Flying back home to Oregon from a family wedding in Anchorage, I cannot keep from reflecting on her changes over the years since I moved away. During this visit especially, I am aware of how “grown-up” Anchorage has become since we moved there in 1948, when the population was about 15,000. How different she is now compared to the “early days”!
I think of my Alaskan grandchildren, who have grown up in a much different world than we did; theirs is a world full of cell phones and video games and wireless Internet. They are used to the hustle-bustle of modern Anchorage, riddled with freeways, coffee kiosks and retail outlets on every corner.
The movie, “Big Miracle,” released this month in theatres nationwide, begins with a Barrow bowhead whale hunt, so I will begin my series on the Great Gray Whale Rescue of 1988 with a bowhead hunt as well – actually, fragments of different Barrow hunts, culminating in the spring of 1988 – the same year that the rescue took place.
I was awestruck by the whale in the opening scene of the movie, in part because I have never seen a bowhead from quite that perspective in real life, yet I have seen them almost exactly like that in my dreams.
Nome’s Marjorie Tahbone was crowned Miss Indian World last year. At a recent photo shoot with UAF photographer Todd Paris Tahbone talked about the components of the garment that she wore during the competition.
At the third ever Mudrooms event, six Juneauites and one other Alaskan told stories on the theme “For the Love of It” at Holy Trinity Church in Juneau. Here’s a sample from that “other Alaskan,” Anchorage’s own Representative Les Gara.
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Since the publication of its first volume in 2003, Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis has rightly received critical and scholarly acclaim. Time, Newsweek and the New York Times praised Satrapi’s autobiography, both for its innovative use of comic-book format and for the insight it provides into life in revolutionary and post-revolutionary Iran.
I have assigned the book to students in my courses at Temple University, La Salle University, and the University of Alaska Anchorage with good results, so I was pleased to hear that Anchorage Public Library had selected Persepolis for this year’s Anchorage Reads.
More than 160 premiere events are set to raise the curtain on Best Beginnings’ Babies on Track, a 14-minute DVD for parents. More than 80 villages, towns, and cities across Alaska took up the call to roll out the red carpet from February 25 through March 4.
Best Beginnings produced Babies on Track to foster early learning and healthy brain development.
On February 4, the University of Alaska Anchorage campus was swarming with more than 800 Girl Scouts attending the 20th annual Women of Science and Technology Day.
It’s not surprising why this event draws such a crowd. What kid wouldn’t love dissecting moose poop, playing with magnets, meeting a Great Horned owl, designing a mini roller-coaster, or drilling a hole in a tooth?
One of the most exciting developments of the past year or two is the rise of new Gay-Straight Alliances in small communities across the state. It seems that in rural Alaska the movement for LGBTQ equality is being led by young people who aren’t content to wait for things to get better in the future.
The Alaska World Affairs Council is proud to present Dr. Trita Parsi, President of the National Iranian American Council on February 10, 2012. Dr. Parsi, an award-winning author and expert on Iran and the Middle East, will speak on the subject of his latest book: “A Single Roll of the Dice: Obama’s Diplomacy with Iran”.
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In January 2012, local filmmaker and outdoor adventurer Luc Mehl toured the southern states with Timmy Johnson and Roman Dial and their pack rafts.
According to Luc’s blog, “I am so enamored with Alaska that I have trouble appreciating other landscapes. But the Dixie creeks in the Southeast US just blew my mind.”
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The Anchorage Music Co-Op is based at Out North Contemporary Art House. These photos were taken of a recent performance. More via their facebook.
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