Life in Alaska

[Tamwen]

I'm currently exploring the idea of setting my Teenage Vampire Romance Project in a small, fictional town in Alaska, but while I've done some research, I feel I need some more in-depth and personal (?) help? Here are some questions that I would greatly appreciate answers to:

A) What would you say is the biggest difference between living in Alaska and living on the mainland?

B) What's the general atmosphere as far as politics and religion?

C) What's it like living in a small, isolated town in Alaska?

D) What part of Alaska is cloudiest? Northern shore, inland, etc.?

E) Are there any good resources about the cultures and such of the natives of Alaska?

 

[ThinkerX]

As a lifelong denizen of small town Alaska...

A) What would you say is the biggest difference between living in Alaska and living on the mainland?

errr...most of Alaska *IS* on the mainland. Need to make some distinctions here:

First, you have 'road Alaska', which is where I live. Should the need arise, I can drive from here to any other road accessible point on the continent. Anchorage, to all intents and purposes, is a smaller, colder version of the larger cities in the 'lower 48'.
Many of the smaller towns are pretty much strung together collections of rural subdivisions - and said subdivisions were once 160 acre homesteads (and there are still quite a few of those left as well.) Essentially, rural suburbia. Main difference is higher prices. Towns include Fairbanks (a city in its own right), Wasilla, Palmer, and Kenai. Folks here tend towards a 'pro development' mentality, especially with regards to oil.

Next, you have South East Alaska, which is a coastal island chain together with a sliver of mainland. Usually each big island has one big community ('big' meaning more than a couple thousand people. Few communities in SE Alaska have more than 5000 people.) People here depend on the ferry system or air travel to get around. The communities tend to be on the clannish, sort of 'northern hillbillie types). In a sense, SE Alaska extends all along the southern coast. This area is dependent on fishing, and to an extent, logging. The mentality tends towards extreme environmentalism; a reasonable position towards development in road Alaska is considered utterly insane in SE, and vice versa. Towns here include Ketchikan, Sitka, Juneau, Skagway, and moving further west, Cordova, Valdez, Seward, Homer, and Kodiak.

Then you have the Bush. Few roads to speak of, and those don't really go anywhere. Travel here is by air or river. Mostly these are very small communities (populations in the hundreds), mostly native. As a general rule, they are not fond of (white) outsiders. Alcoholism is rampant, even in supposedly 'dry' communities. Fishing is a big deal here. There are also a lot of prospect sites and oil industry drill sites and camps. Prices here are very, very high. (gallon of milk can hit ten bucks). Major communities include Barrow, Nome, Bethel, and Dillingham.

B) What's the general atmosphere as far as politics and religion?

This is split: road Alaska tends towards 'Tea Party' style conservatism, SE and the Bush can be more liberal as far as politics goes.

Religion: fundamentalist Christianity, usually more or less in line with the Southern Baptist, though there are many JW's, Mormons, and others.

C) What's it like living in a small, isolated town in Alaska?

Define 'isolated'. For me, growing up, it meant not really going anywhere. (I grew up on an Alaskan Homestead at the very end of the road system). Nearest store was three miles off. Nearest town was 20 miles off, neither was worth visiting. It meant having to learn a lot of things from carpentry to mechanics because I had to. It meant working summers in the fish plants because that was the only job available (janitorial and fast food work was considered a step up).

What a lot of the homesteading fools did not realize until it was too late is that once you are out in the woods, you are out in the woods. My family was one of about two dozen that tried homesteading the immediate area (within 3 or 4 miles of ours). Of those, THREE succeeded. The rest died, gave up, or sold out. I used to visit the abandoned cabins of the others as a kid.

Apart from that, alcoholism and religious fanaticism were and are common here, especially in the winter.

D) What part of Alaska is cloudiest? Northern shore, inland, etc.?

SE Alaska is the rainiest, hands down. The aluetians have the worst weather, though.

Road Alaska, where I'm at (Kenai Peninsula, along with Mat-Su valley and the like luck out - long cold winters, but not near as cold as further north (like Fairbanks), plus unlike SE and the coastal fringe we actually get a fair amount of sunshine.

E) Are there any good resources about the cultures and such of the natives of Alaska?

All kinds.

Natives...to start you off...

Very roughly speaking, you have the Aleuts, in the far west coastal regions, the Eskimos in the western and northern coastal regions, the Athabaskans in the interior, and the Tlingkets in SE Alaska. (I almost certainly misspelled some of those names.) By and large, in days gone by, these groups loathed each other. About the same time the Russians and other early explorers were poking along the coast, these tribes engaged in what amounted to genocidal wars with each other (allegedly started by wife stealing). Casualties hit the high three digit range, maybe well into the four digit bracket.

