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Gifted Students ‘Make the Most’ of School in Alaska

Alaska, News, Print, Uncategorized

This story was originally published on Education Week.

Glennallen, Alaska

This town of 500 people sits at the end of the Glenn Highway, 180 miles northeast of Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city. It’s a hub for travelers headed to the Copper River Valley, or farther, to Canada and the lower 48 states, and has much to offer in mountainscapes and a quiet way of life. For gifted students like Aric Cox, though, specialized educational resources are limited.

“I encourage him and his sister to make the most of what you got here. Yeah, it’s not as wonderful as … some other place, but we make the most of it,” Sherri Cox, Aric’s mother, said.

When it comes to providing advanced academic services, Glennallen shares many challenges with other rural schools across the country: too few specialized teachers, spotty internet access, underfunded districts, a lack of access to rigorous academic content.

Carolyn Callahan, a professor in the department of curriculum, instruction, and special education at the University of Virginia, said that rural gifted students have a particular disadvantage in schooling and that Alaska may be an extreme case because of its remoteness.

“Finding gifted kids in rural schools is difficult because personnel, and trained personnel, is limited,” she said. “In a rural school of 100 elementary students, you’d only have maybe five gifted kids, maybe one for every grade level. The opportunity for a teacher to create a whole enriched curriculum for one child becomes limited.”

Callahan said Aric is lucky in one respect: His academic ability, at least, was identified. Identifying gifted students in rural communities in the first place, she said, can be just as challenging as providing advanced content to that student when resources of all kinds are low.

 

Aric, who graduated from high school last month, has been living in Glennallen nearly his entire life and has attended Glennallen School since kindergarten. The K-12 school serves 286 students in all.

This year, the graduating class numbered 14.

Personalized Learning

And Glennallen School is the largest of the three schools in the Copper River school district, which serves fewer than 450 students in an area nearly the size of Ohio.

“I feel like larger schools would offer more variety of opportunities, but at the same time, in classes here, you get to know your teachers more,” Aric said. “In a bigger school, I don’t know if that would have been possible.”

That sentiment is shared by his school’s principal, Nick Schumacher, who said the small class sizes allow for more one-on-one attention.

“I feel like in smaller communities, you have to sort of take more initiative and go look for the opportunities,” Aric said.

On his own search for opportunities, Aric discovered a passion for computer technology and helping people. He has been volunteering at the community library for the past seven years, where he sets up computers, puts books away, checks books in and out, and signs residents up for library cards, among other tasks.

 

After the local job center closed, Aric began working on a project to create a job-search database on one of the library’s computers. He also served as a student intern at Cross Road Clinic, the main medical facility in Glennallen where his parents both work. There, he installed TVs and a teleconference center, and helped with general information-technology work.

Aric burned through his school’s most challenging courses well before he was ready to graduate. Then he took online classes and video-teleconference classes to supplement the courses the district couldn’t offer him. Those classes were often based out of Prince William Sound College, which has an office in Glennallen, schools in Anchorage, and an online school on the U.S. East Coast, called the Potter’s School.

That ability to take online courses means Cox has been luckier than many of his peers in other parts of rural Alaska.

“The internet has been a boon in many, many cases because kids like Aric have access to it,” Callahan said. “Some schools don’t even have that option.”

Downside of Online Classes

But it’s also not been an ideal option, Aric noted.

“I’ve tried to take classes from teachers in school if I can, but if not, I would look at the online options and pick what was best,” he said. “[Online classes are] very impersonal. You get the content still, but you have to decide what you’re going to do with it. You don’t have a teacher to guide you along.”

Callahan agreed that the e-learning structure can be isolating for many students.

“You’re one student online, you’re not in a community. Nationally, it’s a problem and it’s something we’ve been dealing with by trying to get more gifted students identified,” she said.

The Copper River district is a member of the League of Innovative Schools, a nationwide coalition of more than 93 schools that focus on building opportunities for students through technology. Copper River and the Sitka school system are the only two Alaskan districts in the league. This coalition recognizes the districts for their use of a video-teleconferencing system that allows students to remotely take classes that are being offered at other schools in the district.

“If a teacher in our Kenny Lake School, which is 45 miles down the road, is offering a class in, let’s say, oceanography, a student in Glennallen that wants to take it can have access to it,” Copper River schools Superintendent Tamara Van Wyhe said.

The Copper River district offers e-learning options for gifted students like Cox through various partnerships with online education portals. In all, Van Wyhe said, the district is able to offer more 300 e-learning classes. Copper River students can also receive college credits and dual credit through a partnership with Prince William Sound College.

Moreover, independent study is an option for students who want to study something the district can’t provide.

That benefited Aric when he found an Advanced Placement Calculus class at an online school that wasn’t partnered with Copper River. His district offered financial support for the class, as well as a teacher to proctor the exam.

Teacher-Hiring Challenges

While the internet has helped make finding advanced classes for students like Cox less of a challenge, recruiting teachers who are skilled at meeting the needs of gifted students—and well-qualified educators in general—has become increasingly more difficult, Van Wyhe said.

“Ten years ago or more, it was pretty easy because all we had to say was, ‘Hey, we’re on the road system.’ People wanted to come here, but the pool of candidates has been declining so dramatically over the last five years,” Van Wyhe said. “There are not as many people interested in working in rural Alaska, so our road system draw isn’t quite what it used to be.”

Van Wyhe said it can be difficult for teachers to commit to wear all the hats required in a rural district.

“If you’re a high school English teacher, you’re not going to come to a rural district and just teach high school English. You’re going to teach English and social studies, and you might have a science class, and you might be asked to teach an art class, and you might coach cross-country, and be the adviser for student council and National Honor Society and a hundred other things,” Van Wyhe said.

Van Wyhe was a teacher in and around Anchorage for a couple of years before teaching in Copper River. While a small district in rural Alaska has its challenges, Van Wyhe said it’s the social and emotional benefits that have kept her there for more than 21 years.

“We have over 400 students in our school district, and I know every single one of them,” Van Wyhe said.

Meanwhile, in Quinhagak, a small, even more remote village on Alaska’s southwestern Bering Sea coast, Robby Strunk, a high school junior and gifted student, takes most of his classes online. His favorite subject is math, but his school’s most difficult math class is Algebra 2, which Strunk took as a freshman. Strunk said there are no teachers at his school who are trained to work with gifted children. He also said that because of budget reductions last year, his school had to cut a teacher position, leaving only two teachers at his 227-student high school.

College Transition

Strunk, however, has an opportunity to further his education through the Rural Alaska Honors Institute, an intensive college-preparatory program that brings rural, Alaskan Native high school juniors and seniors from across the state to the University of Alaska Fairbanks for six weeks.

Students can earn anywhere from eight to 11 college credits in one summer through the all-expenses-paid program.

Started in 1983, it is the oldest, continuously run program for academically promising rural students in Alaska.

The program was created in partnership with the University of Alaska and the Alaska Federation of Natives, with the goal of helping students ease the transition from village to town as they gear up for college.

The program, which nearly 1,800 students have attended since its inception, receives an average of 125 applicants each year and accepts 40 to 50 of them, according to RAHI program manager Denise Waters. Students must have a 3.0 GPA and have lived in Alaska most of their lives.

Strunk has been hearing about RAHI his whole life. His four older siblings went through it, and he was accepted to attend this summer, along with 41 other students from across the state. He said he is hoping to have similar experiences, and that the program will give him a jumpstart on college.

Over six weeks, students take classes from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and then work in a mandatory study hall from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., five days a week.

“This is not a walk in the park,” Waters said.

Students choose from two course-study options. For those with an interest in the sciences, there is RAHI Research. Students must have taken some basic biology or chemistry classes and write two essays. This summer, six students will join university researchers, and, depending on the nature of the research the university is conducting, the students will be required to go into the field, collect data, assist with research, write a research paper, and give a final presentation about their findings.

Hard Work and Opportunity

The other track, the more traditional path, gears students up for managing college life. Those students take classes in college writing, library sciences, and study skills. In the afternoon, they choose from among four different classes: an appropriate level math class, chemistry, business, and a class that teaches the process and operations of refinery, chemical, and other industry manufacturing. In the evening, a physical education class is required; Alaska Native dance, karate, and yoga are the options.

The university and the Alaska Federation of Natives were able to entirely fund the program on their own when it began in the 1980s.

“This was during the [oil] pipeline days, and there was more money,” Waters said.

But in the last 10 years, external funding and partnerships were needed to continue the program.

The state of Alaska is grappling with a recession that has left districts, schools, and students with few resources, especially for the advanced content required to challenge gifted students.

This summer, while Strunk is attending RAHI, Aric will continue volunteering at the library and at Cross Road Clinic, as well as working with his school district to put together technology guides for teachers and students to work with the devices the school plans to start using next school year. In the fall, Aric will be leaving Glennallen, and Alaska, to study computer technology at Grove City College in Pennsylvania.

Strunk’s longterm goal? He hopes to return to Quinhagak after college and possibly teach math at this local high school.

Coverage of the experiences of low-income, high-achieving students is supported in part by a grant from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, at www.jkcf.org. Education Week retains sole editorial control over the content of this coverage.

Victoria Petersen is an Alaskan journalist, working as the education reporter for the

Photos by Young Kim

The bread pudding grandpa never got

Alaska, college cookbook, food, Print, Uncategorized

Originally published in The Northern Light

He slept in, ate his breakfast, read the paper and drank his coffee a year ago. He didn’t have trouble speaking, breathing, chewing or walking then. He wasn’t on oxygen or jaundiced or in pain. Grandpa was fine.

Last Christmas, I found myself struggling financially and decided to give the gift of homemade meals and treats to my grandparents — a rather humble gift, considering they had been letting me live with them rent-free for over a year and a half. Two envelopes were opened at my aunt Laura’s house, one for my grandma and one for grandpa. Inside was a coupon for their favorite dish. My grandma’s coupon was for soup and my grandpa’s for bread pudding.

His mom used to make it for him as a kid. My grandpa suffered from dementia and I thought that making him something that tasted like his childhood, like memories, would help him feel better.

Sometimes we would look out the window in the kitchen on the land his parents homesteaded as morning snow fell and he would be sure as hell we were in California. One time he thought I was his cousin. He never forgot my name, though.

My grandpa never redeemed his coupon. I would tell him I would make it this weekend or next week. “Just let me know when you want it.” He never asked and I never went to the store to get the ingredients. Social, school and work lives came before bread pudding.

