Rice Grad Finds Trouble in‘ Real World’ Part Three of our three-part series on poverty in Alaska
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Rice Grad Finds Trouble in‘ Real World’ Part Three of our three-part series on poverty in Alaska
By John Stamos Special to The Chieftain
It’ s a cold day on the coldest street in Alaska’ s coldest city, Ketchikan. I returned to the destitute street to talk once again with those who call this barren stretch of cracked pavement their home. As I rounded the corner, I saw the usual faces: Bum Bob, Loose Change Larry, and Tin Can Terry. However, something caught my eye. There was a new and young face on Ketchikan’ s homeless street. I approached the young man to get a better look.
His face was covered in stubble and his eyes were glazed over with a sadness I had not seen in years. I sat down next to this mysterious person and waited a while before engaging in conversation. At first, the young man was hesitant to talk to me, but soon enough we struck up a powerful conversation. He told me his name, Ryan Israel, and how he ended up on Ketchikan’ s loneliest street.
“ I didn’ t really expect to end up here,” said Israel.“ I can’ t see how anyone would.”
Coming from a small suburb in Michigan, Israel attended an all-boys high school known as Brother Rice.
“ Things were easy there. It was just fun. But, of course, I eventually graduated and that’ s when the real world hit.”
The“ real world” was located in South Bend, Ind., at the University of Notre Dame. When Israel embarked on the college journey, he found things weren’ t as easy as he thought they would be.
“ The first two weeks were great,: he remembered.“ I fit right into the allmale dorm I was in. I was bro-ing out with all my new bros. We were‘ sending it’ all the time, and, after I won Fortnite, I gained the respect of all the upperclassmen. Intramurals were a blast, too. I wasn’ t the best at any sport, of course, but I rocked a sick tank top and shooting sleeve like I did for St. Brendan my Senior year at Rice.”
Israel’ s high school experience prepared him well for the‘ for-the-boys’ attitude he found in the dorms. However, what he found in the classrooms was a bit different.
“ I knew something was off after the
Man walks dog, Ketchikan style
first class,” he said.“ My professor didn’ t hand out my school-issued iPad and told the class we would need a‘ notebook’ and‘ folder.’ I had no idea what either of those were. I turned all my homework into Schoology but, apparently, I was supposed to be using something called“ Sakai.”
“ There were no tests on who could make the best fart jokes. Nobody seemed to care about how good I was at Tap Baseball. I realized that, at 18, I had never learned how to read and I couldn’ t do
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Continued from Page 5 Riker said it came down to commitment.
“ With my daughters at college now, I’ ve had some more free time. Outside of hunting, I’ ve really just been working on this. People may call it a midlife crisis, but I feel it will be good for me.”
Mr. Riker may be absent at times this year, but he’ ll be doing his best to balance both. Although Mr. Riker may not bring the 80s stache he rocked 20 years ago, he will bring some things back to the A ball level: toughness, completion and grit. simple math.
“ My writing skills weren’ t great, either, because the only experience I had in high school was writing fake stories for the propaganda-laden school paper.”
Israel quickly learned that the skills that were important to him in high school were not useful in college. And he was left with only one option.
“ I dropped out,” he said.“ Well, technically, I flunked out. But who’ s counting? I can’ t even count.”
After only a semester in the“ real world,” Israel was out and on the streets.“ I came to Alaska because I just thought,‘ Why not?’ It sure beats South Bend.”
As far as his future goes, Israel doesn’ t seem too concerned about the long term.“ I figure I’ ll chill out here for a year or two. Maybe I’ ll go up into the mountains and become a hermit. I’ ll probably just wait a couple of years and then head back to Michigan. I’ m sure Brother Rice will give me a job-- probably something easy, like teaching English to Seniors.”
Editor’ s note: Ryan Israel was Chieftain Managing Editor in 2016-17. The family of John Stamos filed a missing person report a few days after he submitted this article.
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Continued from Page 5
He agreed to give up Little Caesars’ Hot-N-Ready. Instead, Uncle will bring a purely vegan lunch. He believes it is the most appropriate diet, and I couldn’ t agree more.
I am very excited for next year with Uncle coming back a changed man – it is best for everyone. If you see Mr. O in the hallway, let him know he was great and will be missed, because his one-year contract is about to expire in June.
WHY BROTHER RICE CHICAGO? BECAUSE. PAGE 8 APRIL 1, 2018