The Aleuts were basically Russian lackeys - the old line Russians simply started killing them until the rest agreed to take orders. They were big into trapping otters; nowadays they man fishing boats.

The Eskimos...well...their clans or tribes extend clear across the 'top of the world', into several countries. Coastal hunters and fishermen, who made it as far south as my corner of the state.

The Athabaskans are the interior (non-coastal group, big into the hunting gathering thing).

The Tlingkits were damn tough - tough enough to where they came very, very close to tossing out the Russians who were equipped with firearms. They were also highly unpleasant - into cannibalism of sorts, and fond of planting slaves in the foundations of their longhouses. They are also the bunch who made totem poles.

Whew!

 

[Queshire]

Just tossing my two cents in here but from what Thinker says, the clannish nature, reliance on ferry and air, and rain he mentions for one of the SE Alaskan islands sounds like it would be best for a group of vampires wanting privacy, especially if they've been around for a century or more and their nature considered part of the clan's secrets.

Also, if Alaska is anything like where I live in Minnesota, learn to loathe the snow. =_=

 

[Jabrosky]

I'm currently exploring the idea of setting my Teenage Vampire Romance Project in a small, fictional town in Alaska, but while I've done some research, I feel I need some more in-depth and personal (?) help? Here are some questions that I would greatly appreciate answers to:

A) What would you say is the biggest difference between living in Alaska and living on the mainland?

B) What's the general atmosphere as far as politics and religion?

C) What's it like living in a small, isolated town in Alaska?

D) What part of Alaska is cloudiest? Northern shore, inland, etc.?

E) Are there any good resources about the cultures and such of the natives of Alaska?

I wonder why you chose Alaska as your setting? I would probably choose an area much further removed from Washington State (the setting of the novels you're obviously satirizing). New Mexico or Arizona might work if you're especially interested in Native cultures.

 

[Queshire]

In my opinion Alaska's a logical home for vampires regardless of satirization. The type of isolation Thinker talks about means that they would have their privacy and if they play their cards right no one would even notice their attacks due to just how far one homestead is from another and the vaguries of such a tough life. Nights are also longer especially in winter way up north so more time for the vampires to operate and if they're the type to be able to operate when it's cloudy/rainy/snowing then there's more chance of that than some dry place like New Mexico and Arizona.

 

[Tamwen]

I wonder why you chose Alaska as your setting? I would probably choose an area much further removed from Washington State (the setting of the novels you're obviously satirizing). New Mexico or Arizona might work if you're especially interested in Native cultures.

Unfortunately, while both of those states are great, they don't mesh well with my vampires. Sunlight may not kill my vampires, but it isn't fantastic for their health, so extremely sunny locations aren't ideal on a long-term basis. Alaska may be rather similar to Washington state, but the weather and general isolation fits better.

errr...most of Alaska *IS* on the mainland.

Gah, sorry. That was badly worded. I meant, like... the 48 states that you can drive to without driving through a completely different country? "The South"? "The Lower 48"? I guess those are the terms...

Need to make some distinctions here:

First, you have 'road Alaska', which is where I live. Should the need arise, I can drive from here to any other road accessible point on the continent. Anchorage, to all intents and purposes, is a smaller, colder version of the larger cities in the 'lower 48'.
Many of the smaller towns are pretty much strung together collections of rural subdivisions - and said subdivisions were once 160 acre homesteads (and there are still quite a few of those left as well.) Essentially, rural suburbia. Main difference is higher prices. Towns include Fairbanks (a city in its own right), Wasilla, Palmer, and Kenai. Folks here tend towards a 'pro development' mentality, especially with regards to oil.

Interesting.

Next, you have South East Alaska, which is a coastal island chain together with a sliver of mainland. Usually each big island has one big community ('big' meaning more than a couple thousand people. Few communities in SE Alaska have more than 5000 people.) People here depend on the ferry system or air travel to get around. The communities tend to be on the clannish, sort of 'northern hillbillie types). In a sense, SE Alaska extends all along the southern coast. This area is dependent on fishing, and to an extent, logging. The mentality tends towards extreme environmentalism; a reasonable position towards development in road Alaska is considered utterly insane in SE, and vice versa. Towns here include Ketchikan, Sitka, Juneau, Skagway, and moving further west, Cordova, Valdez, Seward, Homer, and Kodiak.

