What's Cooler Than Being Cool?- Ice Cold

In 18 days one of the most extraordinary events will take place. No I am not talking about Saturday or Spring break being a week from March 2 (though that is sure to be extraordinary). I am talking about the Iditarod. Also known as the last great race. Think Disney’s Balto meets Superman’s Fortress of Solitude. Can you imagine participating in an event that lasts almost two weeks, is both mentally and physically demanding and death a very real outcome?

            The Iditarod began in 1973, and was originally meant to simply test the best sled dogs and mushers. Today the race is highly competitive with the fastest time being set by John Baker with a time of 8 days and 19 hours. Teams are made up of a musher and a group of 12-16 dogs of which 6 are required to be on the towline at the finish. Together this team will travel for approximately 1,049 miles from Anchorage to Nome, through blizzards and sub-zero temperatures that can reach 100 below. Just as a reference, water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, your facial hair freezes anywhere from 15-20 below and at all temperatures lower than that your eyes and lips begin to freeze. The Alaskans have been known to get brain freeze from breathing on typical spring days. Not to mention bear encounters, frostbite and possibly getting lost in the abyss that is the Alaskan wilderness. The Iditarod really took off in 1985 when a Wisconsinite Libby Riddles became the first woman to win the race. Mushers from around the world risk it all for the fame and the glory.

            For most of us the answer to my earlier question is “yes, it’s called finals week.” Ask any STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) student and they will tell you that death is a very plausible outcome. Every semester students face starvation, fatigue and insanity all for the glory that comes with that good grade. So this semester why not treat finals like the Iditarod. Gather your team of advisors, professors, study buddies and tutors. Load up your metaphorical sled with knowledge, caffeine and a positive attitude. Look out for detours and bears in the form of parties, video games or whatever your vices may be. Remember to enjoy the ride and be thankful your education is not a race it is a foundation for your future. No guts no glory Islanders, now mush.  

Things I Do When There is Nothing to Do

My darling blog reading beauties, I've missed you! Clearly I've been in hiatus for much too long. I am truly, madly, deeply sorry for this. On a lighter note, I have some great things to spill.

First of all, my holiday vacations were beyond wonderful, I hope the same for y'all. I was on Pinterest like a mad woman, and picked up some nifty ideas. The first being the Breakfast Bun.

Next I learned the art of the ever elusive fishtail braid as well as the two-toned nails.

And finally while I didn't find this on Pinterest I found, I make a mean dog treat :). Someone has to spoil the animals, for all the free love they give (aww).

Ok my darlings, I do promise to be more on top of this!

Transitions

There never seems to be a grey area when it comes to transitions. Meaning they either run smoothly or they are doomed from the get go- odds are always 50/50. So when transitioning from summer mode back to super- busy-semester mode how do you make sure the "odds are ever in your favor"?
This summer I took a leap of faith and applied for an internship in Alaska with the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and much to my surprise was accepted into the competitive program. I jetted 4,000 miles, merely days after my last final exam of the semester, on a 16 hour trip that landed directly into a fast paced summer of living, laughing and lifting fifty pound feed bags. For the next three months, I lived with about 10 interns in a single-wide trailer and worked with about 18 interns from all over America. All but two interns (myself and a Hawaiian intern Claire) are still in school and knew when the summer was over it would be back to early mornings and mind numbing study sessions. Needless to say all summer we worked hard during the day and played as hard as the graduates come night time (which in Alaska is still daylight).
As the summer season began to close that familiar uneasy feeling of adjusting to a new set of classes and professors began to rear its ugly head. Reluctantly I began watching chemistry study sessions on my laptop as well as reading up on my classes and emailing professors. I'll tell you now this sort of preparation was new to me, but I was determined to be on my game this semester. It could have had something to do with getting to spend time with so many college graduates and/or having a roommate who actually cared wether I studied or not.
Whatever the reason, my transition into the coming fall semester has been my smoothest to date. Even with missing the first day of classes, thanks to another grueling 14 hour excursion, I don't feel like I'm stepping into the year blind and clumsy. It's like I always say, confidence will get you everywhere in life, well that and a strong wifi connection.

