Brrrrr! It’s freezing out here! There is only one extremely long tunnel to get in or out. Look! There is only one tall building in this whole place! Where are the rest? Welcome to the tall but small, wild and wonderous Whittier, Alaska. The community under one roof! Last year, my family and I went on a vacation to Alaska. We traveled there to a little town called Whittier–a very unique community. What is a community? It is a group of people who live and work together with rules and laws to help keep them safe. A community is a place they call home. It typically has essential places and services that the people need to go about their daily lives, like a school, hospital, places of worship, grocery store, police and fire station, etc. It may also have fun places to visit like parks, playgrounds, museums, aquariums etc. What makes Whittier, Alaska very unique? The tunnel in and out Whittier is located 60 miles southeast of Anchorage, the largest city in Alaska. It is to the west of Prince William Sound; a sound is a narrow sea or ocean inlet between two bodies of land. It is nestled in between majestic mountains on one end and forests on the other. The only roadway to and from Whittier is a one-way tunnel that is two and a half miles long and shared by cars and trains. It is the longest tunnel in North America and the first ever that can withstand -40 degrees Fahrenheit and winds that are 150 miles per hour! The tunnel is open only during the day and closed at night. Every half hour, the tunnel opens one way and closes the other. You can also get to the town by sea as well as a scenic ride on Alaska Railroad. The climate Whittier, Alaska is in the arctic tundra biome. It is located north of the world’s northernmost coniferous forests. This biome has long cold winters and short cool summers. It is very windy here. The average temperature in summer is 60 degrees Fahrenheit and in winter is 25 Fahrenheit. It has permafrost grounds which means that the ground is permanently covered in a thin layer of ice. The flora are adapted to grow in these condition by being pine-cone shaped and having small spiny leaves to prevent loss of water. You may think Whittier is too cold for animals but there are so many out there! There are black and brown bears, salmon, sea lions, sea otters, humpback and killer whales and bald eagle. The Begich Towers The population of Whittier is just over 200 people. All of them live in a 14 story building called Begich Towers that was built during World War II. It was originally an army barracks built for hurt or ill people in the war. It was designed in 1953 by Anton Anderson and was completed in 1957. There is a church, school, grocery store, police station, a health clinic, and a laundromat within the building. This way, when the weather gets too cold, the residents can go weeks at a time without ever having to leave! The community is very close-knit. The Chugach people form the Native American Indian community. There are also other communities that live here. Kids can just walk up to their teachers’ apartments to get help with their homework and finish it at their teacher’s kitchen table! People can knock on their police chief’s door at any time. Kids can take an underground tunnel to their indoor playground when it is very cold outside! The wonderful sights to see Whittier has breath-taking sights to see! We went on a glacier cruise in Prince William Sound where we saw massive glaciers that towered over us. The glaciers are blue because they are so densely packed with ice that they absorb all the colors in light and reflect only the blue. You can also go kayaking, boating and back- country camping here. Whittier, Alaska is an adventurous place and fun to visit! Fact Sources https://www.whittieralaska.gov/ Welcome to Whittier, Alaska; NPR, Jan 18, 2015.
Autumn is here and so are the Nobel Prizes!
If you are living in the northern hemisphere, autumn is a time for enjoying all kinds of colorful fall activities such as leaf peeping, apple picking, pumpkin carving, shopping endlessly for the perfect Halloween costume, trick or treating and rounding off October with a sugar rush or even tummy ache! While many of us are exploring autumn in its full glory, scientists, physicians, writers, economists and humanitarians around the world are patiently waiting for the biggest announcement of the year – the Nobel Prize. Alfred Nobel was a Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor and philanthropist who gave away a lot of his money to charity. He invented the dynamite and smokeless gun powder among many other things. Using his invention, explosives of all kinds were being manufactured all over the world. This way, he became very rich. He was worried about what people would think of him because of how he made his fortune. He had no wife or children to give his fortune to. So, before died in 1896, he made a will and donated all his fortune to a prize fund named after him. The Nobel prize was set up to recognize curiosity, creativity, courage and outstanding achievements that brought the greatest benefit to humankind. The winners are called Nobel Laureates. It is given in five categories: Medicine, Chemistry, Physics, Literature and Peace. A 6th prize for economics was added to the list in 1969. Every year, each Nobel Prize is announced on different dates. These dates fall in the second week of October. The prizes are awarded in December. The Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway. All other prizes are awarded at a banquet in Stockholm, Sweden. Each category can be won by up to three people. Only the Peace Prize can be awarded to an organization. Each winner gets a unique gold medal, a hand-crafted diploma and a large sum of money. This year’s Laureates are: ● Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna for the Chemistry Prize. These two female chemists are recognized for the discovery of “genetic scissors” that can edit genes and help cure inherited diseases! ● The Literature Prize is awarded to American female poet Louise Glück. Her writing is recognized for being sharp and able to draw in people who don’t usually read poems. ● The Medicine Prize goes to three researchers – Charles M. Rice, Harvey J. Alter, and Michael Houghton, for the discovery of the virus Hepatitis C. Sometimes, sick people might need to get blood transferred to them from others donors. Before this amazing discovery, there was a high risk of getting contaminated blood due to the virus. Now, their discovery has led to safe blood transfusion. The doctors know to look for this virus. ● The Physics Prize goes to three researchers for the discovery of Black holes and its existence at the center of our galaxy! The recipients are Sir Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez. ● The Peace Prize goes to The World Food Program. They combat hunger and make sure more people have food. They prevent war from occuring due to hunger. ● The Economics Prize is awarded to Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson for their work on auctions. Auctions are used in our everyday lives to allot all kinds of resources. For example, imagine there is a jar of coins and you need estimate the total value of the coins. The most optimistic player would estimate a large value and pay an amount much more than the true value of the jar to buy it. This is called a “winner’s curse.” The person that won the estimate is actually one that lost because they paid much more than the actual worth of the jar. Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson have worked to improve this bidding process. Why is all this relevant for us to know? The Nobel Prize website has lots of resources that explain all the outstanding contributions in a kid-friendly way. Learning about this can be very inspiring to us and we can aspire to make contributions to humankind in our own unique way!
Goodbye, Summer
The deep green of the sea splashes in my face as I hear the roaring of the waves blank out people’s voices; the sand burning my feet as I first walk in. The shells, once home to clams and crabs, feel soft. Some young ones; rough and thick as erosion hasn’t worked its effect on them yet. As I lay back on my towel, I see aerial advertisements flying overhead, and hear the propeller whirring around. As I look into my book, a glass of cold water in my hand, I can smell the salt water of the sea, and feel the sand between my feet. I grab my pail and shovel, dump water on the dry hot sand, scoop the now wet sand into the pail, and make a big sand castle. Now, I challenge myself to dig a pit and find some damp sand deep inside. I dig and dig, now it feels damp, I dig some more, it’s easy to clamp! I dip my feet in the water once more, and then I hear, “It’s time to go!” We pack our stuff and walk away, I know we’ll come back another day.
