For Alumni and Friends of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Fall

For alumni and friends of the University of Alaska Fairbanks

fall 2013 Letters Energy Civilization, spring 2013: The spring Aurora I just received my copy of another Well written, interesting, but limited. knocked my alumni magazine from another of my Alaska has put all its economic chips socks off! It’s alma maters, and I was reminded that I on oil and has become almost totally terrific, from had intended to let you know how much dependent on the oil industry’s the graphics I enjoyed the latest copy of the Aurora. I efforts. But with the oil and natural to the subject liked the format and the diverse articles. gas boom in the Lower 48, and the matter to I especially enjoyed the article president talking about the U.S. soon its diversity. about the Equinox marathon at 50 becoming a net exporter of energy, the With the even though I was reminded of how companies are increasingly questioning emphasis on old I am becoming. In the fall of 1963 the economic value of continuing the journalism in Alaska today and in I was a freshman at UA[F]. I heard costly investments in Alaska when there the past, it is of itself a prime example of about the marathon on campus and, are much less expensive and easily all that is best in communication. I was unencumbered by training, I decided produced sources available. As matters co-editor of the then Polar Star in the to give it a try. Wearing old tennis shoes now stand, if the oil companies were to early ’60s, and a half-time reporter for and carrying my lunch in a paper bag cut back drastically, Alaska’s economy Jessens Weekly Newspaper, a far cry from I started out. It took me about eight would probably collapse. Unlike other the publications today. The Starvation hours to reach the finish line. I walked producing states — Texas, say — Alaska Gulch article with the wonderful King the whole distance. I remember that it has made no effort to diversify its Neptune burning pile brought back was a glorious fall day with that oblique economy. Any discussion of energy and those great years, not just of activity sunlight that is so characteristic of Alaska should acknowledge that over booths but of the pretty, long-legged Alaska. I was happy to be in Alaska and the past several decades, Alaska has gals doing the traditional cancan. Kudos. embarking on new adventures. built a one-horse economy. Mary Halm Writer, ’64 After I read your article and realized what a groundbreaking event the John Coyne, ’61 Note from editor: We liked your marathon is, I found my patch and description so much, Mary, we’ve sewed it to my jean jacket. incorporated it into Aurora’s mission I hope to impress my statement “…In short, Aurora should friends as well as knock your socks off.” Thanks for the connect with perfect words. former Alaskans. Thank you for helping me remember this event and my part in it. Cathy Trost Wiggins, ’67

University of alaska UF A Alumni Association Board of Directors, 2013 - 2014 Aurora magazine Opinions expressed are The University of Alaska Fairbanks those of the authors and Fairbanks is accredited by President Board members M anaging Editor do not necessarily reflect the Northwest Commission Chancellor Jim Dixon, ’90, ’91 Bill Abbott, ’98, ’00 Kim Davis official positions of the on Colleges and Universities. Brian Rogers [email protected] [email protected] University of Alaska UAF is an affirmative action/ Michael Campbell, ’04, ’05 Creative Director Fairbanks. equal opportunity employer Vi ce Chancellor for Vi ce President [email protected] Darcy Harrod, ’10 and educational institution. University and Student Wayne Donaldson, ’80 Send comments or letters Advancement Teresa Flores, ’03 E ditor [email protected] [email protected] to the editor to aurora. UAF photos by Todd Paris Mike Sfraga, ’84, ’97 Tori Tragis, ’94, ’99 Lisa Gentry, ’04 [email protected] unless otherwise noted. S ecretary or to P.O. Box 757505, Class notes photos D irector of Marketing [email protected] Dani Bickford, ’06 D esigners Fairbanks, AK 99775, or provided by alumni and Communications Jason Gootee, ’06 [email protected] Phil Raymond call 907-474-6726. We unless otherwise noted. Michelle Renfrew, ’98 [email protected] T reasurer Andrea Swingley reserve the right to edit Produced by Marketing and Heath Hilyard, ’96 for grammar and length. Communications. 09/2013 Sam Enoka, ’95 [email protected] Photo Manager Visit us on the web at [email protected] Chad Hutchison, ’02 Todd Paris, ’83 www.uaf.edu/aurora/. [email protected] Eei x cut ve Director Rhonda Widener, ’01 We b Designers Joe Hayes, ’97 [email protected] Jenn Baker, ’02 [email protected] Sherrie Roberts, ’07 Volume 6 No. 1 Published twice a year for alumni and friends of the University of Alaska Fairbanks

Spheres of inﬂ uence The ﬁ rst ascent of Denali: Chasing the legacy By Todd Paris By eresa Bakker Art major Ian Wilkinson, ’13, A century ago, climbers reached used the beauty of 1,200 the summit of Mount McKinley for the rst time. e memories and bowls to spotlight the ugliness mementos of that achievement have of hunger. been carefully preserved and are now part of a retrospective at the UA Museum of the North.

Dust devil By Tori Tragis Dust clouds from unpaved roads and runways are more than a gritty nuisance — they’re a safety hazard and health risk, and when too much dust oats away, it means expensive repairs, especially in rural Alaska. Can anything be done?

Being Nanook By LJ Evans What’s it like inside the bear suit?

Perfect present By Curtis Rogers A hockey stick is usually used for scoring and slapshots, but it can also be a symbol of healing and love.

Teach me By Jamie Hallberg A young student teacher struggles to nd the balance between being the 18 teacher and being taught, but just when she thinks she’s about to fall, her 10 students help steady her. Departments Full Frame Nanook Nook 24 Class notes/In memoriam Story and photos by Todd Paris Spheres of Inﬂ uence

he bowls are laid out in tight rows on the oor and covered with sheets of 10 months. Plexiglas. Interspersed on top of the Tglass are ve large pots 4 to 5 feet tall, stu ed to over owing with rice. Sprinkled in the 1,200 bowls below are just a few grains of rice, 3,000 pounds of clay. or none at all. Walking on top of the bowls represents the disparity between them. “When you walk on it you can hear and 1,200 bowls exactly the same height. feel the changes as the bowls adjust to your weight,” senior art student Ian Wilkinson says. “Your gravity is absorbed by their strength. e idea just came to me, kind of in a giant tsunami wave, of being able to make this tier system of economic inequality where the less fortunate population below can’t get past this ceiling, which is a glass oor to the privileged few above.” e installation ful lled the requirement of a senior thesis for the work is where his physical training paid o . “I’ve been on the cross “ e whole reason I chose pottery as a concentration is because it Wilkinson’s bachelor of ne arts degree (he graduated in May 2013), country ski team for ve years, and we have to train for an outrageous o en has a function behind it,” Wilkinson explains. “O entimes that but the artist and student-athlete had other ambitions for it. “I number of hours. It takes months of training to get where you want to function is to nourish people by serving as a vessel to hold food.” thought, why don’t I use my project to try to demonstrate that you be in order to compete, so I looked at this the same way. By … keeping “I’ll always have a wheel at my back door,” he promises. “Always. I Why don’t I“ use my project can do something more meaningful with your art than just showing a regimen and discipline and working on it no more than four hours a plan to continue making functional pottery for people to use to make to try to demonstrate that it o ? It’s more meaningful to me to remind everyone that there is a day, I was able to stay focused, keep my wits about me, stay consistent their days better. I’m never going to give it up.” you can do something more struggle in our own community, and around the world, and you can do and maintain my technique.” meaningful with your art than Todd Paris, ’ , is the campus photographer for Marketing and Communi- something about it.” Wilkinson donated the bowls to the Fairbanks Community Food cations. You can see more of his work at http://parispub.smugmug.com. just showing it o ? Wilkinson got to the point where he could throw up to 30 bowls an Bank, where they were sold for $15 each as a fundraiser. In less than Watch Ian Wilkinson at work at www.uaf.edu/aurora/. hour. Each bowl had to be bisque- red, glazed and then kiln- red, a an hour, the 1,200 bowls were gone and $18,000 raised to help combat process that took days for each batch. e repetition and monotony of hunger in Fairbanks. This project was made possible by an Undergraduate Research and Scholarly Activity award. ”

Seeing human hands and ﬂ esh “helped carry the viewers’ eyes up o the ﬂ oor and helped establish the relationship with the whole hunger issue.

4 aurora | fall 2013 ” e installation ful lled the requirement of a senior thesis for the work is where his physical training paid o . “I’ve been on the cross “ e whole reason I chose pottery as a concentration is because it Wilkinson’s bachelor of ne arts degree (he graduated in May 2013), country ski team for ve years, and we have to train for an outrageous o en has a function behind it,” Wilkinson explains. “O entimes that but the artist and student-athlete had other ambitions for it. “I number of hours. It takes months of training to get where you want to function is to nourish people by serving as a vessel to hold food.” thought, why don’t I use my project to try to demonstrate that you be in order to compete, so I looked at this the same way. By … keeping “I’ll always have a wheel at my back door,” he promises. “Always. I Why don’t I“ use my project can do something more meaningful with your art than just showing a regimen and discipline and working on it no more than four hours a plan to continue making functional pottery for people to use to make to try to demonstrate that it o ? It’s more meaningful to me to remind everyone that there is a day, I was able to stay focused, keep my wits about me, stay consistent their days better. I’m never going to give it up.” you can do something more struggle in our own community, and around the world, and you can do and maintain my technique.” meaningful with your art than Todd Paris, ’ , is the campus photographer for Marketing and Communi- something about it.” Wilkinson donated the bowls to the Fairbanks Community Food cations. You can see more of his work at http://parispub.smugmug.com. just showing it o ? Wilkinson got to the point where he could throw up to 30 bowls an Bank, where they were sold for $15 each as a fundraiser. In less than Watch Ian Wilkinson at work at www.uaf.edu/aurora/. hour. Each bowl had to be bisque- red, glazed and then kiln- red, a an hour, the 1,200 bowls were gone and $18,000 raised to help combat process that took days for each batch. e repetition and monotony of hunger in Fairbanks. This project was made possible by an Undergraduate Research and Scholarly Activity award. ”

Seeing human hands and ﬂ esh “helped carry the viewers’ eyes up o the ﬂ oor and helped establish the relationship with the whole hunger issue.” Photo courtesy of Hudson Stuck’s book The Ascent of Denali. 6 aurora | fall 2013 | fall and Walter Harper. Johnny Fredson Karstens, Harry Esaias George, my life.” in red letter abig “Today stands , June dated :

Robert Tatum, Hudson Stuck. Tatum’s journal, UAF photo by Theresa Bakker. Theresa by photo UAF MCKINLEY MEMORIES THE FIRST ASCENT OF DENALI: CHASING THE LEGACY By Theresa Bakker

Angela Linn, ’99, wears bright purple I was truly excited to receive the gloves so she can handle the century- smaller journal. at diary had never old artifacts without leaving any been scanned.” ngerprints. She opens the at FedEx Stuck’s 1914 book, e Ascent of box and removes the documents, Denali, is the o cial record of the carefully preserving each layer of climb. It’s what historians refer to protective wrapping until she comes when they discuss the details. It’s how to a black, hardbound book with the the four climbers are remembered. words on the cover handwritten in Now for the rst time, Linn was able an almost ghostly white — Journal of to compare the book to the original

