UAS Students and Staff Give Back in Third Annual Day of Service

BY HOLLY FISHER
Staff Writer, UAS Whalesong

On Apr. 1, 65 UAS students came together to give back to the Juneau community.

The UAS Day of Service began three years ago as a component of the Alaska Leadership Initiative (AL-I). During the Spring semester of 2015, AL-I students developed and implemented the first Day of Service, managing its creation with minimal oversight. The goal was to formulate an event by students, for students.

After the success of the initial year, the participating AL-I members reviewed the strengths and weaknesses of the project, and made plans to put on another Day of Service the following year.

The third annual Day of Service Apr. 1 saw four new organizations participating, and student volunteers up by fifteen people. Continue reading “UAS Students and Staff Give Back in Third Annual Day of Service”

UASWhalesongApril 19, 2017April 19, 2017Leave a comment

A&E, Play Review

A Play for Alaska, About Alaska

BY DYLYN PETERSON
Staff Writer, UAS Whalesong

“They Don’t Talk Back” endeared itself to me as soon as I stepped foot into Perseverance Theater.

The set design was incredible. It more than accomplished its job of looking like a medium-sized house in a small Southeast Alaska village. The attention to detail impressed me; a small piece of carpet was duct taped to the wooden floor to be used for drying feet, for example, or the unlabeled cardboard box where one of the leads keeps their NES cartridges. One of the bedrooms doesn’t even have a door, just a hanging sheet. I can’t tell you how many times I saw stuff like that in my time in the villages. Continue reading “A Play for Alaska, About Alaska”

UASWhalesongMarch 17, 2017March 8, 2017Leave a comment

A&E, Opinion, Play Review

Hold These Tears: A Review of Perseverance Theatre’s Hold These Truths

BY DYLYN PETERSON
Staff Writer, UAS Whalesong

I was a bit daunted by the prospect of attending a one-man play about the Japanese internment camps, expecting something equal parts depressing and heavy-handed. My anxiety was not lessened when I entered the theater, the stage adorned only by a desk, a coat rack, a number of wooden boxes in various sizes, and a large backdrop which looked like sun-cracked earth, stretching on for miles. Oof. It was going to be a long night. Continue reading “Hold These Tears: A Review of Perseverance Theatre’s Hold These Truths”

UASWhalesongDecember 6, 2016December 12, 2016Leave a comment

A&E, Features, Play Review

Not Medea: Not Bad!

BY DYLYN PETERSON
Staff Writer, UAS Whalesong

I arrived at Perseverance Theatre a minute or two late. The lights were still on. There was a woman towards the front of the seating area with several bags, a Styrofoam container of food, and, what alerted me that she was part of the play, an umbrella. I quietly took my seat, a little lightheaded; there was a cloud of vaporized fourth wall floating about the room. It would only grow thicker. The woman, and according to the program her name is just Woman, was arguing with somebody in the front row about her assigned seat. That might have worked a little better if it wasn’t Pay-as-You-Can night, but there’s no way the script (let alone the actors) could factor in those sorts of variables.

She eventually found her seat, and the most aggressive audience participation was over. I took a few breaths, and started taking notes. Continue reading “Not Medea: Not Bad!”