Ooo, that's promising.

Then you have the Bush. Few roads to speak of, and those don't really go anywhere. Travel here is by air or river. Mostly these are very small communities (populations in the hundreds), mostly native. As a general rule, they are not fond of (white) outsiders. Alcoholism is rampant, even in supposedly 'dry' communities. Fishing is a big deal here. There are also a lot of prospect sites and oil industry drill sites and camps. Prices here are very, very high. (gallon of milk can hit ten bucks). Major communities include Barrow, Nome, Bethel, and Dillingham.

omg and I thought prices in the Midwest were irritating.

This is split: road Alaska tends towards 'Tea Party' style conservatism, SE and the Bush can be more liberal as far as politics goes.

SE becoming more promising for a variety of reasons...

Religion: fundamentalist Christianity, usually more or less in line with the Southern Baptist, though there are many JW's, Mormons, and others.

Define 'isolated'. For me, growing up, it meant not really going anywhere. (I grew up on an Alaskan Homestead at the very end of the road system). Nearest store was three miles off. Nearest town was 20 miles off, neither was worth visiting. It meant having to learn a lot of things from carpentry to mechanics because I had to. It meant working summers in the fish plants because that was the only job available (janitorial and fast food work was considered a step up).

Would it be a similar experience in the SE? The town I'm making is technically fictional but, you know...

What a lot of the homesteading fools did not realize until it was too late is that once you are out in the woods, you are out in the woods. My family was one of about two dozen that tried homesteading the immediate area (within 3 or 4 miles of ours). Of those, THREE succeeded. The rest died, gave up, or sold out. I used to visit the abandoned cabins of the others as a kid.

Apart from that, alcoholism and religious fanaticism were and are common here, especially in the winter.

Well, that's charming.

SE Alaska is the rainiest, hands down. The aluetians have the worst weather, though.

Road Alaska, where I'm at (Kenai Peninsula, along with Mat-Su valley and the like luck out - long cold winters, but not near as cold as further north (like Fairbanks), plus unlike SE and the coastal fringe we actually get a fair amount of sunshine.

So right now, SE is looking best for a fictional vampire town.

All kinds.

Natives...to start you off...

Very roughly speaking, you have the Aleuts, in the far west coastal regions, the Eskimos in the western and northern coastal regions, the Athabaskans in the interior, and the Tlingkets in SE Alaska. (I almost certainly misspelled some of those names.) By and large, in days gone by, these groups loathed each other. About the same time the Russians and other early explorers were poking along the coast, these tribes engaged in what amounted to genocidal wars with each other (allegedly started by wife stealing). Casualties hit the high three digit range, maybe well into the four digit bracket.

The Aleuts were basically Russian lackeys - the old line Russians simply started killing them until the rest agreed to take orders. They were big into trapping otters; nowadays they man fishing boats.

The Eskimos...well...their clans or tribes extend clear across the 'top of the world', into several countries. Coastal hunters and fishermen, who made it as far south as my corner of the state.

The Athabaskans are the interior (non-coastal group, big into the hunting gathering thing).

The Tlingkits were damn tough - tough enough to where they came very, very close to tossing out the Russians who were equipped with firearms. They were also highly unpleasant - into cannibalism of sorts, and fond of planting slaves in the foundations of their longhouses. They are also the bunch who made totem poles.

Whew!

Thank you very much! This helped a lot; it was definitely better to get someone who lived/lives there to explain this!

 

[ThinkerX]

Vampires are way overdone.

I'd suggest ditching the vampires and making one MC a 'son of Raven' (trickster hero/god), and linking the other to some other mythological tradition - maybe a Russian one. The Russians did bring the Orthodox church with them.

 

[Ireth]

Vampires are way overdone.

I'd suggest ditching the vampires and making one MC a 'son of Raven' (trickster hero/god), and linking the other to some other mythological tradition - maybe a Russian one. The Russians did bring the Orthodox church with them.

I think ditching the vampires in this case would undermine the point of the story. It's meant to be a satire of Twilight and its ilk, from what I understand.

 

[Jabrosky]

I think ditching the vampires in this case would undermine the point of the story. It's meant to be a satire of Twilight and its ilk, from what I understand.

Hasn't Twilight more or less faded away from public attention? Whatever your opinion of vampires in general, a Twilight satire doesn't seem timely now.

 

[Queshire]

Aren't we getting off topic and offering critique where it was not asked for now? Though if a thread in the writing questions forum about parody / Astaire would be interesting if we want to take the conversation there?

