Hometown, Alaska - Alaska Public Media

The Fairview Community Recreation Center recently opened an indoor playground (Photo courtesy of Anchorage Parks and Recreation).

The Fairview Community Recreational Center has been a community staple in the city for many years. The team behind the center bring a shining light into Fairview, and the recent inclusion of a new indoor playground is sure to leave an even brighter legacy for its residents. This episode discusses the impact, history, and legacy of the Center.

HOST:

Justin Williams

GUESTS:

Teri Desi: Recreation Superintendent, FCRC

Dorena Bingham: Recreation Supervisor, FCRC

Taylor Keegan: Landscape Architect, Municipality of Anchorage

PARTICIPATE:

• Send e-mail to [email protected] before, during or after the live broadcast.
• Post your comment or question below (Comments may be read on air).
• Prerecorded Show will air: Monday, March 21, 2022 at 10 a.m.
• RE-AIR: Monday, March 21, 2022 at 8 p.m.
• PODCAST: Available on this page after the program.

Book cover of “Black History in the Last Frontier” by University of Alaska Anchorage history professor Ian Hartman.

It’s February and Black History month is in full effect in Alaska. But what if educators here emphasized Black achievements and observed our darker history all year around? How would that affect economic diversity in Alaska, and raise the standard for how we observe and celebrate black culture? Hear this discussion on Black history and education in Alaska.

HOST:

Justin Williams

GUESTS:

Taylor Mitchell, Alaska Coalition for BIPOC Educators

Ken Miller, Denali FSP Fundraising Consultants

Brian Belcher, Born and raised in Anchorage Alaska. Brian is a peer support specialist for Alaska Behavioral Health and a tumbling instructor at Studio 49 school of dance. Brian got into the peer support field because of his own recovery. Brian has been a part of the cheer and dance world for many years now and has trained and performed with Studio 49 and Momentum Dance as well as Alaska Athletics.

LINKS:

NAACP and Alaska Public Media readings of “Black History in the Last Frontier”

Talk of Alaska: ‘Black in Alaska’ aims to increase African American visibility

Hometown Alaska: Three local pastors respond to Henry Louis Gates’ ‘The Black Church’

Hometown Alaska: Juneteenth: What, why and beyond

Former high school seniors Kayden King, Shaun Peter, and Thomas Phelan in Bethel. (Katie Basile/KYUK)

On this week’s Hometown Alaska, Anchorage teens describe how they have suffered, endured, and even grown through living under the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ll hear from teens at the Alaska Teen Media Institute, Covenant House and MHATS, which stands for Mental Health Advocacy Through Storytelling, a student-founded and student-run non-profit in Anchorage.

ATMI students began creating a series called “Podcast in Place, Youth Stories from Quarantine” recorded in their own homes due to constraints under COVID. Topics include individual student reactions to school closings and uncertainty, to interviews with Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Anne Zink, and a multi-generational family interview (grandparents, their daughter and their grandchildren) about coping with vaccination information and commitment.

Two Covenant House students talk about the emotional impact of isolation, and the loss of work due to restaurant closures during the pandemic.

The MHATS teens describe their commitment to better mental health education for young people in school, and their own ups and downs moving through the pandemic.

In all cases, these students were changed by the experience of living through COVID. They also represent an age group, according to the CDC, that has the lowest rate of vaccination and booster compliance.

This program was prerecorded for scheduling reasons, so the hosts won’t be taking your calls during the program. However, we still want to hear from you. Please call our 24/7 recorded line (550-8480) and tell us about your own experience. Were you hesitant to get vaccinated or boosted? What helped you overcome that hesitation?

This program is a part of Alaska Public Media’s “Talk to your Neighbor” project, offering trusted voices and accurate information to listeners on the Covid vaccination. APM has partnered with 20 community groups to help overcome vaccination hesitation.

HOSTS: Kathleen McCoy and Daisy Carter of ATMI

GUESTS:

• Caelan Voss, aka Peanut, Covenant House
• Grace Margeson, Covenant House
• Abby Laufer, MHATS
• Ivy Marshall, MHATS
• Tara Skidmore, MHATS
• Daisy Carter, ATMI and Alaska Public Media, co-host and guest

LINKS:

• “Teens and Covid-19 vaccinations: it’s complicated.” American Association of Medical Colleges blogpost.
• CDC January 2020 vaccination, rates of infection per 100,000, CDC website
• Mental Health Advocacy Through Storytelling, MHATS, website
• Vaxteen, “young people taking responsibility for their own health to put an end to preventable diseases,” website
• Podcasts in Place: Youth Stories from Quarantine,” ATMI website with podcasts
• Alaska Teen Media Institute, homepage

PARTICIPATE:

• Today’s program was prerecorded so hosts cannot take live calls. However, we still want to hear from you. Dial 550-8480 and leave a recorded message, 24/7.
• Send e-mail to [email protected] before, during or after the live broadcast.
• Post your comment or question below (Comments may be read on air).
• Prerecorded Show will air: Monday, February 21, 2022 at 10 a.m.
• RE-AIR: Monday, February 21, 2022 at 8 p.m.
• PODCAST: Available on this page after the program.

