groups of wild geese
searching for places to stay
heart breaking lessons
.
tall, heavy, and fast,
the white truck roars by, leaving
the colorful lights dead
Christmas Poetic Forms : HAIKU (Week 7)
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Weekend or Friday Haiku
Candy Cane, Google.com
Tag Agency office, nice deal seen,
Drive back, have a rest.
Paycheck, gas station,
Dinner buffet, tips plus costs,
Relax, go home full.
19th, Western, and Main,
Hastings 4 books and some toys,
Rent a movie home..
T-mobile, pizzas,
Hush browns, pancakes, soft drinks,
Joy found at Braums.
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Angela Davis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the Australian saxophonist, see Angela Davis (musician).
Not to be confused with Michaela Angela Davis.
| Angela Davis | |
|---|---|
Davis in October 2006
|
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| Born | Angela Yvonne Davis January 26, 1944 Birmingham, Alabama, U.S. |
| Alma mater |
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| Occupation | Educator, author, activist |
| Employer | UC Santa Cruz (retired) |
|
Political party
|
Communist Party USA (1969–1991), Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (1991–currently) |
| Spouse(s) | Hilton Braithwaite (1980–?)[1] |
| Relatives | Ben Davis (brother); Reginald Davis (brother); Fania Davis Jordan (sister) |
Davis was arrested, charged, tried, and acquitted of conspiracy in the 1970 armed take-over of a Marin County courtroom, in which four persons died.[3]
Her research interests are feminism, African-American studies, critical theory, Marxism, popular music, social consciousness, and the philosophy and history of punishment and prisons. Her membership in the Communist Party led to Ronald Reagan's request in 1969 to have her barred from teaching at any university in the State of California. She was twice a candidate for Vice President on the Communist Party USA ticket during the 1980s.
Early life
Davis was born in Birmingham, Alabama.The family lived in the "Dynamite Hill" neighborhood, which was marked by racial conflict. Davis was occasionally able to spend time on her uncle's farm and with friends in New York City.[4] Her brother, Ben Davis, played defensive back for the Cleveland Browns and Detroit Lions in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Davis also has another brother, Reginald Davis, and sister, Fania Davis Jordan.[5]
Davis attended Carrie A. Tuggle School, a black elementary school; later she attended Parker Annex, a middle-school branch of Parker High School in Birmingham. During this time Davis' mother was a national officer and leading organizer of the Southern Negro Congress, an organization heavily influenced by the Communist Party. Consequently Davis grew up surrounded by communist organizers and thinkers who significantly influenced her intellectual development growing up.[6] By her junior year, she had applied to and was accepted at an American Friends Service Committee program that placed black students from the South in integrated schools in the North. She chose Elisabeth Irwin High School in Greenwich Village in New York City. There she was introduced to socialism and communism and was recruited by a Communist youth group, Advance. She also met children of some of the leaders of the Communist Party USA, including her lifelong friend, Bettina Aptheker.[7]
Education
Brandeis University
Davis was awarded a scholarship to Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, where she was one of three black students in her freshman class. She initially felt alienated by the isolation of the campus, but she soon made friends with foreign students. She encountered the Frankfurt School philosopher Herbert Marcuse at a rally during the Cuban Missile Crisis and then became his student. In a television interview, she said "Herbert Marcuse taught me that it was possible to be an academic, an activist, a scholar, and a revolutionary."[8] She worked part-time to earn enough money to travel to France and Switzerland before she went on to attend the eighth World Festival of Youth and Students in Helsinki, Finland. She returned home in 1963 to a Federal Bureau of Investigation interview about her attendance at the Communist-sponsored festival.[9]During her second year at Brandeis, she decided to major in French and continued her intensive study of Sartre. Davis was accepted by the Hamilton College Junior Year in France Program. Classes were initially at Biarritz and later at the Sorbonne. In Paris, she and other students lived with a French family. It was at Biarritz that she received news of the 1963 Birmingham church bombing, committed by the members of the Ku Klux Klan, an occasion that deeply affected her, because, she wrote, she was personally acquainted with the young victims.[9]
