Middle of No-Where, Alaska

I woke up to the sound of a floatplane flying over our camp. We were finally headed home. The crisp morning air greeted me as I exited the tent to grab a quick breakfast and hot chocolate to warm my core. My bags are packed, and I hop on a fishing boat for my return to the real world. Looking forward to a fresh pair of clothes and a hot shower, I doze off to the sights of acres of trees, lakes, and rivers rolling by my plane window.

Seven days earlier, I arrived at the fishing camp the same way I was leaving it. My dad, brother, my friend and his family were dropped more than 300 miles outside of civilization, on the Mulchatna River located in the heart of Alaska. Teeming with wild life (including an excess of mosquitoes), our campsite was about as rugged as it gets – hard sided tents to sleep in, with a kitchen and dining tent surrounding the massive fire pit that burned day and night.

The smell of bacon and eggs wafting through the campsite wakes me early every morning and beckons me to the dining tent. After scarfing down a quick breakfast, we are directed down to the bank of the river where the fishing guides take us up and down the river to catch our lunch. The biggest prize is the King Salmon, reigning over the Sockeye Salmon, Char Trout, Chum Salmon, Rainbow Trout, and Grayling Salmon. A catching (or, at least trying) lunch, the guides cook up a delicious shore lunch consisting of fresh fish, and fried potatoes, carrots, and onions mixed together to form a delicious “Shore Lunch Salad”.

After returning to the river for an afternoon of fishing, we head back to camp to get a pair of dry clothes on and take advantage of some down time. My friend and I liked to take this opportunity to explore the scenery surrounding our home base. We witnessed a mother Eagle feeding its young, discovered deer antlers, followed herds of wild Caribou, and spotted bear feces. Trekking into the untamed wilderness made me comprehend that there are places all around the world where very few humans ever step foot on, including the place I was experiencing.

Dinnertime around camp was one of the most relaxing and beautiful times of day. When it is usually getting dark in every normal place in the word, Alaska is still almost as bright as day. When the sun finally sets, it is near 2 o’clock in the morning, and as the sun falls beneath the mountains in the distance, all of nature seems to stop, creating one of the most spectacular sights in the entire world.

Back to my floatplane ride home, I see the Iliamna airport in the distance. From there it’s another small plane ride to Anchorage and then on to Minnesota. The gorgeous scenery surrounds you in every part of Alaska and it is a truly amazing place.

My time disconnected from the rest of the world was an amazing experience, and the natural beauty of the area fostered memories that will last a lifetime. However, my bed has never felt more comfortable than that first night back home.

The Town Movie Review

The Town, directed by Ben Afleck Starring Ben Afleck, Rebecca Hall, and Jon Hamm, follows the story of a group of bank robbers, led by Doug McCray. Doug and the rest of his motley crew live and grew up in Charlestown, Massachusetts, the world’s capital of bank robbers, and car thieves. As the gang prepares for their next bank robbery, McCray gets involved with a lady witness from his last bank job. The two grow close, and soon she becomes a danger to his operations as a notorious criminal.

The Town can be described as a drama, action or thriller film and it fulfills all of those descriptions. However, a definite part of the story has to deal with love, and this surprised me. One might think it is impossible to mix a love story in with a bunch of bank robbers, but The Town pulls its off perfectly. This movie even showed me that even criminals try to live normal lives, and that love is for everyone, not just the perfect citizens of the world.

This movie reminded me of a few different movies and seemed to combine their best aspects into one movie. The Town is a cross between The Departed, with its Boston-based story, and a plethora of Irish-Americans committing crimes with local police units and detectives on their tale, and The Bank Job, with its ingenious bank-robbing plots and intense, inter-city car chases. This combination of movies creates an excellent balance of heart-pounding action paired with heart-warming scenes to please everyone in the audience.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Town, and I suggest that anyone who enjoys bank-robbing, car –chasing , love story intertwined action will thoroughly enjoy this movie. On a scale of one to ten, I would rate this movie a 9/10, and from one to five stars, I award The Town a 4/5.

