Stories, Journalism & Vonnegut Bio Hank Nuwer
Grab a coffee and enjoy the story clearinghouse of Hank Nuwer with photos of Alaska and its wildlife by Malgorzata (Gosia) Nuwer.
You’ll find that I’ve added some finished and partially finished biography-in-progress of Kurt Vonnegut, “The Man in the Hole.”
Hank Nuwer’s Indiana University Press books on hazing. Podcast in The Culture
Podcast of “Weed in the Garden of Academe” with Hank Nuwer
Scroll down for archived Realalaskadaily stories.Thank you for reading. Got a compliment or gripe? Drop a line to Hjnuwer@Alaska.edu. Gosia and I want to keep this site ad-free. Trying to raise funds for last-minute research on my Kurt Vonnegut biography: “Kurt Vonnegut: The Man in the Hole. A Life of Reinvention.” (“Not authorized, but authentic scholarship”). Your donation would be so helpful: Hank Nuwer, PO Box 73446; Fairbanks, AK 99707-3446.
The Nenana Depot’s lodgings are a step back in time; a close call in Maui by Hank Nuwer
Many years ago, on assignment for the AARP, Country Gentleman and Outside magazines, I stayed at more than a dozen century-old hotels in the American West. Some like the Copper Queen in Bisbee, Arizona, were under renovation at the time, but their lobbies and dining...
Belong anywhere with Airbnb: Except Salcha, Alaska
My wife Gosia and I decided to take a working vacation in Alaska early in October 2021. We landed in Anchorage and rented our usual small SUV and drove toward Kenai where I needed to do a routine freelance writing assignment. Weather that month brought cold...
Leszek Nazieme: Rolling on the Yukon River
An adventurer from Poland came to Alaska to complete his latest swimming challenge. Leszek Nazieme swam the Yukon River from Eagle to Circle, completing the 158-mile swim in 4½ days. Nazieme said his inspiration for his adventures came years ago on a stay in the Czech...
Beer and salmon: A Perfect Pairing
Have you heard about the salmon scientific experiment underway in Oregon? Hakai magazine reports that field researchers may have found a way to persuade hatchery fish to swim upstream back to their hatchery home the way wild young salmon do. Now, as a cheechako to...
Gosia and I were in Romeo and Juliet, July 28, 29, 30, 2023 at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Romeo and Juliet opened with Shakespeare’s oft-recited prologue as the entire cast assembles. Photo by Bryan Kramer Review by Selena Moore “Romeo and Juliet” is arguably Shakespeare’s most well known play. There are numerous film adaptations, it’s the inspiration for...
Sweet Bull of Youth
The celebration of the Golden Days Rodeo, the northernmost rodeo in America, takes me back to 2004 and my own rodeo adventure. After my marriage of two decades blew up, I chucked my living room furniture and put in a gym complete with metallic torture contraptions and...
TV personality Jim Tweto, 68, died Friday in an airplane crash
Well-known Alaska pilot, business leader and TV personality Jim Tweto, 68, died Friday in an airplane crash on the coast of remote western Alaska. Also killed in the crash was his longtime friend Shane Reynolds, 45, an Idaho fishing guide known for taking clients out...
Covid and twinkletoes
The Tanana Valley Farmers Market celebration this weekend made me curious about the first-ever event. I found the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner edition from July 20, 1973, with a short article buried on Page 3. The headline read: “Farmers market here Saturday.” The...
Free Willie: The Toad Not Taken
First published in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, June 20, 2023 My wife, Gosia, and I were petless until a mid-size toad came into our lives not long before we moved to Alaska. He excavated a home in the second step of our stoop. A chunk of concrete fell out and...