By Marty Grumblis 0: Contact Established  You, yes you, stop whatever you’re doing right now. I need to make sure you’re ready to listen to what I’m about to say. You’ve been living in a dream world, a world of lies and deception and mind control to keep the masses complacent. No, don’t act surprised when you read this, act as normal as possible. You wouldn’t want them to notice, would you? Good, yes, act totally natural, you’re just reading a normal article from the mainstream media, you’re just getting your daily dose of misinformation. Except, this time, you’re getting the truth. The truth that they’ve been hiding from you.  …

By Samuel Henderson Being human is complex and unique; art, music, religion, technology, morality and self-reflection, set us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom. With so much complexity to our daily lives, it is too easily forgotten that we are animals and belong to nature. We have spent so much time, effort, and money protecting ourselves from the harshness of nature after all. Ironically, human beings belong in nature, we were never meant to thrive in the streets. Overcrowded cities have begun to dominate today’s society, many of which are rampant with crime, pollution, and numerous social issues. We have created a society based around economic success; the…

Felix Rivera, Class of 2011, came to APU from his home state of Texas with plans to major in marine biology. Writing classes, working on the campus newspaper and being elected to student government led him to a degree in Liberal Studies. In 2017 Rivera was elected to the Anchorage Assembly, where he’s completing a second term. In an interview Nov. 4 with Media Writing students, Rivera, 31, urged APU students to take advantage of opportunities that a small campus offers. “Become active in your communities,” he said, drawing on his own experience with nonprofit groups including Identity INC, Alaskans Together for Equality, and Spectrum, organizer of the annual Pride…

By Abigail Slater Pilot bread, for many Alaskans, is invisible. By this I mean that it is no more noticeable in our pantries than are the sugar, the canned beans, or the dry milk. This invisibility only exists within the state; outside, many won’t know what pilot bread even is. They might view it as a culinary novelty, even (typically an unpleasant one). But pilot bread goes back – way back. Much further than most Alaskans might realize. To understand the modern day pilot bread, we must first look at its forefather: hard tack. Hard tack (sometimes spelled hardtack) has a long history that goes back all the way to…

By Kaylee Bendixen Introduction I grew up knowing very little about of my culture, Unangax, and have always felt like some part of me was missing. I also know that I am not alone in this feeling, this yearning. I believe it is necessary to explore this feeling and connect with those that feel the same way and, on the journey of self-discovery, to build each other up and share the new knowledge amongst each other. Weinronk (2017) states that cultural continuity and maintaining one’s identity is essential to the health of young Alaska Native peoples. One way to keep culture alive and help build a sense of identity is…

By Suann R. Endicott In the 1980s, the Reagan Administration declared a War on Drugs which has led to mass incarceration. The United States now has the highest incarceration rate and one of the highest recidivism rates in the world (Deady, 2014). I would argue that the War on Drugs has crippled our society and the results have not been positive. What was a well-intentioned plan or admirable goal has had many negative outcomes such as: mass incarceration; social castes individuals are not able to break out of; prisons riddled with violence, abuse, and in-humane treatment of correctional officers and inmates; high recidivism rates; the restriction of basic rights such…

By Suann R. Endicott             Genetically modified organisms (GMOs): some people may know about them and some may not. In fact, they can be difficult to learn about. After doing extensive research, I was left with the question: Why does the FDA approve foods like GMO’s with only the studies provided by the companies that manufacture them and without any independent reviews, even from their own scientists? Furthermore, why won’t the biotechnology companies allow independent studies of their products? Lastly, why are the big corporations against labeling products that have GMO’s? Doesn’t “gene-editing” feel like the GMO industry is playing God with our food? It does to me. Essentially, a…

By Zoe May Abstract Seasonal affective disorder is a type of depression associated with seasonal change, specifically, in the fall and winter seasons. Research has found that the disorder is treatable. Treatments include light therapy, increased melanopsin cells, targeting serotonin in 5-HTT BPND and 5-HT1D, and directed connections treating hypothyroidism and seasonal affective disorder. This paper collects various studies on seasonal affective disorder to challenge the traditional light therapy treatment and propose the use of targeting and increasing naturally occuring hormones present in blood and the brain. There is a promising future for treating seasonal affective disorder and future studies connected to the findings in this research paper is both…

By Lucille Berliant I consider myself a highly skeptical person. I don’t believe in ghosts, goblins or anything in between. The shadows in my room are just shadows. I do, however, have one fatal flaw. I love the stories that come from the horrors of the night. Folk-lore especially, I will study for hours. Since I am a skeptic, however, I have found myself constantly searching for the nuggets of truth hidden within the folk lore. What really happened, oftentimes, is far scarier than the monsters we create. My personal favorite explanation is one for the Salem Witch Trials and what really sent the town into madness. The cause of…

By Lucy Berliant Everything known is limited to what is in our literal and theoretical reach. (2) Our knowledge, to put it crudely, “of how things work”, is all within the Heliopause. That is as far as our suns flow reaches. (1) By everything we know, it’s not just in terms of science, our history, our biology, our literature; all of what we know and have ever known is contained within this bubble. The significance of an interstellar object is contact with the unknown. Space holds everything that we could possibly discover. Currently our technology can’t take us out of the Heliopause, so we rely on interstellar objects coming to…