‘I love living in Fairbanks’ comments reflect community traits worth keeping
Published Tuesday, June 3, 2008
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Stumble It!Alaska Airlines should really change the blurb in its magazine that identifies Fairbanks as the town with “the widest temperature spread of any city on earth,” from 66 below to 99 above.
There are settlements in Russia that have had temperatures ranging between 90 below in winter to 95 above or higher in the summer. Perhaps Verkhoyansk and Oymyakon in Russia are so small that they don’t qualify as cities, but Alaska has some tiny towns too.
Anyhow, after all these years of repeating that dubious claim about extreme temperatures for millions of readers, there must be a better one-sentence description of Fairbanks.
The comment appears on a page that consists of reasons to explain why “Alaska may be the 49th state in the union, but it’ll always be No. 1 in our heart.”
Perhaps the editors of that magazine should look at the reader comments submitted to Scott McCrea’s column on the News-Miner Web site in which he asked people to say what they love about Fairbanks.
He hasn’t hit the 200-comment goal yet, but plenty of people have had thoughtful and funny things to say. These remarks reveal qualities that most of us recognize and traits that we should hold onto.
Here are some excerpts that Alaska Airlines might be able to work with:
• “I love living in Fairbanks because of the change in seasons. I can sleep in late and still be up before sunrise, sometimes.”
• “I love living here because no one cares about fashion or keeping up with the Joneses. (Where else do people wear pajamas to the grocery store? Okay, maybe Delta...)”
• “I love living in Fairbanks because of the brilliant blue sky, the warm people, the rolling hills of birch that highlight the seasons, the moose, the Technicolor sunrises and sunsets, skiing with my dogs, and the general dog-friendliness.”
• “I was up at 4 a.m. last night with my best friend of 12 years and my daughter’s half-siblings’ mother recounting our childhood and reconnecting our families while we laughed, learned, fretted and preached as the sun shone through my south-facing window. That’s Fairbanks. It’s beautiful.”
• “I love living in Fairbanks because going grocery shopping is a social event and I’ll see friends every time I go. I love living here because people are generally down to earth and decent/kind! It’s a wonderful town for raising children when one wants the sense of community.”
• “I love Fairbanks because I love 40 below! Let me explain. I love being inside, with the woodstove going, something baking in the oven, kids are playing happily, I’m working on a craft, when it’s 40 below outside. We are all nice and safe.”
• “Dear Scott, What I love about the Fairbanks area is the extreme slow-paced lifestyle. Everytime I go Outside, I feel swarmed and rushed and my heart beats too fast, and for what?”
• “I love Fairbanks because I have never met a stranger here. Everyone seems to smile and say hello.”
Don’t be a stranger, and help McCrea top the 200-remark barrier. Add your comments, if you haven’t done so four or five times already, by going to www.newsminer.com and clicking on the “Sundays” link to find McCrea’s column.
•••
IDENTITY: An important thing is missing from most of those great comments — the real names of the authors.
I have heard several arguments about why real names are not important on the News-Miner Web site, but I am not convinced. I think that real names should be required and that it would improve the level of discourse.
The habit of using phony names is not a good one for a small community, especially if we hope to preserve the small-town atmosphere that so many people say they love about Fairbanks.
Before long, people will stop writing letters to the editor about controversial topics. A reader will not take the risk of offering a point of view, using a real name, only to be mercilessly picked apart by those who retain the advantage of anonymity.
•••
TRAVEL PLANS: More than five dozen members of the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra are planning a 12-day concert tour in Greece on July 3-15.
It will be the first time the full Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra has performed abroad. This tour, the first foreign tour of the full symphony, starts the 2008-2009 performing season, celebrating the symphony’s 50th anniversary.
•••
HAVE A HEART: Several families are planning a garage sale this weekend to benefit the American Heart Association.
The sale will take place at 106 Chief Charlie St. in Doyon Estates.
Drop by Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. or Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
All money made will go to the Heart Association in memory of a friend of the sponsors, Sonja Quebbemann, who passed away in March of a heart attack while only in her 30s.
•••
MISSING: A young lady brought her cell phone to the American Cancer Society Relay for Life Saturday and it was misplaced. If it isn’t found by the end of June, she will either have to buy a new phone for $250 or pay a $200 cancellation fee. Call 590-0061 if you found it.
