UAF hosts quite a few conferences that would be esoteric anywhere else but that are very pertinent to the arctic.
UAF is kind of bizarrely civilized, not only by Alaska standards but even by the standards of the bustling metropolis that we call Fairbanks. It has vast green lawns, paved paths lined with cultivated flowers, and, strangely, no mosquitoes and no mud. So UAF can host these conferences and have all these foreign visitors in their sharp suits, and said visitors never have to realize that just beyond the borders of campus, there are swaths of permafrost, bogs, mud, and marauding moose.
Earlier this Summer was the Permafrost Conference, and this morning, a sign at the entrance to campus welcomed attendees to the Conference of Arctic Parliamentarians. So of course I had to google it. It sounds fascinating.
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The grass annoys me. It annoys me greatly. We put too much money and fuss into something that's only here for a few months, when way over half of the year it's either under snow or dormant (dead looking). And those signs saying we can't walk/skip/jump/have a snack on the grass.
Plus, it's just plain tacky, conferences be darned.
Though, re: no mud-etc, head behind Irving and that lot. The road spends most of the time caving into the earth, you'll find snowmachines parked back there by the staff, and there are so many dogs in the back of trucks it's like a kennel out there at times. :p It's very distinctly Fairbanks!
It does seem silly. Actually, the campus shouldn't even have such huge expanses. The buildings should be closer together. But now that we do have them, what would you suggest doing with them, if you had your druthers? A giant zen garden? How about putting them back to nature... we could cram it up with wild roses, blackberry vines, fireweed, and all manner of crazy brambles. Then it would look just like my yard!
Fireweed! And where we don't do that, blackspruce and alder. Expanses of native plants! Yeah, I know, not very exciting looking. That's why it never goes far when people pitch it. Campus /really/ should be closer together!
Between O'Neill, Irving and the GI, there's a tiny little grove that takes up half of that diag, with trees and dirt, and dogs love to hang out there. More of those would be nice. And it's nice on a summer day where we actually see the sun. :p
I really object to the big expanses of green grass that they won't let you walk on.
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