Nearing completion of her degree in French, Davis realized her major interest was in philosophy instead. She became particularly interested in the ideas of Herbert Marcuse and on her return to Brandeis she sat in on his course. Marcuse, she wrote, turned out to be approachable and helpful. Davis began making plans to attend the University of Frankfurt for graduate work in philosophy. In 1965 she graduated magna cum laude, a member of Phi Beta Kappa.[9]
University of Frankfurt
In Germany, with a stipend of $100 a month, she first lived with a German family. Later, she moved with a group of students into a loft in an old factory. After visiting East Berlin during the annual May Day celebration, she felt that the East German government was dealing better with the residual effects of fascism than were the West Germans. Many of her roommates were active in the radical Socialist German Student Union (SDS), and Davis participated in SDS actions, but events unfolding in the United States, including the formation of the Black Panther Party and the transformation of SNCC, encouraged her to return to the U.S.[9]Postgraduate work
Marcuse, in the meantime, had moved to the University of California, San Diego, and Davis followed him there after her two years in Frankfurt.[9]Returning to the United States, Davis stopped in London to attend a conference on "The Dialectics of Liberation." The black contingent at the conference included the American Stokely Carmichael and the British Michael X. Although moved by Carmichael's fiery rhetoric, she was disappointed by her colleagues' black nationalist sentiments and their rejection of communism as a "white man's thing." She held the view that any nationalism was a barrier to grappling with the underlying issue, capitalist domination of working people of all races.[10]
Davis earned her master's degree from the San Diego campus. She received her doctorate in philosophy from Humboldt University in East Berlin.[11]
Professor at University of California, Los Angeles, 1969–70
| Part of a series on |
| Socialism in the United States |
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| Parties and organizations |
Angela Davis (center, no glasses) enters Royce Hall at UCLA in October 1969 to give her first lecture.
The Regents, unhappy with the decision, continued to search for ways to release Davis from her position at UCLA. They finally accomplished this on June 20, 1970, when they fired Davis for the "inflammatory language" she had used on four different speeches. "We deem particularly offensive," the report said, "such utterances as her statement that the regents 'killed, brutalized (and) murdered' the People's Park demonstrators, and her repeated characterizations of the police as 'pigs.'"[15][16][17]
Arrest and trial
See also: Marin County courthouse incident
On August 7, 1970, Jonathan Jackson, a heavily armed 17-year-old African-American high-school student, gained control over a courtroom in Marin County, California.
Once in the courtroom, Jackson armed the black defendants and took
Judge Harold Haley, the prosecutor, and three female jurors as hostages.[18][19]
As Jackson transported the hostages and two black convicts away from
the courtroom, the police began shooting at the vehicle. The judge and
the three black men were killed in the melee; one of the jurors and the
prosecutor were injured. The firearms used in the attack, including the
shotgun used to kill Haley, had been purchased by Davis two days prior
and the barrel of the shotgun had been sawed off.[19] Davis was also corresponding with one of the inmates involved.[20]
Since California considers "all persons concerned in the commission of a
crime, whether they directly commit the act constituting the offense...
principals in any crime so committed", Marin County Superior Judge
Peter Allen Smith charged Davis with "aggravated kidnapping and first
degree murder in the death of Judge Harold Haley" and issued a warrant
for her arrest. Hours after the judge issued the warrant on August 14,
1970, a massive attempt to arrest Angela Davis began. On August 18,
1970, four days after the initial warrant was issued, the FBI director
J. Edgar Hoover made Angela Davis the third woman and the 309th person
to appear on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitive List.[18][21]Soon after, Davis became a fugitive and fled California. According to her autobiography, during this time she hid in friends' homes and moved from place to place at night. On October 13, 1970, FBI agents found her at the Howard Johnson Motor Lodge in New York City.[22] President Richard M. Nixon congratulated the FBI on its "capture of the dangerous terrorist, Angela Davis".
