My First Blog Post

Hello!

My name is Bambi Nelson. I'm a non-traditional student and I've worked for UAF for a combined 14 years. I currently work for the Rural Alaska Honors Institute, an amazing program that hosts high school juniors and seniors on campus every summer to give them a positive introduction to life as a UAF student.

My family includes my husband Richard, our 11-year-old son Miles and our rescue Chiweenie, Gizmo. Richard and I first came to UAF as students in fall 1999 and it became a second home to us. We're both originally from Tok. We just returned to Fairbanks after 6 years in Houston, Texas (I know, what were we thinking?!) and are so glad to be home.

While in Texas, I worked in a children's library, which was truly fun and meaningful work. Our family is embarking on a homeschool journey for the first time this year so if anyone has any tips, I'm all ears. In my free time, I enjoy reading, writing and watching British TV. I'm also a regular contributor to Houston Moms, where I create and share parenting-related content.

My relationship to music is mostly as an appreciator, though when I worked for the library, I was responsible for weekly toddler story times and absolutely loved that aspect of the work! Whereas my co-workers would reluctantly sing 2 or 3 songs, I think I ended up with 18 on my ‘set list’ each week and those little guys would have gladly accepted more! I had hoped to learn to play the ukulele to add to story time but never got around to it. I haven’t ruled out learning for myself in the future, though!

I really love music and according to my 2023 Wrapped, listened primarily to the Beatles, the Killers, Arcade Fire, Tom Petty, Phish and Pink Floyd. But recently I’ve lost control of my Spotify account because my 11-year-old has discovered Weird Al and likes to choose our playlist when in the car together! =)

My husband listens to Frampton Comes Alive almost every night and has been playing the Eagles a lot lately so you could say I have been too, since I can hear everything through the floor. =) I bought him a record player a couple of years ago and he's taken a deep dive into vinyl. When I was younger, it was all about grunge and I still enjoy the nostalgia of the 90s through Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine, Hole, Nirvana, Garbage, Beastie Boys... all that good stuff!

As for shows, my first concert was Destiny’s Child when they visited UAF for Springfest way back
in maybe, 2000. Nobody knew Beyoncé would be Beyoncé at that point. I was probably only 50 feet from her in the bleachers! My second show was Ozzy Osbourne at the Carlson Center the following year. Though he was already feeling physically unwell, he put on an amazing show for the concert-starved Fairbanks crowd. 

Last year, my husband and I saw the Eagles in Houston and we were STUNNED that they sounded exactly like they do on recordings from 20-40 years ago! The way these men in their 70s can sound just like they did in their youth, it was amazing. Great show! We’ve also been fortunate to attend Mamma Mia in Seattle and The Book of Mormon, School of Rock and Hamilton in Houston.

I chose this video because when my son was a baby, it would take forever to get him to sleep. “Time” by Pink Floyd was one of the only long songs that I knew all of the words to so I’d start with it in my desperate attempt to rock him to sleep. Until he was about 6 years old, he would request it for bedtime by the name “Big Song”. =) If you’ve never heard it before, be warned that it starts with bells and clanging.

I also chose to share this video because I truly think that the medley from The Beatles' Abbey Road is so special. To go from basically sobbing to “Golden Slumbers” straight into “Carry That Weight” just blows my mind. When the strings come in around 11:54 on “Golden Slumbers” (another bedtime song for years), it gives me goosebumps and makes me wish I still played the violin.