This fall, after I finished my job working 15-hour shifts on the train for the summer, I tried to make time for bread pudding. Several ambulances, emergency room visits and tests later confirmed my grandpa’s deterioration wasn’t temporary. First, he was given a walker. He didn’t like to use it. Then came oxygen and then came a liquid diet. Problems chewing is a symptom of late-stage dementia. Smoothies, protein shakes and mashed potatoes for grandpa. Now he couldn’t eat bread pudding, even if he wanted to, even if I actually made time to make it.He was in the hospital for weeks. He wouldn’t eat much. He wouldn’t talk much. He wasn’t awake much. His eyes were hardly open, his breathing was labored and his skin was yellow the last time I saw him in October. I held his hand and told him to feel better and that I would see him later. I wouldn’t: he died the next morning.

It’s too late now, but I’m still going to make time for bread pudding, posthumously, for grandpa.

I couldn’t find his mom’s recipe, but grandma said the Betty Crocker recipe was just fine. I’m not adding raisins because we don’t have any, but you could add raisins and serve with whipped cream if you so desire.

Bread pudding
Serves 8

2 cups milk

1/4 cup butter

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon or nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 cups soft bread, cubed (about 6 slices bread)

1/2 cup raisins, if desired

Whipped cream, if desired

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a saucepan, heat milk and butter over medium heat until the butter is melted.

In a bowl, mix together eggs, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Add the bread and milk mixture. Stir together and pour into a pan.

3. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a knife or fork inserted 1 inch from the edge comes out clean. Serve warm with whipped cream. Adapted from bettycrocker.com.

b39270b2-db68-4871-81c8-0623405b9d00.jpg

Back to the roots: A short history of Mountain View

Alaska, News, Print, Uncategorized

Originally published in Mt. View

Michael Dougherty and his family first moved to Mountain View in 1950, when he was only three years old and the city of Anchorage had only two paved streets, one stoplight on Fourth Avenue and a brand new high school: Anchorage High School.

Mountain_View_Anchorage-2-July-1958

“We lived in a small mobile home park in Mountain View,” Dougherty said. “Years later, my wife’s sister bought a house there, and in her backyard was the concrete pad from one of the mobile home sites.”

An appropriate name, Mountain View offers views of the Chugach Mountains. The name was first recorded being used by the Army Map Service in 1941. Homesteaders and construction workers for Elmendorf Air Force Base were the residents of Mountain View in the 1940s.

Consisting of mostly cabins and small houses, the neighborhood was rezoned to allow the construction of multi-family housing in 1965.

The Good Friday Earthquake

As the state population and infrastructure grew rapidly in the 50s and 60s, the Good Friday earthquake brought a brief halt to the development.

When he was 13, Larry Cline’s family home suffered little damage during the 9.2 magnitude earthquake that lasted for nearly five minutes. However, just a block away at a playground behind Mountain View Elementary, the earthquake left a huge crack in the asphalt, Cline said.

“School was out, being Good Friday, and I was home watching TV… Things just started going crazy. The ground was rocking and there was a low roar the whole time. I moved to stand at the front door and my mom stepped outside. She immediately fell on her butt in the snow,” Cline said. “I stayed in the doorway and braced myself.”

Cline said he watched his family’s ‘56 Chevrolet four-door station wagon rocking back and forth until all four wheels were off the ground at the same time.

“It didn’t last but a few minutes, as I recall, but I remember wondering if it was going to go on forever,” Cline said.

From pigs to lions, Mountain View was a wild place

Born and raised on Bragaw Street, Paula Shaw Vincent lived across from what is now the Alaska Native Cultural Charter School in an area that used to be an 80-acre pig farm. The farm was run in Mountain View from 1942 to 1951 by John Vanover, who homesteaded in the area in 1940.

For decades two domesticated lions, Timbo and Princess, also called Mountain View home. They lived in modified trucking trailers that allowed the cats access to views of Mountain View Drive. The trailers were placed between Leon and Lois Brown’s A&W Drive-in and their electric business, Brown’s Electric. Leon — whose late brother George owned the popular Anchorage eatery, The Lucky Wishbone — helped take care of the lions from the late 50s until the late 70s. The lions were then mounted and put on display in Brown’s Electric. After the electric business moved buildings, Leon donated the lions to the Alaska Museum of Science and Nature. There the lions were put on display until moved to storage. The current whereabouts of the lions are unknown. The Alaska Museum could not confirm if the lions were on site.

A diverse history

Today, Mountain View is America’s most diverse neighborhood, according to U.S. Census data research conducted by University of Alaska Anchorage professor Chad Farrell in 2013. The majority of Mountain View’s diverse population came in the late 90s and early 2000s, but since the beginning it was a place for people from all walks of life.

“It was a very diverse neighborhood even back then. Mostly black, white and Native though. Not quite the mix it has now. [There was also] lots of military [people],” said Terri Floyd, who lived in Mountain View from 1956 to 1974. “I think Anchorage as a whole changed a lot with the pipeline. Small neighborhood stores went away, larger grocery stores and malls opening changed the face of Anchorage.”

The neighborhood has seen its fair share of changes since it was annexed to Anchorage in 1954.

Georgiana Criswell Gooch lived in the basement of her church located at 403 N. Hoyt St. At the age of 17, she left home to take a job at Sears in 1970. During this time Gooch lived in a small house across the street from her church.

“It was like a nice urban area where you could see the mountains really well. It was a neighborhood where everyone knew each other, kind of like a small town,” Gooch said.

Gooch left Alaska in 1974 and came back in 2006. Her brother, who lived in Anchorage at the time, told her to stay away from the neighborhood they once called home.

“I was shocked at how small the buildings seemed and how worn down everything had become. The post office was gone. The sports store wasn’t the nice place I recall,” Gooch said. “My brother… got really upset with me when he found out I had driven to Mountain View to look at the old neighborhood. He told me, ‘Don’t ever go back there again. If you must, take someone with a gun. Better yet, just stay away.’ I couldn’t have been more surprised.”

For some, Mountain View has changed for the worse. For others, it hasn’t changed at all.

“Mountain View is not the scary place people think it is,” said Tisha Smith, a current neighborhood resident.

Smith, who grew up in south Mountain View in the 1970s, bought her childhood home from her mother a few years ago. When it was built in 1963, Smith said, her home was part of a pretty nice and new neighborhood, and that pocket of Mountain View has hardly changed at all.

___________________________________

This story appears in the Winter 2018 issue of Mountain View Post magazine: Find copies — including more stories, photos and recipes from Mountain View — at the Mountain View Neighborhood Library and select local businesses.

Meet the teens running a Midtown Anchorage bakery

Alaska, food, News, Print, Uncategorized

Originally published in Anchorage Daily News

When 18-year-old Alisa Louangaphay took ownership of the Midtown Anchorage bakery A Pie Stop in March, she wanted to surround herself with people who were as passionate about baking as she was. So she hired three other teenagers.

“It does sound a bit scary. (But) we aren’t a bunch of delinquents. We all do extracurriculars. We all work hard in school. We all do our best. We try really hard to make sure every customer that leaves here is satisfied,” Louangaphay said.

Newly graduated Lily Rodriguez, 18, and her 16-year-old sister Carolyna are bakers in the shop. Christian Bowers, an 18-year-old senior at Polaris K-12 School, is the bakery’s barista. Louangaphay assists in the baking and, with the help of her grandfather, handles all the business aspects of running A Pie Stop, all while she finishes up her senior year at SAVE High School.

 

Together, the crew turns out 27 different kinds of pies, plus fruit turnovers, cookies, cinnamon rolls, cheesecakes, brownies, quiches and espresso. Cornish pasties – a hard-to-find meat hand pie – are a popular item, typically selling out around 2 p.m. daily. Gluten-free pies are also available by special order.

Louangaphay may still be a teenager, but she’s been baking for most of her life. She was first introduced to it by her grandfather, Steve Satterlee. When she was very young, she would help him bake at the Chokecherry Inn, a bed-and-breakfast their family owned in Fairbanks.

“She started baking pies with me when she was just 4 years old. She always wanted to help me. That’s all she’s ever wanted to be, is a baker,” Satterlee said.

 

Louangaphay studied at the King Career Center culinary arts program in 2016. She attended the University of Alaska Anchorage Bakery Boot Camp for several summers in a row and the University of Alaska Fairbanks Business Week, where high-school students learn about entrepreneurship.

Last spring, she spent a semester at A Pie Stop under its previous owners as part of a culinary internship. She had been working there about four months when her grandfather proposed purchasing the bakery for her.

“I was eating (at A Pie Stop) when I overheard a conversation that the shop was for sale. I made the decision to cash out some of my retirement money to make Alisa’s dream come true,” Satterlee said.

Satterlee bought the bakery in March. Both Satterlee and Louangaphay worked for two months with previous owners Dawn Kauffman and Fanny Miller, Amish and Mennonite bakers who taught Louangaphay and Satterlee their recipes. Many of those recipes are still on the menu, including whoopie pies, a traditional Amish dessert. Amish butter shipped from Ohio is also available for purchase at the bakery.

“I’ve always had that dream. I’ve always been set on this path … I wanted to prepare myself for when I got older, for when I actually got to run my dream. I didn’t think it’d happen so soon,” Louangaphay said.

It was through the King Career Center culinary program that Louangaphay met with Bowers and Lily Rodriguez.

 

“It’s fun working here. It’s a bunch of kids here, so we’re just baking and having fun,” said Rodriguez, who completed a year at the King Career Center culinary program and graduated from Service High School in 2017.

Rodriguez has been the shop’s head baker since August and recruited her younger sister Carolyna, a home-schooled student, to work at A Pie Stop with her in October.

“People are usually surprised to see me working here, like, ‘Wow, I’ve never seen a 16-year-old work at a bakery.’ And yeah, because that really doesn’t happen that much because people don’t want to give them a chance. I got lucky,” Carolyna Rodriguez said.

Carolyna Rodriguez, Louangaphay and Bowers are all receiving school credit for their work in the bakery.

A learning curve

Starting as a new business, Satterlee says they’ve had some stumbles. Whether it’s locking down the perfect recipe for pie crust, removing or adding items to the menu or figuring out how to be efficient during the holiday rush, running the bakery how Louangaphay envisions it has been a learning experience.

“After the previous owners left, business went down. Anytime a business changes ownership, you lose some of those old, loyal customers. We have had to build a new customer base,” said Satterlee, who’s in charge of the bakery’s finances. Before Satterlee retired three years ago, he worked as a purchasing agent for Alyeska Pipeline.

