Bianca Durrant/Turnagain Times
Kyle Britt of Houston, Texas, is dedicated to raising awareness of our National Parks. He recently spread his message in Hope.
By Bianca Durrant
Turnagain Times
Hope Correspondent
To devote yourself to create something that gives you purpose and meaning is a wonderful thing. Along the way, your passion may inform and inspire others. For instance, the hoards of biting flies that plague us, with their too-small-to-swat bodies and their hot welt bites, has inspired Hope Happenings to rethink the merits of Deet.
National Park Zealot Visits Hope
Kyle Britt of Houston, Texas, is a man with a mission. Sipping a cup of Joe outside of the library last weekend, Britt spoke of his dedication to our National Parks and his personal goal of visiting all 58 of our National Parks by 2016, which is the 100th anniversary of the founding of our National Park Service. He said, “I visited three of Alaska’s National Parks on this trip: Kenai Fjords, Wrangell-St. Elias, and Denali. But there are five more parks in Alaska and they are: Katmai, Lake Clark, Gates of the Arctic, and the least visited National Park in the country, Kobuk. Alaska, along with California and Utah, have eight parks and are the states with the most National Parks.”
Britt made it clear that he visits the parks as “a common man” and not as someone looking for an extreme experience. Hope Happenings was staggered with the amount of trivia and information Britt offered on our National Park System. For instance, there is only one National Park that is still growing—Volcanoes National Park in Hawaii, which grew approximately 8.5 acres last year.
When asked what he would like the public to know most about our National Parks, Britt answered, “I want people to know that our parks are an amazing natural resource that will be around for many generations to come if we take care of them. We were the first country in the world to implement a National Park system and now over 150 countries have followed suit.”
Get Your Read On
As summer draws to a close, the Hope Book Club is awakening its members for a winter of literature and critical theory. The first book of the season is the wildly popular, Girl with a Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. This epic tale of corporate trickery and murder is an international bestseller. There are copies of the book available in the library. The book club will meet on the second Tuesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. in the library. This month’s meeting is on Sept. 14.
Yoga Sutra Seminar
The Hope Yoga Shala will be hosting a discussion on the yoga sutras on Sept. 11 at 10 a.m. The workshop will be given by Patty Bielawski. In a nutshell, the sutras are the commentaries of the Pantanjali on the philosophical aspects of yoga and what happens to the mind during the yoga process. Owner Shelley Cassidy is very excited for this class and told Hope Happenings, “Patty has studied the sutras for years and while it is heavy stuff, she has a way of disseminating the philosophy so that is approachable.”
The class is $15. For further information please contact Shelley at 947-4067.
Pampered Chef Fundraiser
The Hope School PTA is hosting a Pampered Chef fundraiser at the school on Tuesday Sept. 7 at 7 p.m. There will be hors d’oeuvres available. For those of you not familiar with Pampered Chef, they offer an exquisite line of cookware. The PTA will receive 25 percent of all proceeds from the fundraiser so this is a great opportunity to do your part for your home and the school, an all-around feel good shopping experience. For those of you who cannot attend, there will be a two- week window after the fundraiser to order goods and still have the PTA benefit.
Contact Angie Motoyama for more information at 230-6259.
Museum Winds Down Season With a Bang
Veteran George Darrow will be at the museum to present a talk, “Into the Unknown” on Saturday, Sept. 4 at 10 a.m. The focus will be on the 1885 Allen Expedition where three army officers explored the Copper and Tanana Rivers. The museum is scheduled to be open through Labor Day weekend so there is still a chance to check out all their great new exhibits such as “Voices From the Past” in four of the historic buildings.
Visitors can listen to an early book lesson in the 1904 schoolhouse or they can listen to miners talk about their lives in the three mine buildings. It’s a bit spooky, in a cool way. The exhibits were created with grants from the Rasmuson Foundation and the Alaska State Museum.
Hope Happenings
You know the drill, thoughts, methods, and ideas are valuable to Hope Happenings. Don’t be shy. Share your story at: hopehappenings@live.com.
