Crude Conversations

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with Alice Glenn, the host of Coffee & Quaq, a podcast that explores Native life in urban Alaska. If you live in Alaska, then you're aware of racism toward Alaska Native people. It can be casual, or it can be abrasive. Either way, it's detrimental to an entire group of people who have lived in Alaska for thousands of years. Long before the Russians or the Europeans came here. And therein lies the heart of this conversation. Not racism specifically, but the effects of colonization to every facet of Alaska Native life. From culture to religion to how local media tends to highlight Native communities by their disparities, which, in turn, continues an ongoing narrative about how Alaska Native people can't take care of themselves. This is why Alice started Coffee & Quaq, because she wants to tell the truth about her people and other Alaska Natives. That they're strong, proud and resilient. 

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with professional snowboarder Mark Landvik, better known as Lando. Lando has been instrumental in snowboard videos that raised the bar in the progression of the sport, as well as the way action sports are filmed. Specifically, "The Art of Flight," "That's It, That's All," and "The Fourth Phase." In 2015, at the height of his career, Lando left the filming of "The Fourth Phase," one of the most anticipated documentaries of 2016. His mental health was declining and he didn't know why. What followed was a manic episode that lasted about five months, followed by a year and a half of heavy depression. Today, he's much better and understands why all that went down.

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with spatial ecologist Ben Sullender. Spatial ecology is the study and understanding of a landscape using maps. Meaning, scientists like Ben use topography to look at how small differences in landscape affect every part of life. From the migratory patterns of birds, to the melting of the Arctic Ocean sea ice and how it significantly changes our ability to live on land. They also talk about coastal environments, the affects of ship traffic in the Bering Strait, the ability for fish and animals to seasonably access the habitats they need, and how climate change affects all of it. 

In this episode of "lost anchorage," we look at domestic violence in Anchorage, Alaska from the perspective of Heidi Hill, the Grants and Program Director at Abused Women's Aid In Crisis (AWAIC). AWAIC services about 1,600 people across all of its programs, including shelters, legal advocacy, case management, transition housing, and substance abuse management. Heidi has worked at AWAIC, the only emergency domestic violence shelter in Anchorage, for almost 15 years, helping to build a culture of non-violence in Anchorage.

More information can be found at awaic.org, and their 24-hour crisis support hotline can be reached at (907) 272-0100.

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with Evan Philips, the creator and host of The Firn Line, a podcast about the lives of mountain climbers. Evan's path to becoming the storyteller he is today began when he was a teenager learning the basics of a sport that would, in time, define him. He was an avid mountain climber as a teenager and well into adulthood until a recurring injury led to multiple surgeries, which inevitably meant climbing less and less. They talk about how mountain climbing is inherently dangerous and reconciling that with the desire to pursue it, making meaningful and healthy changes in your life, and what it's like to interview people you look up to.  

They also talk about Evan's upcoming true crime podcast, Alaska Unsolved, which focuses on the disappearance of Erin Marie Gilbert, who vanished from a festival in Girdwood, Alaska on July 1, 1995.

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with longtime Alaska beer columnist Jim Roberts, better known as Dr. Fermento. Jim's been writing about and involved in the Alaska craft beer scene for over two decades. Back then, there were only about eight breweries in Alaska, today there are over forty. In an article he wrote for Crude last year, he called Alaska "the Beer Frontier." 

They talk about how Jim is "a beer drinker with a writing problem," some suggestions for the curious and the uninitiated beer drinker, how there's a niche for every beer drinker in the world in Alaska, and the time Dr. Fermento was invited to the Playboy Mansion.

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with Jason Borgstede, owner of the Anchorage-based snowboard and skateboard shop Blue & Gold Boardshop. They talk about how he went from being a professional snowboarder to a professional poker player to a waiter and now the owner of a local snow and skate shop. Jason's history with the Alaska snow and skate scene goes back twenty some odd years and includes some pretty wild stories. They get into that (story time) as well as what it means to be a local retail business pushing a culture. 

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with Andy Elsberg, an emergency room doctor at Providence Medical Center in Anchorage, Alaska. They talk about how he went from being a ski bum to an ER doc, the idea of wilderness medicine, the pervasiveness of alcohol and opiate addiction in Anchorage, what a gunshot actually does to a human body, and the short but aggressive spice epidemic that hit Anchorage a few years back.

They also discuss how the urban/wilderness split doesn't exist in Alaska, meaning things like bear maulings and ATV accidents exist alongside things like inner-city gun violence and drug overdoses.