Seawolf, logo for UAA athletics,courtesy of UAA.

The UAA Women’s basketball program is elite. Conference champs, sweet 16 appearances, perennial national championship contender, and of course – mayhem! What makes them so successful? How much attention are they getting locally, and nationally? Should they be getting more attention given their success? And what does the future hold for UAA basketball? This episode answers these questions and more as we chat with Head Coach Ryan McCarthy and senior players Tennae Voliva and Lauren Johnson.

HOST:

E.J. David

GUESTS:

Coach Ryan McCarthy was born in Anchorage, and is the winningest active coach in NCAA Div. II, making him one of the brightest coaching talents in the entire NCAA. Coach McCarthy has taken the UAA Women’s program to unprecedented heights in 10 seasons, producing almost 250 wins and just 40 losses. He has won the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and NCAA West Region coach-of-the-year awards many times. McCarthy graduated from NNU in 2006 with a B.S. in social science education and is the proud father of two children, Donovan and Aurora. He and his wife Jenna, a former collegiate star at Florida Gulf Coast University, were married in 2019.

Tennae Voliva is a senior and a captain of the UAA women’s basketball team. Tennae is a homegrown, local talent, playing for East High School where she scored more than 1,000 career points in four varsity seasons. She was named in the Second Team All-State team as junior and senior. Tennae was an honor roll student at East, and continues to be an excellent student at UAA where she obtaining her Masters degree in Clinical Psychology.

Lauren Johnson is a senior guard for the UAA women’s basketball team. Lauren is from Minnesota, where she was a team captain for her high school team. After high school she played for North Dakota State College of Science, a nationally-ranked junior college squad. Lauren is a nursing major.

LINKS:

UAA Women’s Basketball

Newsweek: “Alaska-Anchorage: The Best Women’s Hoops Team West of UConn and the Yukon“

Andrea Noble, executive director of the Alaska State Council on the Arts, has one word for the Alaska artists and arts organizations now tackling Year Three of life under Covid: “Resilient. They just don’t quit.”

On today’s Hometown Alaska, we’ll hear from five arts groups on how they have adapted and persisted. What lessons did they learn? How did they change their process? What worked, what didn’t work? Were there unexpected silver linings? Unexpected disasters? How has their attitude shifted from year one to year three? Oh, and what do they hear from their audiences?

If you are an artist, actor, musician, painter…. how are you faring? What have you learned? And if you are from the audience, how has the loss of arts affected you? What do you miss the most?

Please join our conversation on how the Arts persist in the time of Covid, and why we care.

HOST: Kathleen McCoy

GUESTS:

• Sherri Burkhart Reddick, Executive Director, Anchorage Symphony Orchestra
• Judy Berry, Marketing and Development Director, Anchorage Opera
• Jason Hodges, Executive Director, Anchorage Concert Association
• Enzina Marrari, Program Officer, Rasmuson Foundation
• Matt Fernandez, Executive Director, Anchorage Community Theatre

LINKS:

• Anchorage Symphony Orchestra website
• Anchorage Concert Association website
• Anchorage Opera website
• Rasmuson Foundation Individual Artists Awards program
• Anchorage Community Theatre website
• Alaska State Council on the Arts, Adaptation and Innovation Grant Program
• KRBD radio report on Ketchikan’s Blueberry Arts Festival, KRBD website
• “Lost Art: Measuring Covid-19’s devastating impast on America’s creative economy,” Brookings Institute study, 8.11.2020
• “Analysis: Covid 19’s Impact on Arts and Culture,” Data and Assessment Working Group Weekly Report, www.arts.gov, 1.4.2021

PARTICIPATE:

• Call 550-8433 (Anchorage) or 1-888-353-5752 (statewide) during the live broadcast (10-11 a.m.)
• Send e-mail to [email protected] before, during or after the live broadcast (E-mails may be read on air).
• Post your comment or question below (Comments may be read on air).
• LIVE: Monday, February 7, 2022 at 10 a.m.
• RE-AIR: Monday, February 7, 2022 at 8 p.m.
• PODCAST: Available on this page after the program.