 

[Tamwen]

While the story started as more of a Twilight satire, with the seed of the idea being "How Can I Make Twilight Less Offensively Terrible", it has become a full-fledged story in my mind, and other than girl-falls-for-teenage-vampire-and-there's-a-werewolf-and-one-vampire-that-sees-the-future, there really isn't that much left that resembles Twilight.

Mainly because it has a plot beyond the A Couple staring blankly at each other while sitting in a field of buttercups and mumbling about how much they love each other.

So while I appreciate the feedback, the characters and current general story idea all appeal to me a great deal and as of right now, I'm not looking to change them.

 

[Chessie]

Hi Tamwen, figured I would join my fellow Alaskan (ya Thinker!) on here:

1) Alaska is an enormous state. We are attached to the mainland but there is still a sense of isolation in living up here, which is what many Alaskans like. Its a more expensive life up here because our goods are shipped, but we also have high pay up here compared to the rest of the states.

2) This is a Republican state. People are big into gun rights, smoking their weed, and basically preserving nature. Issues such as Pebble Mine (interior Alaska) are hot. This state votes conservative on a lot of issues. Laws for alcohol and drunk driving are very strict, because there is a high rate of alcoholism. Big time drinkers up here...but the winters are brutal and depressing so its a way out.

3) Life in small town. I grew up in Eagle River which (now) has 3 roads. Its a boring place to live if you're a teenager. One movie theater, one bowling alley, bears in your neighborhood, but you can walk around at any hour of the day/night and feel safe. I rode my 4 wheeler in my neighborhood all the time. Those and snowmachines are a means of transportation in the boonies.

I can't remember the rest of your questions, but living in Alaska is an experience. Its big, the people are friendly yet like their privacy, and its quiet. I still live in the boonies. I can go hiking out my front door and have access to several mountain ridges to choose from.

Being into the outdoors is vital to enjoying life up here. The weather and seasons are extreme. Winters are long, cold, snowy, and dark. Its common to struggle through them. Summers are short with a midnight sun, bears, mosquitoes, and not being able to sleep because of the light.

Skiing and snowboarding are huge up here. So is tennis. People are into their dogs and pets. Alaska Natives are some of the sweetest people I know. Native villages are all over the place and there is a ton of info on their culture on the internet. Think: big, extreme, dangerous. That' the big AK.

Or a common saying: Alaska Grown.

 

[Flash]

A) What would you say is the biggest difference between living in Alaska and living on the mainland?

I grew up in a small town in California, and just spent the last four years in Alaska (Fairbanks) Biggest difference? The only real difference I noticed was the cold, but I am used to small areas, and having most of your fun away from "civilization"

B) What's the general atmosphere as far as politics and religion?

I am not qualified to answer this, as I mostly ignore politics and religion, but yay open carry!

C) What's it like living in a small, isolated town in Alaska?

In four years, I left Fairbanks/North Pole area once. Went to Anchorage to have surgery. While Fairbanks is not small, (OK, it is for a city in the lower 48) there were places we were regulars, staff at restruants would come and take my baby, and carry him around the place, (same thing happened with my oldest in HI) It was comfortable, and felt familiar even when we were new arrivals. The worst thing about it was not being able to find something in town meant waiting a week or more to get it through the internet. I imagine this is worse with the farther north villages, who come into town once a month or so and get supplies.

D) What part of Alaska is cloudiest? Northern shore, inland, etc.?

Speaking for my husband (a weather forecaster) The exterior (coastline) rarely drops below 0F, due to the constant moisture can feel colder. The interior is colder by far (the coldest I experienced was -60F) but lacks moisture so the temperature does not necessarily feel any colder. Weather varies depending upon the local terrain. (pick up a weather book, it's fascinating!)

E) Are there any good resources about the cultures and such of the natives of Alaska?

There are tons of books about Alaska by Alaskan authors, including children's books about the native culture.


All that being said, even though we have recently been moved back to California and I am close to family again, I can not wait to get back to Alaska, it's my home now. It's very much a love it or hate it kind of place.

 

[Chessie]

It's very much a love it or hate it kind of place.

Absolutely. And if you love it, no other place will ever compare. Pictures don't do it justice.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

Never having been there I don't know a lot about Alaska. But I always liked the portrayal of the country in Northern Exposure. Can any of you Alskan people tell me if this was vaguely accurate? (Ignoring the eccentric characters of course.)

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Chessie]

I haven't seen much of that show, so I can't answer your question. Sorry!