UAF photo by Theresa Bakker. Theresa by photo UAF Archdeacon Hudson Stuck Recording journal and learn about the personal Ascent of Mt. Denali (Mt. McKinley), experiences of Stuck. June 1913. at’s why Linn wanted to have all Stuck had kept a faithful four of the journals kept by the men accounting of that year, important who reached the summit of McKinley to history because it included the during that 1913 expedition. She culmination of his dream to climb imagined displaying them together the highest peak in North America — for the rst time in 100 years — in honor of the 25th anniversary of as part of the UA Museum of the the Episcopal Church in Alaska. But North’s special exhibit, “Denali this book did not include any entries Legacy: 100 Years on the Mountain.” from the critical last days of the Stuck’s journals had been archived climb. Stuck le the heavy book at the by the American Geographical 10,800-foot camp. For his impressions Society since 1922. Linn managed of the nal push to the top of to track down the rest of them at McKinley, Stuck had kept a second various archives. e tiny diary kept journal, a slim pad about the size of a by Harry Karstens arrived next, from reporter’s notebook. the American Alpine Club library. “ is is what I’d been waiting for,” Karstens went on to become the rst Linn says. “I had read Stuck’s 1913 superintendent of Mount McKinley diary, so it was familiar to me. But National Park (now known as Denali National Park and Preserve). e nal two diaries, almost identical in documents agreed to lend them. Works on One of them, Robert’s grandnephew Doug appearance, arrived at the museum near the paper are fragile and sensitive to light. is Tatum, didn’t learn about his great-uncle’s end of January. ey were school notebooks, is likely the only time these documents have accomplishments until he was an adult. “I the kind where students wrote their lessons. been exhibited in their lifetimes.” had never, nor did any of my siblings know, One belonged to Walter Harper, a young Linn had never seen Tatum’s journal that my dad’s father’s brother was Robert Athabascan man who accompanied Stuck entries before. In fact, of all the members of Tatum and had summited Denali,” he says. on his many travels. e other was kept by the expedition, his story was the least known. “We didn’t know that. Dad said he was a very Robert Tatum, an Episcopal missionary from “He was kind of a mystery man,” she says. modest, quiet-spoken gentleman.” Tennessee who hoped to join the priesthood. “Tatum signed on as the o cial cook but also In Stuck’s diary is a reference to a ag made Both men were protégés of the charismatic reached the summit of the mountain himself. by Robert Tatum, “which he hopes to hoist Archdeacon Hudson Stuck. Harper’s journal He was the only member of the team without on top of the instrument tent on the summit,” is housed at the Rasmuson Library’s Alaska a Wikipedia entry. I felt a sort of obligation using “two silk handkerchiefs and the lining and Polar Regions Collections and Archives, to ll out his story and make the world more of a padded noodle can.” Linn thought those while Tatum’s is archived in the Special aware of his contributions.” kinds of artifacts were long gone, either le Collections at the University of Tennessee, As the guest curator for the museum’s on the mountain in the rush of the descent or Knoxville. exhibit, Linn wanted to ll in these gaps, so lost to time. But one day, as he was helping his “Having the actual pages with the words she hunted for connections to Tatum. She mother clean out the attic, Doug Tatum had written on them brings the story to life in a researched archives, talked to countless discovered this evidence of his great-uncle’s new way,” Linn says. “We’re incredibly lucky relatives and experts. Eventually, she found achievement. “It wasn’t kept very well. I found that the archives that hold these precious family members who still reside in Tennessee. it in a shoebox with some other items while

Making the mountain Artifacts from the ﬁ rst ascent are on exhibit at the UA Museum of the North through April , .

Hundreds of ⅛-inch-thick pieces of plywood were used to make a -layer model of Mount McKinley.

Museum sta reach new heights to put the ﬁ nishing touches on the scale model of Mount McKinley.

UAF photo by Theresa Bakker. UAF photo by Theresa Bakker.

The ﬁ nished model of Mount McKinley, with routes taken by climbers over the last century.

Visitors follow a timeline on the exhibit walls featuring passages from all the climbers’ journals.

UAF photo by JR Ancheta. UAF photo by JR Ancheta.

8 aurora | fall 2013 going through some stu with my parents. I Eugene personally took that ice axe from hand carried it to the Chicago conservatory.” Colorado to Fairbanks so it could be on at ag (pictured at far right) is part of the display in the exhibit. He couldn’t trust it to temporary Denali legacy exhibit, and hangs strangers. It has been his mission to protect near the last remaining climbing pick used by the legacy of his grandfather, to make sure the climbers. his name wouldn’t be forgotten by history.

In contrast, Eugene Karstens knew from Linn says that from the very start, Bakker. Theresa by photo UAF an early age that it would be his responsibility this story longed to be told. “Personal to keep the story of his grandfather alive. He connections that started with a few emails knew because his mother told him so. “His and phone calls have grown into an exhibit climbing pick was one of the early things full of artifacts and the faces of the climbers’ my mother trusted me with. It went up on descendants. my wall over one of those classic Sierra “Now the precious histories of Hudson Club posters [with] the ve people in a row Stuck, Harry Karstens, Walter Harper, walking up a razor ridge, and that pick just Robert Tatum and John Fredson will once looked great over that. Right above a kid’s again be reconnected to the mountain they bed, and that was always a symbol of, well, rst set foot upon a century ago.” you have got something to live up to, kid. My Learn more about the ﬁ rst ascent of Mount mom wasn’t stupid in that regard.” Theresa Bakker has an MFA from the Rainier McKinley at www.uaf.edu/museum/exhibits/ . Writing Workshop at Paciﬁ c Lutheran University. special/legacy/ She is the media coordinator at the UA Museum of the North.

Artifacts from the ﬁ rst ascent are on exhibit at the UA Museum of the North through April , .

A pair of handmade crampons left on the Muldrow Glacier by the Sourdough Expedition’s unsuccessful attempt to reach the summit of Mount McKinley in . They were recovered by the Lindley- Like expedition years later.

A model of the base camp kept by John Fredson at , feet on Cache Creek is equipped with a stove and pretend food.

UAF photo by JR Ancheta. UAF photo by JR Ancheta.

Harry Karstens’ snow goggles.

Archdeacon Stuck records holding a religious service at , feet, which probably included this Eucharist set. It did not summit with the men, however.

UAF photo by JR Ancheta. UAF photo by JR Ancheta.

fall 2013 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 9 By Tori Tragis During the summer, dust us, although it’s not really active community garden and clings e secrecy bothers Gary, Ann inundates Eagle — the Native [right now]. Having paved streets to salmon drying on racks. So Millard’s husband. He moved village and the city, twin is at the opposite end of the about 10 years ago, the Alaska to Eagle from his hometown of When spring shatters the lock winter has held on Alaska’s communities in eastern Alaska, spectrum.” Department of Transportation Fairbanks 17 years ago so he frozen white land, the hillsides so en into green and the near the Canadian border. e e problem was worse when and Public Facilities o ered could live somewhere that wasn’t road leading into Eagle, the road the large tour buses came regu- to try a dust suppressant, or so big, so … city. “I went to the ground becomes springy underfoot. e rivers ow again, that connects the small city with larly into town, but Millard says palliative, on Eagle’s roads. But public testimony when the DOT the village, the byroads and side many Eagle people accepted that the product DOT wanted to try guy was coming in before they the puddles dwindle and fade — and then comes the dust. roads, all are unpaved. ere’s as the price to be paid for pro- uses a proprietary formula, which applied it. I’m not a big fan of Billowing, su ocating piles of it, massive blooms of tawny grit been talk of paving at least the viding a frontier feel that would means its contents are secret. government agencies telling us, primary paths o and on over attract tourists. And, she points “ at’s what makes people ‘Oh, it’s ok.’ […] ey won’t tell us and ricocheting pebbles. e thick air blinds drivers, chokes the years, but the community out, the sprawling, silty Yukon nervous,” Millard says. “A er it what is going to happen for those consensus has generally been and its bu eting winds come was applied we noticed we were that are ingesting it. ey say it’s pedestrians and cascades into homes, dust settling onto every against it. with an all-natural deluge of dust. getting a rainbow sheen on the all organic. Well, that’s all ne surface and into every crevice — on countertops, in computers “It gives Eagle part of its Still, dust is a problem. It hangs road. I saw a sign up at the post and dandy, but oil is organic and feel, having dirt roads,” says in the air and gets tracked into o ce, something about ‘Brought you don’t drink it.” and down into the lungs. Ann Millard, the local school’s people’s homes. It aggravates to you by the state government: e Millards agree something recently retired principal. “ e the asthma of some of the kids Rainbows on our rain puddles.’” should be done to control dust, tourist industry is important to in Millard’s school. It coats the but absent solid information

10 aurora | fall 2013 By Tori Tragis During the summer, dust us, although it’s not really active community garden and clings e secrecy bothers Gary, Ann inundates Eagle — the Native [right now]. Having paved streets to salmon drying on racks. So Millard’s husband. He moved village and the city, twin is at the opposite end of the about 10 years ago, the Alaska to Eagle from his hometown of When spring shatters the lock winter has held on Alaska’s communities in eastern Alaska, spectrum.” Department of Transportation Fairbanks 17 years ago so he frozen white land, the hillsides so en into green and the near the Canadian border. e e problem was worse when and Public Facilities o ered could live somewhere that wasn’t road leading into Eagle, the road the large tour buses came regu- to try a dust suppressant, or so big, so … city. “I went to the ground becomes springy underfoot. e rivers ow again, that connects the small city with larly into town, but Millard says palliative, on Eagle’s roads. But public testimony when the DOT the village, the byroads and side many Eagle people accepted that the product DOT wanted to try guy was coming in before they the puddles dwindle and fade — and then comes the dust. roads, all are unpaved. ere’s as the price to be paid for pro- uses a proprietary formula, which applied it. I’m not a big fan of Billowing, su ocating piles of it, massive blooms of tawny grit been talk of paving at least the viding a frontier feel that would means its contents are secret. government agencies telling us, primary paths o and on over attract tourists. And, she points “ at’s what makes people ‘Oh, it’s ok.’ […] ey won’t tell us and ricocheting pebbles. e thick air blinds drivers, chokes the years, but the community out, the sprawling, silty Yukon nervous,” Millard says. “A er it what is going to happen for those consensus has generally been and its bu eting winds come was applied we noticed we were that are ingesting it. ey say it’s pedestrians and cascades into homes, dust settling onto every against it. with an all-natural deluge of dust. getting a rainbow sheen on the all organic. Well, that’s all ne surface and into every crevice — on countertops, in computers “It gives Eagle part of its Still, dust is a problem. It hangs road. I saw a sign up at the post and dandy, but oil is organic and feel, having dirt roads,” says in the air and gets tracked into o ce, something about ‘Brought you don’t drink it.” and down into the lungs. Ann Millard, the local school’s people’s homes. It aggravates to you by the state government: e Millards agree something recently retired principal. “ e the asthma of some of the kids Rainbows on our rain puddles.’” should be done to control dust, tourist industry is important to in Millard’s school. It coats the but absent solid information