Anchorage-based entrepreneur LeeAnna Chronister is a mother and artist who has operated several small businesses and community projects (Image provided by LeeAnna Chronister)

The gig economy isn’t exactly a new income stream for individuals, but the paradigm shift of the market due to COVID and other factors have launched gig work and entrepreneurship into an undeniable macrolevel behemoth. One artist and businesswoman shares her story of how she established her brand to The Last Frontier and how we can support self-employed creatives.

HOST:

Justin Williams

GUEST:

LeeAnna Chronister is an Anchorage-based homeschool mother, wife, photographer, author, and graphic designer. She has owned an operated several small businesses and community projects, including her current AlaskaLeeAnna art studio & design business.

PARTICIPATE:

• Call 550-8433 (Anchorage) or 1-888-353-5752 (statewide) during the live broadcast (10-11 a.m.)
• Send e-mail to [email protected] before, during or after the live broadcast (E-mails may be read on air).
• Post your comment or question below (Comments may be read on air).
• LIVE: Monday, January 31, 2022 at 10 a.m.
• RE-AIR: Monday, January 31, 2022 at 8 p.m.
• PODCAST: Available on this page after the program.

The opening image to a slideshow in Spanish aimed at providing accurate information to the Latin community on Covid and vaccinations. Find the full slideshow here.

January 2022 marks the world’s third year working to overcome the Coronavirus pandemic. For many different and valid reasons, people hesitate to get vaccinated. Yet broad and successful vaccination rates are necessary to avoid giving the virus time to mutate and create another variant, as it has done with Omicron.

Alaska Public Media has joined 20 community groups —including cultural, informational, and health organizations—working to ensure vaccine-hesitant Alaskans can find accurate information from community members they trust. APM will offer a series of programs called “Talk to your Neighbor” to highlight this community outreach, and to provide a channel for Alaskans to ask their own questions and tell their own stories.

Today you will hear about a nonprofit network that provides donated medical care to the under-served. A network member will tell of a new cohort of community health workers going to neighborhoods and social service settings to help individuals find medical care, including good information on Covid and vaccinations.

We’ll also hear from a medical doctor. He sometimes sits with vaccine-hesitant patients. He understands this is a difficult conversation, and offers some perspective on how to proceed — always with a great deal of respect. Finally, a social media expert will share insights on where faulty information comes from, how it spreads on social media, and ways the sometimes dire tone of information may be turning off some in the audience.

“Talk to your Neighbor” programming will be archived on this webpage as it develops. Programs are planned on Hometown Alaska, Line One and Alaska Insight.

Listeners are invited to share their thoughts and concerns during today’s program by dialing 907-550-8433. In addition, APM added a recorded phone line to take your questions, concerns and stories 24/7. That number is 907-550-8480. Your input may influence future programming.

Please join us, and help us deliver the information you need.

HOST: Kathleen McCoy

GUESTS:

• Melinda Freemon, executive director, Anchorage Project Access, a community partner
• Mari Selle, chief of staff, Alaska Primary Care Association, instigated that agency’s community health worker cohort
• Dr. Phillip Mendoza, physician, board member of Enlaces, a community partner
• Pedro Luis Graterol, social media specialist, Sol de Medianoche, a community partner

LINKS:

• Covidatos, a Spanish-language website with accurate information on Covid 19 and vaccinations
• Anchorage Project Access, a nonprofit network linking the under-served to health care
• Anchorage Project Access Covid 19 site, dealing with some common misperceptions about the vaccines
• Alaska Primary Care Association, APA member, a nonprofit working toward healthy communities through effective health care facilities
• APCA’s Community Health Worker program, explained
• Sol de Medianoche, a bilingual community newspaper
• Enlaces, a nonprofit that “works to advance social justice and equity for Latinos and Hispanics in the North.”
• Mountain View Health Services, a nonprofit community health clinic in Mountain View
• ‘Talk to your Neighbor,’ Alaska Public Media programming related to this community outreach addressing vaccine hesitancy
• Mis- and Disinformation resources, part of the “Talk to your Neighbor’ programming
• Finding credible information on Covid 19 vaccines, CDC guidance on evaluating information

PARTICIPATE:

• Call 550-8433 (Anchorage) or 1-888-353-5752 (statewide) during the live broadcast (10-11 a.m.)
• Send e-mail to [email protected] before, during or after the live broadcast (E-mails may be read on air).
• Post your comment or question below (Comments may be read on air).
• LIVE: Monday, January 24, 2022 at 10 a.m.
• RE-AIR: Monday, January 24, 2022 at 8 p.m.
• PODCAST: Available on this page after the program.