 

But since then, Satterlee says, they’ve been able to grow their customer base with strategies like radio advertising and contests for free pies.

A recent partnership with The Magpie has also increased business. Since November, The Magpie, which operates a food truck in the summer, has rented kitchen space in A Pie Stop.

 

Customers can now order breakfast and lunch from The Magpie at the same counter where they get pies and pastries. Plus, Magpie owner, Amanda Cash, is an on-site mentor to the young bakers.

“Amanda is great because, you know, we haven’t been in the culinary field for very long, and if we have any questions about anything we can just ask her,” Carolyna Rodriguez said

 

In addition to running The Magpie, Cash spent two years as a chef in Denali and served as the executive chef of a restaurant in her home state of Indiana. She also spent several years as a cooking instructor.

Cash has some creative ideas for 2018, including a pie-of-the-month club, creating an area for live music and having pies available to take and bake at home.

 

As for Louangaphay, once she graduates from high school, she plans to increase her hours and dedicate more of her time to growing her young business.

A Pie Stop

Hours: 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday

Location: 3020 Minnesota Drive, Suite 1

Contact: 907-677-PIES (7437) and apiestop.com

For TNL: Tai Yen Jimmy Kim and the American dream

Alaska, Print, Uncategorized

Originally published in The Northern Light

When Tai Yen Jimmy Kim isn’t at UAA studying for his justice and theater classes, one can find him performing in plays across Anchorage, working at Rustic Goat or at a local open mic rapping about institutionalized racism.

Photo courtesy of Tai Yen Jimmy Kim for The Northern Light

Photo courtesy of Tai Yen Jimmy Kim for The Northern Light

Tai Yen Jimmy Kim is a “dreamer.”

When he was four years old, Kim moved from South Korea to New York. Accompanying Kim was his mother and her family. The family hoped to become citizens with the help of Kim’s grandfather, who had moved to Chicago and became a citizen himself before Kim was born. A petition was put forth by his grandfather to help the family gain citizenship, but unfortunately proved futile for the Kims.

“I can’t help but think if we were able to afford an immigration lawyer in New York years ago, we could be citizens by now,” Kim said.

When Kim was 12 years old, his family moved to Alaska where he’s been ever since. Kim graduated from West High School in Anchorage and now is in his senior year at UAA, where he is double-majoring in theater and justice.

“I spent hundreds of hours participating in the Anchorage Youth Court, a specialized court for minors. That’s when I became interested in law,” Kim said. “I hope to work in rehabilitation rather than become a lawyer. Anchorage is unique in that it has specialized courts for domestic violence, and drug and alcohol abuse, among others. I want to help these individuals reintegrate back into society. I want to find funding for mental health programs for these inmates who need it most.”

Kim is 22 years old and not a U.S. citizen. Kim is protected from deportation and eligible for a work permit because of an Obama-era immigration policy known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. The program has offered protection to nearly 800,000 children who were brought to the U.S. illegally, allowing them to remain in the country without fear of deportation.

Photo courtesy of Tai Yen Jimmy Kim for The Northern Light

Photo courtesy of Tai Yen Jimmy Kim for The Northern Light

DACA recipients must have entered the U.S. before 2007 when they were 16 or younger. The protections of the DACA program are renewable every two years. Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced that they would be rescinding the program, although the future of the program is still up in the air and in the hands of the nation’s lawmakers and politicians.

“Why couldn’t he keep the protections offered by DACA, while pushing Congress to create a more comprehensive bill? It shouldn’t take putting 800,000 young adults in limbo for Congress to do their job,” Kim said. “These immigrants are striving to make this country great. We are hardworking individuals. If you truly believe that we are the reason you can’t get a job, then I can see why you’re unemployed.”

If the Trump administration were to wind-down the program, Kim could be at risk of losing his work permit, or may even be deported back to South Korea.

“I am not worried about deportation. I built an extensive network of kind, intelligent people here. They wouldn’t let that happen. Also, Trump and Homeland Security are a long way from deporting over 800,000 DACA recipients,” Kim said. “I am worried, however, about my ability to work legally and receive scholarship funds for graduate school down the line. My work permit expires in January.”

Kim’s father stayed behind in South Korea. Due to visa restrictions, Kim has not been able to visit his father in nearly a decade. The two have been able to communicate via text and video chats without costly international fees through an app called Line.

Photo courtesy of Tai Yen Jimmy Kim for The Northern Light

Photo courtesy of Tai Yen Jimmy Kim for The Northern Light

“We thought we would be able to visit Korea regularly, but that’s not how it played out… He pays for my college tuition, and I’m incredibly grateful for that. I’m proud of him and worried about him. He works hard for a family he can’t be with,” Kim said.

If Kim traveled to South Korea to visit his father, he would not be allowed re-entry into the U.S.

Kim with his mom and dad in South Korea. Kim has not seen his father in over a decade. Photo courtesy Tai Yen Jimmy Kim.

“My lawyer has informed me that travelling back to Korea would be dangerous, since I wouldn’t be allowed re-entry into the U.S., something my USCIS [United States Citizenship and Immigration Services] issued work permit makes abundantly clear on the bottom front of the card, ‘NOT VALID FOR REENTRY TO U.S.’” Kim said.

Besides his father, the only other connection Kim has to South Korea is the language. Practicing with his mom at home, Kim is able to keep a basic retention of the language.

“It is the only time I get any practice. I can’t speak it at an intellectual level. I won’t be conducting any literary analyses in Korean anytime soon. However, I can keep a conversation for the most part,” Kim said.

One of Kim’s hobbies is rap. He’s had the pleasure of collaborating with friends at open mics and has even rapped on stage with Inspectah Deck, something Kim has said he is very proud of. Although Kim hasn’t rapped about the DACA policy yet, he hopes to write a rap as well as a play about his experiences as a young American immigrant.

For Last Frontier Magazine: Spenard: Then and Now

Alaska, Print, Spenard, Uncategorized

Originally published in Last Frontier Magazine

How Anchorage’s disreputable playground became a hub for hipsters and artists.

Between Downtown, Midtown and Turnagain, the Spenard neighborhood is and has 
always been a unique part of Anchorage, built for the people.

THEN
Joe Spenard, a Canadian-born entrepreneur, came to Alaska in 1910. Originally looking to get into the railroad business, Spenard found himself in Anchorage in 1916 with a truck from the REO Motor Car Company and a 1915 Ford Model T, which served as the city’s first automobiles. Using his Ford Model T, Spenard started up the city’s first taxicab service. Dressed head to toe in a bright yellow suit and top hat to match, Spenard drew in customers with his flamboyance. He titled his hauling service “City Express,” complete with a catchy slogan, “Time and tide will not wait, but City Express is never late!”

Legend has it that Spenard Road, an unusually curvy road, was paved over the paths of drunken railroad workers stumbling back to camp after a night of debauchery in Spenard. In fact, from the edge of Anchorage, Ninth Avenue and L Street, Spenard created a primitive road to his 160 acre homestead. This dirt path is Spenard Road today.

Just like any boom-town, Spenard became a haven for bars, drugs and prostitution.

Spenard, a sourdough Gatsby of sorts, built a large dance hall in 1916 on the shores of Lake Jeter, which he later named Lake Spenard, as a form of self-promotion. The dance hall and the lake became a recreational hot spot for Anchorage’s early residents. The dance hall and the homestead were sitting on what was then part of the Chugach National Forest. Before the federal government could get after Spenard, the pavilion burned down in 1917. Spenard left shortly after for California where he died in 1934.

As Anchorage grew, Spenard road offered Anchorage residents a way to move out of the city limits, but still have the convenience of jobs, schools and shops in downtown. In 1950, the population of Spenard was 2,108, by 1960 the population grew exponentially to 9,074, and then in 1970 the population almost doubled to 18,089, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

With the rise of industry, particularly with oil, transplants made their way to Spenard. Just like any boom-town, Spenard became a haven for bars, drugs and prostitution.

Working and hanging around in Spenard since the early ‘70s, Mr. Whitekeys has seen the neighborhood scene calm down.

“Spenard was the sleazy part of Anchorage, and Spenard wasn’t very big. In those days things were just entirely different. There were massage parlors everywhere,” Mr. Whitekeys said. “Everybody in town was single, all single construction workers; it was just guys up there trying to take advantage of the booming construction industry. No one ever intended to stay here. They were here to make a quick buck and then go back outside.”

“We’re moving downtown for the first time in 30 years. The problem was that the legislature moved out of their office building downtown to Spenard, and then that made the neighborhood even too sleazy for us, so we decided to move downtown,” joked Mr. Whitekeys.

Sylvia Butcher, a resident of the Spenard neighborhood since the early ‘60s, said, “It wasn’t until the ‘80s with the oil discovery that you would see prostitutes walking Spenard road … quite a great number of them. This end of Spenard wasn’t really sketchy, but the other end was kind of riff-raff with all the massage parlors. [The prostitutes] didn’t bother you very much, you wouldn’t notice them.”

Spenard became famous for crimes of passion; wives killing their husbands became so common that local colloquialism noted the event as a “Spenard divorce.”

“When I first came here I wondered what the Spenard divorce was and then I found out that’s when a woman gets rid of her husband. My father-in-law was an attorney. He mostly was working on the side of the wife and he had acquired all this clothing that had all these bullet holes in them,” Butcher said.

Living in Alaska for over 50 years, Butcher has lived on each side of Spenard, from near the airport to near West Anchorage High School. Currently residing on the West High side, Butcher has seen the neighborhood go from a quiet neighborhood to a full-blown red light district, to the unique neighborhood it is today.

Spenard became a destination with the opening of the world-famous Chilkoot Charlie’s in 1970. People from all around flocked to the Spenard watering-hole.

With close proximity to Anchorage International Airport, Spenard catered to oil men—pockets full of cash, returning from long legs of work in Alaska’s remote regions. This proximity resulted in not only bars and nightclubs, but brothels, gambling centers and other unsavory business ventures.

The city of Spenard became a part of the ever-expanding Anchorage Municipality in 1975. Years later, in the post-pipeline days, the municipality made an effort to rejuvenate the neighborhood—bringing us into the Spenardian Renaissance.

NOW
With boom comes bust and Spenard was no exception. The neighborhood’s bars and nightclubs are still a part of the neighborhood appeal, but while the less-wholesome businesses disappeared or went underground, new businesses made their way into the neighborhood. REI, Alaska Mountaineering and Hiking and numerous bike shops appealed to younger, active crowds. The Denali Theatre became The Bear Tooth Grill, an independent movie theatre with a full service restaurant and bar. A local favorite, the theatre attracted patrons from all over the city to eat gourmet pizza and watch indie films.

