Husky News

Over the past several years, I’ve found that one surefire way to impress people here on the East Coast is to mention that I once lived in Alaska. I become something of a novelty, as curious New Yorkers inquire about my year in Fairbanks.

With the state in the news following the nomination of Gov. Sarah Palin as the GOP’s vice-presidential candidate, I’m reminded of how uninformed most of the American public is of our 49th state.

When I first told people I would be going to school in Alaska, I was often asked why I wanted to live in the middle of nowhere. “I don’t,” I would reply, “I’m going to a city.”

Perhaps calling Fairbanks, a town of approximately 35,000, a “city” was a bit of a stretch, but the area hardly felt remote. The University of Alaska Fairbanks, where I was a student, was perched on a hill overlooking the Tanana Valley. Surrounding Fairbanks were smaller towns, Eielson Air Force Base, and Fort Wainwright.

While much of the state’s land is unpopulated, the majority of Alaskans reside in urban areas. Nearly half live in or near Anchorage, which, with 280,000 residents, is a major city, larger than the largest cities of over a dozen states. While some Alaskans do live in remote areas, most lead lives that wouldn’t strike residents of the “Lower 49” as unusual.

The Chulitna River in Alaska.

And about those winters. While the Interior, as the vast middle section of the state is known, doesn’t experience the same extreme wind chills as the North Slope, the northern region that contains the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), it can still get quite cold, with lows regularly reaching 20 below zero.

Fortunately, Fairbanks in winter experiences very little wind or humidity, making the cold easily bearable—a fact few people are willing to believe no matter how much I insist that it’s true. Having grown up in the Midwest, which receives far more snow than the Fairbanks area, I found the winter weather surprisingly pleasant.

Of course, the lack of sunlight was a drain, but by the middle of April the skies never got completely dark. And a clear winter night was often accompanied by the Aurora Borealis, which sometimes put on quite a show, viewable through my dorm window.

At times, people seem to forget that America extends beyond the contiguous 48 states. If asked how many time zones our country has, most Americans would answer “four,” when in fact there are primarily six: Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific, Alaskan and Hawaiian. Even that list is incomplete; the sparsely-populated Aleutian Islands stretch across the International Dateline, making Alaska both the westernmost and easternmost state.

Misunderstanding among the general population is bad enough; unfortunately, misunderstanding about the state also runs deep in the press.

An Alaskan Candidate

While covering the presidential campaign, reporters have emphasized inconsequential issues while ignoring matters that should be of far greater concern.

Take, for example, how much has been made of Sarah Palin’s gun ownership. Alaskans, by and large, are pro-gun. This isn’t merely for recreation; in much of the state, encounters with wild animals are a real possibility, and carrying firearms is a matter of self-protection. And while hunting may be an unfamiliar pastime to most urbanites, it’s hypocritical for anyone who eats meat to find fault with it.

Then there’s the matter of drilling in the aforementioned ANWR. Alaskans, resentful of the federal government’s intrusion on the state’s key industry, strongly favor drilling, and no politician is going to be elected to higher office there if she opposes it. Sarah Palin’s stance on this issue is in no way surprising, but rather an accurate representation of the way most of her constituents feel. In fact, her forceful stance on drilling is one of the reasons for her high approval rating as governor.

This isn’t to say there aren’t genuine concerns about the governor’s environmental record. Usually mentioned only in passing, Palin has a history of denying human culpability in climate change, though she has recently backed away from her most extreme rhetoric.

If only the press realized the irony of her global warming denial. Until 2008, Palin’s hometown of Wasilla was the starting point for the annual Iditarod sled dog race, the 1,000-mile trek to the town of Nome on the state’s west coast. This year, the start was permanently moved north to Willow. Because of climate change, organizers can no longer be confident of favorable mushing conditions in Wasilla.

From something as inconsequential as refusing to believe that winters might actually be bearable, to the much more significant mistake of failing to look accurately at the record of a vice presidential candidate, Americans continue to demonstrate ignorance of a place that, after all, is as much a part of this country as any other state. For the first time since attaining statehood, Alaska is playing a major roll in national politics. What better time than now for a little education?

Source: The Epoch Times