While growing up kids always worry about not “fitting in” with the rest of their peers. Although I suppose it’s clear to my parents that I’ve always been different, the differences I’ve noticed in post-college life have convinced me that I seem to fit in this world even less than ever. From way back, I wasn’t a normal girl. In kindergarten 2 boys did fight over me, but then another…
While walking from the Chevak School to the community center, I formulated a blog post. Why do I come up with these things at the most inopportune times? As usual, it may be time to rewind for a moment. My stint of volunteering with the combined Utah State/Univ of Alaska Anchorage crew has come to an end, and my feelings are bittersweet, as usual. Tomorrow I’ll be in the metropolis…
The 31st season of studying black brant at the Tutakoke Field Camp is over, but the 1st season of studying black brant and vegetation {or making sure floods don’t take away gear} is only 3/4 over. Yes, I’m staying for the last month: the time of year when storms start to take shape and flooding may be a potential concern. The crew has been reading past articles, and it sounds…
Kelsey says, “Hi Mom!” So does Thomas, I suppose. 🙂 Right now our crew is spending a night in Chevak thanks to Obama. Apparently since we’ve been in the field there’s been some change made to Obamacare that applies to this bio tech position, and we have to decline the coverage that’s been offered to us for whatever nonsensical reason. We couldn’t do this over the phone; it required logging…
Surprise! Here’s a sneak peek at the start of the field season. Shhh, nobody tell Fish & Wildlife in Bethel that they have no password on the wifi this year! Last year they practically held the internet under lock and key. Yesterday I flew from Fairbanks to Anchorage, had my usual “ahhhh take care of everything humanly possible before leaving” hours in the airport, and then joined my new fellow…
Ready? Shortest post ever. Goodbye, internet and phone service. I’m headed back to the Tutakoke River to harass – err, help study – black brant for a little over 3 months. I think I’ll get 1 more real shower before my life of saunas-as-showers resumes. 🙂 If you look at the map, I’ll be living in camp on the horseshoe bend right near the mudflats (main border of brown/gray and…
Steph’s Admittedly Self-Experienced List of Problems with the World 1. In the US, health insurance isn’t about helping people pay for staying in good health; it’s about companies making money. No, Obama’s plan certainly doesn’t want to allow everyone affordable insurance. I was deemed ineligible for any coverage through Obamacare, but fortunately since Alaska didn’t expand Medicaid, I won’t be fined the penalty! Haha, I’m part of the Rebel Alliance….
Looking at fish for most of the day, day after day, really provides plenty of thinking time. Unfortunately there’s only one place my brain seems to find itself wandering around. If you know me, you can probably guess where that might be. Really, can you blame me? Herring are fish, so therefore they look like trout. Turangi calls itself the “trout fishing capital of the world” and happens to be…
Although I still haven’t finished the story of how I ended up working on the F/V Starbound at the start of this winter, I thought I’d cover what I’ve been doing since being forced to leave for medical reasons. There I was, again crashing on couches in Fairbanks while waiting to hear when Starbound would be back in port so I could potentially fly back to Dutch Harbor and go…
Once upon a time I was very silly and had convinced myself that I wouldn’t be a real person until I took Calculus I. I’d gone through Honors Pre-Calc in high school, but Calculus just has this history of agony associated with it that I felt I needed. I didn’t take it my freshman year at UAF. I thought about taking it my sophomore year, but the only class that…