Angela Davis with Valentina Tereshkova
Angela Davis and Erich Honecker in GDR, 1972
Davis was tried, and the all-white jury returned a verdict of not guilty. The fact that she owned the guns used in the crime was judged not sufficient to establish her responsibility for the plot. She was represented by Leo Branton Jr., who hired psychologists to help the defense determine who in the jury pool might favor their arguments, an uncommon practice at the time, and also hired experts to undermine the reliability of eyewitness accounts.[26] Her experience as a prisoner in the US played a key role in persuading her to fight against the prison-industrial complex in the United States.[18]
Other responses to her arrest
On January 28, 1972, Garrett Brock Trapnell hijacked TWA Flight 2. One of his demands was Davis' release.The Rolling Stones song "Sweet Black Angel", recorded in 1970 and released in 1972 on their album Exile on Main Street, is dedicated to Davis and is one of the band's few overtly political releases.[27] However, the first song ever published in the world in favor of Davis was "Angela" (1971), written by Italian singer-songwriter and musician Virgilio Savona with his group (The "Quartetto Cetra"), and for this he received some anonymous threats.[28] John Lennon and Yoko Ono recorded their song "Angela" on their 1972 album Some Time in New York City in support. The jazz musician Todd Cochran, also known as Bayete, recorded his song "Free Angela (Thoughts...and all I've got to say)" that same year. Also in 1972, Tribe Records co-founder Phil Ranelin released a song dedicated to Davis titled "Angela's Dilemma" on Message From The Tribe, a spiritual jazz collectable.[29]
Travels in the 1970s
Cuba
After her aquittal, Davis visited Cuba. In doing so she followed the precedents set by her fellow activists Robert F. Williams, Huey Newton, Stokely Carmichael, and Assata Shakur. Her reception by Afro-Cubans at a mass rally was so enthusiastic that she was reportedly barely able to speak.[30] Davis perceived Cuba to be a racism-free country, which led her to believe that "only under socialism could the fight against racism be successfully executed." When she returned to the United States her socialist leanings increasingly influenced her understanding of race struggles within the U.S.[31]Russia
In 1979 she was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize from the Soviet Union for her civil rights activism.[32] She visited Moscow in July of that year to accept the prize.
Angela Davis as honorary guest of the World Festival of Youth and Students in 1973; the banner reads "The youth of the [East] German Democratic Republic greet the youth of the world"
Later teaching career
She was Professor of Ethnic Studies at the San Francisco State University from at least 1980–84.[33]Davis was a professor in the History of Consciousness and the Feminist Studies Departments at the University of California, Santa Cruz from 1991 to 2008[34] and is now Distinguished Professor Emerita.[35]
Davis was a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Syracuse University in Spring 1992[36] and October 2010.[37]
In 2014, Davis returned to UCLA as a Regents’ Lecturer and delivered a public lecture on May 8 in Royce Hall, where she had her first lecture 45 years earlier.[38]
Political activism and speeches
In 1980 and 1984, Davis ran for Vice-President along with the veteran party leader of the Communist Party, Gus Hall. However, given that the Communist Party lacked support within the US, Davis urged radicals to amass support for the Democratic Party.[citation needed]Davis is no longer a member of the Communist Party, leaving it to help found the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism, which broke from the Communist Party USA because of the latter's support of the Soviet coup attempt of 1991.[39] She remains on the Advisory Board of the Committees.[40]
Davis has continued a career of activism, and has written several books. A principal focus of her current activism is the state of prisons within the United States. She considers herself an abolitionist, not a "prison reformer," and has referred to the United States prison system as the "Prison-industrial complex".[41] Davis suggested focusing social efforts on education and building "engaged communities" to solve various social problems now handled through state punishment.[2]
Davis was one of the founders of Critical Resistance, a national grassroots organization dedicated to building a movement to abolish the prison-industrial complex.[42] In recent work, she argues that the prison system in the United States more closely resembles a new form of slavery than a criminal justice system. According to Davis, between the late 19th century and the mid-20th century the number of prisons in the United States sharply increased while crime rates continued to rise. During this time, the African-American population also became disproportionally represented in prisons. "What is effective or just about this "justice" system?" she urged people to question.[43]
Davis has lectured at San Francisco State University, Stanford University, Bryn Mawr College, Brown University, Syracuse University, and other schools. She states that in her teaching, which is mostly at the graduate level, she concentrates more on posing questions that encourage development of critical thinking than on imparting knowledge.[2] In 1997, she declared herself to be a lesbian in Out magazine.[44]
As early as 1969 Davis began publicly speaking, voicing her opposition to the Vietnam War, racism, sexism, and the prison-industrial complex, and her support of gay rights and other social justice movements. In 1969 she blamed imperialism for the troubles suffered by oppressed populations. "We are facing a common enemy and that enemy is Yankee Imperialism, which is killing us both here and abroad. Now I think anyone who would try to separate those struggles, anyone who would say that in order to consolidate an anti-war movement, we have to leave all of these other outlying issues out of the picture, is playing right into the hands of the enemy", she declared.[45] In 2001 she publicly spoke against the war on terror, the prison-industrial complex, and the broken immigration system and told people that if they wanted to solve social justice issues they had to "hone their critical skills, develop them and implement them." Later, after the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, she declared, the "horrendous situation in New Orleans," is due to the structures of racism, capitalism, and imperialism with which our leaders run this country.[46]
Davis opposed the 1995 Million Man March, arguing that the exclusion of women from this event necessarily promoted male chauvinism and that the organizers, including Louis Farrakhan, preferred women to take subordinate roles in society. Together with Kimberlé Crenshaw and others, she formed the African American Agenda 2000, an alliance of Black feminists.[47]
Davis at the University of Alberta, March 28, 2006.
