The first thing you have to learn

when you come up here

is how to get up early

when the mercury is stuck

and the land is locked in ice

and not think too much about it…

A friend in another part of Alaska writes:

We just got back from Florida. Eighty-seven degrees and sunshine. Here, it’s 32 and dark. Am I crazy to prefer this?

Point Hope, Alaska. Three views of the Chukchi Sea, October 13, 2012