars as their best bet for meeting someone. "The Valley is still very, very rural," she said.
Other singles of all ages turn to the Internet, looking for love at sites like Match.com, where a few hundred men and women -- mostly men -- list hometowns in the Mat-Su.
"Still looking for a dancing cowgirl," wrote one 64-year-old Palmer man, who goes by the user name "boots_bluejeans." Another man, 23, from Wasilla, warned he didn't want any "drama queens or drug feens (sic)."
He might want to meet "Outdoors Girl," the 23-year-old Wasilla woman whose Match.com profile says she's a boat captain and is as likely to go to a Hobo Jim or Joey Fender show as she is to spend the night dancing to hip-hop.
Maybe being single is no picnic anywhere, but the numbers hint that things are different here: 59 percent of Valley residents over the age of 15 are married. That's compared with a statewide average of 54.5 percent, slightly higher than the Anchorage marriage rate of 53.7 percent.
"You are a more married place," state economist Neal Fried said.
The news is a little better for Valley women than men. At 108 males for every 100 females, the Mat-Su is a sliver more masculine than the state average.
In Anchorage, the genders are nearly even, with about 102 males for every 100 females, while guys have a particularly tough time in Denali, where there are 139 men for every 100 women, according to Fried's state numbers and the U.S. Census.
Some singles say the Mat-Su's biggest problem is a lack of ways to meet people.
Ryan Johnson, a tall 28-year-old, said he recently finished the commercial fishing season and regularly takes classes at the University of Alaska Anchorage. But Johnson lives in Palmer, and when he goes to a local bar these days, it's to watch football, not in hopes of seeing any single women.
"It'll be, like, five guys and the bartender," he said.
In Wasilla, Helvey hasn't given up on starting a singles group.
Sitting in her living room last week, she talked about the challenges of moving here from Montana in August. Blockbuster DVD cases and paperbacks sat under the television, and a large quilt hung on the wall.
Internet dating services can be too expensive, she said, and men online care mostly about your picture instead of your personality anyway.
Instead, she imagines a regular group that could actually meet for coffee, play games or go to movies and serve as a way for people to widen their social circle.
She said she's encountered an almost bah-humbug attitude toward the idea so far, even among other singles her age, who may have given up on dating.
"Just checking out of life, almost," she said.
Contact reporter Kyle Hopkins at khopkins@adn.com or call 352-6710.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story first appeared in Wednesday's Mat-Su section, which is distributed weekly in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.
Some Mat-Su unmarrieds look for ways to meet a mate
By KYLE HOPKINS
Anchorage Daily News
Published: November 22, 2005
Last Modified: November 22, 2005 at 04:36 AM
WASILLA -- On a recent Sunday, Angela Helvey sat at the Valley Hotel bar in Palmer with a cup of peppermint tea, a hardcover book of short stories and a sign advertising a new Mat-Su singles club.
Helvey, a 48-year-old substitute teacher new to the area, isn't looking forward to spending the holidays alone. She put out notices encouraging singles to come to the bar Nov. 6 and help her launch the group.
People stole glances at her as she read, but nobody sat down, Helvey said. "I felt like a hooker or something."
Some Valley singles say the region is, if not a romantic wasteland, at least a desert of married couples and people they've known for so long that any past chemistry has long since hardened into friendship.
Lacey McDaniel, 23, grew up in the Mat-Su and said the people she hangs out with are the people she's known since fifth grade. Dating one would be like dating her brother.
McDaniel is a bartender at Schwabenhof, a small, log-sided bar off the Palmer-Wasilla Highway. The sign at the beginning of the driveway depicts a buxom blonde holding three beers in each hand. Inside, all the wooden chairs appear handmade and steins decorate the windowsills.
McDaniel has been thinking of trying to start "speed dating" here, an event that allows people to sit down and talk to lots of other singles for a few minutes at a time, to see if anybody clicks.
But McDaniel said many young locals still see Anchorage and its larger array of restaurants and bars as their best bet for meeting someone. "The Valley is still very, very rural," she said.
Other singles of all ages turn to the Internet, looking for love at sites like Match.com, where a few hundred men and women -- mostly men -- list hometowns in the Mat-Su.
"Still looking for a dancing cowgirl," wrote one 64-year-old Palmer man, who goes by the user name "boots_bluejeans." Another man, 23, from Wasilla, warned he didn't want any "drama queens or drug feens (sic)."
He might want to meet "Outdoors Girl," the 23-year-old Wasilla woman whose Match.com profile says she's a boat captain and is as likely to go to a Hobo Jim or Joey Fender show as she is to spend the night dancing to hip-hop.
Maybe being single is no picnic anywhere, but the numbers hint that things are different here: 59 percent of Valley residents over the age of 15 are married. That's compared with a statewide average of 54.5 percent, slightly higher than the Anchorage marriage rate of 53.7 percent.
"You are a more married place," state economist Neal Fried said.
The news is a little better for Valley women than men. At 108 males for every 100 females, the Mat-Su is a sliver more masculine than the state average.
In Anchorage, the genders are nearly even, with about 102 males for every 100 females, while guys have a particularly tough time in Denali, where there are 139 men for every 100 women, according to Fried's state numbers and the U.S. Census.
Some singles say the Mat-Su's biggest problem is a lack of ways to meet people.
Ryan Johnson, a tall 28-year-old, said he recently finished the commercial fishing season and regularly takes classes at the University of Alaska Anchorage. But Johnson lives in Palmer, and when he goes to a local bar these days, it's to watch football, not in hopes of seeing any single women.
"It'll be, like, five guys and the bartender," he said.
In Wasilla, Helvey hasn't given up on starting a singles group.
Sitting in her living room last week, she talked about the challenges of moving here from Montana in August. Blockbuster DVD cases and paperbacks sat under the television, and a large quilt hung on the wall.
Internet dating services can be too expensive, she said, and men online care mostly about your picture instead of your personality anyway.
Instead, she imagines a regular group that could actually meet for coffee, play games or go to movies and serve as a way for people to widen their social circle.
She said she's encountered an almost bah-humbug attitude toward the idea so far, even among other singles her age, who may have given up on dating.
"Just checking out of life, almost," she said.
Contact reporter Kyle Hopkins at khopkins@adn.com or call 352-6710.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story first appeared in Wednesday's Mat-Su section, which is distributed weekly in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.
posted by Luanne @ 7:26 PM
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