Traveling on Moose Time

Nearly two weeks after finishing the drive from the Midwest to Fairbanks, I find myself marveling at the photos my wife Gosia snapped. Each turn of the Alaska Highway brought a new peak to admire. I stood beneath a couple high-risers and risked falling over backwards...

The Iceman Cometh and he be me

Like all of you, I finished tons of art projects while in grade school. After we finished, my fellow students decorated the classroom walls with their masterpieces. Unfortunately, the teacher always said, “You can take yours home.” I figured the nuns believed I lived...

Requiem for a toy soldier

This week’s Fairbanks Daily News Miner’s editorial board decision to address Alaska’s poor record on keeping up with essential childhood disease vaccinations sent me back to the archives of the News-Miner from 1953 to 1955. Massive fear about the disease among...
Helen Atkinson: What an Alaskan Lady

Helen Atkinson: What an Alaskan Lady

My office wall at the News-Miner was mostly bare except for a calendar in Polish. This past week I purchased a low-budget painting of a cabin in the woods signed by watercolorist Helen Atkinson. The artist was born Helen Linck in 1915. Her birthplace was Gold Road,...
Pride cometh before a snowfall

Pride cometh before a snowfall

The road to sourdough from cheechako received another setback Thursday. My snowplow guy had not yet cleaned my driveway, but somehow, I made my little Jeep barrel over ice and deep snow right up to the garage door. Right that moment, I felt pride. And we all know what...