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Tongass coming-of-age story wins prestigious award for eco-lit

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Tongass coming-of-age story wins prestigious award for eco-lit



“I’ve all the time needed a gold sticker on my ebook. And now I’ve one,” mentioned Brendan Jones. (KCAW picture)

A Sitka-based writer has taken a detour into younger grownup fiction, and the diversion has paid off with a nationwide award.

Brendan Jones will obtain the Inexperienced Earth Ebook Award in a digital ceremony on Dec. 7 from Delaware. The award has been offered for the final 18 years by the nonprofit Nature Era for distinctive work in a style now referred to as “eco-lit,” or literature which explores ecological points.

Jones’ new novel Whispering Alaska, was printed final yr by Penguin/Random Home. Jones says the story about twin women who transfer to an island in Alaska wasn’t his concept — it was advised to him by an editor at Random Home.

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However the novel didn’t come collectively till Jones was dwelling within the Russian Far East on a Fulbright scholarship.

“My agent referred to as up and mentioned, ‘Hey, hear, there’s an ideal editor on the market, Beverly Horowitz,’” mentioned Jones, “‘Would you be involved in writing a narrative about twins coming from Pennsylvania to Alaska?’ And I mentioned, ‘I don’t know something about, you recognize, younger grownup.’ And, Julian, my agent identified, ‘Properly, you’re gonna have three of them – and particularly three women, as a result of you have got three women who’re youthful now.”

Jones says the work didn’t go simply at first.

“I wrote a manuscript and despatched it to Beverly, and he or she mentioned, ‘This isn’t good. Attempt once more.’  And I did and I despatched her one. And she or he mentioned, ‘That is nonetheless not good. Attempt once more. Begin over.’ And I went to Siberia, and simply had a few months alone proper earlier than COVID began in March (2020). And I had a while alone. And I simply actually dropped into some kind of inventive house and despatched her one. And she or he mentioned, ‘We are able to work with this.’”

Jones says writing in the course of the pandemic knowledgeable the plot. In truth, Jones says his writer believes that that is the primary young-adult fiction to discover the influence of the pandemic on youth. On this case, the dual women on the coronary heart of the story have suffered the dying of their mom, an emergency room physician. And though they’re twins, a uncommon genetic twist implies that they every have a singular expertise of grief.

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“So that they’re grieving their mom’s loss, and so they’re mirror twins. It’s this unbelievable factor the place twins are literally mirrors of one another.,” he says. “So when their mom dies, they’ve very alternative ways of coping with her dying.”

Jones says thatWhispering Alaska is geared toward readers who’re round age 12 and up – which within the publishing trade is named “middle-grade.”

He’s lately returned to Sitka from a visit to Port Alexander, the place he taught the ebook for per week, and he says that it’s been an effective way to succeed in Alaskan youngsters. His plan is to take Whispering Alaska into different lecture rooms in Alaska, and into highschool and college programs he’ll instruct within the coming yr.

Jones has acquired excessive marks for his earlier work: His debut novel The Alaskan Laundry gained the 2017 Alaskana Prize, and was acknowledged by Oprah’s Ebook Membership.

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Alaska

Alaska Airlines Flight Attendant Gets Fired For Twerking On The Job

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Alaska Airlines Flight Attendant Gets Fired For Twerking On The Job


A flight attendant’s viral TikTok video ended up costing her job. Nelle Diala, who was working as a flight attendant with Alaska Airlines for over six months was reportedly fired from her job after recording a twerking video while at work, the New York Post reported. After losing her job for “violating” the airline’s “social media policy”, Diala set up a GoFundMe page for financial support. The twerking and dancing video, posted by Diala on her personal social media account, went viral on TikTok and Instagram. The video was captioned, “ghetto bih till i D-I-E, don’t let the uniform fool you.”

After being fired, Diala reposted the twerking video with the new caption: “Can’t even be yourself anymore, without the world being so sensitive. What’s wrong with a little twerk before work, people act like they never did that before.” She added the hashtag #discriminationisreal.

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According to Diala’s GoFundMe page, she posted the “lighthearted video” during a layover. The video was shot in an empty aircraft. She wrote, “It was a harmless clip that was recorded at 6 am while waiting 2 hours for pilots. I was also celebrating the end of probation.”

“The video went viral overnight, but instead of love and support, it brought unexpected scrutiny. Although it was a poor decision on my behalf I didn’t think it would cost me my dream job,” she added.

Also Read: To Wi-Fi Or Not To Wi-Fi On A Plane? Pros And Cons Of Using Internet At 30,000 Feet

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Talking about being “wrongfully fired”, she said, “My employer accused me of violating their social media policy. I explained that the video wasn’t intended to harm anyone or the company, but they didn’t want to listen. Without warning, they terminated me. No discussion, no chance to defend myself-and no chance for a thorough and proper investigation.”

