ASUAF Recap - September 8th, 2023
ASUAF President Cole Osowski gives a weekly update on ASUAF activities. ASUAF met for the official start of the ‘23/’24 year on September 8th.
Summer Shakespeare: Two Households, Both Alike in Dignity, in Fairbanks
Sword Fighting! Dancing! Young love! Humor! Tragedy! Romeo and Juliet is a classic—and this summer, the Fairbanks Shakespeare Theater reminded us exactly why.
The Golden Days Walrus Is Bigger Than the Chamber of Commerce
The Golden Days Parade was lovely this year… mostly. The Best Political Float prize, awarded by the Chamber of Commerce, put a nasty taste in my mouth, and I’m not alone. To some, school board candidate Michael Humphrey’s blow-up walrus may have just seemed like a fun Alaskan animal, or even a joke about Humphrey’s own mustache, but the sign indicating its name was “Johnny” made the float take on an entirely different meaning.
Fairbanks in Bloom: A Guide to Midnight Sun Fun
Summer has come to a close here in Fairbanks: so long to the days of eternal sun, so long to the wildflowers in bloom, and so long to the unrelenting mosquitoes! But, if you are wondering about the summer activities and events that went on in Fairbanks, read on!
Using Indigenous Names Is Okay
Did you know that there are a lot of Native students that attend the Universities and have an Indigenous name? The names they used to identify with are given to them by their families or their communities. I know at the University of Alaska schools; most Native students are known by their preferred name in the community they grew up in. These communities are remote villages in rural Alaska. Many of us also have an English name. For me, like any other person, I have a preference on what I would like to be called by.
Resilience
Have you ever noticed that different people can be challenged by the same stressful event but have different responses? Varied reactions could be a result of a difference in resilience.
Currants Becoming Current
The UAF Georgeson Botanical Garden will host an inaugural currant festival for the Fairbanks community in August.
The purpose of the Georgeson Botanical Garden's inaugural currant festival is to bring awareness of currants to the community, share their history, and promote growing currants. Currants thrive in northern climates, and Fairbanks is an especially great place to farm currants or grow them in your home garden.
A Sunday Adventure: Making Homemade Mozzarella Cheese with Alaska Range Dairy Milk
Introduction to Human Nutrition (BIO 120X) is a course at UAF where students learn about the basics of nutritional science and how nutrition can be used to achieve optimum health and well-being. I'm enrolled in the Introduction to Human Nutrition this spring, so far the course has been extremely informative and fun.
Your Head Won’t Get Cold
This opinion piece is about striving for balance with overwhelming responsibilities as humans and how we can prioritize during stressful times.
A Baby for One, A Baby For All
Some teams have a mascot, look at ourselves, the Alaska Nanooks, travel south a bit and you’ll find the Seawolves of Anchorage, a bit further south the overbearing green and blue of the Seattle Seahawks will be scorched into your eyes. I am a proud member of the UAF Nordic ski team, while I am honored to call myself a mighty Nanook, I have a little different perspective of what a team mascot is, and I think my teammates will fall in line with this view as well.
Magic Bus Finds a New, Safer Home
One of the more notorious artifacts on display at the University of Alaska Fairbanks is Bus 142, also called The Magic Bus, or as I thought of it when I first laid eyes on it, “That’s the bus from ‘Into the Wild.” For others who are newcomers to UAF, it may also be one of the things that leaves the strongest impression on them. Why would an old bus that has not been able to drive since 1960 be so memorable?
Dr. Seuss Day Revisited
Three years after the Covid shutdown, Liz Bolton looks back on Dr. Seuss Day in a kindergarten classroom in early March of 2020 (when things still felt normal) and the weeks afterward (when they no longer did).
A Steaming Cup of Sexism
This opinion piece is about the over-sexualization of coffee huts in Fairbanks. It goes into depth how the sexualized nature of coffee huts is made worse by owners who bar men from getting hired and allowing customers to get away with saying inappropriate things to workers without consequences.
View from the Hill, Troth Yeddha’ - Ageism, It’s Not Only for the Old
This article is part one in an occasional series about biases, what they do to us as a culture and as individuals. In this week’s edition, Dr. Kitts discusses ageism, which runs both in the old and the young.
Dog Mushing at Happy Trails Kennel
This isn’t necessarily a hike, walk, or run, but it is definitely an epitome of a “true Alaskan experience”… Last weekend, I had a friend visiting me – I had never been dog mushing before, so we looked into it. If you have the chance this winter, get out and get on a dog sled; being on that sled was unlike anything I have ever done before in my whole life.
Fifteen Miles of Arctic Grass and Rocks
June, in Alaska, is the best and the worst time to go hiking all year. Emma Corby takes us through a the ups and downs of a June hike at Granite Tors.
Art as Interdisciplinary Communication
Hidden pollutants and climate change effects are brought to light in Tehya McLeod’s art exhibit “Exploring Shifting Landscapes”.
Her beautiful collection of acrylic landscapes with layered colors aims to evoke respect for the land around us. McLeod’s adventurous Alaskan childhood instilled a love for the environment that inspires her paintings.
Cottonwood Buds as Plant Medicine
Kimberly Nicholas describes how she came to know Cottonwood buds, and their many uses as a herbal medicine and remedy.
A Fairbanks Fairytale
A Czech, a German, and an American are driving out to mile 25 of Chena Hot Springs road, the typical start to a classic fairytale, right? In this Disney special, these three come together to get a new magic carpet. In this scene, we’ll refer to that magic carpet as a glowing yellow, 1979 Dodge D200 truck that would be named, “The Brick”.