KCAW

March was a big month for Mt. Edgecumbe sports. The high school’s boys basketball team won their first state championship, ending a 75-year history without a title. Daily Sitka Sentinel reporter Anna Laffrey joined KCAW for the Morning Interview to give an update on recent games for the Braves and Sitka Wolves. Listen to the conversation here:

The Sitka Tribe of Alaska launched a Community Needs Assessment survey to better understand the well-being, priorities, and values of its tribal citizens. Rob Allen, STA interim general manager and Fernanda Zermoglio, STA organizational development manager joined KCAW on the Morning Interview to discuss the assessment, which invites enrolled Sitka tribal citizens to share their perspectives on the social, environmental, cultural, and economic aspects of community life. The survey can be found here: www.surveymonkey.com/r/STAneedsAssessmentSurvey

In response to student’s high interest in pursuing work-study opportunities, Sitka High School’s Career and Technical Education program pairs students with numerous organizations around Sitka to shadow professionals and gain hands-on experience in professions they are curious to learn more about. Sitka High School’s Mike Viera joins KCAW for the Morning Interview alongside three students currently in the program: Tyler Majeski, Vance Balovich, and Ali Chapman. They share their experiences learning about the fields of construction, dentistry, and education; how that has helped determine their future professional paths; and why other community organizations should consider partnering with the program.

Sitka’s local bookstore celebrated its 50th birthday on Saturday. Throughout the afternoon, locals wandered into the downtown shop to buy a book, eat a cupcake, and reminisce on five decades of the community hub.

50 years ago, to buy a book, Sitkans had to call up the bookstore in Juneau and have it mailed to the island. So in 1976, three families came together to start Old Harbor Books  — a place where Sitkans could gather and find nearly every genre of book: from philosophy and classics to best sellers and Alaskan authors. 

“The vision was to have books, and to make sure that Sitka had an opportunity to be a literary community. Sitka deserved to be a literary community,” said board member Roger Schmidt, who grew up in the bookstore.

His parents helped open the place when he was seven and his sister Laura was nine. They spent weekends selling seashells out front and screenprinting tote bags with the bookstore logos still used today. And they spent their down time reading every book they could get their hands on. 

“My dad had this passion, everybody had this passion, which was: people need to read books, and they need to have access to lots of books, and they need to have access to lots of different ideas,” Schmidt said. “So not just, ‘We’re gonna have the best sellers,’ but whatever the subject, books are so critical to learn. Living on an island, books were our pathway to knowledge.”

Schmidt says a large part of the mission of Old Harbor Books from the beginning was to give back to the community. Instead of taking a paycheck, the owners made the decision to use the profits to support local organizations, by doing things like subsidizing — or making free — their rental space upstairs.

“The vision for the business was never to make money,” he said. “It was to pay employees well, and then it was to be able to support the community in every way it could, and it’s done that for 50 years in all kinds of ways.”

Bookstore manager Ashia Lane says the bookstore continues to work with the Sitka Public Library and schools, sells tickets for local events, and for years, even had the “Book Boat,” which traveled to surrounding communities like Tenakee Springs, Angoon, and Kake to deliver titles to folks who didn’t have access to a local bookstore. 

“We’re trying to continue community service via the bookstore,” she said. “We will deliver books to the jail if you find yourself unfortunately over in the Sitka local lock up for the weekend. We’re really trying to not just be for private consumers.”

Despite community involvement, it wasn’t always easy keeping the doors open. Just like bookstores across the country that found it hard to compete with the dawn of online shops and e-books, so did Old Harbor Books. So they pivoted, and expanded their local inventory to include games and puzzles, book-themed items, cozy candles and blankets, and even art supplies. And according to Schmidt, they began to rely more on rental income to keep the bookstore going. 

“The most encouraging thing is that it seems like people love books again, and thank goodness for that,” he said. “We were so worried around 2000 when it just seemed like people were turning away from books, and they were not passionate readers. And it just feels so hopeful that people want to read books, and they want to read books in their hand. It’s just really great.”

The bustling anniversary party is a testament to that fact, as dozens of adults and children mill about the space sifting through book titles and looking at posters speckled with collaged photos of the bookstore throughout the years.

For Sherry Foster, a retired third grade teacher, the bookstore is part of the reason she chose to live in Sitka. 

“We moved here in ‘76 and when we saw that there was a bookstore, we said, ‘Well, that’s it. Then we’re gonna stay.’” she said. “It was a given. If there’s a bookstore, it’s an okay place to live.”

And Foster isn’t the only one who thinks Old Harbor Books is a local treasure. Rhiannon Guevin’s first job was working at the bookstore, tidying shelves and ringing people up at the register. 

“Old Harbor Books is one of my happy places in Sitka,” she said. “Like the minute I walk in the door, I just feel a welling of joy.”

She describes herself as “anti-Amazon” and made a vow to herself years ago that if she’s going to buy a book, it’s going to be from Old Harbor. 

