Millman, Lawrence. "Don’t Shoot the Bear." The Atlantic Nov 2010: Web. 4 Nov 2010.
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In the article “Don’t Shoot the Bear,” Lawrence Millman begins to talk about his recent trip to Longyearbyen, Norway, which has a population of about 2,000. He talks about seeing a woman carrying a 30.06 rifle, and says how everyone has to carry around a gun when leaving the city because of the polar bears. He says that unlike non fictional polar bears, these bears have been known to kill human beings, but if you do kill a polar bear, the laws against it are almost as strong as murder of a human due to the strong laws protecting the wildlife. The town itself was obtained by Tromsø, Norway and named after John M. Longyear, who began mining in the town. The town had a large population of Thais beginning in the 1980’s to begin working in the coal mines, but left when the mining stopped. The town is also equipped with Wi-Fi courtesy of NASA and random reindeer in town. In Longyearbyen, not many of the locals are locals with many coming from places all over the world including Alaska and Iran. Millman took a hike over the “scree slopes” outside of town and climbed a mountain called Platåberget. At the top, all that was visible was tundra with not enough snow for a snowmobile. He finally completed the hike with a trip to Huset, a bar and restaurant.
The message Lawrence Millman is trying to perceive is to travel. There are many placed undiscovered and unappreciated in these times. The point of the article was to describe a town, but also encourage readers to travel. It also makes people realize that everything seen in movies is different in real life. He presents the example of polar bears, saying they are predators in Longyearbyen, Norway. If readers are to read this article, it would encourage them to travel and experience places not normally visited to get a take on life in a different perspective. He also talked about a town, filled with non-locals, old mining artifacts and upscale bars.