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“Bear Tooth has helped make the Spenard area cool. REI helped bring a different kind of people. You saw different things come up with Middle Way [Cafe] and Title Wave [Books] that brought all kinds of different people that didn’t used to be here,” Butcher said.

These days the Hells Angels and Alaskan sourdough types tend to keep quiet, and it consists of mostly hipsters trying their best to gentrify the neighborhood.

The Piggly Wiggly grocery store is gone and divided up into numerous little shops. A used sports equipment store, a popular diner, a soon-to-be marijuana retailer, a yoga studio and a local yarn store/club—the strip mall is as diverse as the neighborhood it inhabits.

Local residents, some with vague memories of Spenard’s past, have observed the neighborhood renaissance in full-force. Whether this is seen as a renaissance or gentrification is up for debate.

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“Some would call it a wretched hive of scum and villainy due to the fact Spenard has always had a rich underbelly of prostitution, crime and drugs. I only caught the tail end of it growing up. These days the Hells Angels and Alaskan sourdough types tend to keep quiet, and it consists of mostly hipsters trying their best to gentrify the neighborhood. Still, at the end of the day Spenard is one of the last bastions of old Alaska, the atmosphere has never left,” Jacob Thompson, a Spenard millennial, said.

The owner and operator of Bella Boutique, Annie Ciszak Pazar, has been working in the neighborhood for nearly ten years. Selling local art and goods out of her boutique, she has seen the neighborhood grow, in a positive way.

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“This section of town is sort of up and coming and I wanted to be a part of the Spenard renaissance and regrowth,” Ciszak Pazar said. “It’s a super diverse neighborhood. It has all sorts of great characters, usually in a good way. It’s one of the only areas in town where you can park your car easily and walk to different things. You can shop, you can eat, and you can see a movie. It’s hard to do that anywhere else in town.”

In October 2016, Buzzfeed named Spenard the most ‘hipster’ neighborhood in the state of Alaska, referencing Black Cup as the place to hang out. Unfortunately, Black Cup is actually in Midtown, but plenty of other things make Spenard hip: the annual Spenard Food Truck Festival, the Spenard Farmer’s Market, the adopted windmill that serves as a beacon to its inhabitants, and the numerous local shops sprinkled around the neighborhood.

“It’s gotten awfully nice and awfully clean in a lot of places, but still it’s sleazier than any other place in Anchorage. It can’t hold a candle to what it used to be,” Mr. Whitekeys said.

Bookstores and art galleries offer venues for local artists to display and sell their work. Unique shops are popping up all around the neighborhood. From Denali Dreams Soap Company, to Dos Manos Art Gallery, to Anchorage House of Hobbies, to the Enlighten Alaska marijuana retail shop—Spenard is specializing.

One notable business that, quite literally, illustrates “out with the old and in with the new” is The Writer’s Block Bookstore and Café. In the summer of 2016, volunteers and artists from around the city and in the neighborhood gutted and cleaned the former “Adults Only,” a porn shop that had existed in the area for decades. The building, which consisted of two trailers pushed together, was occupied by artists for weeks. Local art was put on display for a three day festival and fundraiser, and members of the community were welcomed to walk through. The building sits vacant at the moment, but plans to tear down what many believe to be “the last vestige of old Spenard,” are set to begin in the spring of 2017.

Although his time in Alaska was short-lived, Joe Spenard impacted the neighborhood for generations to come. Whether you consider yourself a hipster or a sourdough, Spenard has something to offer all of us.

For ADN: Singer Rhonda Ross visits Anchorage to spread message of empowerment

Alaska, Beyond Alaska, Print, Uncategorized

Originally published in Alaska Dispatch News

Rhonda Ross is the daughter of Motown star Diana Ross and record producer Berry Gordy, but there’s no mistaking the fact the musician has a voice that’s all her own.

“My mother raised me and my four siblings to never live in her shadow. She made us know that we are individuals and we are unique. We are not lesser human beings,” Ross said.

“I never had issues with worrying that someone only liked me because of my relationship to my mother and that’s a testament to how she raised us. Because of that I was always reaching for my own sound and reaching for what I want to say in my music.”

 

Ross is a singer, songwriter, motivational speaker, writer and actress. She appeared in “Another World” from 1997-1999, and was nominated for a Daytime Grammy Award in 1998. In 2004, Ross created a live album with her husband, jazz musician Rodney Kendrick, called “Rhonda Ross Live Featuring Rodney Kendrick.” Her latest album, “In Case You Didn’t Know” was released in July 2016.

“I always knew I was going to be an artist and a storyteller. I was on stage with my mother since I was 6 months old. When you’re around it, that’s what you know and it’s easy to go that way,” Ross said.

Ross describes her music as a new take on the fusion between jazz, funk and neo-soul.

“It’s basically jazz, but it has those other elements musically. But my lyric is important to me,” Ross said. “My songs have lyrical content that I think pop music hasn’t really allowed for. I like to tell real stories that are really encouraging.”

Ross is inspired by powerful women musicians, she said. In addition to her mother, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Tina Turner and Abbey Lincoln are some of her musical role models.

“You get these strong, bold, badass women, and that, you know, just takes me out. That’s who I’m really influenced by. Those kinds of women, I just dig them, they move me,” Ross said.

In 2005 Ross took a hiatus from art to focus on starting a family. It was becoming a parent that inspired Ross’ new album and her return to the music industry.

“I had grown and matured, I had become a mother, I had a different perspective on life. I wanted to make a different kind of music than I had been making. I started exploring this new voice inside of me — this new take on life. I’m bringing more to the table now than I was 20 years ago,” Ross said. “I went back to my art because I heard my call. That was why I was put on this planet, to write, to sing, to speak.”

This will be Ross’ second visit to Anchorage. She first came in 2002 to perform in a production of “The Vagina Monologues.” This time, Ross will be performing alongside her husband, which she has not done in about five years.

“This performance in Anchorage is one of the first ones of us bringing ourselves back together and finding this new music, this new conversation that he and I get to have. We are collaborating as parents now,” Ross said.

Also featured in the show will be local musicians Dirk Westfall, Rick Zelinsky and John Damberg. In the last few years Ross has made a point to work with local musicians wherever she tours.

“I’ve found that there’s so much talent, spirit, passion and energy here,” Ross said. “What I found is that the music I write is simple and that when I allow people to bring their perspective and their personalities and gifts and talents to give to the music, the music expands — explodes really. It advances in such an exciting way.”

In addition to her performance at Williwaw, Ross will also be speaking to teens at the AK Hopes and Dreams Summit. The AK Hopes and Dreams Project was founded in 2015 as a way to energize and inspire young Alaskans.

“My message to those teens and to the world, both through music and public speaking, is to spend some time getting to know that call and voice and learning to trust it because it’s right and it’s powerful,” Ross said.

Ross hopes the people of Anchorage won’t seek a second coming of Diana Ross, but that people will come and see what she has to offer.

“Yes, I know that I’m Diana Ross’ daughter … But I am not that. I am me. I’m the first coming of Rhonda Ross, how about that?” Ross said.

“I don’t have the career she has, I don’t have the money she has, but I am very proud of the music I make. I can stand on it. My pride doesn’t come from the size of the career or the paycheck.”

For ADN- At Lucky Kitchen, a sampling of Filipino comfort food

Alaska, food, Print, Uncategorized

Originally published in Alaska Dispatch News

After staying in the Philippines for a month in 2014, I’ve had a craving for classic Filipino dishes, like ube, adobo and lumpia — and you’d think it’d be easy to find them at a good Filipino restaurant in Anchorage.

After all, there’s a big Filipino population here — about half of Asian-Americans in Alaska trace their heritage back to the Philippines, according to 2014 statistics from the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Yet the food of the Philippines has remained largely under the radar in Anchorage’s dining scene.

Then, through several of my Filipino friends, I heard about Lucky Kitchen. It’s a small, cafeteria-style restaurant attached to Lucky Market on the corner of International Airport Road and Arctic Boulevard, and I decided to give it a chance to curb my cravings.

For a restaurant that’s part of a grocery store, it’s surprisingly spacious, with comfortable seating for about 30 people. It was clean and well lit, and on a recent visit the smell of freshly made adobo filled the room. Lucky Kitchen features a mix of buffet-style Filipino, Thai and Chinese food, as well as made-to-order options.

On my first visit I brought three friends, one whom was familiar with Filipino cuisine. We ordered a two-entree combo, which comes with fried rice or lo mein, two main dishes and either a vegetable egg roll or a longanisa sausage ($9.49). We also ordered a whole pompano fish ($6.99), longanisa sausage (89 cents each) and lechon (deep-fried side pork, $11.99 a pound).

The combo was a pretty good deal, considering it was enough for two people. Ours consisted of fried rice, sesame chicken, pork adobo and a longanisa sausage. The sesame chicken was fine, basically the typical Chinese-American style of the dish. The pork adobo, on the other hand, propelled me straight back to Cebu City.

The two entree combo included steamed rice, longanisa sausage, pork adobo and sesame chicken. 

The two entree combo included steamed rice, longanisa sausage, pork adobo and sesame chicken.

Adobo, the national dish of the Philippines, is typically pork or chicken cooked with vinegar and soy sauce. The dish should be sweet, sour and salty, with none of the flavors overpowering the others. That was how it tasted at Lucky Kitchen, and the peppercorns, my favorite part, were abundant and gave the saucy pork dish a punch of sharp flavor.

The pompano fish was fried and served whole, with just about everything but the eyes. A small fish, the pompano looks similar to tilapia and barely filled the Styrofoam plate we were eating on. Peeling back the skin of the fish revealed a surprising amount of white meat. With our plastic forks, we pulled the meat from the bones and ate the whole thing very carefully. The flavor of the fish was buttery and mild like cod, but slightly fishier.

Pompano fish, tilapia, longanisa sausage and lechon are just few of the grab-and-go items you can get at Lucky Kitchen.

Pompano fish, tilapia, longanisa sausage and lechon are just few of the grab-and-go items you can get at Lucky Kitchen.

Everyone ordered a small longanisa sausage to try. Longanisa is a good representation of Spanish influence in the Philippines; it’s a sausage similar to chorizo, but sweeter and can be made with chicken, beef or even tuna. The sausage varies from region to region, but at Lucky Kitchen it tasted like pork sausage and was more sweet than spicy. My lunch dates fell in love with the tiny sausages.