At the University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz), she participated in a 2004 panel concerning Kevin Cooper. She also spoke in defense of Stanley "Tookie" Williams on another panel in 2005,[49] and 2009.[50]
On April 16, 2009, she was the keynote speaker at the University of Virginia Carter G. Woodson Institute for African American and African Studies symposium on The Problem of Punishment: Race, Inequity, and Justice.[51]
On October 31, 2011, Davis spoke at the Philadelphia and Washington Square Occupy Wall Street assemblies where, due to restrictions on electronic amplification, her words were human microphoned.[52][53]
In 2012 Davis was awarded the 2011 Blue Planet Award, an award given for contributions to humanity and the planet.[54]
At the 27th Empowering Women of Color Conference in 2012, Davis mentioned that she was a vegan, saying that "[w]hen they're eating a steak or eating chicken, most people don't think about the tremendous suffering that those animals endure simply to become food products to be consumed by human beings."[55]
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Solitude By Ella Wheeler Wilsox
Weep, and you weep alone,
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer,
Sigh, it is lost on the air,
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.
.
Rejoice, and men will seek you,
Fast, and the world goes by.
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they don't need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many,
Be sad, and you lose them all-
There are none to decline your nectarine wine,
But alone you must drink life's gall.
.
Feast, and your halls are crowded,
Fast, and the world goes by.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live.
But no man shall help you die.
For there is room in the halls of pleasure
for a large and lordly train.
But one by one we must all file on
through the narrow aisles of pain.
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Juneau, Alaska
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Juneau" redirects here. For other uses, see Juneau (disambiguation).
| Juneau, Alaska | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| City and Borough | |||
| City and Borough of Juneau | |||
 Gastineau Channel with downtown Juneau |
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|||
 Location of Juneau City and Borough, Alaska |
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Juneau
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| Coordinates: 58°18′0″N 134°25′0″WCoordinates: 58°18′0″N 134°25′0″W | |||
| Country | United States | ||
| State | Alaska | ||
| Named | 1881 (Juneau City) 1882 (Juneau) |
||
| Incorporated | 1900 | ||
| Home-rule city | October 1960 | ||
| Borough | September 30, 1963 (Greater Juneau Borough) July 1, 1970 (City and Borough of Juneau) |
||
| Government | |||
| • Mayor | Merrill Sanford[1] | ||
| Area | |||
| • City and Borough | 3,255.0 sq mi (8,430.4 km2) | ||
| • Land | 2,715.7 sq mi (7,036.1 km2) | ||
| • Water | 539.3 sq mi (1,394.3 km2) | ||
| • Urban | 12.0 sq mi (31.1 km2) | ||
| Elevation | 56 ft (17 m) | ||
| Population (2011) | |||
| • City and Borough | 32,167 Ranked 3rd | ||
| • Density | 11.3/sq mi (4.4/km2) | ||
| • Urban | 17,311 | ||
| • Demonym | Juneauite | ||
The area of Juneau is larger than that of Rhode Island and Delaware individually and almost as large as the two states combined. Downtown Juneau 58°18′07″N 134°25′11″W is nestled at the base of Mount Juneau and across the channel from Douglas Island. As of the 2010 census, the City and Borough had a population of 31,275. As of July 2011 the population estimate from the United States Census Bureau is 32,164, making it the second most populous city in Alaska.[3] However, Fairbanks is the second-largest metropolitan area in the state, with more than 97,000 residents. The city is rather unusual among U.S. capitals in that there are no roads connecting Juneau to the rest of Alaska or the rest of North America (though ferry service is available for cars).