Community Discussion
Newsminer.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full user's agreement.
So like, I clicked the "use my real name" checkbox and gave my phone numbers and stuff when I registered at newsminer.com, but nobody has ever called me to verify and it doesn't display my name when I post. What's up with that?
--Nathan Vonnahme
yay, I got a phone call and someone fixed me up! Now I am no longer an "anonymous coward" as Slashdot puts it...
Dermot...you know the reason...if real names were required, the space would be utilized very little. Anonymity provides freedom to say what you think without retribution. If real names were ever required, usage of this comment space would decline to the point where it wouldn't be worth keeping. You have a vehicle right now for getting people to comment. There are some comments in these mini-blogs that are thought-provoking and insightful. The loss of a false user-name for many would result in far fewer of these people commenting. I agree with you in principle...but in practicality it's not wise.
Cuss:
You have a point. When you say, "anonymity provides freedom to say what you think without retribution," that's true. Unfortunately, it also provides freedom to avoid accountability and responsibility.
Fostering an environment in which people are afraid to use their names is more totalitarian than democratic.
Requiring names would reduce the cheap shots and character assassination that some commenters resort to. If that means that some readers will be afraid to comment, then so be it. More people would write letters to the editor if they didn't have to sign their names too.
I want to see people use their names so that we can raise the level of discourse and attract other readers to comment.
In addition to destroying the local letters to the editor forum, which I believe will happen, we also run the risk of allowing an anonymous electronic mob to drive reasonable people away from politics.
I expect the anonymous slurs to increase as the campaign season progresses, aided and abetted by a policy that allows critics to remain in the shadows.
Fairbanks will be a poorer place if we accept the idea that public discussion should be anonymous and that much of it should take the form of comments that people would be afraid or embarrassed to make to someone else in person.
I agree with Mr. Cole. Real names should be used on-line and in the newspaper, and I don't think that will have a negative effect on the number of responses. Real names might lead to real ideas instead of cheap shots and character assassination.
One person anonymously called me a liar on-line, then refused to call the phone number I provided or to take me up on my offer to prove what I had said.
If you're going to criticize people, you should at least have the courage to sign your real name.
The current policy is not working, and it's not helping the News-Miner's reputation as the "News-Minus".
Thanks,
Ken G. Brown
2007 Wal-Mart & Sam's Club Teacher of the Year (but not reported by the News-Miner)
Fairbanks
I have to disagree a bit here. While I like an environment that is friendly and encouraging to people posting their names, it gets more complicated when you have to work for a living. When you work at a job that has a number of specific opinions on relating topics, it is quite possibly dangerous to speak your mind if you think differently. Quite often we do not agree with everything that the organization thinks on a number of topics. Having an alias in the local paper gives us the ability to throw out an alternative opinion, without complicating our future job prospects.
For example, if you work for the State of Alaska Government, you would be aware that different sections of that government have drastically different points of view. Should you not be able to comment when one portions of the government has a view that is different than your own?
I personally like the system that the News-Miner has come up with. It is like Wikipedia where the community gets to police the account and can suggest comments for removal. Then a staff member gets to review and remove if necessary. That will help keep the comment section reasonable. Isn't the community policing itself a good thing?
I am surprised more people haven't commented on this topic. I for one agree with Mr. Cole and feel that names should be required. I understand the arguments against using names by people concerned about backlash in their professional and personal lives. But, feel strongly that names would promote more productive conversations and decrease the nastiness that most of the threads turn into. I am ashamed of the things people write under the cloak of anonymity and hope that outsiders don't judge Fairbanks by the haters that show up on most threads and take over. I for one will never submit a letter to the editor, I pray that me or my my family is never in a news-miner story and I don't usually comment on these threads.... all because you can very accurately predict who will show up, with their hate, negativity and ignorance to bash you to peices. In some ways the comments remind me of a junior high school slam-book.
I must agree with Arctic Lynx, use of actual names would reduce the comments to a few. Actual feelings can be expressed more fully. I believe these blogs are another reason why I like Fairbanks.
