Hank Nuwer Alaska Yarns
My Travel Blog
By Alaska’s Columnist of the Year
Welcome. Enjoy the official story clearinghouse of Alaska author Hank Nuwer with photos by Malgorzata (Gosia) Nuwer. Scroll down to very bottom of this main page for archived stories.
Bio: University of Alaska (Fairbanks) adjunct professor Hank Nuwer
Awards: 2025 Hoosier State Press Association first-place winner for commentary, 2023 and 2024 Alaska Press Club (APC) First-Place Columnist of the Year, and 2022 Ohio SPJ First-Place Columnist of the Year.
Gosia Nuwer photographs Alaska and its wildlife. She and Hank reside in Fairbanks, Alaska, with 5 acres in remote Alaska, and a vacation cabin in Poland.
Gosia and her husband in 2025 contributed an article on Alaska back-road trips for Phi Kappa Phi’s Forum Magazine.
Contact Prof. Hank Nuwer at Hjnuwer@Alaska.edu
Know someone who has fought hazing in student groups, the military or sports? Nominate him/her/them here for a Hank Nuwer Antihazing Hero Award at Hazing Prevention Network.
Misadventures in Stooge Paradise (2021 reprint)
My wife Gosia and I returned yesterday from a working vacation in Alaska. The mountains wore a majestic white cape of snow. As we drove hairpin turns on the Kenai Peninsula, the Avis rental car belched an ominous warning noise. Gulp, a dashboard icon predicted...
Win One for the Ripper!
The Boy of Summer By Hank Nuwer I grow excited each year as baseball spring training reports from Florida and Arizona announce the coming of a new season. My father only watched boxing matches on TV. I curled beside him watching my...
Margaret C. Grigor: Medalist
Last Frontier Tales Margaret C. Grigor: Medalist By Hank Nuwer Sculptor Margaret Christian Grigor never lived in Alaska or Hawaii, but she created a memorable medal commemorating each’s statehood on either side of the coin. Born to American...
The One That Got Away…Was Me
My switch to Alaska citizen is complete. I have an Alaska voting card. I’m paying Alaska property taxes. My vehicle has an Alaska brown bear license plate where Indiana vanity plate Moby Van once resided. But most important, I qualified with Alaska DNR (at my advanced...
Dr. Roland Lombard: The Outsider Who Dominated Sled Dog Racing
Part Two By Hank Nuwer It was 1958 when longtime musher Dr. Roland Lombard of Massachusetts, already 47 but super fit, came to challenge the best of Alaska’s sled dog racers. Newspapers in Fairbanks and Anchorage listed his racing credentials. His big wins had been...
Poem: A Prayer for Alex Pretti
A Prayer for Alex Pretti By Hank Nuwer I saw a murder on the news today. The victim died with no time to pray. His attackers came like bees in a swarm. Their every movement meant him harm. They sprayed, swung, slammed his head. They took his gun and shot him dead....
“Doc” Roland A. and Louise Lombard: Mushers from New England
“Doc” Lombard: The Vet Who Was Always Off to the Races Part One in a series from the Cordova Times By Hank Nuwer At his office in Massachusetts, Dr. Roland Arnold Lombard was regarded as the veterinarian of choice for the city’s dog and cat owners. ...
New Mexico: You can go home again. But that home no longer is the same.
What greeted my family and me was a nightmare of the worst kind.
Nina Whaley: Representing Alaska, 1963
By Hank Nuwer The year 1963 proved magical for an 18-year-old Alaska girl with her heart set on competing in a number of top beauty pageants. She was Nina Whaley, the daughter of well-known Alaska bush pilot and photographer who also lobbied to institute the World...