Juneau is named after gold prospector Joe Juneau, though the place was for a time called Rockwell and then Harrisburg (after Juneau's co-prospector, Richard Harris). The Tlingit name of the town is Dzántik'i Héeni ("Base of the Flounder’s River", dzánti ‘flounder’, –kʼi ‘base’, héen ‘river’), and Auke Bay just north of Juneau proper is called Áak'w ("Little lake", áa ‘lake’, -kʼ ‘diminutive’) in Tlingit. The Taku River, just south of Juneau, was named after the cold t'aakh wind, which occasionally blows down from the mountains.
Downtown Juneau sits at sea level, with tides averaging 16 feet (5 m), below steep mountains about 3,500 feet (1,100 m) to 4,000 feet (1,200 m) high. Atop these mountains is the Juneau Icefield, a large ice mass from which about 30 glaciers flow; two of these, the Mendenhall Glacier and the Lemon Creek Glacier, are visible from the local road system. The Mendenhall glacier has been gradually retreating; its front face is declining both in width and height.
The Alaska State Capitol in downtown Juneau was originally built as the Federal and Territorial Building in 1931. Prior to statehood, it housed federal government offices, the federal courthouse and a post office. It also housed the territorial legislature and many other territorial offices, including that of the governor. Today, it is still the home of the state legislature and the offices of the governor and lieutenant governor. Other executive branch offices have largely moved elsewhere, in Juneau or elsewhere in the state, in the ongoing battle between branches for space in the building, as well as the decades-long capital move issue. Recent discussion has been focused between relocating the seat of state government outside of Juneau and building a new capitol building in Juneau. Neither position has advanced very far. The Alaska Committee, a local community advocacy group, has led efforts to thus far keep the capital in Juneau.
History
Mining years
Long before European settlement in the Americas, the Gastineau Channel was a favorite fishing ground for local Tlingit Indians, known then as the Auke and Taku tribes, who had inhabited the surrounding area for thousands of years. The native cultures are rich with artistic traditions including carving, weaving, orating, singing and dancing, and Juneau has become a major social center for the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian of Southeast Alaska.The first European to see the Juneau area was Joseph Whidbey, master of the Discovery during George Vancouver’s 1791-95 expedition, who explored the region in July–August 1794. Early in August he saw the length of Gastineau Channel from the south, noting a small island in mid-channel. He later saw the length of the channel again, this time from the west. He said it was unnavigable, being filled with ice.[4]
In 1880, Sitka mining engineer George Pilz offered a reward to any local chief who could lead him to gold-bearing ore. Chief Kowee (Tlingit Kaawa.ée) arrived with some ore and several prospectors were sent to investigate. On their first trip, to Gold Creek, they found deposits of little interest. However, at Chief Kowee's urging Pilz sent Joe Juneau and Richard Harris back to the Gastineau Channel, directing them to Snow Slide Gulch (the head of Gold Creek) where they found nuggets "as large as peas and beans", in Harris' words.
On October 18, 1880, the two men marked a 160-acre (650,000 m2) town site where soon a mining camp appeared. Within a year, the camp became a small town, the first to be founded after Alaska's purchase by the United States. During this time period, prospector and placer miner John Lemon operated in what is today the Lemon Creek area. The neighborhood that grew around where he prospected and several other landmarks there have been named after John Lemon.
Juneau City in 1887
20th century
In 1911, the United States Congress authorized funds for the building of a capitol building for the Alaska Territory. Because of World War I, construction was delayed, also there were difficulties purchasing the necessary land. Local citizens of Juneau donated some of the required funds, and construction began on September 8, 1929. Construction of the capitol took less than two years, and the building was dedicated as the Federal and Territorial Building on February 14, 1931. The design of the building was drawn up by Treasury Department architects in the Art Deco architectural style. The building was originally used by the federal government in order to house the federal courthouse and post office. Once Alaska gained statehood in 1959, the building has been used by the state government.The Alaska Governor's Mansion was commissioned under the Public Building Act in 1910. The mansion was designed by James Knox Taylor in the old Federal Style. The construction took two years and was completed in 1912. The territorial governor at that time was the first governor to inhabit the mansion, and he held the first open house to the citizens on January 1, 1913. The area of the mansion is 14,400 square feet (1,340 m2). This is where the governor resides when he or she is in Juneau for official business. The mansion contains ten bathrooms, six bedrooms, and eight fireplaces. In June 1923, President Warren G. Harding became the first president to visit Alaska. During his trip, Harding visited the Governor's Mansion while Governor Scott Bone, who was appointed by Harding, was in office. Harding spoke from the porch of the Governor's Mansion explaining his policies and meeting the ordinary people.