This is a form of entertainment not serious journalism. Everyone knows that. I think the real problem is that your web news probably has become more popular than the printed paper and your sales are down. I always though there was such a thing as freedom of the press and non disclosure of your informants on stories. Some journalist have even gone to jail rather than tell who their source were. I guess Dermot you will never achieve this level in your profession, you want bloggers to disclose who they are. What you won't serve jail time for my opinion like a real journalist would. I am very disappointed.
I appreciate the comments.
I don't expect everyone to agree with me. It has never happened yet in my 30-plus years writing about life in Alaska.
There may be cases where job conflicts or family situations mean that people are unable to express a point of view and be identified. I'm not sure how to handle situations of that type. It's an interesting question.
The comments that I find objectionable are the personal attacks and libelous statements. These have little to do with job conflicts or family situations.
Allowing people to attack others and deliver cheap shots while staying hidden is not fair.
While driving home tonight my wife and I watched as a guy in a gray SUV and a kid in a white sedan drove aggressively at about 70 mph and weaved in and out on the Steese between Johansen and Farmers Loop. It was a scary incident that reminded me of the fatal crime a few years ago caused by an argument about whose car belonged where, a point of pride over a matter of a few seconds.
The guy in the pickup changed lanes so fast I thought his vehicle was going to flip over. He stopped at the Farmers Loop light, which was green, so he could shout at the kid and flip him off.
I don't know what the kid did, but he had changed lanes suddenly and cut in front of someone else to get into the left-turn lane to go onto Farmers Loop.
They were driving like idiots, showing no respect for others and endangering the lives of people around them.
I'm not going to overstate the case and say the News-Miner comments are the verbal equivalent of that episode, but I think that we should keep in mind that we want to avoid behavior that resembles the disregard for others that I saw on the Steese tonight.
The rules of the road are long established for drivers and everybody knows what they are, though the rules are sometimes broken. This forum is a fairly recent venture and the rules are still being worked out.
I think we should start by treating others with respect. Just because someone is a public official or dares to write a letter to the editor or winds up as the subject of a news story, that does not mean the person is "fair game" and open to any kind of attack.
The publishing of thoughts that go against the common belief under an alias was instrumental in giving us the freedoms that we now have. Today we will not be executed for speaking out against the government, but that was not always the case. I have seen very little abuse on these blogs that would justify changing the rules. If someone wants to know who I am it is very easy to find out.
I would rather post anonymously in the forums than write a Letter to the Editor with my name on it and have people trash it. I still want to voice an opinion to the community, but I am NOT going to do it through a Letter to the Editor if people can insult my ideas and degrade me personally with a couple of keystrokes and a click of the mouse.
I completely agree with Dermot Cole about how these forums chip away at the Letters to the Editor. I used to write fairly intelligent, well thought out Letters to the Editor every few months. However, now that anonymous people can instantly attack me with no reprecussion, I can honestly say I will NEVER write a Letter to the Editor again.
Yes, the vast majority of people are respectful and decent, even under the cloak of anonymity, but there are just enough that aren't.
Although I miss writing a letter every now and then I do realize I'm only one person. That I no longer send in Letters to the Editor is irrelevant in the long run. But how many other people feel the same way? It's a choice the News-miner will need to make - a diversity of original Letters to the Editor or a large discussion forum? I honestly can't say which one has more value and I'll be interested in seeing how this evolves.
These forums make me too uncomfortable to post with my name (like I would in the past with the Letters to the Editor) which is why I choose to post anonymously. A little backwards, quite hypocritical, but it's the best choice for me right now.
The News Miner Used to allow Anonymous Letters to the Editor many moons ago and I thought, when that was stopped, that was the end of most of the original, thought provoking, controversial subjects that were not part of the "Norm"..Until the comment section of the online addition came to be...
I once wrote a Letter to the Editor concerning a controversial subject. My real name was on it, people looked me up in the phone book to thank me but, it freaked me out, it could easily have gone a different way!
I am married & have children in public school..There are some people out there now who have no problem finding out most anything they want to about you just by having access to your real name...Where you live, how to get there, where your kids go to school, what kind of trouble you have been in ect... Many who, if you watch or read the news, can and will hold it against you & have no problem hurting someone for an opinion!
I have no problem with posters ripping apart my comments or even my LTE when I write one, I DO have a problem with people being able to physically find and hurt my kids or my spouse because of something I wrote.
So, yes, I post anonymously..I am protecting myself and my family.
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