Columns

"Break out that old menorah and put on your dreidel-spinning shoes," writes Geoff Kirsch. "For eight nights you’re going to party like it’s 165 BCE!" (Dad Grass / Unsplash)

Slack Tide: Great Alaskan Hanukkah or ‘Alaskanukkah’

You didn’t move all the way from New York to Alaska to reconnect with Judaism. And yet here you are, engaged in that time-honored Jewish… Continue reading

"Break out that old menorah and put on your dreidel-spinning shoes," writes Geoff Kirsch. "For eight nights you’re going to party like it’s 165 BCE!" (Dad Grass / Unsplash)
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Living & Growing: A profound Christmas

We can be a profound moment in someone’s life.

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This photo available under a Creative Commons license shows a great bustard. These birds, especially the males, selectively eat blister beetles that contain toxic cantharidin, but because the toxin is lethal to the birds except at very low doses, only one or two at a time. This toxin is known, from in vitro experiments in the lab, to kill fungi, round worms, and bacteria. (Francesco Veronesi / Flickr)

On the Trails: Self-medication by many animals

Examples come from many kinds of critters.

This photo available under a Creative Commons license shows a great bustard. These birds, especially the males, selectively eat blister beetles that contain toxic cantharidin, but because the toxin is lethal to the birds except at very low doses, only one or two at a time. This toxin is known, from in vitro experiments in the lab, to kill fungi, round worms, and bacteria. (Francesco Veronesi / Flickr)
Wilson's warblers are sometimes seen in early winter (Courtesy Photo / Gus van Vliet photo)

On the Trails: Surviving winter is no small feat

Here’s how some diminutive vertebrates do it.

Wilson's warblers are sometimes seen in early winter (Courtesy Photo / Gus van Vliet photo)
he Alaska Range sits beneath a December sunrise as seen from the UAF campus. (Courtesy Photo / Ned Rozell)

Alaska Science Forum: The dark season turns on winter solstice

One winter day not long ago, a reporter from the Sacramento Bee called. She had read a story I wrote about life at 40 below… Continue reading

he Alaska Range sits beneath a December sunrise as seen from the UAF campus. (Courtesy Photo / Ned Rozell)
This photo available under a Creative Commons license shows several bottles of ranch dressing, which Geoff Kirsch notes "traditional ranch is quintessentially American, like baseball, jazz and the 64-ounce Double Big Gulp." (Mike Mozart / Flickr)

Slack Tide: Ranchin’ Out

“Bring me my ranch dressing hose!”

This photo available under a Creative Commons license shows several bottles of ranch dressing, which Geoff Kirsch notes "traditional ranch is quintessentially American, like baseball, jazz and the 64-ounce Double Big Gulp." (Mike Mozart / Flickr)
The author was able to look at his new watch and see exactly what time the sun set so he could get to a location to photograph it. (Jeff Lund / For the Juneau Empire)

I Went to the Woods: Watch and learn

Wrist-y business.

The author was able to look at his new watch and see exactly what time the sun set so he could get to a location to photograph it. (Jeff Lund / For the Juneau Empire)
Kéet and Oscar wait patiently to play on the beach in winter in Wrangell. (Vivian Faith Prescott / For the Capital City Weekly)

Planet Alaska: Winter words

Phrases and words to use to create a Lingít language immersion outing in the winter.

Kéet and Oscar wait patiently to play on the beach in winter in Wrangell. (Vivian Faith Prescott / For the Capital City Weekly)
Molly Yazwinski holds a 3,000-year-old moose skull with antlers still attached, found in a river on Alaska’s North Slope. Her aunt, Pam Groves, steadies an inflatable canoe. (Courtesy Photo /Dan Mann) 2. A 14,000-year-old fragment of a moose antler, top left, rests on a sand bar of a northern river next to the bones of ice-age horses, caribou and muskoxen, as well as the horns of a steppe bison. Photo by Pam Groves. 3. Moose such as this one, photographed this year near Whitehorse in the Yukon, may have been present in Alaska as long as people have. Photo by Ned Rozell.