fall 2013 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 11 ROADS TO RUIN about what is in the chemical pal- water on unpaved roads. It works, that. We’d normally haul it with he notes ruefully that it was the dust is lost and the road surface down a new surface twice, in year Concerns about safety and ner measurement associated liatives, they lean toward using but only for a while. On a hot, our atbed but our trash truck is most expensive of the group, needs to be repaired or replaced. 1 and year 16. Considering there visibility on the roads are with smoke from burning wood water to regularly dampen the dry day, it could evaporate within broken so we’re using the atbed and there were problems with A typical gravel road or are 870 acres of runway and 4,600 voiced throughout rural Alaska. or coal.) When PM10 is inhaled, it streets. ey are careful to note a few hours, so the roads have to as the trash truck.” applying it, so he’s still trying runway in Alaska lasts four to acres of unpaved roads the state Seldovia, on the Kenai Peninsula, gets into the lung tissues, where that while some in their com- be continually sprayed. Journey is the only one with to gure out his options. He eight years if it’s not treated is responsible for in the northern uses calcium chloride on some it can cause breathing and heart munity agree with them, others “Water is labor intensive, and an operator’s license, so he has to factor in the exorbitant for dust control. Put down region alone, the savings on dust- of its roads, but it isn’t applied problems. do not. Bruce Atkinson, who things are tight,” says Andy drives the dump truck with the cost of barging in whatever a palliative, and its life span treated roads are signi cant. at everywhere, and in lean funding Naturally occurring asbestos lives up the road between Eagle Journey. He’s the water plant water tank on it. On hot, sunny he does decide on, and while improves to eight to 12 years doesn’t include the miles of roads years, it sometimes isn’t applied can also be a problem in some and Eagle Village, just upstream, operator and utilities director summer days, he’ll be out there there’s talk of one of the regional before the surface material that villages are responsible for, at all. places in Alaska, according to deplores the dust and welcomes for the city of St. Mary’s, in every day for two to three hours, Native corporations developing needs to be replaced. If you’re villages whose budgets are even “ ere are times there’s so much state toxicologist Ali Hamade. even a chemical solution, any- Southwestern Alaska. His spraying water that will keep the a palliative from used cooking in an area that doesn’t have more constrained than the state’s. dust you can’t see someone until Exposure to asbestos can, he says, thing that’s more e cient and situation highlights the scarcity dust down for just three or four oil that could be produced gravel available, which includes Journey isn’t worried you’re on top of them and you lead to serious health problems cost-e ective than watering the of a number of resources — hours. regionally, it’s not a viable much of rural Alaska, you have about using chemicals on his might hit them,” says Michael like asbestosis and lung cancer. roads twice a day, which crews candidate in the near future. to barge it in. Take the surface community’s roads. He’s talked Opheimer, the environmental E orts to control dust are, he says, had been doing during the tour “Watering roads is a daily chore. In the meantime, he maintains material needed to repair the with other villages in his area, coordinator for Seldovia Village critically important, especially bus heyday. the streets as best he can. “It’s an airport at Manley, which has and says they are satis ed with Tribe. “You sometimes have to on heavily tra cked roads where “Just a regular vehicle doing 15 A dust palliative would last ongoing battle. We have to do access to gravel. It costs an the results. “All the technical stop because you can’t see in front children play. mph kicks up tremendous dust,” our roads no matter what.” average of $50 per cubic yard. product descriptions have been of you.” Fi y rural Alaska communities Atkinson says. “A big huge cloud two to three months and get us Double or even quadruple that tested by some federal chemical responded to a 2010 rural dust of dust goes up in the yard and Keeping it together for a remote site with no local labs and have been proven to be No room to breathe survey conducted by the state carries everything into the house. into the fall rains, and [then] it A gravel or dirt road is made up gravel, and now you’re looking safe,” he says. “I’ve seen the lethal Air thick enough to see is thick Department of Environmental Sometimes I will run the garden wouldn’t matter.” of two primary materials: rock or at an average of $150 per cubic doses, and [our application rates enough to choke on. In a dust- Conservation. All of them hose but that only lasts a couple gravel (aggregate) and a binding yard. If the Manley runway gets are] so far under it.” laden community, breathing can reported that dust caused hours when it’s hot. It’s terrible.” money, labor, equipment — that “Watering roads is a daily agent, something that keeps the no dust suppression, it would Instead, he says, it’s a question be a labor of life for some people, coughing and irritation of the Calcium chloride is an is common in rural communities. chore,” he says. “A dust palliative aggregate together. Dust is part need a new surface three times of road safety and quality of life. especially the young, the elderly eyes, nose and throat. Dust alternative to water and “We need to take one of our — we could put it on in three, four of that binding material. Lose the over the course of 16 years (year If one of the big rigs from the and anyone with lung or heart was considered a factor in chemicals, and is commonly operators away from one of days and it would last two to dust and you lose what holds the 1, year 8, year 16) in a best-case local gravel pit go more than 15 problems. aggravating asthma by 84 percent used (though not in Eagle). It’s our other projects,” Journey three months and get us into the road together. If you don’t pay scenario, costing DOT about mph, he says, you can see hardly Dust contains tiny particles, of communities, and 72 percent also commonly the focus of explains. “We have a atbed with fall rains, and [then] it wouldn’t to keep the dust on the ground $700,000. Use a palliative, which anything. e village posts signs or particulate matter, called PM10. reported increased problems complaints that it leaves a salty a thousand-gallon tank on it but matter.” using some kind of mitigation costs far less than buying and asking drivers to stay under 20 PM10 is less than the width of a with chronic bronchitis and chest taste on subsistence foods like it sits on a lowboy that will only Journey says the village tested strategy — water, chemical or laying surface material, and that mph, and that helps, but only if human hair and can be seen only tightness.* berries and drying sh so many t on a dump truck, and you four types of palliatives in 2012. something else — you’ll have to number drops to $617,000, in everyone keeps a light foot on the with an electron microscope. * e surveys were self-reported by one villages still rely on spraying need an operator’s license for One worked especially well, but pay a lot more when too much part because you only need to put gas pedal. (PM10 also contains PM2.5, an even or more residents in each village, and the respondents were not necessarily medical professionals.

Enter Dave Barnes and company at the bones of an idea from fellow researchers, An in-lab test makes it faster and Alaska University Transportation Center. they raided building supply centers cheaper for manufacturers to refi ne Barnes got pulled into the dust game for PVC pipes, sandpaper and funnels. a product before heading outside for sideways. He’s really a water kind of They rounded up a toothbrush, a ski large-scale testing, and makes it easier PAY DIRT to determine what palliatives work best engineer, but AUTC’s director persuaded wax brush and a plastic tub. Graduate Finding a way to keep the dirt down him that since water and dust both student Wilhelm Muench hunkered on di erent surfaces. low could turn a tidy profi t. More than move, they’re not all that di erent. Five down in the machine shop and created a The pipe-and-laser design is a dozen companies in the U.S. produce years on, the unfl appably genial Barnes device that lets undergraduate students continually being refi ned until they get dust palliatives, products that minimize still seems a little mystifi ed that he has like Cody Klingman and Logan Little even greater reliability. “If we cannot get the amount of dust coming up o dirt become UAF’s top dust guy, but he’s release precise amounts of aggregate the repeatability to a comfortable level,” roads. They all promise to keep the air even more mystifi ed by dust itself, so he (basically dirt and rocks) into the upright says Barnes, “we stop and come up with above your dirt road or runway crystal keeps studying it. PVC pipe at exactly the right time. As new technology.” clear. Some companies’ websites even As Barnes and his team started the dust drops, it’s measured with the have the pictures to prove it, but there’s developing DUST-M for fi eld research only o -the-shelf technical product they the gritty rub: the proof is largely visual. (see accompanying story), they used, a laser that measures how much Engineers don’t have standardized realized they needed a companion dust is in the air in a small space. Working labs are messy, Barnes tests to determine how well a palliative lab test to corroborate their outdoor “It’s hillbilly science,” Barnes says works, nor do the palliative-producing (right) tells visitors, but are measurements. Surprisingly, no such wryly of his team’s invention, “but the good training grounds for companies themselves. test existed. So, starting with the bare repeatability is amazing to me.” undergraduate researchers like Cody Klingman and Logan Little. ROADS TO RUIN about what is in the chemical pal- water on unpaved roads. It works, that. We’d normally haul it with he notes ruefully that it was the dust is lost and the road surface down a new surface twice, in year Concerns about safety and ner measurement associated liatives, they lean toward using but only for a while. On a hot, our atbed but our trash truck is most expensive of the group, needs to be repaired or replaced. 1 and year 16. Considering there visibility on the roads are with smoke from burning wood water to regularly dampen the dry day, it could evaporate within broken so we’re using the atbed and there were problems with A typical gravel road or are 870 acres of runway and 4,600 voiced throughout rural Alaska. or coal.) When PM10 is inhaled, it streets. ey are careful to note a few hours, so the roads have to as the trash truck.” applying it, so he’s still trying runway in Alaska lasts four to acres of unpaved roads the state Seldovia, on the Kenai Peninsula, gets into the lung tissues, where that while some in their com- be continually sprayed. Journey is the only one with to gure out his options. He eight years if it’s not treated is responsible for in the northern uses calcium chloride on some it can cause breathing and heart munity agree with them, others “Water is labor intensive, and an operator’s license, so he has to factor in the exorbitant for dust control. Put down region alone, the savings on dust- of its roads, but it isn’t applied problems. do not. Bruce Atkinson, who things are tight,” says Andy drives the dump truck with the cost of barging in whatever a palliative, and its life span treated roads are signi cant. at everywhere, and in lean funding Naturally occurring asbestos lives up the road between Eagle Journey. He’s the water plant water tank on it. On hot, sunny he does decide on, and while improves to eight to 12 years doesn’t include the miles of roads years, it sometimes isn’t applied can also be a problem in some and Eagle Village, just upstream, operator and utilities director summer days, he’ll be out there there’s talk of one of the regional before the surface material that villages are responsible for, at all. places in Alaska, according to deplores the dust and welcomes for the city of St. Mary’s, in every day for two to three hours, Native corporations developing needs to be replaced. If you’re villages whose budgets are even “ ere are times there’s so much state toxicologist Ali Hamade. even a chemical solution, any- Southwestern Alaska. His spraying water that will keep the a palliative from used cooking in an area that doesn’t have more constrained than the state’s. dust you can’t see someone until Exposure to asbestos can, he says, thing that’s more e cient and situation highlights the scarcity dust down for just three or four oil that could be produced gravel available, which includes Journey isn’t worried you’re on top of them and you lead to serious health problems cost-e ective than watering the of a number of resources — hours. regionally, it’s not a viable much of rural Alaska, you have about using chemicals on his might hit them,” says Michael like asbestosis and lung cancer. roads twice a day, which crews candidate in the near future. to barge it in. Take the surface community’s roads. He’s talked Opheimer, the environmental E orts to control dust are, he says, had been doing during the tour “Watering roads is a daily chore. In the meantime, he maintains material needed to repair the with other villages in his area, coordinator for Seldovia Village critically important, especially bus heyday. the streets as best he can. “It’s an airport at Manley, which has and says they are satis ed with Tribe. “You sometimes have to on heavily tra cked roads where “Just a regular vehicle doing 15 A dust palliative would last ongoing battle. We have to do access to gravel. It costs an the results. “All the technical stop because you can’t see in front children play. mph kicks up tremendous dust,” our roads no matter what.” average of $50 per cubic yard. product descriptions have been of you.” Fi y rural Alaska communities Atkinson says. “A big huge cloud two to three months and get us Double or even quadruple that tested by some federal chemical responded to a 2010 rural dust of dust goes up in the yard and Keeping it together for a remote site with no local labs and have been proven to be No room to breathe survey conducted by the state carries everything into the house. into the fall rains, and [then] it A gravel or dirt road is made up gravel, and now you’re looking safe,” he says. “I’ve seen the lethal Air thick enough to see is thick Department of Environmental Sometimes I will run the garden wouldn’t matter.” of two primary materials: rock or at an average of $150 per cubic doses, and [our application rates enough to choke on. In a dust- Conservation. All of them hose but that only lasts a couple gravel (aggregate) and a binding yard. If the Manley runway gets are] so far under it.” laden community, breathing can reported that dust caused hours when it’s hot. It’s terrible.” money, labor, equipment — that “Watering roads is a daily agent, something that keeps the no dust suppression, it would Instead, he says, it’s a question be a labor of life for some people, coughing and irritation of the Calcium chloride is an is common in rural communities. chore,” he says. “A dust palliative aggregate together. Dust is part need a new surface three times of road safety and quality of life. especially the young, the elderly eyes, nose and throat. Dust alternative to water and “We need to take one of our — we could put it on in three, four of that binding material. Lose the over the course of 16 years (year If one of the big rigs from the and anyone with lung or heart was considered a factor in chemicals, and is commonly operators away from one of days and it would last two to dust and you lose what holds the 1, year 8, year 16) in a best-case local gravel pit go more than 15 problems. aggravating asthma by 84 percent used (though not in Eagle). It’s our other projects,” Journey three months and get us into the road together. If you don’t pay scenario, costing DOT about mph, he says, you can see hardly Dust contains tiny particles, of communities, and 72 percent also commonly the focus of explains. “We have a atbed with fall rains, and [then] it wouldn’t to keep the dust on the ground $700,000. Use a palliative, which anything. e village posts signs or particulate matter, called PM10. reported increased problems complaints that it leaves a salty a thousand-gallon tank on it but matter.” using some kind of mitigation costs far less than buying and asking drivers to stay under 20 PM10 is less than the width of a with chronic bronchitis and chest taste on subsistence foods like it sits on a lowboy that will only Journey says the village tested strategy — water, chemical or laying surface material, and that mph, and that helps, but only if human hair and can be seen only tightness.* berries and drying sh so many t on a dump truck, and you four types of palliatives in 2012. something else — you’ll have to number drops to $617,000, in everyone keeps a light foot on the with an electron microscope. * e surveys were self-reported by one villages still rely on spraying need an operator’s license for One worked especially well, but pay a lot more when too much part because you only need to put gas pedal. (PM10 also contains PM2.5, an even or more residents in each village, and the respondents were not necessarily medical professionals.

