Crude Conversations

In this episode, we have a conversation with freelance journalist and Covenant House Alaska employee Aurora Ford. We talk about sex trafficking in Alaska—the people who get caught in it and the people who prey on them—how the Anchorage prostitution business is divided into gangs, making it virtually impossible to be a freelance prostitute without the possibility of repercussion, solutions journalism over institutional journalism as a way to affect change, and what if Trump is America's Professor Snape?

In this episode, we have a conversation with stand-up comedian Richard Bowen. We talk about performing in all 50 states and how he used a job building skateparks to do it, winning $10,000 in a Laffy Taffy competition, the mechanics of joke writing, and being diagnosed with depression and how comedy helps him combat it. We also debate who would win in a fight, a Silverback Gorilla or a Kodiak Brown Bear. 

In this episode, we have a conversation with Alaskan rapper Michael Cofey, aka Starbuks. We talk about what it was like growing up and selling crack in Fairbanks, Alaska—the psychological impact, what he learned from it and how it shaped him as an adult—how the FEDS once took a hard drive of his music, how America's perception of white and black gun ownership is skewed, and what it's like being a father and raising young, black men in today's America.

Exclusive first listen, "What's In Your Hear"  featuring Tayy Tarantino off Starbuks' upcoming album Black Polar Bear. 

In this episode, we have a conversation with Jana Weltzin, an Alaskan attorney with a focus on recreational marijuana business law and regulation compliance. We talk about moving back to Alaska and her newfound, intimate relationship with the community, the importance of independently owned businesses, and the Alaska weed industry—licensing, permits and regulations.

Crude weed columnist Whitney Branshaw sat in on the conversation.