by Evan Nasse Originally posted to the 49 Writer’s Blog When I was first asked to be a guest blogger for this website, I had already sat through a 2 hour lecture from a Pulitzer Prize winning author, and had two of my short stories passed around a 400 level college writing course to be dissected and workshopped. My work was—is—going to be exposed; some will like it, others might hate it, there will be criticisms constructive and destructive in nature. Last year I was one of three scholarship winners for writing, and each of my professors that approach me and tell me I’m a brilliant writer have only read…

By M. Erickson It’s funny how certain songs can define an era in your life. The chords make their way from the speakers to your ears then right on in to your heart.  In high school, the movie Almost Famous was released, and with it a whole new chance to fall in love with Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer.” It’s a great sing-a-long song, you almost can’t help but join in with the chorus: Hold me closer tiny dancerrrrr, count the headlights on the highway… My friends and I sang it all the time, especially on long road trips—my friend Terry would always do this little dance with his hands to…

By Evan Nasse In my garage sits the skull of a caribou. It has a misshapen rack, jutting out the top of a bright, white, sloping caricature of an animals face, pockmarked with several holes. Where there was once a mouth, for the lackadaisical chewing of cud, are now rows of cracked teeth, and further up the snout are two empty spots where once eyes beamed. There, just above the right eye socket is the hole where I unceremoniously placed a bullet, using a worn hunting rifle owned by my grandfather. The miserable creatures’ offset rack and dome-piece sit bolted onto an ornate, hand crafted, wooden mantle. It was constructed…

By Simon Frez-Albrecht Wintergreen spice lingers in my nose from when I first cut into the branch.  My forearm is fatigued and swollen from wielding my axe and gripping my knife for hours today.  Smooth facets glide under the rough pads of my fingertips, left by a sharp knife on the surface of this spoon I have carved.  I probe for unacceptable imperfections, barely perceptible even to my experienced touch.  The spoon is not perfect of course, but it must be exact in a few certain ways to reach not only its potential of elegance in appearance, but also be pleasurable in the hand and delightful on the tongue.  I…

By Simon Frez-Albrecht We began Winter Wilderness with a busy few days in which we frontloaded as much information as possible.  Ideally we would have taken the whole class before taking the class, as there was much avalanche and safety information to learn quickly, as well as efficient and comfortable winter travel and camping skills.  The first few days were long and packed with as much as we could handle, but we soon found ourselves at Hatcher’s Pass, unloading skis. As we unloaded skis and packs in the Hatcher’s Pass parking lot on our first day, some students had been on skis exactly once or twice before in their lives.  Looking…

By Hillary Hafner The day my wrist broke, Instant Karma showed up in the mail. The prescribed painkillers directed to be taken every four to six hours, so the time spent staring at my wall was time spent pondering or reading. I was comforted by Sheldrake’s descriptions of much more severe injuries, like having to wear a leg cast designed to make his bones rub together for seven months. However, when I felt my own broken bones scrape each other, the wrenching pain shot up my arm and I felt dumb. I felt defeated. I felt that I had failed. I questioned my own motivation for pursuing this sport that…

By Emma Walker   For the better part of my childhood (and by childhood, I mean age five or so to the present day), anytime I was cold for more than about an hour, I absolutely insisted I was being frostbitten. Despite my tendency toward melodrama, I have always enjoyed cold weather activities, even the ones I suspected might result in frostbite. And so, armed with approximately 4,000 calories per day, I was excited for a ten-day expedition into the Alaskan Interior for Winter Wilderness Skills, a block course offered in January at APU. In order to mentally prepare myself for a week and a half of frigid, sleepless nights,…

Publish Or Perish and “The Impossible Heap” by Sarah Felder   There’s no money in poetry, but then there’s no poetry in money, either.  ~Robert Graves, 1962 interview on BBC-TV, based on a very similar statement he overheard around 1955   Abstract     Poetry as a distinct art form chronologically predates western literacy. Ancient works, from the Vedas which is dated between 1700 and 1200 BC, to the Odyssey (800-675 BC), appear to have been written in poetic form to help with oral story conveying and memorization in “prehistoric and ancient societies”(Sonnet Mondal, The History of Poetry). In a way, poetry still exists as a form of story-telling, because of modern technology, a publishing…

I think that we can agree that a good film every now and then is good for the soul. For the ladies, we fancy a good chick flick to get our tear ducts in working order. For the dudes, those Arnold Schwarzenegger/Jason Statham action movies full of explosions and attractive women remind you of your manhood. But Anchorage is host to a massive population of a different breed with different needs: the outdoorsy people. You all know what I’m talking about. We Anchoragians love to climb anything with a hold, ski anything with snow, and hike on anything solid. Naturally, we require an adrenaline rush from just about everything in…

On Thursday, December 6th at 1pm, ASAPU president Erica Stoddard and others stood beside the APU Log to share some thoughts and remembrances on the day the log was being retired as the primary signpost welcoming Alaskans and visitors to the campus. The face of the log will hopefully be salvaged here this winter and if all goes as planned, be returned in the spring or summer to adorn the face of Grant Hall as a work of preserved artwork. A new sign is now in place. Please watch the video of the installation of the new APU sign below.