NEW e Seldovia health SECONDARY clinic that asthma and other HEADLINEbreathing down on a road to suppressHERE dust have a skilled opinion, but it’s how well one palliative works was the lead researcher on the we have a high fraction of nes, For most urban dwellers, dust reports increases in breathing problems were growing. e — a palliative — works? So far, no pretty di cult to say, ‘ is is too compared to another, Milne team that developed DUST-M. those small particles will hold the is a nuisance, a housekeeping problems and eye injuries from second and third top concerns, one has developed an industry- dusty.’ ere were no technical asked UAF engineers to come up “It’s not only a matter of taking palliative in the soil and enhance chore. But for rural Alaska, it’s the cloudy air’s grit and debris. though, had nothing to do with recognized, scienti cally ways in a repeatable manner to with a tool that could measure measurements with DUST-M, dust retention.” a much bigger problem. ere’s (Seldovia did not participate in immediate to-dos like watering legitimate way to do that. Clark do dust-suppression testing.” road dust while it was being but also understanding what our e e ort to keep dust in its no escape from the blinding, the 2010 DEC survey.) “We’re the roads or holding an asthma- Milne, ’77, who until this past Milne needed a tool that thrown up, or lo ed, by a moving soils are made of to nd the right place is one that requires di erent choking clouds of dust that hang starting to see more and more education fair. Instead, they summer was DOT’s regional could give him repeatability, vehicle. palliative,” Barnes says. He gives strategies and experiments. over many villages from breakup asthma-related illnesses from were about measuring, nding maintenance engineer for meaning the tool could produce e result was DUST-M. (Say the example of tests in Eagle Some of those strategies and to snowfall. When villagers take them because we’re gathering out what is in the air and how it central and northern Alaska, reliable data over and over. If it fast, like “dust ’em o .”) It’s a and in White Mountain, on the experiments overlap. ere’s the their trucks or four-wheelers dust from lack of dust abatement,” got there. Half the survey takers says that engineers have had just you put your king salmon on a mobile device that can be placed Seward Peninsula in Western question of how to measure the to the store or to visit an elder, says Opheimer. “It is a con- wanted to continue monitoring one measuring tool. calibrated digital scale and nd on the back of an all-terrain Alaska. amount of dust. Barnes and his they help disintegrate the road cern for us here to keep people road dust, and almost the same “Eyeballs.” it’s a respectable 40 lbs., and vehicle. Behind one of the rear and their community’s health. It from getting more asthmas or number of people wanted an air An engineer on a dust your cousin does a bicep curl wheels is an intake device that happens slowly, one random rock, bronchial illness.” quality emissions inventory. mitigation project observes the with his catch and declares it a looks like a pingpong paddle, There’s no escape one pu of ne particulates at Seldovia conducted its own amount of dust le hanging in family heirloom at 65 lbs., that’s and in the middle of the paddle a time. survey in summer 2012. At the Dust and verify the air by a passing vehicle, lays not a reliable set of data, because is a hole with tubing attached to from the blinding, As state and local resources top of the list of air-quality Measurement is a basic feature down a layer of test palliative, you’re using di erent methods it. As the driver rolls down the shrink, Alaska’s dirt-road concerns was dust control — 60 of any study. But how do you has someone drive by again, of measurement. (Your cousin road or runway, air and dust get choking clouds of dust communities need nancially percent wanted to tame the measure dust, speci cally, dust and guesstimates how well the probably isn’t very reliable, sucked into the tubing, where sustainable methods to keep roads. Asthma education ranked thrown up on a dirt road by a palliative is working. either.) the amount of dust is measured between breakup the dust on the ground where fourth (43 percent), echoing the passing vehicle? How do you It’s not an ideal method, Not content with making at by an o -the-shelf instrument it belongs. ough there is Seldovia health clinic’s ndings measure if something you’ve put Milne admits. “I think you can best an educated guess about called a DustTrak. It’s a process and snowfall. disagreement about what’s best that can be repeated over and and safest — water? calcium over, and used to compare A palliative was applied to the colleagues and students at the chloride? mystery chemicals? — how much dust is lo ed in the Eagle runway at a concentration Alaska University Transportation everyone agrees dust is a problem, air before and a er treatment. Barnes and his team thought Center have worked out most but no one has been able to Instead of eyeballing it, operators was appropriate. But the of the kinks with DUST-M, and precisely measure it. DUST-M can make informed decisions, postapplication test showed a it is nearly ready for others in gives communities baseline not informed guesses. level of dust that was among the the eld to test it so they can information so they can start to Milne says DUST-M is a highest they’d ever measured retool it as needed and deploy it identify individual solutions. critical part in helping engineers on a treated runway, which industrywide. “ ose guys [at AUTC] identify if a palliative is doing its ummoxed the researchers. “We’re starting to get to a point are involved nationally and job. “Without it as a yard stick eir next test site was White with all these measurements and internationally,” says Milne. “It’s there’s no plausible discussion Mountain, where the terrain lab tests,” he says, “where we can pretty exciting that it happened about your palliatives. It still is very di erent. ere they start putting out some guidance to come out of little ol’ Fairbanks, needs to be nalized — what applied the palliative at half the for people to be able to follow to Alaska.” process can most fairly evaluate concentration as at Eagle, and make these palliative applications dust suppression — but it’s better Barnes got another surprise. more successful.” Tori Tragis, ’, ’, is a writer than anything else that I’m aware “White Mountain is performing Palliatives are a di erent and editor for Marketing and of in the world.” great. We could never gure out conundrum: What works best Communications. Instead of looking Industry does not yet why Eagle was opping so bad for in each situation and has the for moose or berry patches along recognize DUST-M as a certi ed us, but put down less palliative in least impact on environmental Alaska’s dirt roads, she now stares at measuring device. Sometimes another place and it does great.” and human health? AUTC can dust plumes and wonders how they DUST-M gives unexpected and ey determined that DUST-M address the rst part of the might best be remedied. divergent results. Researchers are was doing its job, so Barnes question, but not the second. As trying to gure out if unexpected looked at the soil makeup in long as dust-control companies changes in data are because both areas. White Mountain keep their formulas secret, the of a design aw in DUST-M, a has lots of lightweight dust, or safety of chemical measures mistake in how the palliative ne particles, mixed in with the might not be known for years or was applied, or if it’s because, aggregate. Eagle has very little. even decades. ey could wreak frankly, engineers just don’t yet “When we don’t have any nes in health havoc or they could prove Dust from this road in Bethel fully understand how palliatives the soil there’s nothing to hold harmless. will eventually settle on the work on di erent surfaces. palliative in the soil, so it kind potatoes growing on the Dave Barnes, at UAF’s Alaska of drains away and doesn’t hold commercial farm that lies University Transportation Center, parts in place,” he says. “When alongside.

14 aurora | fall 2013 ROADS TO RUIN

fall 2013 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 15

FULL Frame

Mud volleyball is a highlight of SpringFest, the annual Friday off from classes just before finals. Formerly known as All Campus Day or Meltdown (and in some tippling circles as Case Day), SpringFest has been a Nanook tradition on the Fairbanks campus since the late 1950s. Students get down and dirty playing in the mud, drop fruit off the Gruening Building or help clean up campus after the long winter, all in the name of good, messy fun.

Relive your memories of college. You can order a reprint TM of this photo and many others at www.photos.uaf.edu. BEING NANOOK By LJ Evans

IT STARTED WITH A GARBAGE TRUCK. AT LEAST THAT’S HOW DARRIN “BEAR” EDSON AND TED HETRICK EXPLAIN HOW THEY BEGAN BEING NANOOK.

ey drove the garbage truck in the mid-1990s as part of their jobs with Facilities Services. e longtime co-workers and friends are huge UAF hockey fans, so they decked the truck out with school insignia and wired a giant stu ed polar bear with crossed hockey sticks on the front. To promote the hockey theme on the days of a home game, they hooked up speakers and played loud rock ‘n’ roll as they made their rounds. ey carried this zeal right into the Carlson Center. “I was going to all the hockey games with my family, and I noticed there was no mascot anymore,” Edson says. e student who had worn a white bear costume to re up the crowd had graduated and moved on. Edson and Hetrick asked then athletic director Randy Pitney, ’72, and equipment manager Ken Larimore, ’79, ’85, ’97, if they could play dual mascots. Edson thinks they suited up as Nanook and Hat Trick for their rst game in fall 1996. Edson was the friendly Nanook, the one the kids all loved, and Hat Trick was the one with attitude — his costume head had teeth, and he growled. “ e original suits weren’t very polar-bear-looking,” Edson says. Larimore remembers them bearing more resemblance to another species altogether. “Most of the rst ones we had looked like white wolves,” he says. e fans got it, though. Edson and Hetrick had fun goo ng around with the crowd at the hockey games, so they also started going to basketball and volleyball games. ey were a hit every time they showed up.

18 aurora | fall 2013 BEING NANOOK By LJ Evans

IT STARTED WITH A GARBAGE TRUCK. AT LEAST THAT’S HOW DARRIN “BEAR” EDSON AND TED HETRICK EXPLAIN HOW THEY BEGAN BEING NANOOK.

fall 2013 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 19 BEHIND THE MASK

Some nights Nook does that at three di erent games. Stahl dresses for doubleheader basketball games at the Patty Center, then he and the bear suit travel across town to the Carlson Center for a hockey game. “It was all a little overwhelming at rst, but now I just ow with it,” he says. Like his forebears, Stahl brings the Nanook spirit to a lot of other activities associated with UAF. At a recent Admissions event that fell “A lot of things go into being the on his birthday, the sta made him a Nook cake and had all the pro- mascot — it’s not just putting on spective students and their parents sing “Happy Birthday.” “Geo is a brilliant representative of the warmth and welcoming a suit,” says Gary Gray, director environment of UAF,” says Mary Kreta, ’03, director of recruitment. “No one seems to be immune to his charm and hugs — parents and of athletics. “The person playing students alike jump right in and always walk away smiling.” the role of the mascot has to know Stahl says he thinks his presence is especially reassuring to new students who are a bit nervous about this big college adventure when what to do, when to do it, how to they rst move into the dorms. “I think it makes it more of a fun atmosphere. ey’re not so behave and what’s appropriate.” overwhelmed.” His favorite event last year was Starvation Gulch. “I must have been in a thousand pictures that day — by the Corner- stone, by the bon re or anywhere the kids wanted,” Stahl says. “You could see the spirit of UAF was just all there. It was cool!”