Kaleidoscope of Courage

                 I've been thinking a lot about courage lately.  The dictionary tells us the noun -courage is the ability to do something that frightens one. However ask an athlete and they might say courage is when you know things could get worse or you could get hurt but you persevere or when you know you are more than likely going to fail and you do it anyway. Now ask a student what it means and they might say courage is doing something outside of your comfort zone like taking organic chemistry at 8 a.m. or taking an internship thousands of miles away from home. So what is courage exactly?

         In 1996, Yankees pitcher David Cone thought he could shake it off when his pitching arm went numb during practice. Due to the continued numbness in Cone's arm, coaches decided to bench him for the game. Turns out Cone had an aneurysm in that pitching arm, though he tried to be courageous and continue playing through the pain, that's an instance where courage meant having the strength to speak up and step down. 

         Let's look at another story of possible courage - NBA Boston Celtic's small forward Reggie Lewis. In '93 during off-season practice Lewis was shooting around on the court and died of a heart attack there on the same court that birthed his career. Earlier that year Lewis had collapsed on the court during a play-off season game against the Hornets. At the prime age of 27 Lewis portrayed the athletes definition of courage, doing something though you know things could get worse, all for love of the game.

         While I've been up here in Alaska courage has meant one thing and that's being a team player. That has meant doing anything from herding elk with nothing but your words and wimp-intern linguine arms to being a tour guide for a bus full of disgruntled tourists. Courage isn't something you're born with it's something we all, athletes, students and interns alike, have had to cultivate for ourselves individually. So next time whether it be the final seconds of the game or an unexpected pop-quiz striking fear in your heart, take a breath and jump on it! 

My First Time...

I must admit, the first time I did it I was nervous. What if I was terrible at it? What if I got laughed at or worse, wasn't allowed to do it again? You want to prove you are good but the whole time your mind races and your hands shake and you keep hoping no one notices this is your first time. They say, "don't worry everyone is nervous their first time, it's a lot to take in," but they all look like pros when they do it. So I climb up, with my legs shaking, eyes on me and I bust out the pearly whites and say, "GOOOOOD morning! My name's Alexis and welcome to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center"

An instant success as I make my first joke and the tour bus bursts out laughing. Relief. The tour takes maybe 30 minutes tops and it's the most exhilarating, what feels like only seconds, of your life. Oral presentation on crack if you will. In that moment I am tour guide, teacher, friend, comedian, biologist and most importantly an intern at the AWCC just as enthusiastic about wildlife as my audience.

I've had many firsts here at the Center. Rapid fire firsts include, feeding bears, touching bears, bottle feeding moose, musk oxen and sitka deer, feeding a bald eagle, horned owls and lynx. Petting a wood bison, herding elk, shoveling bison "patties" being a tour guide, petting and presenting a porcupine, leading a Disney tour, tasting elk and reindeer, walking a reindeer. Living with 10 roommates and last but not least being totally and completely comfortable with myself 4,000 miles away from everything I know and love and finding new things, people and feelings to be in love with. The other day a woman told me I should get Alaska tattooed around my Texas tat so that I could show the size difference and while I do thank Alaska for giving me the room to grow, I'd never portray Texas as small because she gave me the room to be.

I'm Going in for the Kill, I'm Doing it for the Thrill

I've been thinking about rules lately. Rules run our lives even if we think we are above the law; even in the last frontier rules run the state as wild and strong as the moose. It seems everyday some new rule is being enforced to "better" our lives but working in the ticket booth at the center has shown me that people always want to be the exception to the rule. So is it true that winners never cheat and cheaters never win?

For an athlete cheating makes you weak. Cheating means selling yourself short and shaming your name and who ever else you represent. There are times during training, when your muscles burn and your body begs to quit and that moment of weakness speaks up, "that's good enough, no one will know if you end a lap short, or take this short cut," but all great athletes know the difference between a win based on hard work and dedication versus a win fallaciously gained. So what does a great athlete do? They bust ass until they can perform better than their competition, with in the boundary of the rules.   Your everyday person seems to feel differently however.