In this 2007 photo, a sailor shares his Thanksgiving meal with his baby son at a special event aboard the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan in San Diego. Storekeeper 1st Class Andy Zhang serves his son alongside 500 of his fellow crew members and their families during the special holiday event. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Camarynn Miller.

Arguments over mandates, pandemic death, disruptive politics, climate change disasters. We’ve seen them all this year; we’re worn out. The battles and struggles will continue, but this week’s Hometown Alaska seeks to console. Our topic today is celebrating our good habit of gathering together for food and camaraderie, whether that is Christmas, birthdays or Sunday supper. Our guests are convinced that cooking and serving food to others is an act of love, and that this good habit might help us over hurdles we face.

Last summer, PBS offered a 3-part series on food called Food is Love. The chef behind the series, Lasse Sorrensen, said this about the title:

“When you put food on the table and break bread, you become a peacemaker. I’ve always said that even though as people, we are different, we all need to eat. And when you have something good to eat—when you break bread and have a nice glass of wine and a wonderful meal—it brings you together. You’re open to new ideas and other people’s ideas and suggestions, and it’s a form of love. …I’ve always believed that when people enjoy their dinner together, it opens up their hearts to new ideas and to new cultures.”

Here is cook and writer M.F.K. Fisher on food as love:

“…but I still think that one of the pleasantest of all emotions is to know that I, I with my brain and my hands, have nourished my beloved few, that I have concocted a stew or a story, a rarity or a plain dish, to sustain them truly against the hungers of the world.”

― The Gastronomical Me

Joining us to talk about the powerful human nourishment found in food is pop-up co-host chef Judith Mack. When I called and described the show I hoped we could do, she embraced the concept and even offered a recipe (Italian fig cookies, see links for the recipe) she loves. We also found community members whose experience resonated with the healthful experience of gathering together for food.

We hope you have stories or memories of the foods you prepare or share with loved ones. We all eat; if our guests are correct that food can bring us together despite everything working to pull us apart, then let’s sit down and eat! We’d love to hear from you.

CO-HOSTS: Kathleen McCoy with chef and teacher Judith Mack

COMMUNITY CALL-IN GUESTS:

• Zoi Maroudas, CEO of Bambinos Baby Food, member of the Greek and Italian cooking family of Pizza Olympia.
• Omid Rahmanian, from Iran, taught with his wife, Parisa, a community cooking class featuring Persian cuisine, offered through a Keys to Life community program
• Nyabony Gat, South Sudanese, born in Ethiopia and raised in the U.S.; Health Education Coordinator with Alaska Primary Care Association (APCA)/AHEC and Peer Leader Navigator Program Coordinator at the Alaska Literacy Program.

LINKS:

• Essay: “Ruth Reichl on M.F.K. Fisher’s Lifetime of Joyous Eating,” Literary Hub website 2019
• Podcast: “Soul food and the stories it tells about America,” with poet and author of the ‘Soul Food Love’ cookbook, Caroline Randall Williams, Vox Conversations website 2021
• Recipe for Cuccidati, Italian fig cookies, shared by Judith Mack
• 7 inspiring quotes about food and love, The Knot website
• 17 quotes about food and love, Your Tango website
• Keys to Life Alaska, community website focused on empowerment and inclusivity, previous host of community cultural cooking classes.

PARTICIPATE:

• Call 550-8433 (Anchorage) or 1-888-353-5752 (statewide) during the live broadcast (10-11 a.m.)
• Send e-mail to [email protected] before, during or after the live broadcast (E-mails may be read on air).
• Post your comment or question below (Comments may be read on air).
• LIVE: Monday, December 20, 2021 at 10 a.m.
• RE-AIR: Monday, December 20, 2021 at 8 p.m.
• PODCAST: Available on this page after the program.

Red Cross nurses in the Philippines. (Photo via WikimediaCommons)

If you’ve ever been to a hospital or a medical clinic or some type of medical facility, which most of us probably have, you may have noticed that a lot of health care workers are Filipino. They can be doctors, or home care providers, or some type of health care worker, but most of them are nurses. This is not just your imagination, as statistics show that Filipino nurses do compose the largest share of immigrant nurses in the United States. In fact, the Philippines is the world’s biggest supplier of nurses. In this episode, we talk to some Filipina nurses – members of an organization called Philippine Nurses Association of Alaska, Incorporated – to hear their journeys and experiences in the American healthcare system – particularly during the time of COVID – and how this impacts their families, and the entire Filipino American community.