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The costume is heavy, so Nook stays ﬁ t with a regular exercise program that includes waving to fans and hugging small children. Nook can be spotted at any number of UAF events. He even supervised the arrival of a Bombardier Dash- airplane in Fairbanks in June. Era Alaska painted one side of the plane for the Nanooks, the other for the Seawolves. Nook, of course, picked the best side for his photo opp.

ey also appeared in the Fairbanks Golden Days parade with night Larimore wore a pair of basketball trunks over the bear suit. A FACT: In the Polar Bears the other UAF participants and oats. e rst year they walked the former student was at the game with her newborn baby. became the Nanooks. whole way, on a typical hot July day, in full costume. “She handed me the baby to hold, which was cute, great, no problem.” “Never again,” they both groan. But the young mom had arranged for a couple of guys to come up “Wearing that suit is like sitting in a sauna and breathing through a behind Larimore and yank the basketball shorts down around the FACT: Nanook is the Inupiaq word straw,” Edson says. bear’s feet. e crowd howled with laughter, but Larimore was totally for polar bear. Now they ride in a three-wheeled cart that they’ve decorated, of unfazed. He just shu ed o toward the Patty Center lobby with the course, in UAF colors and insignia. Edson drives and Hetrick stands baby cradled safely and rmly in his arms. FACT: The UAF mascot’s nickname up in the back, wearing the bear suit, tossing out candy for kids all along the parade route. Now we have the Nook is Nook. e main man in the mascot suit for the last seven years has been Multiple personality bear Geo Stahl. He, like his brother-in-law Bear Edson, he is a big hockey Over the years, long before Edson and Hetrick took on the role, a fan and passionate about being “Nook,” the mascot’s nickname. number of students, sta and fans — female as well as male — have Stahl got started in the mascot business when he was 16, helping out played the bear. e UAF sports mascot has been the polar bear since his mom by suiting up as Fred the Bear at a family program. He had so the 1930s, and in 1963 the Polar Bears became the Nanooks, from the much fun he got a job playing Popeye Chicken at UAF hockey games. Inupiaq word for polar bear. ere isn’t a record of when the rst polar When Popeye’s closed he inquired about being Nook. bear suit appeared, nor of all the people who’ve played the role, but “ e best part about it is making the little kids happy and getting to there have been many. know the student-athletes,” Stahl says. “ e Nook gets everyone into Even Larimore recalls being pressed into service a few times. Once the game.” in the 1980s the coach asked him to be the bear for a women’s volleyball game. Most of the time Nanook wears a hockey jersey, but that

20 aurora | fall 2013 BEHIND THE MASK

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fall 2013 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 21 HOCKEY LOVE

“Parker thought of this?” she the glass and waved at his granny. asked. She didn’t mean anything Those fights have left More cry face. by the question. Parker was a her scarred but not beaten. His team won the game. He very thoughtful and sweet kid. scored two goals and had a However, he was a teenager. He She carries the scars with couple of assists. We all gathered was sometimes less than commu- outside the locker room to wait nicative. Besides, a thought and a pride and a sense of for the boys to change. Mom was sentiment like this coming from humor that inspire all watching the Zamboni clear the per fect anybody was noteworthy. ice when Parker came out. He By Curtis Rogers e next day Parker asked if I of us. Those qualities walked up to her and touched her could get him some pink ribbons. were not lost on Parker. shoulder. She turned, and he gave He would wear one on his jersey her his stick. Present for the game, and explain his I looked around. Mom wasn’t plan to his teammates to see if e game was on Dec. 23. We A er the game, I will give you the the only one with bad cry face. they would wear them also. bundled the whole group up and stick and you can keep it.” Gi s are wonderful things, but I went to the hockey store to drove two cars to the arena for He went on to tell her that he without thought and sentiment get the stick. I selected one and the game. We found our seats, loved her and that he was proud they are just objects. Ever see headed to the counter. and Parker’s team took to the ice of her. He explained that several a department store Christmas “You have a daughter playing?” for warm-ups. He had his pink of his teammates were also tree display with fake presents? the clerk, a man about 10 years stick. wearing pink ribbons. She looked When I see them I am almost older than me, asked. Mom was sitting in front of up, and Parker waved at her and uncomfortable. e packages are very August my family and I discuss how we are going e manufacturer TPS puts out a special series of sticks in honor “No,” I answered. “A son, me. I leaned over and handed skated to his bench. sterile and cold. ey don’t have to cut back on Christmas presents this year, and every of hockey moms. ese particular sticks were pink to promote breast actually.” her the card. “Parker wanted me I love Mom dearly. She is any warmth because they weren’t December we forget what we talked about in August. I cancer awareness. ey were very pink and had the trademark pink He looked at me over his to give this to you, Mom,” I said. a wonderful, loving woman; placed with love. ere was no understand this situation isn’t limited to just our family. breast cancer awareness ribbon painted on them. I watched as Parker glasses. She looked out at Parker. He had however, she doesn’t always have thought behind them. ey are Presents are a huge part of the holiday, but personally, he ed the stick. He tested the sti ness. He looked closely at the blade. I explained. He smiled and skated closer to the glass and a pretty cry face. She tried her just empty boxes. Love makes I am past the receiving part. I am lucky. I have all I need He put the stick back. He seemed to be thinking for a long time. We gave me a 10 percent discount on was watching. I could see a pink best as she watched Parker skate an object a gi . It made a pink and a good portion of what I want. I get the most satisfaction from paid for the tape or whatever it was we bought as a token reason for E the stick. “ at’s a pretty amaz- ribbon on his chest. Several other away. She read the card again and hockey stick the perfect present. watching my family get presents. I also enjoy watching people give going to the hockey store and le . On the way home he was quiet. He ing present,” he said. “Tell your boys were wearing them as well. we looked for the boys who were presents. Sometimes the right present given by a speci c person to the turned to me and said, “I have an idea.” son I said well done and Merry “What is that on his chest?” wearing the ribbons. Almost all Curtis Rogers takes care of his two perfect recipient can be magical. On one occasion, it was the highlight Christmas.” Mom asked. of them were. sons, Charlie and Eli, when he isn’t of my Christmas. The thought that counts Christmas got closer. Our “Just read, Mom,” my wife said. e game started, and about in history and political science My oldest son, Parker, is a hockey nut. He has played since he was 5 My mother-in-law is a strong woman. She has had to be in order to family members arrived. I got She opened the card. I didn’t seven minutes in Parker got classes at UAF. He is married to and loved the game since I took him to his rst Nanook game when he beat breast cancer multiple times. ose ghts have le her scarred the pink-ribbon stickers. e day read all of it, but I did read this: the puck to the goalie’s le and Margaret. In he retired from was almost 3. e lessons he learned playing hockey, on the ice and as but not beaten. She carries the scars with a pride and a sense of humor before the game, I told Parker “Granny, this is my Christmas scored on a wrist shot. He was the Alaska Air National Guard a teammate, are a big part of who he is. As he got older, sports in gen- that inspire all of us. ose qualities were not lost on Parker. I was proud of him. He just present to you. For this game I mobbed by his teammates, as is after years in uniform. Besides eral, and hockey speci cally, became an avenue for communication “Dad,” he said. “I would like to get a hockey stick for Granny for smiled. He gave me a sealed card am using a pink hockey stick in the custom. A er their congrat- being a dad and student he writes a between us and a way to maintain a connection. It was what we had in Christmas.” with instructions to give it to honor of Breast Cancer Aware- ulations he skated to the bench. blog, www.thissideofthediaper. common when he was a teenager. “A hockey stick?” I asked.“Really? Maybe you can teach her a wrist his grandmother just before the ness. I am also wearing a pink He turned slightly and came to wordpress.com, where a version Fi een is an awkward age for a kid at Christmas. You start getting shot.” at made me laugh. game started. Breast Cancer Awareness Ribbon. of this story originally appeared in more clothes and fewer toys as you come closer to adulthood, but you “Yeah, the breast-cancer stick. e pink one,” he answered. December . The couple’s oldest don’t really have the earning power to buy presents on your own. We “I think she’d like that,” I said. son, Parker, is a student in Nebraska. told him we would help, but he was still struggling with what to get his “Well,” he smiled, “I was thinking that I could play a game with it, family for Christmas, especially my wife’s mother, his granny. I told then give it to her.” him that any gi is appropriate if the thought is there. I wasn’t sure he I looked at him.“I guess we could get her to a game, and she could

knew what I meant. I underestimated him. i watch you play with it.” ien ios rm / Tu A few weeks before Christmas we were in a local hockey store. I He nodded then smiled again.“ e Christmas tournament would om o.c hot ckp don’t think we had any reason to be there other than the fact that it Sto work,” he said. “ at way Chip and Lacy would be here too.” s ©i uck ey p Hock was a hockey store. You don’t need a reason to go to a hockey store. It’s eta. My wife’s sister and brother would be ying in for Christmas. With nch JR A hoto by cool to just go and absorb hockey vibes. Try it. Really. luck there would be a game a er they arrived but before Christmas. UAF p I looked around for Parker and found him in the stick section. He Parker sat back and smiled again. A plan was coming together. loves hockey sticks. His eyes light up when he thinks about his old We got home and checked the schedule. Sure enough, there was a hockey sticks the way some guys’ eyes light up when they reminisce game that would work. Parker looked at me. about old girlfriends. He can talk about sticks all day. “I’m going to need some help with the stick,” he said. Parker was looking at a rack of berglass sticks. e sticks I assured him I would get the stick for him. I told my wife about were pink. the plan.

22 aurora | fall 2013 HOCKEY LOVE

i ien ios rm / Tu om o.c hot ckp Sto s ©i uck ey p Hock eta. nch JR A hoto by UAF p

fall 2013 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 23 TEACH ME By Jamie Hallberg

the other, but I don’t think a day goes by when any one of us is just a teacher or just a student. I am truly nding this year what it means and what it takes to be a lifelong learner.

November 2012: Sweat and tears When I began my journey pursing a bachelor’s of elementary education, I knew it would be challenging, stressful and in the end Even though I am taking on more responsibility in my mentor’s class- rewarding. Signing up for the program, I didn’t realize track and eld room everyday, I’m not a “real” teacher yet. During parent-teacher training was a prerequisite, but I soon found that I had a lot hurdles to conferences a few of the parents even referred to me as a teacher aide, jump to become an educator. which was completely de ating. Being an elementary education intern To get to where I am today I needed to test drive two di erent is like working two jobs: I spend my week bouncing between a place degree programs, survive a family tragedy and fall on my face, hard. where I am the student and another where I am the teacher, and never It took me nearly hitting rock bottom to realize that if I was going really settling in either character. to make something out of my life, no one was going to pave the way My mentor, Mrs. [Cindy] Kennedy, ’81, is in charge of not only to make it possible. A er abandoning my previous academic paths educating her class but also guiding me as I learn to be an e ective I went in search of a degree that would make me happy. As a child I educator. is is tricky had dreamed of being September 2012: Double duty because she has to two things: a pet store Prior to my internship as a student teacher, I was a student through relinquish some of her UAF doesn’t offer a pet store lady degree, lady and a teacher. and through. Now I’m learning how to create balance out of chaos, control in the classroom UAF doesn’t o er a pet and my role has been altered. I am both a teacher and a student, and and watch as I make so I went with elementary education. store lady degree, so I managing these dual roles simultaneously is a more complex task than mistakes, hoping that EDUCATION MAJOR JAMIE HALLBERG went with elementary I imagined it would be. I thought everything would be clear-cut: when the bene t of me making KEPT A JOURNAL DURING HER STUDENT education. I was at UAF I would strictly be a student and when I was at Denali mistakes will one day outweigh the costs. e rst time I heard myself addressed as Miss Hallberg by a TEACHING YEAR, AND DISCOVERED Elementary I would only be a teacher. Somewhere along the way, the As for me, I’m all over the place. Some days I’m up at UAF planning student, it melted my heart, and I knew my life was on the right track. line I had drawn in my mind dividing the two blurred. a lesson or re ecting on one I just taught. I’m not just teaching lessons; THAT LEARNING TO TEACH WAS MORE Four years and about 35 classes later, I know no other profession Walking into the classroom at the beginning of the year I felt like I I’m learning how to teach them. Mrs. Kennedy is amazing about EXHAUSTING AND EXHILARATING THAN would make me as happy. I’m thrilled to be on the last leg of my jour- had nally made it. is was the last step before becoming a certi ed giving me feedback on things I’ve taught and is always willing to help ney, student teaching in a h-grade classroom at Denali Elementary SHE’D EXPECTED. teacher! It was my chance to truly experience what life in an elemen- me create a seamless lesson. School [in Fairbanks]. I love being in the classroom, but I have to say tary school is like on a day-to-day basis. I suppose I’m not the only one having to adjust to having a dual role. the UAF education program has caused me more sweat and tears than I had been enjoying the role of teacher until one of my students Somewhere along the way all of us — my mentor, my students and I — I care to admit. informed me that I wasn’t a real teacher. at comment really stung. acquired new and unexpected roles. Some days we are more one than

24 aurora | fall 2013 TEACH ME By Jamie Hallberg

the other, but I don’t think a day goes by when any one of us is just a teacher or just a student. I am truly nding this year what it means and what it takes to be a lifelong learner.

