• Poetry

    Expedition Alaska Yukon Haikus

    by 2015 Expedition Alaska Yukon Trip Students Each year many freshmen who join APU leave the bustling world of society behind for a week to venture out into the wild, and take part in the Expedition Alaska Yukon trip. While on their daring journey, the students had ample time to reflect while rafting. The professors who went along came up with various activities to keep the students busy. One of these involved the students composing haikus with a natural history theme. We present some of these very special haikus here. “Mountains gracefully Pushing against the sky light Basking in the clouds.” – Matt Rhode “The river was calm Snow dust atop the mountains Geology…

  • Poetry

    Dwindle

    by Annie Thorndike Hello, friend. Are you with me? I think about you, often, I carefully wonder deeply, shivering don’t take my words as advice for I too am lost listen though, ancient people sing their voices, crack like their skin beautiful, the sound is to no one, but in the deep and reverberating cacophony, friend, you will find dying branches cold leaves and hope of elegant and aching frost which will carry you, cleanly, into the long and deep silence. [divider]   Annie Thorndike is an Early Honors freshman and was born and raised in Anchorage. She is planning on attending design school after graduating. She loves movies, music, and…

  • Nonfiction

    Free Speech & Hate Speech

    by Keegan Sudkamp-Tostevin What is free speech? Our understanding of this concept seems to be relatively clear. Most Westerners would define it as the idea that speech alone cannot constitute violations in law, so long as there isn’t an illegal call to action or credible threat behind it. We might disagree on the mild semantics, such as the extent of a legal call to action, but there is a fairly substantive definition behind it which the majority of people seem to rally behind. But what is this new idea of hate speech – this bastardized product of the era of the millennials, the era of political correctness, and the personalization…

  • Poetry

    Stargazing in the Amazon

    by Felipe Restrepo The beauty of this experience Is not knowing when magnificence will appear. Two weeks ago we stumbled, fell, and bled With mud and sweat dripping down our face Along the march to our current place: An Earth-bound paradise; A world of grandiosity at every step And novelty along each turn. With the rising sun comes the howler’s deep roar, And with the waking of the stars, the anurans’ nightly song. A continuous cacophony of organic beasts, Each exemplifying its ability to thrive In a place where death is nigh. And yet the diversity of Life, Is relentless despite the strife. Tonight, alone in the canoe, Prostrate, as…

  • Poetry

    Resonance

    by Aaron Tooyak Whenever a certain sonata would play, My mother would share her cherished memories with me. She told me stories – making special note of her youth. I imagine her – peeking around a door. Listening from a distance, Her left eye shows, then both, then her whole tiny body. Her ears twitch as she watches her grandpa lead each ivory note to the next. Major, minor, white, black. Beautiful, soft notes. The grand piano sings through the experienced player. Forever imprinting sounds into my mother’s brain. The memory echoes through time – as it once did in that home. The imagery resurrects itself in my mind, as…