Hometown, Alaska: Volunteerism

September 11th has been declared the National Day of Service – a day to adopt a charity, or do a good deed. We’re going to take a closer look at what people are doing to get involved with their community. How can people with busy lives budget the time? What organizations are most in need of volunteers? There are all sorts of organizations that rely on volunteers, from youth groups to homeless shelters, trail builders to archivists. Join us for the conversation, Wednesday at 2:00 pm on Hometown, Alaska.

Photo from State of Alaska website: 2009 Senior Prom Queen at the Alaska Pioneer Home in Juneau, AK.

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Hometown, Alaska: The Mat-Su Colonists, 75 years later

The colonists used the train for eating and social events even after they had arrived and set up their tent city. Here they gather for a dance with local talent providing the music. Photo from MSB Sanbote Collection, courtesy of the Mat-Su Borough Cultural Resources Dept.

Some 200 families from the barren farmlands of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota chose FDR’s 1935 New Deal challenge to re-launch their lives in Alaska as farmers. They became the hope of a nation wracked by the Great Depression in what reporters called a “socialist experiment.”

What was it like to be a colonist? We’ll learn from Gerry Keeling, one of the first babies born to the newly staked farmers. She grew up in Palmer and attended K-12 at the Palmer Territorial School. She has stories of community, hardship and even heartbreak – but maintains an abiding belief in the resilient spirit of the colony pioneers.

Joining the program in the second half is Eileen Probasco, chief planner for the Mat-Su Borough. Eileen moved to the Valley at age 13. She remembers when Palmer was the big town and Wasilla just a wide spot in the road. Eileen’s own family experienced the rapid growth in the Valley. Today, she wrestles professionally with the challenge to meet the needs of Alaska’s fastest growing community.

Join host Kathleen McCoy for a look at Mat-Su’s unique history and how that foundation shapes the valley today on Hometown, Alaska Wednesday at 2:00 pm.

LINKS:

BOOKS:

‘The Frontier in Alaska and the Matanuska Colony,’ by Orlando Miller, a history professor at University of Alaska Fairbanks, copyright 1975
‘Alaskan Group Settlement: The Matanuska Valley Colony,’ U.S. Dept. of Interior, Bureau of Land Management, 1950
‘We Shall Be Remembered,’ Evangeline Atwood, 1966
‘The Colorful Matanuska Valley,’ by Don Irwin, available for viewing at the Colony House Museum
‘Matanuska Colony – Sixty Years: The colonists and their legacy,’ by Brigitte Lively, available for viewing at the Colony House Museum
‘Matanuska Colony 75th Anniversary Scrap Book,” compiled by Lynette A. Lehn and Lorraine M. Kirker

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A Closer Look: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center at the Anchorage Museum

Photo by Chuck Choi.

This afternoon on A Closer Look, we’ll take an audio tour of the Anchorage Museum’s new Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center that opened in May. Center Director Aron Crowell will guide us through some of the exhibits as well as explain how they came to Anchorage from the Smithsonian’s Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C.

Len Anderson, KSKA – Anchorage

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Addressing Alaskans: Observations from the Walrus Islands in Bristol Bay

Walrus populations of Round Island. Photos courtesy of Terry Johnson.

Terry Johnson, a professor with the University of Alaska Seagrant Marine Advisory Program has been taking ecotour groups to the to view walrus populations in Bristol Bay for over decade. Based on his first-hand observations, Johnson shared his “Notes and Observations from the Walrus Island of Bristol Bay” at a Wildlife Wednesday lecture hosted by Alaska Zoo.

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Addressing Alaskans: Listening to Alaska

Encounters host, Richard Nelson shows the audience the equipment he uses when recording natural sounds in the wild. Photo by Lisa J. Seifert

Before heading up to Denali and Talkeetna for prime bird watching, the host and producer of Encounters, Richard Nelson stopped in Anchorage to meet some of his biggest fans and talk about how Encounters on Raven Radio in Sitka came to be. On Friday May 14 hundreds of Alaskans gathered inside and out the Campbell Creek Science Center to hear Richard Nelson speak about recording in the wild and “Listening to Alaska.”

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Addressing Alaskans: Both sides of Ballot Measure 1

Creators of the initiative are calling it the “Anti-Corruption Act.” Meanwhile opponents of Proposition 1 have dubbed it the “Alaska Gag Law.” No matter what we call it, Alaskans will vote on Proposition 1 this August 24. On this week’s Addressing Alaskans, KSKA presents a panel discussion hosted by the Resource Development Council on May 6th with opposing sides on Proposition 1.

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Anchorage Museum’s new Arctic Studies Center offers never before seen objects

The Anchorage Museum offered an advance peek at its new Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center due to open later this month. The new, permanent gallery features hundreds of Alaska Native artifacts from the Smithsonian Collection and includes many objects never before displayed. KSKA’s Len Anderson went on today’s pre-opening tour.

Len Anderson, KSKA – Anchorage

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Addressing Alaskans: Terrorist Financing

After a 26 year career in the federal government intelligence and law enforcement communities, John Cassara is considered an expert in anti-money laundering and terrorist financing. In his talk,” Terrorist Financing: The War Behind the War on Terror” recorded at the Alaska World Affairs Council on April 23rd, Cassara focuses on areas of money laundering in the Middle East, the growing threat of alternative remittance systems and forms of trade-based money laundering.

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Addressing Alaskans: Killer Asteroids

Ever wonder what is fact versus fiction when watching the infamous Star Wars trilogy? February through April Alaskans poured into Anchorage Museum to learn more about the science and imagination behind Stars Wars. In addition various interactive Stars Wars exhibits, the museum hosted the Jedi Night Lecture Series. The series concluded with UAA Astronomer, Andy Puckett who spoke on “Killer Asteroids: How We Know What We know.”

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Hometown, Alaska: Public Art in Anchorage

A huge new public art project will become a keynote of downtown Anchorage when it is unveiled next week in front of the Anchorage Museum at Rasmusen Center. ‘Habitat’ (pictured right) is 24 feet tall and 37,000 pounds, and consists of a series 57 of stainless steel boxes in the shape of a seated man. What does it mean? Why is it important? And what do we want from public art? Participate in the conversation with host Charles Wohlforth on this week’s Hometown, Alaska Wednesday at 2:00 pm.

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