fall 2013 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 25 WORKING CLASS

Now I am a little over a month into the new semester, and I have according to plan and that the ability to think on your feet is just as to be honest. I was sorely mistaken when I thought last semester was important as organizing and planning. challenging, because this semester is the toughest one yet. During For instance, I had to plan a three-week oceans unit in such a way the rst two weeks alone the interns were assigned so much work I that ocean topics were addressed through all content areas. I was thought I was going to drown in it all. I’ve spent more time doing teaching about oceans during science, and also through math, reading, homework and crying about stress in the last six weeks than my whole writing and social studies. college career combined. Every assignment has to be done just so I created an ocean ecology card for each student with a di erent to achieve a target in each competency, equivalent to an A. Besides ocean organism on it that shows what it eats and what eats it. e that, I am constantly pulled out of my classroom for UAF classes, students sat in a circle on the oor. I held onto a string of yarn and which weakens my relationship with my students because I am there tossed the yarn ball to a student. at student also held onto the yarn inconsistently. and tossed the ball to a student with a card representing something ere are some nights when I simply lie down on the oor and the rst student’s card’s organism ate or was eaten by. We continued wonder why I am even doing this. What’s the point? Did I completely until everyone was holding a piece of the food web. Now the students screw up when I chose this path? But time a er time, as soon as I feel could see the food web and how even distant organisms are connected. like I’m about to quit, a memory of my class comes to mind and com- en I asked the student holding the shrimp card to let go of his yarn, pletely rejuvenates my drive to nish this program. e way the whole and the students saw how this weakened the food web. is was one of class yells “Hi, Miss Hallberg,” my lessons that did go almost exactly or when one of the students as planned — until some of my boys asks me for the millionth time decided it would be hilarious to wrap when I am going to be teach- their end of the yarn as tightly as they ing again. It’s the unknowing, The most empowering could around their ngers until their unspoken encouragement ngers were purple and they were from my h-graders that lesson I learned from giggly with glee. keeps me going. e next big step for me is student teaching: April 2013: Trading places One of the lessons was to get the students to understand that food webs are an essential part of life, and if one part of the food web is full-time student teaching. UAF requires interns to participate in eliminated then all parts of that web su er. Now, for the rst time, I am learning how to be a what is called trading places for two going to be teaching all the weeks. I switched with an intern in students by myself, and not support system for a rst-grade classroom at University e bachelor of elementary education program is a bit di erent 14 hours, Monday through Friday. I feel silly even writing this because only do I have to survive, I Park Elementary School. Initially I was than other degree programs at UAF. ere are the standard four it seems like an exaggeration, but that is truly how much time I had to children who might not have to ensure that my learn- apprehensive about having to spend years of classes, plus a set amount of hours in an elementary school put in to succeed. ing experience doesn’t stand time in a completely foreign class- class during the semester for every education class taken. is meant My e orts were well worth it because when grades came out I have it at home. in the way of the students’ room with a whole new group of kids juggling work, school and eldwork every week. [A er four years, you earned a 4.0. is past semester was more exhausting than all my pre- learning. a er spending nearly the entire year have] a required, yearlong student teaching internship, but you’re not vious college semesters combined. e biggest challenges I had were getting to know my class. However, guaranteed to get one. Near the end of my fourth year I had to ll out the weeks of teaching di erent content areas. I had thought the lesson February – March this was one of the best experiences I a 20-plus-page application in which I had to categorize every class I plans for one subject wouldn’t be more than ve to 10 pages, or one to 2013: Head of the class had during the internship. It really tested my teaching skills because I had ever taken in my college career, describe how my life experiences two pages per lesson plan. But by the time I was done with everything Full-time student teaching consists of preparing for three weeks of had to go into the classroom and immediately establish myself as the t within these groupings, write a resume that chronicled my entire UAF requires for the week of teaching, I ended up with over 30 pages! being completely in charge of the classroom without any assistance teacher with a brand-new bunch of kids. work history, compose two essays, and pay an extra fee to be nger- It has been far more draining than I could have ever expected. During from my mentor teacher. is is our nal test for the entire elementary I was not prepared for the amount of tattling that went on over the printed and get an FBI background check. I had to also be interviewed the rst semester I was responsible for a week of teaching math, a week education program, to see if I have the abilities to create, teach and silliest things! It was hard for me to keep in mind that to a rst-grader, to ensure I was a good t for the program. e only thing that kept me of social studies and a week of language arts, which accumulated into re ect on lesson plans and activities over the course of those three things like “She won’t share the blue crayon” or “He kicked me outside going was self-motivation and a strong support system. I told myself about 200 pages of lesson plans and student work samples! weeks. I was given full control of the classroom so that I could experi- at recess” are big issues, so I had to learn how to adapt the language I over and over I wouldn’t be nearly as happy working in any other eld, Overall, I learned more about teaching and what it’s like to be in a ence exactly what it is like to be solely in charge. use with students. and my stubbornness wouldn’t let me get away with not nishing what classroom in these past few months than I have in any of my educa- My favorite part of full-time student teaching had to be when my It felt odd having to lean down to talk to the oh-so-adorable I had started. tion classes. Teaching a lesson and watching how the learning process planned lessons actually came to fruition! I spent countless hours rst-graders. Surprisingly it only took them a few days to learn my ankfully I was accepted into the program in April of 2012, but unfolds is a much more e ective way to learn how teaching prac- going over my lessons and schedule to ensure that I would have name, but my rst days there they called me “the other Miss Rogers.” didn’t nd out what school or grade level I was placed at until nearly tices work. enough time to cover everything during my three weeks of teach- e second week of trading places was so much fun! Nearly every the end of July. I’ll say this: to survive this program, a deep-seated ing. I even went in every Saturday a ernoon for a few hours to prep day I was pulled out of the rst-grade classroom to substitute for a passion for teaching is the key to success. January 2013: The beginning of the end my materials and double check that I had everything in order so the di erent teacher, and this was such an incredible experience. I met Over the holiday break I thoroughly enjoyed detoxing from school week would ow seamlessly. In the end, the most valuable thing I so many di erent kids in such a short amount of time, and it gave me December 2012: The end of the beginning and catching up on much-needed rest! e highlight of my break was learned was that a good amount of the time, things are not going to go the a rmation that I can walk into a classroom as a substitute and e rst semester of my internship was a whirlwind of UAF classes, purchasing my wedding gown, because not only am I completing this maintain control. teaching, and countless hours at home planning lessons and complet- insane internship, I’m also planning my upcoming nuptials. ing my own assignments. My average day during the rst semester was

26 aurora | fall 2013 WORKING CLASS

fall 2013 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 27 BEHIND THE MASK May 2013: “Challenged in ways I never knew empowering lesson I learned: how to be a support system for children existed” who might not have it at home. Experiencing rsthand what teachers go through and do for their Continued from page It was tough at the beginning of the year; it was scary! I didn’t know students on a daily basis was absolutely mind-blowing. From what I “Someone who put on the bear suit had to be a bit of an extrovert, a how to be an e ective educator, although that’s what my goal was. witnessed, teachers are always willing to go the extra mile for their Mascot code of behavior A er this year, because I dedicated myself to the challenge, I know bit of a ham,” says Al Svenningson, UAF’s basketball coach from students because they genuinely care about them. ey are a prime “A lot of things go into being the mascot — it’s not just putting on a that I have the emotional, professional and necessary skills to run 1967 – 1985. “You couldn’t take Bear Entertaining 101.” example of what a good school team should be. I am proud to say that suit,” says Gary Gray, director of athletics. “ e person playing the a classroom e ciently and e ectively. I learned how to identify “You gotta have that love for kids!” says Stahl. “At UAF I work with I was part of the Denali team, had the opportunity to learn from some role of the mascot has to know what to do, when to do it, how to student needs, parent concerns and professional expectations on a little kids but I also need to be wild and crazy for the students to rev amazing educators, and hopefully will have my own classroom there behave and what’s appropriate. day-to-day basis because of the situations I encountered inside my up the UAF spirit. When I put the suit on, I can act as crazy as I want in the future. “ ough it always has to be in good taste, the mascot can do a lot of wonderful h-grade classroom and in my time as a substitute. Many and people eat it up. I can be a whole other person!” things that are fun as well as funny. Timing is everything!” Gray says. of the things I found most challenging I was not prepared for via my Connecting the dots Edson and Hetrick were always well aware of the rules. university training, such as how do I tend to the educational and emo- LJ Evans has been a writer and editor with Marketing and Communications One thing I cannot stress enough is developing relationships with your “When you put on the head, it’s time to get serious,” Edson says. tional needs of a child who is homeless, has been abandoned by their since . She retired July to pursue a new career guiding visitors up the students, because you never know how you might be connected. For e rules include don’t talk, don’t take the head o in public, don’t mother, whose best friend has just died? is was probably the most Dalton Highway. Ice Road Truckers, watch out! example, I am adopted. During the application phase [of the adoption make any mean or rude gestures and leave the other team alone — no process], my parents were asked to get letters of recommendation. taunting. LJ’s favorite anecdote about the Nanook mascot was that three times over Some of their friends’ children decided to write letters attesting to And even since the earliest mascot days, being the bear has been a the years, someone tried to clean the bear costume heads in front-loading how great my parents would be if they were allowed to adopt a child. job for a special person. washing machines. They didn’t survive. A er I was adopted, my parents had a party for all the people who had helped them. My mother recently stumbled upon a photo from the Catch Nook in action at www.uaf.edu/aurora/. party. I was an infant, and there was a young girl holding me in her arms. Turns out, that girl, 25 years later, was the mother of one of the students in my h-grade class. I was so excited to show my student the photo and tell her the story of how we were connected, the fact that her mother held me when I was a baby, and now I was her student SUITED UP teacher. It’s just amazing how people have connections without even realizing it, and when it comes to fruition it is absolutely beautiful. is internship tested my dedication to the teaching profession, but I attended UAF from 1966 to 1971. In 1968, when I was a stu- night from Fairbanks to Anchorage in a VW Beetle (no Parks I can wholeheartedly say this: ere is nothing in the world I would dent senator from Moore Hall, I proposed that ASUA purchase Highway then.) rather do. I love taking the time to plan activities that get kids excited a mascot costume to be worn at sporting events and other Since the suit was very hot, my activity level was limited. I about learning. I adore the looks on my students’ faces when they university activities. A sum of $350 was appro- mostly danced with the pep band and at half- are inspired by something, and I cannot imagine being in any other priated to buy a costume. time would go to center court and dance to profession. The costume was ordered from a costume “The Stripper.” My little tail would be twirling maker in San Francisco. The suit was in two around and around. By the time I was fi nished, Jamie Hallberg graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in elementary parts — the head and the body. In order to wear I would be sweating profusely. I wear glasses education. She now works full time teaching and organizing fi eld trips for chil- the costume, I had to be dressed in cut-o s with and I found out early that I could not wear dren ages – at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital’s employee day care center. a belt. The head would go on fi rst where four them because they would fog up so basically I Hallberg went home with a collection of straps would be tied to my belt. The suit would would be blind out there. I was criticized a lot goodbye cards on her last day of teaching. go on next and be zipped up the front. Lastly I about my lack of activity and cavorting with put on the paw mittens. the crowd. There were several glaring drawbacks to One of my detractors was Jane Haycraft, ’73, wearing the costume. First, I could only see out- Miss Alaska, from Fairbanks. She asked if she side through the nostrils or through the mouth. could wear the suit. I told her how hot it was Second, the suit was extremely hot. I would but she still wanted to wear the costume. So at sweat tons during a basketball game or a parade. a basketball game, I got her all suited up. She Not so much in a hockey game which was held danced around and cavorted with the crowd in the bubble in those days. Third, once you but by the end of the fi rst half, she pleaded were in, you were in until you disrobed later. I never had a real with me to take the costume o . After that she was more emergency but I came close. Fourth, it was white! empathetic with me. Other people would wear the suit but only I believe the fi rst time we used the costume was in the fall for one outing. So I kept wearing it. of 1968. I usually made all the basketball games and a few of One of my supporters was athletic director John Gilmore. the hockey games. I even tried to skate but I spent most of my He encouraged me to attend all the sporting events. When time on my butt. I had gotten money appropriated to go with I graduated from UAF in 1971 he presented me with a U of A the cheer squad to Anchorage for a basketball game. Another letterman’s jacket, which I still have. event I attended was the Fur Rendezvous in Anchorage (where this picture was taken by Chuck Clutts, ’67, ’70). I drove all Phil Richardson, ’71 UAFphotos by JR Ancheta.