The seemingly “harmless clip” has led Diala to lose her “dream job”. She shared, “Losing my job was devastating. I’ve always been careful about what I share online, and I never thought this video, which didn’t even mention the airline by name, would cost me my career. Now, I am trying to figure out how to move forward.”






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Federal funds will help DOT study wildlife crashes on Glenn Highway

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Federal funds will help DOT study wildlife crashes on Glenn Highway


New federal funds will help Alaska’s Department of Transportation develop a plan to reduce vehicle collisions with wildlife on one of the state’s busiest highways.

The U.S. Transportation Department gave the state a $626,659 grant in December to conduct a wildlife-vehicle collision study along the Glenn Highway corridor stretching between Anchorage’s Airport Heights neighborhood to the Glenn-Parks Highway interchange.

Over 30,000 residents drive the highway each way daily.

Mark Eisenman, the Anchorage area planner for the department, hopes the study will help generate new ideas to reduce wildlife crashes on the Glenn Highway.

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“That’s one of the things we’re hoping to get out of this is to also have the study look at what’s been done, not just nationwide, but maybe worldwide,” Eisenman said. “Maybe where the best spot for a wildlife crossing would be, or is a wildlife crossing even the right mitigation strategy for these crashes?”

Eisenman said the most common wildlife collisions are with moose. There were nine fatal moose-vehicle crashes on the highway between 2018 and 2023. DOT estimates Alaska experiences about 765 animal-vehicle collisions annually.

In the late 1980s, DOT lengthened and raised a downtown Anchorage bridge to allow moose and wildlife to pass underneath, instead of on the roadway. But Eisenman said it wasn’t built tall enough for the moose to comfortably pass through, so many avoid it.

DOT also installed fencing along high-risk areas of the highway in an effort to prevent moose from traveling onto the highway.

Moose typically die in collisions, he said, and can also cause significant damage to vehicles. There are several signs along the Glenn Highway that tally fatal moose collisions, and he said they’re the primary signal to drivers to watch for wildlife.

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“The big thing is, the Glenn Highway is 65 (miles per hour) for most of that stretch, and reaction time to stop when you’re going that fast for an animal jumping onto the road is almost impossible to avoid,” he said.

The city estimates 1,600 moose live in the Anchorage Bowl.



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Flight attendant sacked for twerking on the job: ‘What’s wrong with a little twerk before work’

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Flight attendant sacked for twerking on the job: ‘What’s wrong with a little twerk before work’


They deemed the stunt not-safe-for-twerk.

An Alaska Airlines flight attendant who was sacked for twerking on camera has created a GoFundMe to support her while she seeks a new berth.

The crewmember, named Nelle Diala, had filmed the viral booty-shaking TikTok video on the plane while waiting two hours for the captain to arrive, A View From the Wing reported.

“I never thought a single moment would cost me everything,” wrote the ex-crewmember. TikTok / @_jvnelle415

She captioned the clip, which also blew up on Instagram, “ghetto bih till i D-I-E, don’t let the uniform fool you.”

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Diala was reportedly doing a victory dance to celebrate the end of her new hire probationary period.

Unfortunately, her jubilation was short-lived as Alaska Airlines nipped her employment in the bum just six months into her contract.

The fanny-wagging flight attendant feels that she didn’t do anything wrong.

Diala was ripped online over her GoFundMe page. GoFundMe

Diala has since reposted the twerking clip with the new caption: “Can’t even be yourself anymore, without the world being so sensitive. What’s wrong with a little twerk before work, people act like they never did that before.”

The new footage was hashtagged #discriminationisreal.

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The disgraced stewardess even set up a GoFundMe page to help support the so-called “wrongfully fired” flight attendant until she can land a new flight attendant gig.

“I never thought a single moment would cost me everything,” wrote the ex-crewmember. “Losing my job was devastating.”

“Can’t even be yourself anymore, without the world being so sensitive,” Diala wrote on TikTok while reacting to news of her firing. “What’s wrong with a little twerk before work, people act like they never did that before.” Getty Images

She claimed that the gig had allowed her to meet new people and see the world, among other perks.

While air hostessing was ostensibly a “dream job,” Diala admitted that she used the income to help fund her “blossoming lingerie and dessert businesses,” which she runs under the Instagram handles @cakezncake (which doesn’t appear to have any content?) and @figure8.lingerie.

As of Wednesday morning, the crowdfunding campaign has raised just $182 of its $12,000 goal.

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Diala was ripped online for twerking on the job as well as her subsequent GoFundMe efforts.

“You don’t respect the uniform, you don’t respect your job then,” declared one critic on the popular aviation-focused Instagram page The Crew Lounge. “Terms and Conditions apply.”

“‘Support for wrongly fired flight attendant??’” mocked another. “Her GoFund title says it all. She still thinks she was wrongly fired. Girl you weren’t wrongly fired. Go apply for a new job and probably stop twerking in your uniform.”

“The fact that you don’t respect your job is one thing but doing it while in uniform and at work speaks volumes,” scoffed a third. “You’re the brand ambassador and it’s not a good look.”

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