Treasures of the Golden Bear
By Stephen F. Stringham, Wildwatch LLC
The blurb: When Bril frees a trapped grizzly bear, she never dreams of all the adventures they'll share or that it will lead her to a fortune in gold. Nor does the O'Shea gang expect that robbing her is like Goliath provoking David.
They are grown men with guns, skilled in violence. She is just a girl without weapons or human allies -- easily underestimated. A starving cougar makes the same mistake. Bril has learned survival skills from her Yurok Indian father and poise during crisis from her mother, Countess Suchofsky. These are situations where wit and character are more potent than guns, as the robbers discover to their horror, especially when Bril gets help from the griz and "The Beast That Swallows Gold."
Can Bril return the favor and save some of California's last grizzly bears from being slaughtered as vermin or for sport? She might if she can recover her lost treasures and demonstrate the wonder of knowing these magnificent fellow beings -- "minds within the skins of other kinds."
So begins Bril's lifelong fight against ruthless exploitation of animals and indigenous peoples across the globe, as recalled through a slideshow on her 100th birthday.
Excerpt: The only thing more attractive to scavengers than the stench of a corpse, is the sweet scent of money.
Light wind flowed up valley, eavesdropping on the gossip of stream and leaves, then whispering their secrets in GG's ears. One gust caught her silky white tresses, swirled them around its finger, and draped them across her forehead.
Brushing the hair back, GG leaned forward on the well-padded wheelchair. She glanced up and downstream through sparkling blue eyes unmarred by cataracts, undimmed by senility. Earlier in the afternoon, she had parked her frail body on the cabin porch where she could enjoy both breeze and shade.
From there, she studied the crowd, wryly amused by the vultures drawn for the reading of her will. She had no intention of meekly surrendering the wealth she'd spent her lifetime accumulating and protecting from thieves. Attempts to rob her had begun in 1915 with the O'Shea gang -- few of whom had survived the attempt. She'd been vastly underestimated as a girl, much as she was now being underestimated as a feeble old lady by all the relatives and other scoundrels greedy for a share of her fortune. But she'd been outwitting their kind for nearly a century, and was determined to continue. With help from just a few of her kin, she'd show them all. She'd finish creating a heritage that would be remembered for centuries ...
"GG," was a nickname bestowed by her first great-great grandson, and used ever since by all the younger generations who recognized the silliness of repeating the word "great" two or three times before saying "grandma," and every generation calling her something different. Now she was just "GG" to all of them. Rarely did anyone use her given name, "Bril."
Meanwhile, she had eaten lunch, a delicious steelhead trout caught that morning from the creek by one of the kids. Trout and chilled tomato aspic salad were among her favorites, along with potato bread made with her own sourdough recipe, with a thick slab of butter. It was through this recipe that she'd met her late husband Robbie and made her fortune — one of the few times in her long life that she hadn't been pinching pennies so hard that President Lincoln's ghost felt the pain.
She'd let the younger generations pick most of the music being broadcast from the cabin. Most of their choices were as loud and jarring as fireworks, as was perhaps fitting on the 4th of July. As a girl, she'd enjoyed Rag, Swing and many other varieties of music that were popular through the 1950's. She was also fond of '6os folk music and especially of the Israeli singer Arik Einstein. After meeting Robbie, however, with his love of classics, she had become enamored of ballet and waltzes. Now, one of her favorites was gracing the air.
The water lapping at her lawn was just a steam, not a lake; but the birds upon it were swans. On days like this, the glory of Tchaikovsky's ballet or a Strauss waltz brought back Robbie's warm voice and the thrill of his tongue tip-toeing up her neck. The calendar might say she was a century old. But the heart thumping in her chest and the feet tapping time in her sandals were still 16, aching to skim across the dance floor with Robbie's arms wrapped around her.
Becoming UAA
By W.A. Jacobs, University of Alaska Anchorage, $18.95
The blurb: "Becoming UAA" captures the unique story of a patchwork institution and provides a rich glimpse into how much has occurred in the university's first 60 years -- 1954-2014. To commemorate this anniversary, W. A. Jacobs, professor emeritus of history and political science, presents an insightful overview of the institution's formative years from community college to a full-fledged public master's university in Alaska's largest city. Historical photographs, clippings and editorial cartoons from student newspapers illustrate a text written by one who lived through much of this relatively young institution's development.
Excerpt: Lew Haines (provost of the Southcentral region 1969-76) was one of the most important figures in the foundation and growth of the original University of Alaska Anchorage. He began his career at the University of Alaska in 1964 as director of student affairs, dean of students and associate professor of education in Fairbanks. In 1969, he was named provost of the University of Alaska, Southcentral Region, and in 1971 became the first CEO of the newly formed University of Alaska Anchorage.
Haines oversaw the establishment and development of the Anchorage Senior College, the home for UAA's upper-division courses and graduate programs. The five original buildings of the west campus, plus the Professional Studies Building, Wendy Williamson Auditorium, Wells Fargo Sports Complex, Student Union, Science Building, Social Sciences Building and the original Consortium Library were either completed or started while he was in office. Haines also began athletic programs at the university, including the six original NCAA sports teams.
Few leaders have had to deal with so many challenges: the development of baccalaureate and graduate programs, the growing conflicts between the senior and community college faculties, an increasingly militant community college union, the complicated politics of the consortium with Alaska Methodist University, and the development of a movement to separate the community colleges from the University of Alaska. Through it all, he managed to lead UAA with optimism, dignity and good humor. After stepping down as provost in 1976, he served in a variety of administrative and teaching roles for many years. Room 307 in the UAA/APU Consortium Library is named the Lewis Haines Room in his honor.