AUUF Podcasts

Longtime Anchorage Unitarian and social activist Ruth Weisman Sheridan will celebrate her 100th birthday in a few weeks – as well as a remarkable life's journey that stretches from Woodrow Wilson to Donald Trump.  Born in New York City on Jan. 22, 1918 – before women had the right to vote – she helped her widowed mother make ends meet through the Great Depression, earned a college degree by attending night school, moved to Chicago during World War II and worked there as a legal secretary. In Chicago she joined the International Workers of the World and met and married Jack Sheridan, a kindred spirit also committed to social justice. Living there through the fifties and turbulent sixties, the couple joined the Unitarian church and raised three children. After Jack died in 1967, Ruth’s life began all over at the age of 50. That’s when a friend convinced her to move to Alaska. 

Gary Holthaus has served as the Anchorage Unitarian Universalist Fellowship called minister since 2012. He leaves AUUF at the end of December 2017 to begins a new chapter out of state. Originally ordained as a Methodist minister, Gary has also made a living as a poet, author, educator and non-profit administrator, and has been involved in environmental and social issues for 60 years. He arrived in Alaska in 1964. He earned a Bachelor's Degree and a Master's Degree in Sacred Theology from Boston University. He has published numerous books of poetry and non-fiction, including "The Unauthorized Bible". 

Gary Holthaus has served as the Anchorage Unitarian Universalist Fellowship called minister since 2012. He leaves AUUF at the end of December 2017 to begin a new chapter out of state. Originally ordained as a Methodist minister, Gary has also made a living as a poet, author, educator and non-profit administrator, and has been involved in environmental and social issues for 60 years. He arrived in Alaska in 1964. He earned a Bachelor's Degree and a Master's Degree in Sacred Theology from Boston University. He has published numerous books of poetry and non-fiction, including "The Unauthorized Bible". 

Bill Sherwonit is a longtime friend of Auuf. He is a long-time wildland/wildlife advocate and freelance nature writer who has contributed essays and articles to a wide variety of newspapers, magazines, journals, and anthologies across the country. He has authored more than a dozen books on Alaska sports, wildlife and parks. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1950, Bill graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in Geology from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, in 1971.  He went on to earn a master’s degree in Geology from the University of Arizona, Tucson, in 1974.  From 1978-1979, he studied journalism at Pierce College in California. In 1982, Bill headed to Alaska and soon became a columnist for the Anchorage Times and later the Anchorage Daily News.  He has been a freelance nature writer since 1992. In 2009, Bill became a contributor to the blogsite The Nature of Cities. Since 1993, Bill has also taught creative non-fiction writing classes, first at the University of Alaska Anchorage and now on his own, with primary emphasis on nature and travel writing

Dr. Ann Fienup-Riordan is a cultural anthropologist known internationally for her work with Yup'ik Eskimo peoples of western Alaska. She earned a doctorate degree in anthropology in 1980 from the University of Chicago with a dissertation based on fieldwork on Nelson Island. She’s the author of more than a dozen books on Yup’ik culture, including, most recently, Qanemcit Amllertut/Many Stories to Tell, with co-author Alice Rearden, published in 2017 by University of Alaska Press. In 1991 and again in 2001 Fienup-Riordan was named Historian of the Year by the Alaska Historical Society. In 2000 the Alaska Federation of Natives presented her with the Denali Award, honoring the greatest contribution to Native Alaskan culture by a non-Native.

Alice Aluskak Rearden, from Napakiak, graduated in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Since then, Alice has worked in collaboration with Ann Fienup-Riordan, Marie Meade, and the Calista Elders Council, where she has served as primary translator and oral historian for more than 10 years. A 1996 graduate of Mt. Edgecumbe High School, Rearden is a fluent Yup'ik speaker committed to working with regional tradition bearers to gather, translate, and share their knowledge. In 2008 she received both the Museums Alaska Award for Excellence and the Bridge Builders Community Service Award in recognition of her outstanding and important work. 

Blue Christmas Service

A celebration of our time with Gary

Gary's Poem  Dream Journey - Eskimo Dance

John McKay is a poet and playwright, with a master’s of fine arts degree in poetry from the University of Alaska Anchorage. He graduated from University of Michigan Law School in 1975, after earning a master’s degree in journalism, and working briefly for the Detroit Free Press. He clerked for a federal judge for two years, then came to Alaska in 1977. McKay has represented most Alaska news media, and many national news organizations, as well as journalists, photographers, artists, and others. He taught First Amendment and media law as an adjunct professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage for over 30 years. In 2007, McKay was the first recipient of the Alaska Press Club’s First Amendment Award, and in 2011, on its 40th anniversary, he was honored as one of “40 Heroes of Constitutional Rights” by the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska. He is the father of two grown sons, Martin and Cameron, and his sweetheart Cristy Miller is also a UU member. 

Rep. Matt Claman was elected in 2014 and re-elected in 2016 to represent West Anchorage in the House of the Alaska State Legislature. Prior to legislative service, he was elected to the Anchorage Assembly in 2007 and became the Assembly Chair in 2008. In 2009, he became Acting Mayor of Anchorage when then-Mayor Mark Begich won a U.S. Senate seat.  Outside of public service, Rep. Claman has been an attorney in private practice in Anchorage for nearly three decades. He has shared his knowledge of the law as a teacher at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He has served on the Heritage Land Bank Advisory Commission and on the boards of several local nonprofit organizations.  Claman is a member and past-President of the Anchorage UU Fellowship.