Following are some observations and comments from our Alaska correspondent, Kraig Hays. He took a teaching job at The University of Alaska - Fairbanks last year, and
lives there with his wife, Nara. 

9/17/2004

Arrive in Alaska at 10:05 PST, move back to Alaska time! Customs
takes about a minute and a half. Hmmm. Almost run out of gas, but the jeep
holds on - more moose sightings, through the thick, hazy smoke. Can’t really
see any mountains because the smoke is so damn thick. Everyone except us
wearing cute little white masks. Sight the great pipeline. Woohoo. Arrive
Fairbanks 2:40 AST. WOOHOO! 

… 

The smoke lasted a good two weeks, but has mostly gone away, being as how it has started snowing and all. 

Thinking about driving up to the Arctic Circle on Sunday just
to, you know, look around a little. They tell me it takes about two or three
hours. So if you don’t hear from us in a while, send for the troopers!! The
hockey situation is sweet. A city of 50,000 people, with four indoor rinks.
The season goes from the first week of October until the last week of April,
and we play two games per week (Nara plays three). Guess I’ll be getting in
shape after all. It should be getting cold and dark any day now!!!!!!

10/1/2004

Just thought I’d drop a line and let you know I’m still alive up here.
Yesterday we had a little "Indian summer." what that means in Alaska is that
it stops snowing and rains instead.

Last weekend the local junior A team started its season, so we got to see
some pretty good hockey – it’s basically about the same level as the decent
high school hockey in Minnesota - actually there were quite a few Minnesotans
and Wisconsinites on both teams. This weekend the UAF team has it first
intrasquad scrimmage, and then they start their regular schedule next week.
I have two players and one assistant coach in my classes, so I’ll be able to
keep strict tabs on the team.

We still haven’t made it up to the Arctic Circle (forest fires keep getting
in the way), so it looks like we may have to wait until spring (read: June).
Most of the smoke has cleared, but we can really only see the mountains a
couple times each week. However, when we do get to see them, they are
spectacular. I decided to skate in the old man’s league this year, so I guess
I really won’t have to get in shape after all (wheew!). There are a bunch of
ex-division one players and ex-junior players, but at least they're mostly
all older than I am. We saw a great screening of a movie about drilling
the Arctic Refuge on the northern slope of Alaska (www.oilonice.org).

 

12/3/04

Hey dudes and dudettes - what’s shaking? Just wanted to let you know that
winter is supposed to be arriving up here this weekend. It has been damn
near hot up here (right around 0 most of the time), but we are getting a
cold front this weekend that should test our survival skills. Sun up today
is officially 10:30, but it’s really just twilight-ish for a few hours. Sun
down is officially at 3 today, but we'll have sunset until 4-ish.

Cool thing about Alaska: EVERYONE has bonfires. It’s just what you do on a
Saturday night. Uncool thing about Alaska: burning everything in sight is just a part of a
larger "economic plan." You see, if you don’t recycle anything, burn a lot of
gas (and tires), and buy a lot of plastic, then the petroleum-based economy
will be much better, and we will get a large "permanent fund dividend" (just
a large negative income tax) each year. And if you waste a lot of paper (and
burn a lot of pallets), that helps the lumber industry. One of my students
actually asked me "so why do you always double side our exams? We need to
use more paper!"

Uncool thing about Alaska: everything is about ten years behind the lower 48.
Cool thing about Alaska: butt cleavage has yet to become the fashion - I
expect to see it in a couple years.

Cool thing about Alaska: everyone smokes their own salmon, keeps their own
bees, and shoots their own moose, which means we get a lot of free food from
people who have limited freezer space. Uncool thing about Alaska: organic eggnog is $3.99 a pint!

Commonly seen bumper stickers:
“Friends don’t let friends eat farmed fish”
“If it can’t be mined, it must be killed”
“Bad cop - no donut”

“Don’t abort - your mom didn’t”
“Honor and obey – it’s not just a cliché”

2/22/2005

Things you see in Fairbanks:
1) Signs in front of liquor stores saying "please take off your ski masks
before entering the building."
2) The local newspaper has an entire section for "Faith," and this section 
is often the largest section in the Sunday paper. The sports section is
contained inside the "Outdoors" section.
3) Holy rollers picketing Planned Parenthood EVERY DAY.
4) Outside (the correct term for "the lower 48"), the roads get nasty when
it gets colder. Here, the roads get nasty when it warms up.
5) Ice sculptures of bears, moose, and sourdoughs (the correct term for an
old salt who has been in Alaska forever) all over town.
6) Republicans who vote for a marijuana legalization act.
7) Democrats who vote against a marijuana legalization act (what’s up with
that?).
8) People in bathing suits getting their pictures taken in front of the
"time and temp" signs by the bank (wait for ours the next time it gets cold -
we missed the 46 below day!!)

5/3/2005

Hey everybody - so winter is suddenly gone, and we didn’t really have much of
a spring. The sun is still up at midnight, and my lovely wife tells me that
it comes up around 5:30. And we still have seven and a half weeks until the
solstice! I cannot imagine what that is going to be like. I mean, it’s weird
enough leaving a bar at midnight and it’s sunny. What’s it gonna be like when
it’s sunny all day (and night) long? But it is nice to know that there are
green things up here - we didn’t really get to see much foliage when we got
here (forest fire smoke), and I was beginning to think that we lived in a
desolate hell hole.