“And I think that there’s like a weirdly large number of people for such a small town who feel the same way,” she said. “Especially in these times, I think supporting local businesses is of the utmost importance. If you want to have something in your community, you have to support it.”

Many rural communities throughout Alaska don’t have a local bookstore. For a town of about 8,400, Sitka is pretty unique. 

Karen Hegyi first supported Old Harbor Books 30 years before she actually moved to the community. It was the summer of 1983, and she was visiting Sitka on a kayaking trip with a friend. 

She’s lived all over rural Alaska, and she says it’s wonderful that she gets to live in a place like Sitka with such an incredible bookstore.

“The fact that it’s endured for 50 years is a testament to the people who run the bookstore and to the community too, that it’ll be here for another 50 years,” she said.

If these party-goers have anything to say about it, it probably will be.

This weekend the Young Performer’s Theater will be putting on their production of The Little Mermaid with two different casts. Sitka Fine Arts Camp’s Theater Director Zeke Blackwell joins KCAW for the Morning Interview to discuss the relevance of the story today, the process of putting the show together, and what audience members can expect from each cast.

The Sitka Rotary Club’s annual fundraiser, the Rotary Duck Race, involves 6,000 rubber ducks, with a first place prize of $2,500. Proceeds from race tickets, up to $60,000 if all ducks are sold, is donated to nonprofits and community projects throughout Sitka. This year, the club also has a “Flock a Friend” project where donors can place duck decoys in friends’ yards for $50. Katie Gunnell, public relations chair for the Sitka Rotary Club, joined KCAW on the Morning Interview to talk about the race, which has been moved from July 4 to July 18. Listen to the conversation here:

Crouched down in the engine room of the 50-foot vessel, Ben Matthys is showcasing the completed hybrid engine to Senator Lisa Murkowski, answering any follow-up questions she has. He’s the lead technician who joined the project four years ago. The project was funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy as part of a pilot program to make commercial engines cheaper and more environmentally friendly.

Sitka fisherman Jeff Turner owns the boat. After hearing about the grant, Turner was quick to volunteer his boat for the project. Yet on the two trips Turner took prior to Murkowski’s visit, a third-benefit was revealed, one that both Turner and Murkowski agree is “transformational”: 

“The noise pollution is something I really notice,” says Turner. “A quiet boat is fatigue free. I mean, you’re talking in a normal voice. You don’t have to yell across the deck.”

The team behind the hybrid engine plans to continue collecting data from the Mirage throughout the summer fishing season, logging the data in a publicly available document. That way, fishermen can decide whether they would like to install a hybrid engine as well. Another boat from Juneau is already lined up to be the second boat to have the hybrid engine installed. Turner says he’s excited to be a part of the development process to make the engine the best it can be for fishermen now and in the future. 

“I want to take advantage of the system. I want to see what it can do,” says Turner. “And I want the next person, and the next person, to learn from it. They’re collecting data on every single piece of equipment there, and what’s it gonna be in five years, ten years.”

Additionally, with concerns over outmigration and fewer young people staying in Alaska, the hybrid engine offers professional opportunities that could help retain and attract working-age people in the state. Chandler Kemp, the project’s enginee, believes that their partnership with locals in developing the engine is a promising example for future developers. 

“And so it’s not a case where we’ve hired a contractor to come in and build the project and then leave,” says Kemp. “Instead, we’ve invested locally to support people that want to do this type of work, and now have the expertise to do it more independently.”

But the promise for professional development is not without its obstacles, as highlighted by Linda Behnken, the executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association.

“There isn’t anybody in this country yet making these systems,” says Behnken. “There is a electric outboard maker that we want to use on a mariculture boat. But there isn’t anybody certifying marine certified batteries in this country yet, or building these systems.”

Batteries for electric vehicles are already proving a problem to transport. Alaska Marine Lines no longer ships electric vehicles to the state, and the ferry system highly restricts them. 

Murkowski says it needs to be addressed for the technology to move forward.

“The whole discussion about how you move an electric vehicle to Alaska, we can’t put them on these container ships anymore because of the danger of the fire,” says Murkowski. “So we’re going to have to figure this one out pretty darn quick.”

Murkowski is joined by over 20 attendees gathering around the Mirage at the Gary Paxton Industrial Park dock. Murkowski, Turner and Behnken take a spot at the bow of the ship, with Murkowski christening it by successfully smashing a champagne bottle over the bow. That’s followed by a toast in honor of what has been accomplished so far, and what the hybrid engine could mean for fishermen across Alaska and the rest of the country.

The Sitka Rose Awards, hosted by local organization Sitkans Against Family Violence, celebrates individuals who uplift community values of safety, respect, and community. The awards, which started in 2024, replaced the “Honoring Women” event started in 1998 to be more inclusive, honoring women and queer people across three age groups. This year’s honorees include Cheryl Vastola and nine others. SAFV’s Executive Director, Natalie Wojcik, joined KCAW on the Morning Interview to discuss the upcoming event on April 17, 7-9 p.m. at Sheet’ká Kwáan Naa Kahídi, which will feature performances, a raffle, and free dessert. Tickets are $10, with no one turned away for lack of funds. Listen to the conversation here:

Nonprofit tribal organization Sealaska Heritage Institute has published a new book that presents Tlingit Raven stories for the first time in the original language with English translations.