St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church in Juneau
Alaskans thus several times voted on moving their capital, but Juneau remains the capital.[6] Once Alaska was granted statehood in 1959, Juneau grew with the growth of state government. Growth accelerated remarkably after the construction of the Alaska Pipeline in 1977, the state budget being flush with oil revenues; Juneau expanded for a time due to growth in state government jobs, but that growth slowed considerably in the 1980s.[7] The state demographer expects the borough to grow very slowly over the next twenty years.[8] Cruise ship tourism rocketed upward from approximately 230,000 passengers in 1990 to nearly 1,000,000 in 2006 as cruise lines built more and larger ships—even 'mega-ships', sailing to Juneau seven days a week instead of six, over a longer season, but this primarily summer industry provides few year-round jobs. Its population rank in 2000 was second in the state, closely ahead of Fairbanks; recent estimates have Juneau falling back to third, as it was in the 1960−90 counts.
In 2010, the city was recognized as part of the "Playful City USA" initiative by KaBOOM! created to honor cities that ensure that their children have great places to play.[9]
Juneau is larger in area than the state of Delaware and was, for many years, the country's largest city by area. Juneau continues to be the only U.S. state capital located on an international border: it is bordered on the east by Canada. It is the U.S. state capital whose namesake was most recently alive: Joe Juneau died in 1899, a year after Otto von Bismarck (North Dakota).
Geography
Downtown Juneau, with Mount Juneau in the background.
Central (downtown) Juneau is located at 58°18′07″N 134°25′11″W.[10] The City and Borough of Juneau includes Douglas Island, a tidal island located to the west of mainland Juneau. Douglas Island can be reached via the Juneau-Douglas Bridge.
Juneau, as is the case throughout Southeast Alaska, is susceptible to damage caused by natural disasters. In 2014, an earthquake caused widespread outages to telecommunications in the area due to damage to a fiber optic cable serving the area. In April, 2008, a series of massive avalanches outside Juneau heavily damaged the electrical lines providing Juneau with power, knocking the hydroelectric system offline and forcing the utility to switch to a much more expensive diesel system.
Adjacent boroughs and census areas
- Haines Borough, Alaska - northwest, west
- Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, Alaska - south, southwest
Border area
Juneau, Alaska, shares its eastern border with the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the only U.S. state capital to border another country.- Stikine Region, British Columbia - northeast, east
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Haines Borough | Stikine Region, British Columbia, Canada | Stikine Region, British Columbia, Canada | |
| Haines Borough |  |
Stikine Region, British Columbia, Canada | ||
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| Hoonah-Angoon Census Area | Hoonah-Angoon Census Area |
National protected areas
- Tongass National Forest (part)
- Admiralty Island National Monument (part)
- Kootznoowoo Wilderness (part)
- Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness (part)
- Admiralty Island National Monument (part)
Climate
Juneau has a Maritime Climate (Köppen Cfb). The city has a climate that is milder than its latitude may suggest, due to the influence of the Pacific Ocean. Winters are moist and long, but only slightly cold by Alaskan standards: the average low temperature is 23 °F (−5 °C) in January, and highs are frequently above freezing. Spring, summer, and fall are cool to mild, with highs peaking in July at 65 °F (18.3 °C). Snowfall averages 87.4 inches (222 cm) and occurs chiefly from November to March. Precipitation falls on an average 230 days per year, averaging 62.27 inches (1,580 mm) at the airport (1981–2010 normals), but ranging from 55 to 92 inches (1,400 to 2,340 mm), depending on location.[11] The spring months are the driest while September and October are the wettest.Records have been officially kept at downtown Juneau from January 1890 to June 1943, and at Juneau International Airport since July 1943; the normals and record temperatures for the downtown station are provided below.