For a snack to share we got an order of lechon from the buffet table. Chopped into bite-sized pieces, the fried outer layer of this dish is extremely crunchy at first and then gives way to juicy, fatty pork. Lechon should ideally be eaten piping hot and accompanied with a dipping sauce of some sort — this lechon, unfortunately, was not hot enough. However, on a follow-up visit I got it made-to-order, and it came out just right. So for the optimal lechon experience at Lucky Kitchen, make sure to ask for sweet and sour sauce and order it made fresh.

Lechon, or deep fried side pork.

Lechon, or deep fried side pork.

Other Filipino dishes Lucky Kitchen brings to the table are pinakbet (a mix of vegetables steamed in fish or shrimp sauce), ginisang upo (bottle gourd sauteed in garlic, onions and tomatoes with pork), ginataang kalabasa (shrimp and vegetable dish cooked in coconut milk) and ginisang ampalaya (sauteed bitter melon). All were $11.99 for a large entree portion.

The most convenient thing about Lucky Kitchen is that if you find something you love in the deli, you can walk next door to Lucky Market and buy what you need to make it at home. For a Philippines-inspired meal or snack, visit the market for a package of longanisa sausage, calamansi juice or even ube cake.

Lucky Kitchen

Hours: 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 12 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday.

Location: 5011 Arctic Blvd. Suite B.

$$

***

Contact: 907-929-2229 or look on Facebook for “Lucky Kitchen”

For Edible Alaska: Made in Alaska – Ranch Dressing

Alaska, food, Print, Uncategorized

Originally published in Edible Alaska

Invented by plumber-turned-entrepreneur Steve Henson, ranch dressing can trace its origins all the way to rural Alaska. Fulfilling their own version of manifest destiny, Henson and his wife, Gayle, moved from Nebraska to the last frontier in 1949, where he found himself working as a plumbing contractor in the Alaska bush. Because of the remote location, Henson pulled double duty as a cook in order to feed his crew. In an effort to get them to enjoy the salads they were being served, he made an experimental dressing with ingredients he had on hand: buttermilk, mayonnaise, and a handful of herbs and spices. Sure enough, the workers ate their vegetables.

“It’s tough to feed men up in those bush jobs. If they don’t like something, they’re as likely to throw it at the cook as they are to walk out cursing. I had to come up with something to keep them happy,” Henson told Los Angeles Times’ Sergio Ortiz in a 1999 interview about the conception and history of ranch dressing. “And it was then, in Alaska, that what’s now known as ranch dressing came into being.”

Today this quintessentially American condiment that is equal parts creamy and tangy has been used on salads, as dips, and even on pizzas, for nearly 50 years.

Henson and his wife lived and worked in Alaska for three years before moving on to California, where they purchased Sweetwater Ranch in 1954. Changing the name to Hidden Valley, the dude ranch became a popular gathering place where the Hensons served food accompanied by Steve’s crew-pleasing, dairy-rich concoction. The condiment grew so popular at Hidden Valley that Steve and Gayle began charging 75 cents for powdered ranch-mix envelopes that were in high demand all across the country.

Today Hidden Valley Ranch, whose commercials depict a sort of promised land where children frolic in fields of green and eat their vegetables with enthusiasm, is owned by Clorox.  But there’s no doubt the utopian ideal that Hidden Valley has created is still alive for some children who can’t get enough of the gooey, dairy-packed dressing. Henson sold the brand and product for $8 million in 1973 and the dressing was made shelf-friendly, allowing it to be sold in stores across the country and become an American staple.

Ranch dressing, as American as white picket fences and baseball, is America’s go-to for all things dipped and smothered. As the number one dressing shipped to U.S. food service outlets, ranch flavor nearly doubles the volume of the runner up (blue cheese), according to a report published in 2014 by The NPD Group, a leading global consumer market research firm.

Of course ranch dressing(along with seemingly just about everything else these days) has a day dedicated to it. If you’re looking to celebrate, March 10 is the day to indulge by smothering your spring greens in the creamy, piquant, and thick Alaskan-born creation that is ranch.

Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

It’s easy to create your own tangy and creamy ranch dressing. Perfect for topping fresh greens and spring salads. Fresh herbs and good-quality dairy products enhance this recipe, giving you a more refined and sophisticated take on America’s favorite salad dressing.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 3 tablespoons of fresh minced parsley
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons of fresh minced dill
  • 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk

Preparation:

  1. In a large bowl, thoroughly mix all ingredients except for buttermilk.
  2. Once ingredients are mixed well, slowly add in buttermilk. Stir until all buttermilk has been added and all ingredients are combined.
  3. Refrigerate for approximately two hours, then taste and adjust seasonings as necessary before serving. Seal and refrigerate for up to one week.

For ADN: Puddles the clown is in Anchorage to sing pop music covers

Alaska, Beyond Alaska, Print, Uncategorized

Originally published in Alaska Dispatch News

As the clown behind Puddles Pity Party, Mike Geier has chosen not to speak. If Puddles has something to say, it will be sung.

Photo courtesy of Puddles Pity Party for Alaska Dispatch News

Photo courtesy of Puddles Pity Party for Alaska Dispatch News

“I don’t like to talk too much because I always seem to put my big foot in my big mouth. That being said, I find it exhilarating to communicate in ways that don’t involve speaking. (It) forces us to get creative and also keeps us focused on the heart of the matter,” Geier wrote in an email.

Mike Geier is the man behind Puddles Pity Party.

Standing 6 feet 8 inches tall, Geier’s signature look consists of a white clown costume with three big, fluffy black buttons — reminiscent of Pagliacci, the most famous of sad clowns — a crooked gold crown with the letter “P” written on it atop his head, whiteface makeup and a perpetual frown.

In a rich, baritone voice, Puddles sings pop anthems and ballads alike, from “Royals” by Lorde to “My Heart Will Go On,” in a melancholy, cabaret style.

“Even though a lot of the songs I sing are sad, there are also moments of celebration and joy throughout the show. I think sadness and joy go together. Tears and laughter. Laughter and tears. It’s all so cathartic,” Geier said. His repertoire includes covers of Billy Idol, The Beatles, Metallica and ABBA, among others.

“I tend to sing songs that hit ya right in the ticker. Songs that conjure the feels. It’s all about the feels,” Geier said. “And I like a good sing-along, too. I always encourage folks to sing along.”

Puddles the character started in 1998, Geier said, when he was performing karaoke in a flea market. In ’99, he continued the character for his Atlanta band Greasepaint (he also performs as Big Mike Geier in the band Kingsized, also in Atlanta).

In 2013, Puddles’ distinctive voice and unusual act got a bigger audience when he was featured on Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox video series, covering the song “Royals” by Lorde. Today the video has reached nearly 18 million views. Geier did several more collaborations with the Postmodern Jukebox, then branched out on his own international tour.

“I feel very fortunate to be able to travel and sing and make new friends. What a world,” Geier said.

What can Anchorage expect from this unusual performer? “Togetherness, fellowship and free cuddles for anybody that wants ’em.”

For ADN: WindSync wants to change the way you think about wind quintets

Alaska, Beyond Alaska, Print, Uncategorized

Originally published in Alaska Dispatch News

Radiohead and Billy Joel might not come to mind when you think of a wind quintet performance, but WindSync is on a mission to expand and modernize the repertoire with new arrangements that span genres.

Each musician, from the flutist to the bassoon player, helps modify the source music — which might have been originally written for a full orchestra, singers, piano or even a rock band.

“We put it all together and we end up with something that sometimes is poppy, sometimes has jazz influence, often draws heavily on the classical tradition, but it’s sort of a different spin on that tradition. It takes extra work, but it’s well worth it,” said Kara LaMoure, WindSync bassoonist.

WindSync has gotten a lot of their recognition from videos of their performances of popular music, especially covers of Billy Joel’s “And So It Goes” and George Gershwin’s “Summertime.” In addition to new and popular music, WindSync also dips into jazz, folk and musical theater.

“For us, if we program top-40 music or anything that’s considered a more popular genre of music it’s because it’s really a key component of our programming. So for us they’re few and far between, but they are important because we do want to celebrate all genres,” LaMoure said.

“We don’t say, ‘Oh, we’re classical musicians so we’ll never play pop music.’ We think of it as just part of our programming.”

LaMoure said WindSync is influenced by American composers like Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland, who incorporated different musical traditions in their work.

“We’re really inspired by any music that tells a story or that can relate to a very wide demographic,” LaMoure said. “We’re exploring music that does that with a wide variety of influences: Melodies that can connect across wide audiences.”

The original ensemble was born out of the Rice University music program. Two of the original members — Garrett Hudson on the flute and Anni Hochhalter on the horn — still perform with the group today. Based out of Houston, the current ensemble also includes Emily Tsai on the oboe, Julian Hernandez on the clarinet and Kara LaMoure on the bassoon. Eight years after getting their start, WindSync spends about 100 days out of the year touring across the U.S. and internationally.

“We are dedicated to expanding the quintet repertoire and making a difference in the communities we perform in,” LaMoure said.

WindySync will be performing for students in the Anchorage School District. LaMoure said they want to engage the students through participation in their performance.

“We do ‘Peter and the Wolf’ in elementary schools all the time. When we do it we act out the story, we’re running around the stage. We are even playing our instruments while we’re running around the stage, so that gets crazy and intense,” LaMoure said.

“We also introduce them to how sound is produced on our instruments. We want them to have the beginnings to the idea of how music works.”

WindSync often strays from classical music performance decorum, something LaMoure said is intentional.

“In classical music there’s a lot of issues of ‘don’t clap between the movements,’ wear this specific kind of dress, or, you know, there’s a certain etiquette that’s expected,” LaMoure said. “But for us we kind of want that connection with the music to be more immediate and personal. So if the response is organic then we’re really happy.”

Overall, the ensemble hopes to create a visual experience as well as a listening one.

“Even the most seasoned wind quintet fans will see something new and interesting to them,” LaMoure said.

WindSync

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday

Where: Discovery Theatre

Tickets: $40.25-$54.75 at alaskapac.centertix.net

For TNL: Local Lingerie: Anchorage Millennials Create New Niche For Intimates

Alaska, Print, Uncategorized

Originally published in The Northern Light

Growing up in the Philippines, Bea Barth learned to hand sew from her aunt who would ask Barth to help mend their clothes. Now, Barth is launching her own intimates company along with her best friend, Kristina Carlson.

“It’s funny and very ironic because the way I learned to sew as a little girl was when my aunt would make me sew patches on her underwear because we were poor, and now I’m starting this,” Barth said.

