h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I live in a small trailer house some 50 miles NNW of Anchorage, on a bad winter night it can get 70 below and the snow can get 5 feet deep overnight. The wind off the ice field in January or Febuary usually cranks up to 60-80 miles per hour, which with a -50 outside temp can make walking to the car deadly. Of course the car is plugged in to an electric outlet, to keep the oil warmed enough to allow the engine to turn over, and most people let their car idle when they are going into a store, bank etc. for a short time. The first couple of good snows usually result in the newly arrived drivers sliding off the road or into each other in great numbers, and the spring usually sees many of them running back to (insert southern state) in droves.
I am the Alpha male for 4 wolf hybreds that sound off in corus several times a day, and so far none of my close neighbors have complained. Most people in my area live on 1 to 5 acres in moderate houses. We consider ourselves to be somewhat in the woods, but Wasilla and it's Walmart, McDonalds, Taco Bell ammenities are just a 10 minute drive away.
I know I live in a special place. I know it is spectacular due to the mountains, rivers, glaciers and coastlines all around, and for the wildlife that can seen, but the reason I find it special enough to call home is the attitudes of the people living here. Most of my neighbors are friends that I meet a couple times a month at the post office or store, keep to them selves unless something goes wrong and then rally as a whole to attack the problem. There are more and more Californians moving up and trying to change Alaska through Californication, but they usually get the "cold sholder" and run back home after a couple years. The strong survive and flourish here, the weak and ignorant escape or die.

I agree about Californication - the culture of whoring our lives out. Many people are willing to trade their freedom for money and the comforts it provides. However, I must disagree. You say that "the weak or ignorant escape or die". The ingnorant can survive ANYWHERE. Alaska has a share of them.