Jenna Schnuer

Anchorage Daily News: From wee tots to trained professionals, there’s room for every artist at the Alaska State Fair

Enter the Alaska State Fair through the green gate and there’s no avoiding the instant assault on your senses. Even before the flashing lights of the rides and games fan out in front of you, the scents of sugar and barbecue smoke smack you headlong. Yet on this grim gray afternoon, it took the stunningly loud pop of the Mash-a-Mouse game’s oversized balloons to snap me out of what had become an overwhelming desire to take a nap.

Even a Monday at the fair can feel very Monday.

Gray day or not, I maintain that any adult in need of a one-day pre-winter vacation from reality should head out to Palmer on the second Monday of the fair season. Solo.

Read the piece.

Anchorage Daily News: How Alaska’s craft fair scene escaped winter’s grasp and stepped into the sun

Five, maybe six years ago around Alaska, there was one main season for art fairs: winter.

Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, schools, cultural centers and houses of worship would turn into tinsel-bedecked markets. A stroll through their hallways, lobbies, lunchrooms and gyms revealed tables full of handmade jewelry and baby clothing interspersed with vendors selling locally made hot sauce and candied nuts.

Things have changed.

Read the piece.

CNN: Fossil discovery causes monumental shift in understanding of whale evolutionary history

On the tail of the discovery of a whale fossil that is the largest animal on record, researchers in Egypt announced the unearthing of one of the smallest early whales known to science. The find is also the oldest fully aquatic whale found in Africa, according to a new study.

At an estimated body weight of 412.3 pounds (187 kilograms) and length of 8.2 feet (2.5 meters), the newly documented species is comparable in size to a modern-day bottlenose dolphin.

Read the piece.

CNN: Scientists identify which butterflies are most at risk as the climate warms

Challenging times are ahead for smaller, lighter-colored butterflies as Earth’s climate continues to warm, a new study has found.

Unlike their relatives with larger wings and darker colors, small butterflies with paler hues — particularly those belonging to the Lycaenidae family — have trouble regulating their body temperatures as the air temperature increases, according to the research.

Read the piece.

Anchorage Daily News: Singer-songwriter Annie Bartholomew Shares Stories of Gold Rush Women on 'Sisters of White Chapel'

“Alaskan Storyteller.” That’s the phrase Juneau-based Annie Bartholomew uses to describe herself on her website. Simple and to the point but way too modest.

Just one round of listening to Bartholomew’s first album makes that clear. “Sisters of White Chapel,” which tells the stories of the women who did sex work during the Klondike gold rush, was released earlier this month. The life stories woven into the album’s nine songs took Bartholomew several years to research and write.

Read the story on the ADN website.