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 20 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.
Owning up to our mistakes
KA-BOOM! I labored at my computer on a bitterly cold February day as a black truck crashed into my Union City, Ind. house. The truck smacked the siding just beneath the window behind me. It shook up both the house and my composure. Hey wait! Is the driver pulling...
Why Alaska absolutely, positively needs a state hazing law: Cordova Times column
During the fall of 1993, the Cordova Times published a letter from a concerned parent of a Cordova High School ninth grader. The mother said she wanted an end to the “degrading” practice of hazing — or “freshman initiation” — as “the tradition” euphemistically was...
In Memoriam
Just a year ago our Aunt Sabina and friend Anna came to Fairbanks to visit us. Now, both are deceased from cancer. This column was about their visit. Enjoy What an exciting and beautiful week for our two relatives from London and Gosia’s aunt from Warsaw to visit us....
The one I wished I had let get away
When it’s the angler who gets caught dead By Hank Nuwer Heard the one about two anglers who hoisted a fancy trophy in triumph after “winning” $30,000 in prize money at a Lake Erie Walleye Trail tournament. Before they cashed that check, a suspicious...
The Miracle on 34th Street
Last night was the first day of rehearsal for the Fairbanks production of Ken Ludwig's "T'was the Night Before Christmas." Last year I acted as Kris Kringle in :A Miracle on 34th Street." This column was written right before auditions. Two years in a row I play Santa...
Sad news from Warsaw
Wife Gosia phoned me with the sad news that. Aunt Sabina Seliborska, 77, youngest sister of Gosia's late mother, passed after a three week ilness with cancer. I never knew a kinder, more gentler person. Her loss is immeasurable to us. --Hank Nuwer
Swimming in That Big Toilet Bowl in the Sky
by Hank Nuwer Julia Plessinger decided that she was not meant to be a fish mom. The Union City (IN) wife and mother kept her kids’ goldfish tank on her kitchen table. “I would sit and drink coffee and watch the fish every morning,” she said. But one day she discovered...
Antlers and Down home hospitality in Dillingham by Hank Nuwer
Weekend traveling all over Alaska by plane or car brings excitement and pleasure to my wife Gosia and me. Last weekend, we drove to the IGA Food Cache’s European section in Delta Juntion to stock up on the goodies Gosia enjoyed growing up in her native Warsaw. We...
Video: Congressional Record
Thank you so much, Representative Lucy!!!IMG_3051 Honored to be included in the Congressional Record. VIDEO of Georgia Rep. Lucy McBath https://realalaskadaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/IMG_3051.mp4