HOST:

E.J. David

Guests:

Lorna Hermogino Garcia, Founder and first President of the Philippine Nurses Association of Alaska

Maribell Salanguit, Current President of the Philippine Nurses Association of Alaska.

Belena Hernandez Futch, Member of Philippine Nurses Association of Alaska

LINK:

“Empire of Care: Nursing and Migration in Filipino American History”

Why the US has so many Filipino nurses – VOX

PARTICIPATE:

• Call 550-8433 (Anchorage) or 1-888-353-5752 (statewide) during the live broadcast (10-11 a.m.)
• Send e-mail to [email protected] before, during or after the live broadcast (E-mails may be read on air).
• Post your comment or question below (Comments may be read on air).
• LIVE: Monday, December 6, 2021 at 10 a.m.
• RE-AIR: Monday, December 6, 2021 at 8 p.m.
• PODCAST: Available on this page after the program.

The Anchorage landfill countdown on the municipality’s web page shows less than 50 years of capacity. Recycling and composting keeps reusable items out of the landfill. What do you need to know, and where can you find out?

UPDATE: Since the recycling/composting program aired Monday morning, here’s a bit of useful info for Mat-Su Valley residents interested in curbside recycling. Alaska Waste began curbside recycling in the Valley last February, including within the city of Palmer, in an effort to divert recyclables away from the landfill. Here’s a link to their FAQs. We’ve added them to the list of useful links below. Thanks for calling, Alaska Waste!

And here’s a next level question. We love our dogs, but how do you keep Fido’s poop bags out of the landfill? Well, you could ask a Denali National Park Ranger.

So, going green is in the news every day. Alaska Airlines just announced it won’t use plastic water bottles anymore, opting instead for water in a box made with some recycled material. Global leaders are in Glasgow talking about their carbon-reduction commitment. Greta Thunberg, a Swedish teen, has strong words from her generation to others about taking responsibility.

So what can we do? Recycle and compost. Yet questions abound: why can’t I put glass in my curbside recycle bin? Do I have to take labels off cans and bottles? Is it true that you can recycle pizza boxes, even the greasy-cheesy ones? Can you compost meat scraps? Why can’t all 1-2 plastics recycle? And what compost/recycle mistakes should you know to avoid so you don’t contaminate the process?

To answer your questions, we have experts from Valley Recycling in the Mat-Su, Anchorage Municipal recycling programs, and a National Park Service Ranger with experience composting their working sled dogs’ waste, instead of adding it to a landfill. Now there’s an idea.

Have questions about recycling or composting? Bring ’em on! Your questions and comments are always welcome.

HOST: Kathleen McCoy

GUESTS:

• Randi Perlman, Interim Director Valley Recycling
• Suzanna Caldwell, Anchorage Municipal recycling and composting programs
• Sarah Hayes, National Park Service ranger with experience at the Denali Sled Dog Kennels

LINKS:

• Municipality of Anchorage: what can you recycle and where, website
• Valley Recycling, website and Facebook page
• Valley Recycling, information handout on what you can recycle and how
• Alaska Waste offers curbside recycling in the Mat-Su Valley, FAQ from website
• Denali National Park sled dog kennels, website (where all dog poop is composted)
• Composting Dog Waste, from 2005, 11-page PDF, USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Fairbanks Soil and Water Conservation District (thanks to Sarah Hayes for sharing this)
• Scoop the Poop, Anchorage Waterways Council effort to keep dog waste out of the watershed, webpage and short video
• Podcast of U.S. municipal recycling facility managers on current challenges (25 min), audio podcast
• Free resources on composting, Good Earth Garden School, website
• How to compost in winter, Marion Owen garden column, website
• Joy of Composting, Facebook page hosted by Marion Owen in Kodiak

PARTICIPATE:

• Call 550-8433 (Anchorage) or 1-888-353-5752 (statewide) during the live broadcast (10-11 a.m.)
• Send e-mail to [email protected] before, during or after the live broadcast (E-mails may be read on air).
• Post your comment or question below (Comments may be read on air).
• LIVE: Monday, November 8, 2021 at 10 a.m.
• RE-AIR: Monday, November 8, 2021 at 8 p.m.
• PODCAST: Available on this page after the program.