28 aurora | fall 2013 BEHIND THE MASK May 2013: “Challenged in ways I never knew empowering lesson I learned: how to be a support system for children existed” who might not have it at home. Experiencing rsthand what teachers go through and do for their Continued from page It was tough at the beginning of the year; it was scary! I didn’t know students on a daily basis was absolutely mind-blowing. From what I “Someone who put on the bear suit had to be a bit of an extrovert, a how to be an e ective educator, although that’s what my goal was. witnessed, teachers are always willing to go the extra mile for their Mascot code of behavior A er this year, because I dedicated myself to the challenge, I know bit of a ham,” says Al Svenningson, UAF’s basketball coach from students because they genuinely care about them. ey are a prime “A lot of things go into being the mascot — it’s not just putting on a that I have the emotional, professional and necessary skills to run 1967 – 1985. “You couldn’t take Bear Entertaining 101.” example of what a good school team should be. I am proud to say that suit,” says Gary Gray, director of athletics. “ e person playing the a classroom e ciently and e ectively. I learned how to identify “You gotta have that love for kids!” says Stahl. “At UAF I work with I was part of the Denali team, had the opportunity to learn from some role of the mascot has to know what to do, when to do it, how to student needs, parent concerns and professional expectations on a little kids but I also need to be wild and crazy for the students to rev amazing educators, and hopefully will have my own classroom there behave and what’s appropriate. day-to-day basis because of the situations I encountered inside my up the UAF spirit. When I put the suit on, I can act as crazy as I want in the future. “ ough it always has to be in good taste, the mascot can do a lot of wonderful h-grade classroom and in my time as a substitute. Many and people eat it up. I can be a whole other person!” things that are fun as well as funny. Timing is everything!” Gray says. of the things I found most challenging I was not prepared for via my Connecting the dots Edson and Hetrick were always well aware of the rules. university training, such as how do I tend to the educational and emo- LJ Evans has been a writer and editor with Marketing and Communications One thing I cannot stress enough is developing relationships with your “When you put on the head, it’s time to get serious,” Edson says. tional needs of a child who is homeless, has been abandoned by their since . She retired July to pursue a new career guiding visitors up the students, because you never know how you might be connected. For e rules include don’t talk, don’t take the head o in public, don’t mother, whose best friend has just died? is was probably the most Dalton Highway. Ice Road Truckers, watch out! example, I am adopted. During the application phase [of the adoption make any mean or rude gestures and leave the other team alone — no process], my parents were asked to get letters of recommendation. taunting. LJ’s favorite anecdote about the Nanook mascot was that three times over Some of their friends’ children decided to write letters attesting to And even since the earliest mascot days, being the bear has been a the years, someone tried to clean the bear costume heads in front-loading how great my parents would be if they were allowed to adopt a child. job for a special person. washing machines. They didn’t survive. A er I was adopted, my parents had a party for all the people who had helped them. My mother recently stumbled upon a photo from the Catch Nook in action at www.uaf.edu/aurora/. party. I was an infant, and there was a young girl holding me in her arms. Turns out, that girl, 25 years later, was the mother of one of the students in my h-grade class. I was so excited to show my student the photo and tell her the story of how we were connected, the fact that her mother held me when I was a baby, and now I was her student SUITED UP teacher. It’s just amazing how people have connections without even realizing it, and when it comes to fruition it is absolutely beautiful. is internship tested my dedication to the teaching profession, but I attended UAF from 1966 to 1971. In 1968, when I was a stu- night from Fairbanks to Anchorage in a VW Beetle (no Parks I can wholeheartedly say this: ere is nothing in the world I would dent senator from Moore Hall, I proposed that ASUA purchase Highway then.) rather do. I love taking the time to plan activities that get kids excited a mascot costume to be worn at sporting events and other Since the suit was very hot, my activity level was limited. I about learning. I adore the looks on my students’ faces when they university activities. A sum of $350 was appro- mostly danced with the pep band and at half- are inspired by something, and I cannot imagine being in any other priated to buy a costume. time would go to center court and dance to profession. The costume was ordered from a costume “The Stripper.” My little tail would be twirling maker in San Francisco. The suit was in two around and around. By the time I was fi nished, Jamie Hallberg graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in elementary parts — the head and the body. In order to wear I would be sweating profusely. I wear glasses education. She now works full time teaching and organizing fi eld trips for chil- the costume, I had to be dressed in cut-o s with and I found out early that I could not wear dren ages – at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital’s employee day care center. a belt. The head would go on fi rst where four them because they would fog up so basically I Hallberg went home with a collection of straps would be tied to my belt. The suit would would be blind out there. I was criticized a lot goodbye cards on her last day of teaching. go on next and be zipped up the front. Lastly I about my lack of activity and cavorting with put on the paw mittens. the crowd. There were several glaring drawbacks to One of my detractors was Jane Haycraft, ’73, wearing the costume. First, I could only see out- Miss Alaska, from Fairbanks. She asked if she side through the nostrils or through the mouth. could wear the suit. I told her how hot it was Second, the suit was extremely hot. I would but she still wanted to wear the costume. So at sweat tons during a basketball game or a parade. a basketball game, I got her all suited up. She Not so much in a hockey game which was held danced around and cavorted with the crowd in the bubble in those days. Third, once you but by the end of the fi rst half, she pleaded were in, you were in until you disrobed later. I never had a real with me to take the costume o . After that she was more emergency but I came close. Fourth, it was white! empathetic with me. Other people would wear the suit but only I believe the fi rst time we used the costume was in the fall for one outing. So I kept wearing it. of 1968. I usually made all the basketball games and a few of One of my supporters was athletic director John Gilmore. the hockey games. I even tried to skate but I spent most of my He encouraged me to attend all the sporting events. When time on my butt. I had gotten money appropriated to go with I graduated from UAF in 1971 he presented me with a U of A the cheer squad to Anchorage for a basketball game. Another letterman’s jacket, which I still have. event I attended was the Fur Rendezvous in Anchorage (where this picture was taken by Chuck Clutts, ’67, ’70). I drove all Phil Richardson, ’71 UAFphotos by JR Ancheta.

fall 2013 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 29 Nanook Nook The long goodbye: Student journalists run final issue in historic location Story and photos by Jeremia Schrock

Of reporters and Slinkies “Don’t ever throw a Slinky at me again,” says Lakeidra Chavis. Chavis is the copy editor for the Sun Star, UAF’s student-run paper. She’s talking to colleague Ashleigh Strange, who covers the campus political beat. Strange has taken a break from writing her final story A shleigh Strange, for the paper, a recap of the latest student standing, was government meeting. That’s well and good for the political reporter last Strange, but it’s 8:30 p.m., and Chavis is just year. Lakeidra flat hungry. Over at the layout computer, layout editor Danny Fisher has Chavis, seated, Typing at a corner desk is arts and enter- finally started working on the cover. Both she and Editor-in-Chief held that position tainment writer John Seiler. Seiler is sticking the previous year, around to finish homework and help read Elika Roohi decide to go with an Instagram photo of a snow-covered having inherited over the issue before it’s sent off to the printer. campus. It’s a nice photo and one taken by a student, but Roohi doesn’t it from Jeremia Sitting kitty-corner to Seiler is Fernanda like the fact that it’s from Instagram. Schrock, who Chamorro, the photo editor. Roohi is also tired of Chavis talking about being hungry. wrote this story. “This is what happens when you try and do an issue during finals week,” Roohi says. What makes this night, May 5, unique among the many these students have spent in this office isn’t that this issue is the last issue of the year, but that it’s the last issue that will be published within the whitewashed walls of Room 101G in the William R. Wood Center. The room, with its old couches and newer Macs, has seen hundreds of aspiring journalists come and go. This is the last batch it will ever see. Over the summer, this section of the Wood Center will be demolished, making way for an expansion to be finished by 2014.

The written word Journalism has always been about telling stories. The stories of many UAF students are told through the Sun Star. Since 1972, the newspaper’s home has been inside Wood Center. That is about to change. While the future of the paper is still unwritten, a significant chapter in its saga has ended. The story of that last night is about the written word, but it’s also about the people who do the writing. And the editing. About those who lay out the paper and proof its pages prior to print. It’s also about bad jokes, food, YouTube and camaraderie. “Someone once told me Editor-in-Chief is one of the hardest jobs on campus. I guess I’m coming at it with a little bit of bias, but I’d believe it,” wrote Roohi that night, in her last editorial. “The late nights of trying and failing to catch all the errors, dealing with all the haters out there who want to see the Sun Star fail, working with a woefully inadequate budget and getting the small staff of reporters and photog- raphers to get their work done wore me out this year.” Doughnuts and sympathy It’s 9:45 p.m. and the copyediting is finally finished. A feat, considering the last piece of content wasn’t turned in until less than an hour ago. The team, bemoaning the usual Sunday fare of caffeine and sugar,

30 aurora | fall 2013 finally agrees to open up a box of doughnuts sitting on Fisher’s desk. They eat them begrudgingly. As 10 p.m. rolls around, Fisher finishes layout. She prints out the pages and hands them to Roohi, who in turn spreads them among herself and the team. Each has a pen and begins to check for duplicated sentences, typos or any other errors. Proofing a page for a newspaper is strange, both in what one hears and in what one sees. “Is moon base one word or two?” asks Strange, to no one in particular. (It’s two). Any errors that are found are circled or underlined in red, empty white space is doodled in, the margins of pages are littered with notes, and when a page is completed it’s given a large check mark at the top. By 11 p.m., the proofing is almost finished. “Last one!” Roohi shouts, her voice mixed with both glee and exhaustion. Ten minutes later, Roohi hands the last page to Fisher, who puts the final changes into the computer. The tired students begin to gather their things. There are no lingering glances into the office. Tomorrow the team will be back to finish packing up the room. Written across the walls are drawings and quotes. Some funny, some sad. In front of Fisher’s desk is a drawing of a giant octopus spread out across a city. Alongside the octopus are the words “Sun Star for Lyfe … Literally.” “This is the last issue,” Roohi wrote in her last editorial, “and also an end of an era for the Sun Star.”

Jeremia Schrock is the communications coordinator for the Downtown Association of John Seiler, journalism major Fairbanks. He enjoys discussing World War II, watching samurai films and listening to jazz. and entertainment writer, He studied history at UAF and worked for the Sun Star from 2010 – 2012. Schrock can be works on his Spoiler Alert column for the Sun Star. found online at www.downtownfairbanks.com and www.alaskacommons.com.

The Nanook Nook showcases the talent of our alumni and students. If you have an original poem, essay, short story, artwork or photograph(s) you would like to share with our readers, contact [email protected] for submission guidelines.

