HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THE COLD, DARK DAYS OF FAIRBANKS WINTERS? by Sarah Shaw
Welder: "Vitamin D."
Server: "It hasn't really effected me, I don't think."
Construction Worker: "I don't think about them. Darkness don't even bother me
." Student: "I keep a light only inches from my face. And don't exhale."
Server: "I was born and raised up here, so this is normal."
Student: "You have to get outside and get the sun while it's there. Or stand at the window and watch your dog play outside."
Construction Engineer: "I'm used to it. I don't like to go out and work in it, but you do what you have to do."
Server: "I don't deal with them. I sleep and drink a lot."
Bartender: "Sleep, paint and play guitar."
Cook: "Actually, I like it kind of dark."
Child Care Provider: "I work a lot and go to school so I don't really notice that it's cold and dark. And then I notice and I'm sad."
Cook: "I do some drinking."
Bum: "I bitch and moan."
Artist: "You mean the sun comes up sometimes?"
Musician: "I'm a little confused about them because I want to sleep in. I usually get up at 8."
Server: "Liquor."
Trapper: "I came 20 years ago here to Alaska. I learned to spend it in the bush and not in town."
Server: "I mush. I get out in it. It really makes a difference."
Desk Jockey: "I spend most of the day in a building with forced recycled air, fluorescent lights and pleasant people. Then I go to bed."
Laborer: "I snowmachine really fast. Actually, I like riding in the darkness more than the light."
Student: "I don't."
Laborer: "I live in Fox where no one can find me."
Construction Worker: "I dwell on the fact that it's January. To hell with it."
Laborer: "I roast another bowl."
Construction Worker: "Construction. I build in the winter and vacation in the summer."
Commercial Fisherman: "I usually sleep through the day so all I see is dark. I kind of like it that way. I don't want to be teased by something. I'd rather be deprived of it."
Student: "I'm a night owl so it's perfect. I love it. I just sleep during the day and stay up all night."
History Instructor: "Sit by the fire."
Musician: "I sleep through half of it. That's what I've been doing lately. Stay up 'til 4 or 5 playing music."
Student: "I'm from here. The only weird thing is going down South and seeing it cold and warm."
Cook: "Invest in a lot of books."
Bartender: "I probably sleep half of them away. I don't mind the cold."
Teacher: "It's more like it comes and goes like a big wave. Some years it's a wave you can ride."
Carpenter: "You get really drunk and you run your truck off the road. And then you blow your transmission. Then you spend the rest of the cold-ass winter drunk and broke because you had to pay for your transmission."