On my daily 6 AM walks, I have been contemplating why there has been no surge of support for faculty and students in the University of Alaska system. The anger makes for an energetic walk and the walk serves as a cooling mechanism on the anger. The answer I loop back to is elitism. Twitter,Continue reading “Turning a blind eye to the University of Alaska: Academic entitlement and survivor bias”
Category Archives: Alaska
Consider Smell: Arctic Edition (Afterthoughts)
Since the exhibit came down last week, I thought I’d post a few memories of First Friday exhibit opening night at Ursa Major Distillery for Consider Smell: Arctic Edition and some followup on responses from visitors to the gallery over the month-long display! We had a nice long line waiting for drinks before seeing the artContinue reading “Consider Smell: Arctic Edition (Afterthoughts)”
What does this smell like?
At the Consider Smell exhibit at Ursa Major Distillery during the month of March, visitors were asked to write down what they thought an unlabelled vial (birch) smelt like. The word cloud interestingly shows smoked/smoky/campfire as common responses–a lot of people were reminded of smoked meats and fishes either from fall hunt or spring spawning, a regional lifestyleContinue reading “What does this smell like?”
Consider Smell: Arctic Edition (Behind the Scenes Sneak Preview)
Join #considersmell this Friday in Fairbanks Alaska for an Arctic Edition of a travelling series of events that explore smelling, and other senses, through time and space. Come to the Ursa Major Distillery on Parks Highway from 5-8 for a multi-sensory experience! Some tools to get us started: the smoking gun! We use this to createContinue reading “Consider Smell: Arctic Edition (Behind the Scenes Sneak Preview)”
Consider Smell: Arctic Edition
Kara C. Hoover and Julia Feuer-Cotter 4 March 2016. Anthropology Colloquium in Bunnell 405 from 3-4:30 Consider Smell: Smelling Imagined Geographies through Time and Space 4 March 2016. First Friday at Ursa Major Distillery from 5-8pm Join us for a multi-sensory experience that opens the nose to engage deeply across the senses via multisensory molecularContinue reading “Consider Smell: Arctic Edition”
Smelling in the polar vortex
Since so many parts of the US (mainly the Great Plains, mid-west, and parts of the northeast) are experiencing normal interior Alaska winter temperatures right now, I thought I’d write about what/if we smell when it gets cold. Our ability to smell things is related to temperature because temperature is a key factor in volatilityContinue reading “Smelling in the polar vortex”
Smell of the week: Fire
A favorite olfactory pleasure is the smell of burning wood (even if the guilt from wood particulate pollution diminishes it a bit). I had the first fire of the season in my cabin last night as pictured to the right (I do my best–the wood was dry and seasoned). Not coincidentally, Starvation Gulch takes place atContinue reading “Smell of the week: Fire”
Smell of the week: Interior Alaska
This has been an olfactory week for me. I arrived back in the Interior late on Sunday night and moved into an Rainey-Skarland cabin circa 1936 built at UAF by the first anthropologist and department founder. The smell of new paint outside and wood oil inside (along with other various scents common to log cabins in Alaska) greetedContinue reading “Smell of the week: Interior Alaska”
The Smell of Evolution 