The 860-page volume brings together 50 stories by seven Tlingit storytellers born between 1870 and 1915 across Southeast Alaska. The stories were transcribed from recordings of oral performances and include some of the oldest known recordings of these stories told in Lingít.

75-year-old Ḵ’ashgé Daphne Wright grew up listening to her aunt, Katherine Mills, tell her stories of Raven, a cultural hero, world-maker, and trickster figure among the Tlingit of Southeast Alaska.

“I can just remember we’d be sitting in the kitchen, around the kitchen table, and it was maybe in the evening, with everyone just kind of sitting around and just listening,” Wright said. “[It was] kind of a warm feeling, just listening to my aunt’s voice.”

Growing up, Wright spent school years in Juneau and summers with her family in Excursion Inlet, a cannery near Hoonah. Her mom and aunt spoke Lingít with her grandmother, but she says she and her sisters and cousins never learned. 

Wright says reading this book, which features stories from her aunt who was born in 1915 and died in 1993, is like hearing her aunt’s voice again. 

“I miss her so much, and I miss my mother,” she said. “They were fluent speakers. They were the generation that went to school and didn’t know English. And so they suffered. They suffered greatly. That was the reason why their kids grew up not speaking. And we never thought about it. We never said, ‘Teach us Lingít.’ We were just kids. We just ran around. And so it just means so much that there’s something here and an actual physical book that has her stories in it.”

This volume has been more than four decades in the making. It’s the fifth in a series of books from Sealaska Heritage Institute called the Classics of Tlingit Oral Literature, and is the first in the series to be exclusively focused on Raven.

Will Geiger is a research specialist with the Southeast nonprofit, and has been working on transcribing, translating, and editing the stories for this volume since 2017.

“The intention of this series is to present standout examples of the Tlingit oral tradition in a written form that gives them a pretty high level and serious treatment, so that people, whether you do speak Lingít or not, you’re able to appreciate the depth and the artistry and the history and the richness of ideas that have been carried through the Tlingit oral tradition,” Geiger said.

This book features a transcribed version of the original recording on the left hand page that tries to reflect exactly what was said and the rhythm in which it was said. Featured on the facing right hand page, there’s an English translation. 

Geiger says Raven is probably the most highly developed character in the Tlingit oral tradition, with stories ranging “from the sacred to the scatological.” In one story of Raven, he steals the sun, moon, and stars to bring light to the world. In another, Raven loses his eyeballs after removing them from his head and instructing them to watch guard for him. He fails to act on their warning that people are coming near and the eyes are taken away, so Raven makes do by placing blueberries in his eye sockets.

“Mostly, he appears in the form of a person,” Geiger said. “And he can change forms. At minimum, he’s a little rock, a person. He puts on the skin of this kind of snipe-like bird with a long bill, and flies around like that. He turns into a woman, a little hemlock needle. Oh, and a raven. He turns into a raven too.”

Geiger says while there’s a long paper trail of writings about Raven, up until this book, they’ve all been in English, with the exception of a paperback from the 1970s from Tlingit Readers, Inc. that was published only in Lingít to be used by those who already spoke and understood the language. 

“That is the one text I believe in all of history until this one, to actually reflect a Lingít Raven story as told in Lingít by a Tlingit person,” he said.

For Lgeik’i Heather Powell Mills, a Lingít language teacher in Hoonah, hearing or reading these stories in the original language leads to deeper understanding. And now, she says, people will get to experience these stories from the mouths of their elders long gone, with the same cadence and the same emotion.  

“Hearing our language is like medicine to us,” she said. “And hearing the stories of creation helps us to better understand and explain to our children how important it is to coexist with the animals, to have a strong connection to the land, to understand where you come from, in order to know where you’re going.”

Mills’ great grandmother Susie James and her husband’s grandmother Katherine Mills are both included in the book. She says throughout her life, she’s seen many drafts, and she’s grateful people spent the time to sit down and record their elders’ stories so that they can be shared for generations to come.

“We don’t have the time we used to have to spend the winters together, sitting and transferring that knowledge,” Mills said. “I think this is a great way for us to learn, and to be able to not only learn with these wonderful, ancient ways of being, but learn through our language. It was their dream for us.”

The book, Yéil Kundayaayí, Adventures of Raven, is currently available through Sealaska Heritage Institute’s website. Geiger says they also hope to make the original audio recordings of these stories available in the near future. 

Whether it is learning how to swim like a mermaid, keeping the kids entertained over the summer, or being entertained by a joint community choir and orchestra performance, Sitka Parks and Recreation has got you covered. Kevin Knox, Rachel Fox, and Ellie Campbell join KCAW for the Morning Interview to share more information about upcoming programming.