By Tim Wilson “In the discarded husk of yesterday’s sugarcane, the ant sees a harvest.” African proverb Brad glanced in anticipation at his two friends as they stood at the edge of the African rainforest that would be their home for the next few days. Between the guarded gate of Highland Academy and the forest’s edge, they had divested themselves of all things Western; from here on, they would speak only Swahili, their first language. Highland Academy, the boarding school, provided an American-based education to the children of foreign workers in Africa. Most of the students were in Africa temporarily while their parents, on professional sabbaticals, did relief work; these…
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The Hunt
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…
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The Way Forward
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…
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Winter Wilderness
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…
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Sheldrake’s Shin
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…
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Maasai Girl– excerpt from my upcoming book, “Crossing Rivers.”
by Tim Wilson Her first mother called her Kiserian because she was a peaceful baby. She would follow her mother, as a young girl, listening carefully as her mother showed her how to check for disease and wounds in the cattle and goats. Together, they would milk the cows. After the milking and inspections, her mother would signal her brothers, who would drive the cattle out of the enclosed manyatta for grazing in the grasslands. She would help her mother set the milk filled gourds in the sun and drop smoldering charcoal in each to maximize the curdling process during the day. She would often sit with her mother on…
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A Winter Adventure
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,…
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An Honest Man: Prologue
by Thomas Brown An Honest Man is the tale of two down-on-their-luck Alaskans trying to sell a stolen 13th century Arabic philosophical manuscript on the black market in Anchorage. The book is divided into three main parts: 1) the obstacles and dangers facing the Anchorage duo while illegally selling a priceless antique, 2) the philosophical premise and pedigree of the manuscript itself and, 3) the journey of the manuscript through history from 13th century Muslim Spain to 21st century Anchorage. This prologue sets up two major themes of the novel while establishing the historical and philosophical roots of the many historical scenes as well as that of the 13th century…
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Editorial: It’s Time to End the War on Drugs
by Garrett Okonek “We owned a tortilla factory for generations, but a few years ago drug related violence grew and families who owned businesses started receiving threats,” says APU sophomore Paula Cerda, who hails from a town on the southern tip of Texas, only a five-minute drive from Mexico, where her parents grew up. “This is typical of cartels; they threaten families with kidnappings and murder, and if these families do not turn in a percentage of their profits to cartels, those threats are carried out. My uncle, father, and aunt decided that they would not succumb to the threats of inglorious criminals and took matters into their…
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Welcome to the Turnagain Currents
Hello, welcome to the Turnagain Currents. This is an Alaska Pacific University student-run blog featuring student-generated content. Here you will find featured essays from APU classes, creative writing, editorials, and news about events impacting the APU community. There are also sections for photography, information about the APU Nordic Ski Team, and ASAPU, our student government. The Turnagain Currents will serve as a way for the APU community to express themselves and become a more connected, informed place. The Currents will also be a way for students to advance their writing skills. Writing is important because it allows a person to share their thoughts, ideas, hopes and dreams in a way…