Barth and Carlson, who has since relocated from Alaska to North Carolina, contracted a seamstress to help with the task of actually creating the lingerie. All of the garments are made in Alaska, with the idea of keeping the items as ethically produced as possible.

“The biggest thing is the importance of ethically produced lingerie and clothing… We try to source everything from the U.S. or from local places here. We want to support smaller local businesses that are essentially doing the same thing we are,” Barth said.

Love 49 began as an idea for one of Barth’s UAA marketing class finals.

“I had to do a marketing plan, so I did it on this and after I finished my paper I was like, ‘We should do this,’” Barth said.

Barth strives to make use of local talent in all aspects of her new business — even down to the price tags that will adorn the lingerie, made by Assets Incorporated, a small local non-profit printing company that employs residents with disabilities.

Model and UAA justice student Jasmine Alleva found comfort in Love 49’s undergarments.

“I love that this is all local. From the designs to the production. I love supporting local businesses. It makes my heart swell that I can buy lingerie sets and I know that my purchase isn’t hurting anyone in a different country and that the money is going back into the local economy,” Alleva said.

Barth and Carlson, who have been friends since grade school, have always shown a strong interest in fashion.

“One of our favorite things to do in high school was to go to Barnes and Noble and read fashion magazines. We were always really into fashion. We are really into consignment shopping. We aren’t uppity, we’re from Alaska and we want the deals,” Barth said.

Anchorage has very few options for buying lingerie, beyond department stores.

“I’m super excited for another local brand to pop up. I believe everyone who wears lingerie should have the option to shop local and support their economy. I also think it’s super important that people feel comfortable and sexy in what they wear, so it’s great that Alaskans now have another option,” Melinda Moto-Weinstein, UAA psychology student and lingerie saleswoman, said.

Love 49 hopes to fill a niche that hasn’t existed before in Anchorage that will cater to the city and state’s unique fashion sense.

“Our first priority is our audience here in Alaska. We’re just known to go to the nicest restaurants in Sorrels or Bogs and Xtra-tuffs, and no one cares, and that’s just the kind of fashion we have. Maybe the rest of the country looks down on it, but I’m not going to wear my heels outside because it doesn’t make sense,” Barth said. “We’re wearing sweaters half the year anyways, we don’t need push-up bras. I have a down jacket on half the year, I don’t need to show off. Comfort is number one for me. It can still be pretty and super comfortable.”

Currently, Love 49 offers general sizes that range from small to large, and custom sizing where intimates will be tailored to your exact measurements.

 

“Everything is made to order. You might be a 32, but a 32 DD, and we can make it. We’re not a store that’s already pre-made all of our stuff,” Barth said. “We are here to cater to a wide array of people, not just skinny people, not just models. Everyone is different and everyone needs underwear and deserves to have pretty stuff in their underwear store.”

Love 49 opened their online shop last week and are now taking orders at love49ak.com.

For ADN: Kassik’s earns unprecedented double win at Alaska Beer and Barleywine Festival

Alaska, food, Print, Uncategorized

Originally published in Alaska Dispatch News

Nikiski’s Kassik’s Brewery beat out competitors from across the nation to win first place in both the beer and barleywine categories at the Great Alaska Beer and Barleywine Festival, a first in the 23-year history of the event.

Photo courtesy of Kassik's for Alaska Dispatch News.

Photo courtesy of Kassik’s for Alaska Dispatch News.

Kassik’s 2016 Buffalo Head barleywine came out ahead of 30 other entries — it also won first place at last year’s festival. Kassik’s barrel-aged Statny Statny won the winter seasonal category (there was no second or third place).

San Diego brewery Ballast Point won second place with their Three Sheets barleywine. Third place was taken by Alaska’s 49th State Brewery Outlander barleywine.

Barleywine is made from grain but typically has a higher alcohol content than normal beer — around 8-12 percent by volume, similar to that of wine.

To decide the winners, two rounds of judges analyzed beers for their alcohol content, color, clarity, aroma, flavor and overall impression.

Jim “Dr. Fermento” Roberts, a longtime Anchorage beer columnist and former executive director of Brewers Guild of Alaska, helped judge the first round and best of show round for both competitions.

A barleywine will have a unique essence and aroma, Roberts said.

“Barleywines are usually a dark, heady and potent style of beer. Think leather, tobacco, caramel, chocolate, notes of toffee, coffee, those types of things,” Roberts said. “None of these things should be overwhelming. They would all be in concert with each other. It’s a balancing act and Kassik’s hit it out of the park.”

The Buffalo Head barleywine is barrel-aged and has 13.5 percent alcohol content. “This a strong beer, with big bold flavors and a hop bitterness at the end,” Kassik said.

The winter warmer competition guidelines are broad and loosely defined. It was created to let brewers know what it is the judges are looking for when it comes to the ideal seasonal beer.

“Early in the competition we struggled to define what that meant,” Roberts said. “Think of this: You just got done skiing, you skied all day and your legs are sore. You come in and there’s a big roaring fire and you’re tired and you just want to kick back. What beer would be most pleasing in front of that fire? Think about Christmas in front of the fireplace. You’re gonna have a little snifter of something that’s warming, maybe rich, maybe robust. What would be that style of beer?”

Kassik’s Statny Statny is an imperial stout that’s barrel-aged at 10.5 percent alcohol content and made with licorice root and molasses.

“In my search for beer names I found that the Czech word statny means stout and statny twice comes out to mean ‘musty stout,’ ” Frank Kassik, head brewer of Kassik’s brewery, said.

Kassik said microbreweries have an advantage when making award-winning beer.

“We brew small batches and with these smaller batches we can produce some top-quality ales consistently,” Kassik said.

With 22-ounce bottles available in most liquor stores around the state, Kassik’s is releasing 12-ounce bottles in six packs that are being shipped out across Southcentral Alaska and Fairbanks this week.

“In addition to being in the liquor stores, you can also find us in restaurants and bars across the state. Get us from F Street Station to Suite 100 to Longhorn Saloon; we are everywhere,” Kassik said.

For TNL: Checking out furs, skulls and bones in the UAA library

Alaska, Print, Uncategorized

Originally published in The Northern Light

Tucked away in UAA’s own Consortium Library lives the Alaska Resources Library and Information Services, also known as ARLIS. A most peculiar collection, ARLIS allows the public to check out a large variety of Alaskan furs, skulls, bird mounts, fish mounts and hands-on educational kits. ARLIS is known as one of the only libraries who will check these items out to the general public.

“The entire collection is “unusual” in there are few if any libraries that check-out these types of taxidermy items,” Celia Rozen, an Alaska Department of Fish and Game Librarian and ARLIS manager, said.

Formed in 1997, ARLIS is a multi-agency library that is located on the UAA campus in the Consortium Library Building. Funded by state and federal agencies, ARLIS serves the public. The collection comes mainly from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, with some furs coming from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

A resource on campus many students don’t know about, ARLIS is not only available to students, but also to the public.

“I’ve never heard of it, which is kind of unfortunate considering that sounds like an interesting resource. I can see it being very useful to nursing students like myself considering, in my experience at least, hands on studying with bones and whatnot makes a world of difference when studying,” Rachel Rotola, a nursing student, said.

The taxidermy and educational kits are used by educators, students, camp counselors, artists and other agencies. Some pieces are more popular, Rozen explains.

“The snowy owl is probably the most popular, especially for Harry Potter-type events. Cub Scouts who are moving up into “wolf” or “bear” borrow the furs for their initiation ceremonies. Artists use the skulls for their creations, and a UAA art class has a project annually that involves checking out skulls and creating a life-like pencil drawing. The items are constantly in use,” Rozen said. “The collection is very popular and is constantly used during the school year to support Alaska curriculum for all grade levels, preschool to high school.”

UAA art professor Garry Mealor, who learned about ARLIS from a fellow art professor, makes use of the resources offered in ARLIS for his own art and for his classes art.

“My Advanced Drawing class is currently working on a project involving skulls from ARLIS. ARLIS arranged over 20 skulls on their counter for students to pick from and supplied a list of additional skulls that they would retrieve if asked. These are real skulls, not imitation,” Mealor said. “The ARLIS collection is a resource that anyone interested in Alaskan wildlife would appreciate. For artists, the collection of bird mounts, skulls… are much preferred over working from a photo or other 2-D references. My painting in the faculty show would not have been possible without the ARLIS collection.”

The resources at ARLIS are available for anyone with a library card, and upon checking out, a contract indicating proper care will be taken is required. Items can be checked out for two weeks at a time, with an opportunity to renew for another two weeks. For an entire list of furs, skulls, and mounts visit http://www.arlis.org.

For ADN: Cherish the Ladies brings a traditional Irish Christmas to Anchorage, Fairbanks

Alaska, Print, Uncategorized

Originally published in Alaska Dispatch News

Growing up in the Bronx, Joanie Madden would listen to her father, an Irish immigrant, play his old accordion. She learned under her father and began playing traditional songs on tin whistle and flute. But it was still a shock to her parents when she decided she was going to become a professional traditional Irish musician.

“I remember my parents had a heart attack when I told them I was going to go into playing Irish music. ‘Are you out of your mind, what are you going to do?’ I told my dad I wanted to be the next Chieftains,” Madden said.

Madden continued her studies, eventually working with traditional Irish musician and scholar Mick Moloney. In 1985, Moloney organized a series of concerts showcasing women from across the country who performed the Irish music.

It was from that concert series — the first of its kind, Madden said — that all-female super group Cherish the Ladies was formed.

“It was something that was never planned, it was something that happened. We got together just doing some concerts in New York City celebrating women playing Irish music. We were all the top women in Irish music around the country. All the shows were sold out. We decided to record an album, that album was named the best folk album of the year by the Library of Congress,” Madden said. “That’s when the band was born.”

Madden found that the women she was playing with also learned the music first from their fathers. They decided to give the band a traditional and fitting name.

“What once had only been a male-only genre, for centuries it was always passed from father to son, but now it’s being passed from father to daughter, so I suggested Cherish the Ladies, an Irish jig we play,” Madden said.

With 16 albums, the band travels to about 100 cities a year. Cherish the Ladies has played in five continents, been named the top North American Celtic group by the Irish Music Awards and was nominated for a Grammy in 1999. The album “Woman of the House” made the top 10 list of the Billboard world music chart when it was released in 2005.

Their success paved the way for other female Irish musicians such as Eileen Ivers, Winifred Horan of Solas, Cathie Ryan and Heidi Talbot.

