AUUF Podcasts

Rev. Shelley Page serves as the Interim Minister at the Anchorage Unitarian Universalist fellowship. A graduate of Cornell University and Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, she also served congregations in Delaware, Michigan, and Utah. A Unitarian Universalist for over 35 years, her lay leadership roles include founding mother of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Canandaigua in New York. Her previous careers included marketing and communications management for business and not-for-profit organizations.

Rev. Tracy Springberry is the Minister at West Hills Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of McMinnville. She has served congregations in Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska. She is a Transition Coach for the UUA Pacific Western Region. Her goal for the Anchorage UU Fellowship is an excellent minister that you love and who loves you! She has helped both the Fairbanks and Boise, Idaho congregations find such ministers. When she served as interim minister in Fairbanks, Alaska five years ago, she fell unexpectedly and madly in love with Alaska the place and the Alaskan people. If Alaska had just a little more spring and fall and wasn't so far from her four children, she would move there.

It seems improbable, but Unitarian Universalists are the direct descendants of the Puritans who came to American in the early 1600s. While they would be as shocked by us as we are by them, they would recognize and affirm how we organize a church, and our on-going quest to seek more love and more peace between ourselves and in the world. And, amazingly, this legacy speaks to us as we begin the process of searching for our new minister.

Rev. Tracy Springberry is the Minister at West Hills Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of McMinnville. She has served congregations in Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska. She is a Transition Coach for the UUA Pacific Western Region. Her goal for the Anchorage UU Fellowship is an excellent minister that you love and who loves you! She has helped both the Fairbanks and Boise, Idaho congregations find such ministers. When she served as interim minister in Fairbanks, Alaska five years ago, she fell unexpectedly and madly in love with Alaska the place and the Alaskan people. If Alaska had just a little more spring and fall and wasn't so far from her four children, she would move there. 

How we perceive god informs how we view the world and our part in it. Let's explore some ideas about god, particularly through the lens of African American feminist science fiction author, Octavia Butler, as she lifts up the notion that god is change.

Rev. Shelley Page serves as the Interim Minister at the Anchorage Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. A graduate of Cornell University and Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, she also served congregations in Delaware, Michigan, and Utah. A Unitarian Universalist for over 35 years, her lay leadership roles include the founding mother of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Canandaigua in New York. Her previous careers included marketing and communications management for business and not-for-profit organizations.

Ernestine Hayes was born to the Wolf House, Tlingit Kaagwaantaan clan, in southeast Alaska at the end of World War II. In her first book, Blonde Indian: An Alaska Native Memoir-which received an American Book Award -- she weaves reminiscences of her life, stories from her grandmother, Tlingit history, nature writing, and fiction into a testament of the twentieth -century Alaska Native experience and a love song to the land. Her latest book, The Tao of Raven, places fiction and nonfiction narrative s in the context of Raven and the Box of Daylight and Sun Tzu's Art of War. Ernestine teaches writing at the University of Alaska Southeast campus and is our current Alaska Writer Laureate.

Rev. Denise Sudbeck is a married trans woman living in Anchorage and pastor of the emerging Metropolitan Community Church. She is currently working toward a Doctor of Ministry degree with a dissertation in trans-focused theology. Sudbeck also serves as campaign co-chair of Fair Anchorage. a coalition of local citizens urging a "no" vote on Proposition 1.

Steven Johnson is an Associate Professor and Director of Debate at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He's been involved in competitive debating for over 30 years and believes fervently in the power of academic debating to change people's lives. Steve was the first president of the National Parliamentary Debate Association and served two terms as the Chair of the World Universities Debating Council. UAA teams coached by Steve have enjoyed a great deal of competitive success, including winning the U.S. National Championships in 2002 and 2005. And in 2007, a team from the University of Alaska prevailed over 320 teams from around the world to reach the semifinal round of the World Universities Debating Championships .

The ancient practice of Sabbath from the Jewish faith speaks to us about the spiritual value of intentional rest. Learn more about this practice and how a UU Sabbath could transform your life.

Sky Starkey has decades of experience representing Alaska Native tribes and tribal organizations, local rural governments and Native corporations on a wide variety of issues, including tribal and subsistence rights, Indian Child Welfare Act cases, natural resource protection and allocation, state and federal political and legislative actions, Native allotments and co- management opportunities. Sky litigates in the federal and state courts, appears before state and federal administrative regulatory boards and agencies, and advocates before the Alaska Legislature and the U.S. Congress and Executive Branch. He was recognized with the Alaska Federation of Natives Service Award in 2003. Sky is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Lakota Tribe, Eagle Butte, South Dakota

This service involved some deep thought on Valentine's Day school shooting at the Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL