OCTOBER 18 - OCTOBER 25, 2016
NEWS
THENORTHERNLIGHT.ORG
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA ANCHORAGE
OPINION
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Locker room talk brings up national conversation of sexual assault
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Catcalling on college campuses
New growth in Alaska's cannabis industry By Lee Piltz
lpiltz@thenorthernlight.org
GRAPHIC BY JIAN BAUTISTA
This October, local growers of marijuana will be harvesting this year’s first legal crops. This marks a historic moment for those involved in the marijuana legalization movement. However, due to the stigma associated with cannabis, little is actually known about this plant. Like all plants, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to grow it. All one needs is water, light, soil and, of course, the seeds. Beyond that, it a relatively simple process. Autoflowering cannabis plants are more simple than the strains that need to be life-cycled. Mike Emers of Rosie Creek Farm in Fairbanks farms autoflowering cannabis plants for a local grower. “You pretty much just need seeds, soil, water, and sunlight...People will tell you this is a hard plant to grow, but it’s not... We just grow it like any other crop. We’re an organic vegetable farm and I treat them like just another crop,” Emers said. The life-cycled strains need to be grown indoors due to their requirement for 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness to reach maturity. Leif Abel of Greatland Ganja explains that because of this requirement, this type of marijuana
is easiest grown indoors. “Most cannabis, unless it’s an autoflowering cannabis, is photosensitive. Meaning, in order to pick off its reproductive cycle, which is what creates the salable fruit, or the flower or the bud of the cannabis plant. In order to produce that, you have to put it into 12 to 12 light, meaning 12 hours of darkness and 12 hours of light...So, if you’re in an indoor environment, that’s relatively easy,” Abel said. It should be noted that growing indoors can be rather expensive. Expenses include lighting, ventilation, air flow and money to build or sanction off a room to seal off from outside light. Abel explains that budding growers have to do some research and have a budget or an investment plan for their indoor crops. “The second you start growing indoors, you start running into a lot of expenses. Because of lights, which are a huge power bill and a big investment. Then you’re going to want to control your lights with timers,” Abel said. Before you know it, your heat’s going to go up, because of your lights and you’re going to realize that you need to have
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Checking out furs, skulls RED ZONE: Local beer accused and bones in the UAA library of promoting rape culture Tucked away in UAA’s own Consortium Library lives the Alaska Resources Library and Information Services, also known as ARLIS. A most peculiar collection, ARLIS allows the public to check out a large variety of Alaskan furs, skulls, bird mounts, fish mounts and hands-on educational kits. ARLIS is known as one of the only libraries who will check these items out to the general public. “The entire collection is “unusual” in there are few if any libraries that checkout these types of taxidermy items,” Celia Rozen, an Alaska Department of Fish and Game Librarian and ARLIS manager, said. Formed in 1997, ARLIS is a multi-agency library that is located on the UAA campus in the Consortium Library Building. Funded by state and federal agencies, ARLIS
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PHOTO BY YOUNG KIM
Items at ARLIS can be checked out for up to two weeks at a time.
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By Brenda Craig
features@thenorthernlight.org
An Alaskan craft beer that has been around since the 1990s has recently been accused of promoting rape culture and the objectification of women. After Midnight Sun Brewing Company won honors from the Can Can awards, a beer competition for canned beer products, speculation in the name “Panty Peeler” arose. This beer, being made in a state with the highest rate of sexual assaults in the nation, makes it easy to assume the correlation between alcohol and sexual assaults. However, this is not the case for Panty Peeler, which has been associated with the promotion of rape when it is intended to encourage the individually of women. The label on the can contains a naked, red-haired woman riding a caribou, tossing her bra and panties behind her. Many assume Panty Peeler was designed by a man, for men. However, this beer is marketed towards women, by women. Midnight Sun’s marketing and sales team are mainly made up of women with many at management level positions.
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“We never wanted or intended for it to be associated with rape or date rape,” Barb Miller, co-founder of Midnight Sun said. “We are serious about how we design and create our beers, but on the marketing side we have fun with it, I don’t think we are crossing any lines.” Many people believe the label of the can and the name Panty Peeler is strictly sexual. Miller stresses it has nothing to do with sex.
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