“In the early days it wasn’t really proper for a woman to be in a pub; nowadays some of the biggest names on the scene are women, without a doubt,” Madden said. “For years, we’ve had to overcome major stereotypes. When we first got together, people used to think ‘oh, little pansies,’ and then they would hear us play and go ‘oh, oh my God, these girls can play.'”

Traditional Irish ensemble Cherish the Ladies will perform in Anchorage and Fairbanks this week.

Madden and Mary Coogan (who plays guitar, mandolin and banjo) have been a part of the band since its beginning in 1985. Despite worldwide critical acclaim during the last three decades, Madden said the approval that still matters most to the band is that of their fathers.

“We would be more worried about what our fathers would think of the records than what the New York Times music critics thought. We are purists very much at heart — 70 percent of the show was composed by us and composed in a traditional idiom,” Madden said.

“They took the music so seriously. When they passed the music down to us, it was the greatest gift that they could give us. We never felt the music needed bass or drums or rock ‘n’ roll to make it sound good.”

Cherish the Ladies will be performing a special Christmas show in Anchorage and Fairbanks this week, sharing songs from their most recent album, “Christmas in Ireland,” and other Christmas music favorites. They’ll be accompanied by traditional Irish step dance.

“It’s always amazing to me how well Irish music and Christmas music gel together,” Madden said. “Our job is to get people in the Christmas spirit. That’s what we hope to achieve here. We’re going to work our behinds off to make sure everyone has a ball.”

When the members of Cherish the Ladies aren’t touring, Madden said, they are teaching.

“To me, this music is beautiful. So many people were turned on to Irish music and became fans. We have people from every ethnic background who follow our music and love Irish music. The virtuosity level among Irish musicians is second to none,” Madden said.

“This music touches people’s soul. This was music that was passed down. We’ve all been handed this music down; we are all keepers of the flame. Now it’s our turn to pass it down.”

Cherish the Ladies

Anchorage
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9
Where: Atwood Concert Hall
Tickets: $32.50-$66 at alaskapac.centertix.net

Fairbanks
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10
Where: Hering Auditorium in Fairbanks
Tickets: Varies depending on membership level; see fairbanksconcert.org

For ADN: The Mowgli’s bring California vibes for Anchorage show

Alaska, Print, Uncategorized

Originally published in Alaska Dispatch News

Most of the members of The Mowgli’s met while growing up together in the Los Angeles area, but it wasn’t until college that the group coalesced around the upbeat sound that would become the six-piece band’s trademark.

“California kind of has a style and a vibe and our music encapsulates that in some way. It’s got a sunniness to it,” said Katie Earl, one of the lead vocalists. “We definitely have a goal to make people feel less alone and ideally inject a little positivity out into the world.”

The band — whose name was inspired by a friend’s dog named after Mowgli, from “The Jungle Book” — channels pop, garage rock and indie folk with a dash of boy band flair. But Earl said they’re resistant to much in the way of genre descriptors.

“I think genre is kind of dead — I could throw six words at you right now. Pop, rock, I really don’t know. I think genres are molding together. Whatever the listener feels like it is, is what it is to me,” Earl said.

The Mowgli’s music follows the pop traditions of the Beach Boys and One Direction with a hint of the indie garage rock sound of Fidlar and Weezer. With a little electronic keyboard, anthem-like lyrics and get-up-and-dance beats, their sound is like a background soundtrack to a late-night summer beach party.

The band’s latest album — “Where’d Your Weekend Go?” — was released in September and keeps with the same simple energetic pop/rock sound.

“A lot of the band grew up on the Beatles. Some of the band listens to punk, emo, rap, R&B. We all just have a lot of different influences,” Earl said.

The Mowgli’s website notes that “I’m Good” was written for an anti-bullying campaign and “Room For All Of Us” was created in support of the International Rescue Committee.

“We definitely make music and write lyrics to make people feel a little less alone and a little better about themselves, because we think the world can be a better place with a little more positivity,” Earl said.

For TNL: Haunted tales of the Wendy Williamson

Alaska, Print, Uncategorized

Originally published in The Northern Light

Mysterious doors that lead to a wall, showers and sinks running on their own, pianos playing by themselves, an elevator shaft that leads nowhere and lights that will never reach the stage are just a handful of the spooky scenarios that have occurred in the Wendy Williamson Auditorium.

With construction beginning in 1973, the auditorium sat dormant for 18 months before money became available to finish the building. When the builders finally completed the building, there were multiple mistakes.

Creating doors that lead to walls, an elevator shaft that leads to a second floor that never was, a catwalk visible to no one and a spotlight room angled in a way that makes it impossible to spotlight the stage are just a few of the unusual engineering aspects of the auditorium.

Many cultures attribute energy to spaces. The Confucius Institute has even been said to have visited the auditorium; telling the manager that the energy of the space was evil and the feng shui was all wrong.

“The lightroom is by far the most sinister, but all the place is funky,” Shane Mitchell, a UAA alum, the auditorium’s manager and director at TBA theater, said.

Mitchell, who has worked in the auditorium for twenty years began his relationship with the theater as a student in UAA’s theater program in the 80s.

“When I started here in 1982, the place had a reputation for being haunted. It hadn’t even been open for a decade yet,” Shane Mitchell said.

The auditorium bears the name of John Wendell Williamson, professor of music at UAA since 1971. Williamson, nicknamed Wendy, passed away in 1988. The auditorium was named in his honor.

“Weird things happened way before he passed on,” Shane Mitchell said.

Shane Mitchell has his own share of less-than-ordinary occurrences. Once while acting in a performance of “The Monkey’s Paw,” Mitchell opened up the coffin he was going to use during the show, backstage. The cast and crew surrounded him as he lifted the coffin to see what was left inside by other cast members. As Mitchell opened the coffin door, all the props for the show flew off a table and against the wall, just about ten feet away from them.

“It became a habit to open up the coffin backstage before I went on. The whole cast gathered around me to crack up. With all the cast around me, all the props flew off the prop table, against the wall. Like someone flew them off with their arms,” Shane Mitchell said.

In that same show, about 350 school age kids were in attendance on a field trip. A question and answer session soon followed the conclusion of the show.

“This one kid raises his hand and says, ‘at the end of the play, how did you make the lady in the white dress float above your heads?’ The director said ‘what?’, then the teacher said, ‘he just wanted to know how the special effect worked.’ The director said ‘next question.’ There was no special effect,” Shane Mitchell said.

Many years ago, a self-proclaimed psychic and FBI profiler toured the building and sent a thorough document explaining the energy and presence inhabiting the auditorium.

“She mailed a document that listed things that made her seem pretty credible in our eyes. She said she sensed five beings, one of a little girl who died in an automobile accident on Lake Otis, the ghost of a teen boy, a young woman, and two men, one kindly and one violent,” Shane Mitchell said.

“The worst part is people always ask ‘did you see something or hear something,’ you get these horrible, horrible feelings that you’re just not safe. I can explain anything I see or hear, but something I feel? I’ve had things happen that I can’t explain,” Shane Mitchell said.

Twin brother of Shane, Wayne Mitchell, is a technician in the auditorium who has his own share of spooky tales.

“There used to be a nighttime janitor here, after a while he stopped coming and asked what happened to him. I was told he got reassigned because he doesn’t want to be where the ghosts are. This was all based on his own experience,” Wayne Mitchell said.

In an attempt to de-spook the building, different members of the auditorium’s staff have brought different items or symbols to ward off evil spirits and energy.

“Different people who have different cultures bring different items of charm. There’s a Pennsylvania Dutch design hanging on the wall, Celtic knots carved into walls, a lady had a statue of the Virgin Mary filled with holy water that she set above the door. Although, right after the place was smudged, stuff started to happen for about 12 days. All it did was irritate them,” Shane Mitchell said.

Not all who spend time in the auditorium experience events unexplained, but the rumors are abundant and enough to give anyone the creeps when they enter the depths of the Williamson auditorium.

“I haven’t actually seen anything scary happen. But from hearing it is haunted so many times over the years, I definitely get creeped out if I’m there working an event by myself. But mostly because I’m a scaredy-cat,” Garren Volper, a UAA student activities employee and frequent participant in the annual Anchorage Folk Fest, said.

On the center wall of the main lobby of the auditorium sits a large bolt. What once bolstered the large portrait of Wendy Williamson, is now a dark dot, sitting as a reminder of the mysterious happenings of the auditorium.

When Shane Mitchell began his career at the auditorium, he found a painting of the Williamson himself, playing the piano. He pleaded with his manager at the time to hang it up, but was swiftly told no. When Mitchell became manager, him and his brother decided to hang the painting up to commemorate the late professor and building namesake. They proudly hung the painting up in the foyer of the lobby for all to see. The next morning the painting was on the ground. This scenario repeated itself multiple times, until one day while Wayne Mitchell was hanging up the portrait the wire on the back snapped, fell to the ground, tearing the carpet, and breaking the floor beneath it — the painting and frame unharmed. The Mitchell brothers put the mysterious painting back into storage, eventually to bring out just one more time to hang in the green room. The next morning, the painting was not on the wall, but on the ground. The Mitchell’s put it back into storage where it sits today.

“It’s not the most flattering portrait. Maybe Wendy hates it?” Shane Mitchell said.

While these experiences are mysterious, the painting itself is unusual in its own right. The painting has no date and no artist signage. It is unknown who painted the painting and when. It bears resemblance to the late Wendy Williamson, but without a title, date, or artist signature, who’s to say?

With numerous stories of his own, Shane Mitchell is the main guy for others to report their unusual happenings to. Audience members, pageant members, musicians, actors, employees and janitors to just name a few of the folks who go to Shane Mitchell with their ghost tales.

“Just about everybody who spends any length of time in the Williamson ends up experiencing some stuff. I think everyone has their thing they can’t explain. There are people who embrace it and people who don’t want to embrace that,” Shane Mitchell said.

The ghost of Wendy Williamson is said to have visited the auditorium himself. Playing jovial piano music in the lobby during classes or rehearsals.

“You’d be up on stage and you can hear someone playing a piano in the lobby. I would come down these stairs and around the corner and nobody would be sitting there at the piano,” Shane Mitchell said.

Although no one has died in the auditorium, many students or artists at UAA have passed away who have ties and traditions with the building. Whether haunted or not, the Wendy Williamson auditorium puts on quite the show.