Every time I work ticket booth, I say the same spiel "we ask that you please do NOT attempt to feed or pet the animals and keep off the enclosures as they are electric" and you know what? I get the same jokes maybe a hundred times a day. Then we walk around the center and see people trying to reach their hands in, or fussing about the interns feeding the moose bananas and why can't they feed them bananas. What's the deal then? Why do so many people assume they can just act-a-fool. All that really comes to mind is this, after the cold cruel world deals you blow after blow you start to think that someone owes you something. You'd do anything to be rebellious and feel alive and in control again; I figure this because there is a stop sign literally two seconds from my house that has me stop at a bogus four-way stop, so what do I do- run it. Yeah it's unsafe and breaking the law but my goodness does it give me thrills. Alright what was I thinking, let's all live lawless and free y'all- YEEHAW. Not! I know I'm about to sound way cliche but I've practiced what I'm about to preach so check it. What's cooler than cheating and breaking rules and that you can actually control? *Jeapordy theme music plays* Your temper! Be like the athlete that uses mind over muscle and wills their body to preserver. You know that song, "I fought the law and the law won"? Well guess what, the law always does win, so instead of trying to "stick it to the man" stick it to your super ego and control your impulses. There may not be a rush of excitement, like that first bite of brownie-sundae Sunday but I promise the long term effects feel much more rewarding, like a jog to Moose Flats after an 11 hour work day. Oh you know what I mean...

A Long Way to Run

I promised I would keep up Sports and the City and I always keep my promises. The next few columns will be special seeing as I’m in Alaska, the sports and city will be focused on sports and situations I’ve encountered while here. You’re smart- I know there is no need to explain…

            So in 1995 Universal released a “true story about an American hero” Balto! As a child I truly just liked the fact that a half wolf could be as awesome and sweet as Balto and that he saved this little girl’s life because she was kind to him when no one else was. Very touching. Today as I think about that movie a lot of great lessons and morals spill from the story line. We have Balto, the protagonist, a half-breed looked down upon by society (as is always the case with society it seems; you’d think after centuries society would stop being so cliché but I digress) decides he can prove his worth and save the children of Nome by leading a dogsled team to retrieve valuable medicine. The elements that seem worth focusing on, as adults, would be the “pure-breed” haters, dogsled teams and proving one’s worth.

Certain people are always going to judge and look down upon others but you’ll have to realize that the reasons for their hate are never because there is something wrong with you (unless you are a low-life miscreant or leech to society) it’s because of their own insecurities. The only way to rid yourself of the haters is just to keep your head high and follow the path in life that makes you happy. Enjoy your life because it’s the only one you may get.

            Now a dogsled team seems very interesting to me because essentially it is a group of powerful animals pulling a human through some of the most unforgiving terrain and harsh weather known to man. If one dog decides to stop carrying its weight or turns on the pack the whole team would fall apart and that human would be up a creek, giving new meaning to the saying, “stay frosty.”

 Working here at the AWCC I realize we are a lot like a dogsled team in reverse. If some of the interns stop caring and give up on carrying their weight the animals we are rehabilitating would not be able to survive. We all rely on each other to know what to do; we pull each other forward in order to reach the same goal- conservation. The Husky is an incredibly intelligent and strong dog and at times hardheaded and stubborn. That describes some of the interns here to a T. What we want to strive for is the Balto character. He would have been happy just being on the team following the pack leader but when he didn’t even get that chance he stepped up as a leader and proved that sometimes those left in charge can’t be followed blindly. Part of being strong and intelligent is knowing your leaders aren’t always right and never trying to lead by threats or fear. The dogs run together out of respect for one another. I believe mutual respect can pull a team throw the harshest of times. So in the grand scheme of life, what are you trying to achieve and how will you prove your worth?