| [show]Climate data for Juneau, Alaska (Juneau Int'l, 1981−2010 normals, extremes 1890–present) |
|---|
| [show]Climate data for Juneau, Alaska (Downtown, 1981−2010 normals, extremes 1890−present) |
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Demographics
| Historical population | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1890 | 1,253 |
|
|
| 1900 | 1,864 | 48.8% | |
| 1910 | 1,644 | −11.8% | |
| 1920 | 3,058 | 86.0% | |
| 1930 | 4,043 | 32.2% | |
| 1940 | 5,729 | 41.7% | |
| 1950 | 5,956 | 4.0% | |
| 1960 | 6,797 | 14.1% | |
| 1970 | 6,050 | −11.0% | |
| 1980 | 19,828 | 227.7% | |
| 1990 | 26,751 | 34.9% | |
| 2000 | 30,711 | 14.8% | |
| 2010 | 31,275 | 1.8% | |
| Est. 2012 | 32,556 | 4.1% | |
|
2012 Estimate[17] [18] |
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There were 11,543 households out of which 36.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.2% were married couples living together, 10.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.8% were non-families. 24.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.10.
The age distribution of Juneau was as follows: 27.4% of the population was under the age of 18, 8.1% were from 18 to 24, 32.8% from 25 to 44, 25.7% from 45 to 64, and 6.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 101.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city/borough was $62,034, and the median income for a family was $70,284. Males had a median income of $46,744 versus $33,168 for females. The per capita income for the city/borough was $26,719. 6.0% of the population and 3.7% of families were below the poverty line, including 6.7% of those under the age of 18 and 3.9% of those 65 and older.
Economy
 |
This section needs additional citations for verification. (July 2010) |
 |
This article is written like a travel guide rather than an encyclopedic description of the subject. (March 2014) |
Fourth Street in downtown, looking easterly from the front of the Alaska State Capitol. The city's tallest building, the Mendenhall Towers, is partially visible in the background.
Downtown tourists
The fishing industry is still a major part of the Juneau economy, while not the dominant player back in the days of the halibut schooner fleet. Juneau was recently the 49th most lucrative U.S. fisheries port by volume and 45th by value taking in 15 million pounds of fish and shellfish valued at 21.5 million dollars in 2004 according to the National Marine Fisheries Service. While the port of Juneau does comparatively little seafood processing to towns of this size in Alaska, there are hundreds of commercial fishing boats who sell their fish to plants in nearby Sitka, Hoonah, Petersburg and Ketchikan. The largest fleets operating from Juneau are the gillnet and troll salmon fleets. Juneau is also the home to many of the commercial fishing associations in Alaska, as much of the activities of these groups involve lobbying the legislature. These associations include the Alaska Trollers Association, United Fishermen of Alaska, United Southeast Alaska Gillnetters Association and the Southeast Alaska Seiners Association.
Real estate agencies, federally funded highway construction, and mining are apparently still viable non-government local industries.
Juneau's only power utility is Alaska Electric Light & Power (AEL&P). Most of the electricity in the borough is generated at the Snettisham Hydroelectric facility in the southern end of the borough, accessible only by boat or plane. In April 2008, an avalanche destroyed three transmission towers, forcing AEL&P to generate almost all of the borough's electricity with diesel-powered generators.
Wings of Alaska, an airline, has its headquarters in Juneau.[26] As of Census 2010 there were 1,107 Businesses with operations in Juneau borough and a population of 31,275 a per capita of roughly 28 people per business.
Also headquartered in Juneau is the Marine Exchange of Alaska, a nonprofit organization which operates an extensive vessel tracking network and ensures safe maritime operations for the entire state.[27]
Culture
A salmon-themed stained glass window in the Juneau Public Library illustrates some of the city's heritage.
The Juneau Lyric Opera and Opera to Go are the two local opera companies. JLO produces operas in English and Italian and sponsors two annual choral workshop festivals, as well as the touring group the "3 Tenors from Juneau."