For TNL: Urban indoor farm to provide fresh produce to Anchorage

Alaska, food, Print, Uncategorized

Originally published in The Northern Light

In the land of the midnight sun, the endless sunshine can raise monster 130 pound cabbages, 1,200 pound pumpkins and 35 pound broccoli from the fertile soils of the Matanuska-Susitna Valley. We flock to farmers markets to reap the rewards of valley farmers and savor the flavors of our Alaskan-grown produce. As the frost begins to settle and the season ends, Alaskans grow nostalgic for freshness in anything. Jason Smith, a UAA alumni who graduated with an undergraduate degree in geomatics and a master’s degree in business administration, is bridging the fresh food gap in Anchorage.

Residing inside the old Matanuska Maid building in Spenard, Alaska Natural Organics is Smith’s hydroponic vertical farm, where he harvests produce for restaurants and the Anchorage community.

Alaska Natural Organics was approved for funding in 2014 and provides fresh, locally grown produce to many local Alaskan restaurants including 49th State Brewing Company, Midnight Sun Brewing Company, Hearth, Bear Tooth Theatrepup, Romano’s, Ginger, Rush Espresso, Sacks Cafe, Snow City Cafe, Spenard Roadhouse, South Restaurant + Coffee House and Pangea. Beyond local restaurants, Alaska Natural Organics also sells their basil through Carrs and Fred Meyer. Marketing their Alaska grown produce has come with its own unique set of challenges.

“One of the challenges we have is that everyone says they want to buy local, but there’s people down in the southern California working for a whole lot cheaper, and it brings the price way down. That’s been a hurdle,” Smith said.

Locally grown produce may be worth the extra money. With higher nutritional value and the potential to improve the local economy, buying local could help Alaskans invest in their community.

“On the one hand, local means higher nutrition value. The nutritional value of produce degrades very quickly days after harvest, so you’ll increase the nutrition if you buy it as fresh as possible,” Smith said. “It helps our economy, it stabilizes jobs in the state and it gives us a bit more independence from outside sources. We got one road and a port to bring our food here. It’s a perpetual task so our food can come into the state.”

Bear Tooth, one of Anchorage’s local restaurants make use of what Alaska Natural Organics has to offer, and is even looking into buying basil from the vertical farm all year round. The popular Spenard restaurant uses an average of 15 pounds of basil a week, mostly being used in pesto sauces.

“We are working to get [basil] from Alaska Natural Organics, we are getting some from them currently. He’s someone who can produce for us in a way where we can use year round. Our goal is to be able to go all out with them,” Stephanie Johnson, general manager at Bear Tooth said.

Bear Tooth who uses a myriad of Alaska grown and made products from around the state, seeks out local products to showcase in their restaurant.

“It’s always ideal for us whenever possible because you lose a lot of flavor the farther away something is. Everything being fresher is ideal. When you work with locally grown food, people are far more willing to work with you. The Bears Tooth had a pretty strong commitment [to local products], prior to me being here. It’s something I’ve been doing at other places as well, so I brought my enthusiasm for it,” Natalie Janicka, Executive chef at Bear Tooth said.

With more awareness for locally grown produce and items in Alaska, awareness is growing and farmers and consumers alike are taking advantage.

“I think years and years ago when we first wanted to start carrying Alaskan grown products there were far less distributors. It was a lot of going to the same three produce distributors. At one point, the only thing that you could get was lettuce, that made sense for us at least. It was super challenging,” Johnson said. “It’s getting easier all the time. There’s such a culture of local food now.”

Options for local food when the winter chill begins to settle over the state are more abundant than previously thought. With Alaska Natural Organics providing fresh greens year round, one can taste the fresh and nutritional bounty of a local grower in the comfort of their favorite restaurant or bought from Carrs or Fred Meyer.

Fresh basil from Alaska Natural organics can be bought at Carrs and Fred Meyer. Other options for locally grown and made products is the Center Market, Alaska’s only year round farmers market located in the Sears mall. The market operates in the mornings and afternoons on Wednesdays and Saturdays throughout the year.

For TNL: UAA Professor Offers Solutions to Alaska’s Roadway Problem

Alaska, News, Print, Uncategorized

Originally published in The Northern Light

Learning to dodge potholes and control your car in ruts is just part of learning to drive in Alaska. Professor Osama Abaza is hoping to change this.

In the civil engineering department, Abaza and his team are researching and working alongside the department of transportation to tackle the issues of Alaska’s highways.

For over 10 years, Abaza has worked with a myriad of student researchers to come up with, test and experiment with a new form of concrete. This rubberized concrete uses crushed up waste tires and is strengthened with steel fiber. The combination allows for durability as well as flexibility, both of which are important for climate-related road expansion and contraction.

“This research could revolutionize how materials engineer combat rutting. By using steel fibers and rubber, they are fighting against rutting from studded tires while also protecting our roads from permafrost heaving and cracking. If this concrete is the answer to our rutting problems, this will mean less road maintenance, and ultimately less money spent on costly repairs and road rehabilitation,” Melissa Frey, an undergraduate engineering student at UAA and a member of professor Abaza’s current research team, said. “Our state hasn’t really seen a material like this before, but implementing this material could really change Alaska’s transportation engineering.”

What’s special about this concrete is that it will prevent ruts and potholes from occurring on the states highways.

“It’s going to prevent ruts from happening. Concrete doesn’t develop potholes. You’re not going to see any ruts or potholes on our roadways, that is of course if we decide to use this material,” Abaza said.

More than ruts and potholes, this material will allow Alaska’s highways to last longer.

“Our roads have a lot of ruts on it. Usually what [Department of Transportation does] is rebuild the road every 4 to 6 years. That same road lives in the lower 48 for 20 years. We have all these issues because of our weather and the use of studded tires. With this concrete, our roads could live for 20 years and we can avoid turning our town into a construction zone,” Abaza said.

When testing this new material out, students and faculty were able to take advantage of the engineering buildings state of the art pavement lab.

“We have one of best labs, even in the lower 48, for testing this,” Abaza said.

Last September, UAA put a slab of this new concrete in front of the parking garage near the Consortium Library. It’s being tested, while students during the summer created slabs to place on Abbot Road. Those test slabs, which will have sensors in them to detect expansion rates, will be placed onto Abbot Road in the spring and then observed for three years.

“We know for sure it’s going to work, but now we have to convince the public,” Abaza said.

The price of this new concrete is much higher than the asphalt the DOT uses now, but the state will be saving money in the long run if the roads can last longer.

“The concern is that the material is going to cost a lot more, but if you look over life cycle cost of the material it’s going to be way cheaper than what we are doing now,” Abaza said.

With UAA and the DOT working together. students can get hands-on training working in their community and have the opportunity to apply the knowledge they learn in the classroom to the field.

“I’ve been working with him when I came on board to do further testing on the feasibility of construction. My background is with DOT construction. I’ve been working with him since the start of my thesis,” Mahear Aboueid, a UAA grad student who is also a project manager at the DOT said. “I think the chemistry behind this material is definitely positive towards resisting stud ware and freeze/thaw. As part of DOT and UAA, it’s nice seeing both sides are wanting to work with each other. I think it’s a great thing to be mutually beneficial in helping the community.”

Abaza also sees the benefit UAA can have the community. Whether it be putting students in the hands-on learning environment by working with DOT or working on research that can save the state money while also keeping Alaska drivers safer; Abaza looks to build a bridge with UAA and community entities.

“In order for us at UAA to be really effective in the community, we are supposed to help the community and figure out new solutions. I want to show that UAA is really a resource to provide solutions. We have way more responsibility than to just graduate new engineers,” Abaza said.

Abaza and his team are currently waiting til the spring to place their concrete slabs in Abbot Road. Once placed, the slabs sensors will monitor expansion and contraction for three years.

For TNL: Sonia Sotomayor visits Anchorage

Alaska, News, Print, Uncategorized

Originally published in The Northern Light

Over 1,200 people gathered in the Dena’ina Center in downtown Anchorage on August 17 for a last minute presentation by Justice of the United States Supreme Court Sonia Sotomayor. Sotomayor was the first Puerto Rican judge to serve in any state, the first Latina to serve on the Supreme Court, the fourth woman to serve on the Supreme Court and is one of the youngest people to have ever served on the Supreme Court.

The Alaska Bar Association organized the event, allowing practicing attorneys to receive Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits if they participated. Of the sold-out show, 40 percent of the 1,200 attendees were practicing attorneys.

Mary DeSpain, CLE director of the Alaska Bar Association introduced and welcomed Sotomayor with a traditional Spanish greeting — “la bienvenida a nuestra ciudad” — Welcome to our city.

The event was a Q&A, with Alaska resident Judge Morgan Christen of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Questions were canvased and chosen before the event by the Alaska Bar Association. With questions from attorneys, the general public and children of the community.

Sotomayor revealed a vulnerable, human perspective in her poignant responses.

“I can’t imagine a better role model. I like how she talked about her human perspective with the importance of making decisions that affect everyone,” Johanna Richter, an economics student at UAA said.

Christen opened the talk with discussing Sotomayor’s book “My beloved World.” In the book, Sotomayor speaks about how she wanted to speak honestly about the experiences in her life — the good and the bad. Sotomayor discussed the hardships of being in the public eye and nearly turning down her Supreme Court nomination from the pressure of tabloids ruining a reputation she spent a lifetime creating.

“You get nominated for the Supreme Court and it’s like getting on a rocket ship to the moon, and it doesn’t take you back,” Sotomayor said in her discussion.

After a few questions from Christen, Sotomayor decided to leave the stage and walk among the crowd. Making her way through over 1,000 people she hugged, shook hands and signed autographs with the audience as she answered the rest of Christen’s questions.

A crowd favorite, a kid-canvased question submitted to the Alaska Bar Association asked Sotomayor what Harry Potter house she belonged to. Without skipping a beat, Sotomayor answered with Gryffindor, and further discussed her love affair with the book series.

When asked if diversity is important on the court, Sotomayor discussed the importance of life experiences as diversity in perspective and decision making.

“I don’t define diversity by gender, ethnicity or race,” Sotomayor said in her discussion.

Audience members ranged widely in age and profession. With members of the Youth court present, and small children with their parents, to Mayor Ethan Berkowitz and practicing attorneys, the crowd was diverse.

“I’m obsessed with her. I love everything about her, and any exposure i can get is great,” Madeline Parrish, age 16 said. “This is what I want to do.”

Sotomayor, who spoke in Fairbanks days before, is traveling around Alaska visiting over 12 communities around the state. Visiting Alaska has always been on Sotomayor’s bucket list, and it further helped her reach her goal of visiting all fifty states. When she got asked to speak at UAF, she decided to take the opportunity to see the sights throughout the state.