Story Arc - Light to Dark

The kids strolled into the park, accompanied by their parents, and signed in for day one of a weeklong lacrosse camp. Sitting at the check-in desk was all of the coaches for the week of lacrosse camp. As one kid approached, a specific coach acknowledged him with a less-than-friendly greeting, "Sup bender?" This type of treatment towards a kid in the camp is usually not accepted. However, an encounter like this between brothers is not uncommon at all. Timmy punches his brother, Pete, for the comment and moves on to get dressed with his friends.

Like most little brothers, Timmy did not want to listen to Pete, even though it was Pete's job to teach the players about lacrosse and demonstrate the basic skills to them. At first, Timmy would yell at Pete when he tried to give Timmy a pointer during a drill, or give him a tip on how to increase his shot velocity. Then once Tim didn’t listen to Pete and continued to struggle, he just got more frustrated and began yelling at Pete for no reason. Even when Tim began to realize that Pete was right from the beginning, he would not admit it and continued to try and do things the way he wanted to. His stubbornness and pride clouded his vision and prevented him from seeing that Pete was trying to simply help him and improve his skills. As the day went on, Pete stopped giving Tim any tips at all because he had come to realize that Timmy would not listen to anything he said.

As the week went on, Timmy began to hear some of the same suggestions that Pete had given him from other coaches. Except, when he heard these tips from someone other than his brother, he immediately began to practice the new techniques. Oblivious to Timmy, Pete had been watching this the whole time, and in fact had asked a co-coach to tell Tim some suggestions because he knew that Timmy would listen to other people. Although Pete was a little disappointed that Timmy would not take tips or listen to him, Pete was still excited to see Timmy improve and learn some new skills to help improve his game.

Over the final few days, Timmy became more and more confident in his game, and improved greatly. Fast-forward to the final day of camp, and the championship scrimmage is taking place. The game is tied and Timmy is up next to take the face-off. Being a face-off specialist himself, Pete wanted to give Timmy one final reminder about how to win the draw cleanly. Surprisingly, Timmy actually didn’t yell at Pete when he made his suggestion and Tim promised to try it right now. Timmy went out to the face-off X and won the draw, which lead to a fast break and the game-winning goal. Timmy looked back and smiled at Pete, who smiled right back. In the end, Timmy was able to put aside his pride and realized that even though Pete was his brother, it was ok for him to listen to his brother because Pete had a lot of valuable insight into the sport.

Hoarding: Burried Alive

Hoarding is a serious, and very prevalent problem in today's society. Often times, after a serious life-altering accident or experience, a person begins to hoard things as a way to hold on to past memories. Without proper help, a house can soon be consumed by a tide of things.

As I come home from hockey, my mom beckons me to the family room. I glance at the TV and lay eyes on a house filled to the brim with clothing, furniture, boxes, and tons of other knick-knacks. A person begins to stock up on accessories and the next thing they know, years have past and full sections in the house have been overrun with what most people would consider junk.

Hoarding is dangerous to one's health, and it severely affects the lives of the people living in a hoarded house, not to mention the the lives of family and friends close to a hoarder. It is often hard for family members or friends to tell a hoarder they have a problem and need to throw things out because the hoarder holds such personal significance on all of their possessions.

Not only is hoarding devastating to an individual and people around an individual, but the economy and businesses and a whole. When more and more people being hoarding (which is happening today), a shortage of goods follows. To combat this, companies, or even the government sets limits on the amount of a certain good that a person is able to purchase.

Without the support of professionals, and encouragement from people close to a hoarder, it is very hard for a hoarder to stop collecting things and let go of their plethora of possessions. Hoarding is a real, and growing problem in today's society, and needs to be looked at as a serious problem. Spreading the word of the horrors of hoarding, and helping out ones who struggle with the mindless acquisition of goods can help control the problem.