Alaska Science Forum: Ancient moose antlers hint of early arrival

When a great deal of Earth’s water was locked up within mountains of ice, our ancestors scampered across a dry corridor from what is today… Continue reading

Molly Yazwinski holds a 3,000-year-old moose skull with antlers still attached, found in a river on Alaska’s North Slope. Her aunt, Pam Groves, steadies an inflatable canoe. (Courtesy Photo /Dan Mann) 2. A 14,000-year-old fragment of a moose antler, top left, rests on a sand bar of a northern river next to the bones of ice-age horses, caribou and muskoxen, as well as the horns of a steppe bison. Photo by Pam Groves. 3. Moose such as this one, photographed this year near Whitehorse in the Yukon, may have been present in Alaska as long as people have. Photo by Ned Rozell.
A heron stands near Mendenhall Lake. (Courtesy Photo)
Video

November brings bright sights

A good snowfall in early November drew us out to enjoy the brightened landscape…

A heron stands near Mendenhall Lake. (Courtesy Photo)
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The author isn't a big fan of atmospheric rivers, but the forest variety are very much appreciated. (Jeff Lund / For the Juneau Empire)

I Went to the Woods: Tireless thankfulness

One should never tire of writing columns about gratitude. I hope I never do.

The author isn't a big fan of atmospheric rivers, but the forest variety are very much appreciated. (Jeff Lund / For the Juneau Empire)
Smoked salmon and salmon spread, Mickey’s Fishcamp, Wrangell Alaska. (Courtesy Photo / Vivian Faith Prescott)

Planet Alaska: Salmon gratitudes

What are we grateful for today? Is it our heritage, our homes, our art, elders, our food?

Smoked salmon and salmon spread, Mickey’s Fishcamp, Wrangell Alaska. (Courtesy Photo / Vivian Faith Prescott)
Emcees, Selah Judge and Almaria Alcantra, open the community feast. (Courtesy Photo /Jennifer Nu)

Resilient Peoples & Place: Food sovereignty, wellness and healing at UAS’ 2nd Annual Community Feast

“I hope you feel a sense of being together and united on this place.”

Emcees, Selah Judge and Almaria Alcantra, open the community feast. (Courtesy Photo /Jennifer Nu)
George Argus collects samples of willow shrubs on a slope near the town of McCarthy, Alaska in 1955. (Courtesy Photo / Neil Davis)

Alaska Science Forum: A man of the mountain, and its willows

When you are a young boy growing up in Brooklyn in the 1930s, sniffing warm pastries your father has placed in the window of his… Continue reading

George Argus collects samples of willow shrubs on a slope near the town of McCarthy, Alaska in 1955. (Courtesy Photo / Neil Davis)
This photo available under a Creative Commons license shows a lawn wolf spider in its funnel web in Laos. (Courtesy Photo / Basile Morin)

On the Trails: A wide world of webs

There are wonderfully diverse ways of using silk to detect and capture prey.

This photo available under a Creative Commons license shows a lawn wolf spider in its funnel web in Laos. (Courtesy Photo / Basile Morin)
Finding where bucks were isn't a problem this time of year. Finding where they are is the challenge. (Jeff Lund / For the Juneau Empire)

I Went to the Woods: Really skilled or really lucky

My success may come in spite of my method, not because of it.

Finding where bucks were isn't a problem this time of year. Finding where they are is the challenge. (Jeff Lund / For the Juneau Empire)
Spruce tip fireweed jelly. (Vivian Faith Prescott / For Capital City Weekly)

Planet Alaska: The magic of jam and jelly

There’s a lot of magic happening around us in nature and even in our kitchens.

Spruce tip fireweed jelly. (Vivian Faith Prescott / For Capital City Weekly)
"I have a close relationship with my computer. I’ll call her Betty, as long as when she calls me, she doesn’t call me Al," writes Peggy McKee Barnhill.(Peggy Mckee Barnhill / For the Juneau Empire)

Gimme a Smile: My computer—my BFF

Let me tell you about my best friend…

"I have a close relationship with my computer. I’ll call her Betty, as long as when she calls me, she doesn’t call me Al," writes Peggy McKee Barnhill.(Peggy Mckee Barnhill / For the Juneau Empire)
(Szabó János / Unsplash)

Slack Tide: Halloween isn’t just the name of an overplayed movie franchise

Help bring the ratings up: celebrate Halloween 2022!

(Szabó János / Unsplash)
This photo shows a cauldron of halibut chowder around the firepit on a Fall evening. (Vivian Faith Prescott / For the Capital City Weekly)

Planet Alaska: Chowder season

Fall reminds me of cupping my hands around a bowl of warm halibut chowder…

This photo shows a cauldron of halibut chowder around the firepit on a Fall evening. (Vivian Faith Prescott / For the Capital City Weekly)