Life at Fifty Below Zero

Life at Fifty Below Zero: An Alaskan Memoir on Teaching and Learning

Do you know what a honey bucket is? Can you empty one? are not typical questions asked of prospective teachers. Hired to teach in a small rural village, accessed by plane or boat is also not a standard teaching experience for many teachers.

But it was 1972, President Nixon had gone to China, the Watergate scandal was about to begin, and Alaska was another world away. They discussed moving to another "country." John Muir explained Alaska "is one of the most wonderful countries in the world." As they researched information about the far away forty-ninth state more questions were generated than answers revealed. They discovered winter was only nine to ten months long, not twelve.

After landing in Alaska they learned how removed it was from their former comfortable civilized life. Living with no running water, no phones, no news from the outside world for days or weeks on end had its challenges, especially when the weather was colder and more unforgiving than they imagined. Then there were the daily encounters with moose or bears wandering through the village communities that was unnerving at first.

They went to Alaska to teach, but were educated beyond anything they could have imagined. Two California 'wanna be hippies' ended up in the great expanse of Alaska which turned their lives upside down and created new paths.

Life at Fifty Below Zero is a memoir spanning three decades of educational work and daily adventures.