Some Juneau artists include violinists Linda and Paul Rosenthal, soprano Kathleen Wayne, bass John d'Armand, baritones Philippe Damerval and David Miller, tenors Jay Query, Brett Crawford and Dan Wayne, Rory Merritt Stitt, pianist Rosie Humphrey, pianist Mary Watson, guitarist John Unzicker, playwright Robert Bruce "Bo" Anderson, and painters Rie Muñoz, David Woodie, Barbara Craver, Rob Roys, Elise Tomlinson, Herb Bonnet and Alaska Native carver and painter James Schoppert. Photographer Ron Klein is a past president of the International Association of Panoramic Photographers.
Government
Further information: List of mayors of Juneau, Alaska
Juneau City Hall.
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| Year | Democrat | Republican |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 64.4% | 32.4% |
| 2004 | 59.2% | 37.3% |
The federal government has a nine-story federal building in Juneau, located in the area known as "The Flats". Located along Gold Creek near its mouth and a short distance east of the Juneau-Douglas Bridge, the building houses numerous federal agencies, federal courts and Juneau's main post office. The Juneau Federal Building, designed by Linn A. Forrest, was constructed in 1966, following the provisions of the Alaska Statehood Act which gave the Federal and Territorial Building (the present capitol building) to the new state.
Education
Primary and secondary schools
Juneau is served by the Juneau School District and includes the following schools:[30]
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- (Glacier) Valley Baptist Academy
- Faith Community School
- Thunder Mountain Learning Center (Formerly Thunder Mountain Academy)
- Juneau Seventh-day Adventist Christian School
- Juneau Montessori School
Colleges and universities
Juneau is the home of the following institutes of higher education:The University of Alaska Southeast is located within the Auke Bay community right along the Auke Lake. The Juneau-Douglas Community College, founded in 1956, and the Southeastern Senior College, established in 1972, were merged in 1980 forming the University of Alaska Juneau. The University was restructured as the University of Alaska Southeast to include the Ketchikan and Sitka campuses. The university offers both degrees and undergraduate and graduate studies. The University of Alaska Southeast is known for its research in regards to the Tongass National Forest and the Juneau Icefield.
Transportation
Juneau is not directly accessible by road, although there are road connections to several areas immediately adjacent to the city. Primary access to the city is by air and sea. Cars and trucks are transported to and from Juneau by barge or the Alaska Marine Highway ferry system.
AMHS's flagship, the M/V Columbia.
Juneau is a popular cruise ship destination.
Alaska Airlines flight moments after landing at Juneau International Airport.
The Juneau-Douglas Bridge, connecting mainland Juneau with Douglas Island. The original bridge was built in 1935. The bridge shown here, which replaced the original, was completed in 1980.
Sea
The State-owned ferry is called the Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS). Local government operates a bus service under the name Capital Transit. There are also several taxicab companies, and tour buses used mainly for cruise ship visitors.Air
Juneau International Airport serves the city and borough of Juneau. Alaska Airlines and Delta Air Lines are the sole commercial jet passenger operators. MarkAir and Western Airlines previously served Juneau. Alaska Airlines provides service to Anchorage and Sitka as well as to many small communities in the state. Delta Air Lines provides seasonal summer service to Seattle.[31] Seattle is a common destination for Juneau residents. Wings of Alaska, Alaska Seaplanes, and Air Excursions offer scheduled flights on smaller aircraft to villages in Southeast Alaska. Some air carriers provide U.S. mail service.Roads
Avalanche hazards, steep slopes, cold weather and environmental protection concerns are factors that make road construction and maintenance difficult and costly.The Juneau-Douglas Bridge connects Juneau mainland with Douglas Island.
Juneau is one of only four state capitals not served by an Interstate highway. (Others are Dover, Delaware; Jefferson City, Missouri; and Pierre, South Dakota.)[32]
Juneau Access Project
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See also: Lynn Canal Highway
Local opinions on constructing a road link to the outside world are mixed. Some residents see such a road as a much-needed link between Juneau and the rest of the world which will also provide great economic benefits to the city, while many other residents are concerned about the project's financial costs along with environmental and social impacts.[35]
Walking, hiking, and biking
Residents walk, hike, or ride bicycles for both recreational purposes and as transportation. The downtown area of Juneau has sidewalks, and the neighborhoods on the hill above downtown are accessible by foot. Some roads in the city also have bike lanes, and there is a bike path parallel to the main highway.Media
Main article: Media in Juneau, Alaska
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