Alaskans – For the Win!
Alaskans are busting their buttons this week. I couldn’t let these wonderful accomplishments pass without a little hat tip to the folks that made their fellow Alaskans proud as peacocks.
An Australian-based astrophysicist, Brian Schmidt, who won the Nobel Prize for Physics is a product of the Anchorage School District, having graduated from Bartlett High School! He originally had dreams of being a meteorologist and worked for a time at the National Weather Service in Anchorage. When that career path proved to be less challenging than he had hoped, he was on to bigger and better things, like proving that the universe is expanding and accelerating, creating a colder darker and less densely populated neighborhood with passing time… I’m not sure how I feel about this, but congratulations are due regardless.
STOCKHOLM – Three U.S.-born scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for overturning a fundamental assumption in their field by showing that the expansion of the universe is constantly accelerating.
Their discovery created a new portrait of the eventual fate of the universe: a place of super-low temperatures and black skies unbroken by the light of galaxies moving away from each other at incredible speed.
Barrow resident, Debby Dahl Edwardson is one of five finalists for the National Book Award in the Young People’s Literature category. The winner will be announced November 16th.
“My Name is Not Easy” is the story of three Inupiaq children sent to a boarding school between 1960 and 1964. The story deals with their homesickness, hope, loss and some specifically Alaska matters. Kirkus Reviews said, “The rivalry between Indian and Eskimo is made … vivid, along with the stereotypes and bias that both sides believe about the other.”
Fort Yukon’s Clarence Lee Alexander, 72, is one of only 13 Americans invited to the White House next week who will receive from President Obama, the Presidential Citizens Medal, the second highest civilian honor in the nation. There were about 6,000 people nominated for the award which recognizes American citizens who have “performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens.” according to a White House press release.
Sometimes called the grandfather of tribal government in Alaska for his long-held role as Chief of Fort Yukon, Clarence Alexander has done extensive work cleaning up the Yukon River, resulting in closure of numerous open-burning dumps and the removal or recycling of millions pounds of waste. Alexander is former Grand Chief of the Gwichin people of Alaska. Alexander receives the Citizens Medal for demonstrating how much good a dedicated leader can accomplish.
Nanci Morris Lyon and Kate Taylor
These two Alaskan women, also known as “Team Bear Trail” may not be as well known as the others on this list, but their accomplishment and what they are doing with it make them eminently worthy of our respect and admiration. They were the top fundraisers of this year’s 24-Hour Fish-A-Thon in Nebraska. Not only did they smoke the competition, but they raised about $8,000 – more than the entire Fish-A-Thon raised the year before! Half of the funds they raised will be dedicated specifically to the campaign for Bristol Bay, to stop the proposed Pebble Mine. Do we love them, or WHAT?
They also won an all expense paid fishing trip to Griffin Fishing Charters on the Mississippi Delta near New Orleans, Louisiana. Congratulations, and thanks for sharing the spotlight with Bristol Bay and all those who unite to stop Pebble Mine.
Check out 2:33 in the video for the awesome “Wrong Mine Wrong Place” no Pebble can cozy!
I hope the stories of these outstanding people are told in classrooms throughout Alaska. It’s easy for kids in the outlying states to feel stuck in a second rate citizenship and not dream big. They need to know the amazing things that other students have achieved.
I’m in Hawaii where most students can’t relate to what is happening in the rest of the country. They don’t even want to think that they have to forsake their home to have a meaningful life. It means so much and creates so much encouragement to have people rise to a national or international level without pretending they didn’t begin their life’s journey in a remote, rural area. Decathalon champ Bryan Clay returns regularly to encourage students to live healthy and pursue their dreams. And of course, the Prez returns for Christmas.
Lessee.
5 Alaskans making positive headlines divided by total population: tappity tap tap
equals: 53.46%
That means all the rest are ex governors or current republican office holders!
For the Nobel, rarified company indeed. One hopes the Anchorage high schools are still as good as they were then. One wonders of course. To all the others in the context of their accomplishments of course praise and honors. But is there not some irony in the last pair’s honor? Winning an all expense paid fishing trip to the site of the worst oil spill in history?
Congratulations, all.
That is quite an impressive list of accomplishments! Congrats to all.
Yay!
congratulations to each and every one 🙂