Since I haven’t seen teens writing FOMO* much anywhere anymore, I think I can safely use it again, right? Anyway, social media was both the best and worst place to be on the night-into-morning of November 3-4 . That night my Twitter feed lit up like nobody’s business. Well, at least, not my business. The sky put on one of the most beautiful aurora borealis shows in recent memory. Long-term memory too, really. Photos were flooding in from points north of Anchorage, including Fairbanks, which, quite frankly is expected and points southeast, like Juneau, not expected.
The sky over Anchorage? No. Why? Nobody wants to see photos of an overcast night. Nobody. (If you do, shout and I’ll go out and snap some and send them your way.) While everybody else (hell, even Wyoming and Montana and Iowa and North Dakota) was all GO OUTSIDE AND LOOK UP, I was watching another episode of some BBC dark-and-stormy murder show or other. (They’ve all started to blend. Well, most have started to blend. Broadchurch, Vera, Luther, and The Bletchley Circle are standouts.)
I am rarely of the FOMO mind. You can’t do everything and I’ve done plenty before and will do plenty again but…there I was, in full FOMO.
Why did you have to be so cruel, Anchorage skies? Why?
Anyway, here’s some of the beauty that lit up #AlaskaTwitter and Instagram.
*Fear of missing out — and a 2012 Buzzfeed piece about it
Five things to check out (some more serious than others)
Not sure what I love more: Quinn Christopherson’s new song, Bubblegum, or the Emma Agnes Sheffer-directed video that goes with it. So many good local faces float through the video. (If you can’t quite place Christopherson’s name but know you know it from somewhere: 2019 Tiny Desk Contest.)
Poet Joan Naviyuk Kane speaks about her family’s history on King Island and Mary’s Igloo; the artists, educators, and composers she’s descended from; and maintaining traditions and language after awful life changes forced on them by the U.S. government (and not all that long ago either). Kane goes on to read some of her work.
Get the lowdown on Alaskan dogs. A fun thread. Mildly gross too. “Highly recommended.”—Finch, a true Alaskan dog
The Musk Ox Farm has a new resident.
Dip into the Anchorage Museum exhibit “Borealis: Life in the Woods” featuring photos by Jeroen Toirkens and text by Jelle Brandt Corstius.
Not Alaska-related but still worth your time
Fantastic Fungi ratcheted up my fascination with mushrooms.
The Alaska Dog of the Week
See you next week,
Jenna
p.s. Please forward Here in Alaska to any friends and family who already love Alaska (no matter where they live) or lean Alaska curious. And a free (or paid) subscription makes a great gift! Well, along with the other gifts you’re giving.