Class Notes

1960s that can only come through forgiveness. I Joan Braddock, ’77, ’83, interim director have also published numerous short stories, of the University of Alaska Press, is vice chair Robert J. (Bob) Conti, ’67, retired from articles, devotionals, church school cur- of the Alaska Humanities Forum’s executive 35 years of pastoring churches in New York riculum, and a nonfiction book, Frontiers committee. and 15 years at Sound of Life Radio, where of Faith, which recounts the adventures of Jim Culley, ’78 he served as general manager, COO and my grandparents as pioneer missionaries , is vice president of and a announcer. He and his wife, AnnaLee to Alaska, 1917 – 1982. To learn more about commercial loan officer for Northrim Bank Cousart, ’67, live in Beacon, N.Y., just across my books, go to www.annaleeconti.com or in Fairbanks. the Hudson River from their son and five www.amazon.com.” grandchildren. 1980s AnnaLee Cousart, 1970s Randy Weaver, ’82, was appointed by Gov. ’67 — “My most Milo Griffin, ’70, received a JP Jones Sean Parnell to the Alaska Student Loan recent book, Till Legacy Award at Fairbanks’ inaugural Black Corp. board in November 2012. the Storm Passes History Month’s Men of Distinction event in Thomas McKenna, ’84, was elected By, the first novel in February 2013. He has worked as a teacher my Alaskan Waters president of the American Association of and coach at Lathrop High School for more Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians. He Trilogy, has been than 30 years. published in e-book is the director of the Wisconsin Veterinary and trade paperback Pat Cole, ’72, received the 2012 Vic Fisher Diagnostic Laboratory in Madison. by Ambassador Municipal Employee Award from the city of Darryl Lewis, ’88, received a JP Jones International. My Fairbanks for his commitment to excellence. Industry Leadership Award in media at experiences growing Jerry Cleworth, ’75, mayor of Fairbanks, Fairbanks’ inaugural Black History Month’s up in Alaska in the ’50s and ’60s heavily was named the 2012 Elected Official of the Men of Distinction event in February 2013. inform my writing of this book, which is Year by the Alaska Municipal League at its set in the Alaska Panhandle in 1953. While Susan “K’etso” Jones Paskvan, ’88, won annual conference in Anchorage. showcasing the scenic beauty of Alaska, I the Culture Bearer Award for her work in dramatize the destructiveness of family teaching and preserving a Native language. secrets, as well as the redemption and healing

fall 2013 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 31 Class Notes

1990s Brian Hanson, ’97, manager of aviation Stephanie Kocer, ’04, married Barrie engineering at DOWL HKM in Anchorage, Toepp in October 2012. Serena Cook, ’91 — “I have published a was an Alaska Journal of Commerce’s 2013 Lanien Livingston, ’04, was hired as a book with my friends and colleagues, Magda Top Forty Under 40 honoree. Barcelo and Laure le Douarec. Gatherings: human resources recruiter for the Tanana how to participate in, host, or facilitate Don Rearden, ’97, associate professor Chiefs Conference in November 2012. at UAA, had his book, The Raven’s Gift, rEvolutions with abracadabra draws on my Digger Stolz, ’04, has published Stumbling published in 2012. Find out more at education at UAF. The book [contains] a Thru, his first novel in a two-part series www.donrearden.com. series of techniques for making conversations about the Appalachian Trail. Stumbling Thru with other people better. I would go so far as Michelle Rizk, ’97, ’01, associate vice follows a ragtag cast of characters attempting to say it improves conversations with your- president of budget and planning for the a 2,200-mile through-hike of the trail. For self.” Find out more at University of Alaska, was an Alaska Journal more information about the author and his www.gatheringsforevolution.wordpress. of Commerce’s 2013 Top Forty Under 40 book, visit www.adiggerstolz.wordpress.com. com/boo/. honoree. John Law (Zhangai Luo), ’91, is owner of Lance Roberts, ’97, was elected to the TrueMinds in Denver, Colo. Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly in Tammy Kosa, ’94, is vice president of November 2012. and regional sales and service manager for Catherine Heroy, ’98, married Dave Northrim Bank in Fairbanks. Wilson in February 2012. They live in Randy Pommenville, ’94, ’12, is the Anchorage. job-risk management officer in Overland Raymond Vara, ’98, was elected to the Todd Paris. by photo UAF Park, Kan. Bank of Hawaii Corp. board of directors. Toby He is a member of the American College of Burke, ’96, Healthcare Executives. defended his family from an 2000s attacking, but Kelley (Cadman) Sadler, ’01 Jon Huff, ’05 luckily mostly , was recently , was honored as the blind, brown married and works for Tacoma Community 2012 Partner of the Year by the Downtown bear on the College as the director of institutional Association of Fairbanks. He owns Alaska Kasilof River research. Universal Productions. in April 2013. Michael Campbell, ’02, ’04, ’05, school Daniel Adamczak, ’06, and Ashley The wildlife liaison officer at Fort Wainwright, was an Anderson, ’07, were married in biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Alaska Journal of Commerce’s 2013 Top Forty October 2012. Service was with his wife, Laura, and three Under 40 honoree. of their 10 children. Read the full story at Julie (Larweth) Queen, ’06, married http://bit.ly/Burke_bear. Sarah Keefer, ’04, worked in Glacier Bay Travis Queen in February 2013. They live in National Park as a park ranger for four years. Fairbanks. Heath Hilyard, ’96, executive director of She moved to her home state of Minnesota Raven Riddle, the SouthEast Alaska Guides Organization to reunite with and marry her high school ’06, Bentley branch in Anchorage, was an Alaska Journal of sweetheart in June 2009. Working with the manager for Wells Commerce’s 2013 Top Forty Under 40 National Park Service in Minnesota, Sarah Fargo, was an honoree. managed the Habitat Restoration Program at Alaska Journal of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Dena M. Sommer-Pedebone, ’96, senior Commerce’s 2013 Area as the exotic species specialist. She and manager of housing services for the Cook Top Forty Under her husband, Jeff Krebsbach, run Sand Jay, Inlet Housing Authority in Anchorage, was 40 honoree. an Alaska Journal of Commerce’s 2013 Top a software development business. Sara is a Forty Under 40 honoree. volunteer and instructor for the Minnesota Christopher Master Naturalist program. Travel experi- Benshoof, ’07, ’08, ’11, was named the ences include the Caribbean, Norway and 2012 Alaska Teacher of the Year. He is a math an upcoming voyage to Japan. She lives teacher at Lathrop High School. in Minnesota with her husband, two dogs and Hoku. Brian Cooper, ’07, ’08, and Kristina (Gearhart) Cooper, ’09, ’10, are living in New Zealand for the next two years. Annie Duffy, ’96, adjunct art Zazell Staheli, ’07, ’09, ’10, was featured instructor at UAF, received her in Marquette University magazine’s spring 2013 issue (www.marquette.edu/magazine/). second Rasmuson Foundation She is a student at Marquette’s School of Individual Artist Fellowship. She is Dentistry. a craft artist whose work focuses Cassie Toth, ’07, won the 2012 Kiwanian of on vessels made of paper, cotton, the Year Award for outstanding service with bent wood and beeswax. the Kiwanis Club of Fairbanks.

32 aurora | fall 2013 Class Notes

Talis Colberg, ’08 — “On March 8, 2013, Tom Marsik, ’07, and his wife, the Latvian Secretary of State, Andris Kristin Donaldson, built a net-zero Teikmanis, designated me the honorary consul for the Republic of Latvia in Alaska. I energy house in Dillingham am half Latvian. Go, Nanooks!” that won a Tightest Residential Tara Delana, ’08, married Terrence Building award from the World Mitchell in August 2012. They live in Record Academy in March 2013. Brooklyn, N.Y. Kristin has chronicled his work at Vanessa Norman, www.uaf.edu/aurora/. ’08, was hired by the

law firm of Davis Todd Paris. by photo UAF Wright Tremaine in Anchorage. Nicholas Thompson, ’08, ’12, is a National Park Ranger in Eagle. In memoriam Leda Lotspeich-Cole, ’09 — “I am at the Richard R. Arab, ’68, June 26, Charles Vincent Lucier, ’50, Feb. 28, National Institutes of Health but I have also Georgetown, Texas Springfield, Ore. spent time at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Peter G. Biesiot, professor emeritus, Betty Boskofsky Lukin, ’95, May 31, Kodiak School of Public Health, where I did a master March 20, Shelton, Wash. Robert D. Mays, ’71, May 24, Atlanta, Ga. of science in molecular microbiology and Alfred B. Bruck, ’50, ’65, June 28, Sequim, Wash. immunology. After graduation I did a fellow- William H. McKee, ’54, March 1, Anchorage Monte Burt Cady, ’60 ship at the Center for Biologics Evaluation , March 27, Suzon June Jenner Mejia, former staff Rathdrum, Idaho and Research FDA, where I studied the member, March 27, Anchorage Hanna Titus Carter, ’94, ’04, ’05, ’06 immune response to malaria infection. I , Feb. 26, Laurence M. Paquin, matriculate, June 5, Fairbanks am a first-year student in the NIH-Johns Fairbanks Allen Roy Cheek, ’72 Hopkins University Graduate Partnership , May 20, Fairbanks Edna Jean Parker, ’71, Feb. 20, Akron, Ohio L. Michael Cheek, ’91 Program. In this program, I complete Johns , May 20, Fairbanks Fred Edwin Payne, ’68, July 25, Waco, Texas Hopkins graduation requirements including Lois “Juggie” Chikigak, matriculate , May 7, Irene Rose Peyton, ’84, July 1, Kent, Wash. coursework, lab rotations and orals with the Alakanuk Eugenia “Jean” R. Risdal, ’71, June 9, Cellular, Molecular, Developmental Biology Sheldon A. Clark, ’61, Feb. 3, Towanda, Pa. and Biophysics Program but do my thesis Anchorage Robert Theodore “Ted” Cooney, professor research in an NIH lab. It’s intense and com- Randall Ray Rogers, ’91, April 17, Fairbanks emeritus, Feb. 14, Choteau, Mont. petitive but very exciting.” Ludwig J. Rowinski, ’58 and museum Jeffrey Nelson Dam, matriculate , March 27, director emeritus, March 25, Fairbanks Craig Medina, ’09, was promoted to ser- Anchorage Lee Roy Sommer, process technology geant in the Craig, Alaska, police department. Carol P. Gelvin-Reymiller, ’90, ’00 , April 6, faculty, June 5, Fairbanks Fairbanks Tracy Steele, ’85, July 13, Fairbanks 2010s Henry N. Gettinger, ’52, Feb. 10, Fairbanks Olga R. Steger, matriculate, July 22, Fairbanks Kate Cessnun, ’10, clinical dietitian John J. Goering, professor emeritus, May 4, Fairbanks Tamar J. Stephens, ’93, March 22, Fairbanks and program coordinator for PeaceHealth Medical Center in Ketchikan, was an Alaska Carolyn Jane Hanson, ’80, ’81, April 2, Dennis L. Sweetsir, matriculate, Feb. 10, Galena Journal of Commerce’s 2013 Top Forty Under Wilmington, N.C. 40 honoree. Raymond C. Highsmith, professor emeritus, Mark. A. Taaffe, ’98, March 25, Fairbanks July 10, Oxford, Miss. Harvey R. Turner, ’57, Feb. 4, Anchorage Andrew Carlson, ’12, was accepted into Paul K. Hilburn, ’56, April 23, Honaunau, William H. Ullrich, ’42, July 22, Anchorage grad school. He wants to work in the special Hawaii education field when he graduates. Joseph Paul Voelker, matriculate, May 28, M. Florence Allen Holmes, ’39, May 19, Anchorage Lisa Pennoyer, ’12, accepted a new position Fairbanks Philip Wagner, matriculate, Feb. 9, in September 2012 at Wildflower Court in Peggy Florence Huber, matriculate, March 12, Woodland, Wash. Juneau, where she is a caseworker for elders. Fairbanks Anita A. Whitney, ’85, ’89, June 11, Alan Charles James, ’71, July 1, Fairbanks Scottsdale, Ariz. Matriculates Katie John, ’11 honorary degree recipient, Travis A. Wilson, ’97, April 17, Anchorage May 31, Mentasta Lake Edwin Fancher was honored by the New Barbara Anne Winkley, ’75, May 21, Sharon M. Kessey, ’98 York School of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy , April 27, Red Bluff, Calif. Anchorage and Psychoanalysis in December 2012. He Charles Albert Leap, matriculate, May 31, Virginia Hill Wood, matriculate, March 8, is a founder of the school and has been its DeBeque, Colo. Fairbanks president for 34 years. Scott R. Leist, ’82, April 5, Fairbanks Harold Andrew Woods, ’09, July 25, Fairbanks Alison Esther “SonE” Laurie Lewis, Marjorie C. Wright, ’58, April 7, Mount matriculate, June 29, Wrangell Vernon, Wash. Donald W. Linck, ’37, April 13, Hamilton, Mont. University of Alaska Fairbanks PO Box 757505 Fairbanks, AK 99775-7505

CENTENNIAL

University Relations Photographs, University of Alaska Records, Archives, University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Political animal The Nanook got a boost in political prestige when President Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan visited Fairbanks in 1984. The mascot presented a UAF hockey sweatshirt during a welcoming ceremony in the Patty Gym. Nanook has been a part of UAF and Fairbanks tradition for decades. Go behind the mask and learn about “Being Nanook,” on page 18.