Fairbanks, Alaska has to be one of the best places in the entire world to live. This is partially because it’s a university town. Because there recently have been state budget cuts, UAF (The University of Alaska Fairbanks) is seeing a decline in the number of state-based student enrollees. And I suspect that departments are having a hard time attracting quality teachers. In essence, UAF is in a state of stasis.

There are certain things that make a community a community in university towns – for example, there are theatre performances, bookstores, art galleries – all contribute to what are vibrant social communities.

Sean's B&B: Cloudberry Lookout

I often think of some of the teachers who I knew and whose classes I took, and who taught at UAF. Some, like Frank Soos, who was from the south. They quickly saw that they’d hit academic and community paydirt.

If I was to go back in time, I would have gotten my MFA degree elsewhere and then come back to Fairbanks and perhaps gotten a job here. It’s common practice to send MFA-ers on their way, so I most likely would not have gotten a job here after graduating.

I also didn’t see what an ideal place Fairbanks is to live when I lived here. This was because I was a hard working student and oblivious to quality of place concerns.

Fairbanks is growing – there are a lot of McMansion homes on the outskirts, but not in leaps and bounds like where we now live. This is because there is not another growing town close by.

Well, today I again played bocci ball – I could easily become hooked on this game, which is odd considering that I have very little hand-ball coordination. Yesterday I came in second in my first go around at this game. Today, Larry, Mary, and I did not keep score so ha ha the pressure to perform was off. I got good sense of the property terrain. I also finished knowing where the knolls are, and the wet spots on the lawn, which are bright green. The balls in the latter had more friction and moved more slowly.

I had lunch with Brenda who is high energy and says very intelligent things. I have very much enjoyed her company. Then we drove over to what I am now calling the chill horse property. I did hit an impasse training-wise, most likely because I was so tired. I was stymied – I could not figure out what might be the best thing to do. The gals did want to do liberty work – I ended up drawing a blank – all my knowledge just flew away.

I also didn’t get to do any Centered Riding work. Phooey.

However, everyone did seem happy with what knowledge that I imparted. They must, I thought, be horsey training hungry. And the horses, the entire time, seemed to enjoy the sessions. And twice, I got to ride Burkni, who is an amazing trail horse.

I have been working at slowing down time, because now I don’t want to go home.

Next: 143. 5/25/23: Home again, Home again, jiggety jog