Chatter Marks

EP 033 How a lifetime in philanthropy led to archiving the Black experience in Alaska with Julie Varee

Julie Varee is the Community Outreach Archivist at the Anchorage Museum. So much of her life has been dedicated to helping others. She grew up in a household — back in Gary, Indiana — that put a lot of energy into philanthropy. In fact, her earliest memory is of tagging along with her mom and her grandmother to help the elderly people in her neighborhood. That sense of purpose and charity would define her professional life well into adulthood. 
Julie got out of philanthropy and development at 60 years old and began pursuing another career with the Anchorage Museum. The first exhibition she worked on was "Black Lives in Alaska: Journey, Justice, Joy." It’s told through archival photos and collected materials, and showcases the richness and resilience of Black lives in Alaska. Julie says that exhibitions like this one can help people be more open to the stories of other people’s lives and experiences, that their way of experiencing the world is not the only way or the best way or even the right way.  

EP 032 Kelp farming in Kodiak with Chloe Ivanoff

Chloe Ivanoff is new to the kelp farming industry in Kodiak. She says that because it’s such a new industry in the United States, there’s always something to learn or something to innovate. The process of kelp farming, for instance, is still being tweaked. Kelp spores are gathered locally and brought to a lab where they’re grown. When they’re ready for a larger grow environment, the kelp is set in the ocean along a group of grow lines. However, once they’re in the water, they’re at the mercy of the elements. Unlike agricultural farming, kelp is grown in its natural environment, without constant surveillance. After it’s harvested and processed, the kelp, or seaweed, is generally used in food products like seasonings, sauces or even made into noodles. 
Above all, Chloe wants to be a lifelong learner. With kelp farming, that means being adaptable. So, if a storm hits or her grow lines become tangled, she needs to go to work, regardless of time or weather. She looks to other local farms for understanding and inspiration. For what works and what doesn’t.

EP 031 The podcast that saved his life with Ralph Sara

Ralph Sara is the host of the Anonymous Eskimo Recovery Podcast, a show that features conversations with guests who are working through alcohol and drug addiction, many of which are Indigenous People. Ralph’s heritage and his past informs many of these discussions. He grew up in Bethel, where he says that almost every household on his street was affected by alcoholism,  including his own. That’s where his relationship with alcohol started, with his own family. He says it goes back to his first memory and his only memory of his father. The memory goes like this: He’s at his dad’s funeral and his sister is holding him. He’s looking down at his dad in his coffin and he asks his sister if he’s sleeping. She tells him, no, that dad went to heaven. It’s a vivid and heartbreaking image of how alcohol was introduced to Ralph because his dad drowned while he was drinking and the result affected his entire family.
Before he got sober, Ralph said that his life was a revolving door. He would go on binges and lose everything and then he would get sober. Sick of the revolving door, he went to residential treatment. In total, he went three times and during the last time he thought of doing a podcast. It would be something that would hold him accountable to his own sobriety. He would have conversations with other people about their stories of addiction and sobriety, conversations that could help other people going through the same thing understand that they’re not alone. And so The Anonymous Eskimo Recovery Podcast was born.

EP 030 Creating podcasts about Alaskans with Alice Qannik Glenn, Ralph Sara and Daniel Buitrago

In this episode, Cody talks with three fellow Alaskan podcasters about what it's like creating podcasts about Alaskans. Alice Qannik Glenn hosts “Coffee & Quaq,” a show that celebrates and explores contemporary Native life in urban Alaska. In it, Alice sits down with Alaska Native thinkers, doers and changemakers to discuss issues that affect Alaska Native people, their culture and their environments. She also hosts and produces “Resolve,” a show about missing and murdered Indigenous women in Alaska, and also “Alaska Natives on the Frontline,” which highlights the adaptability and resilience of the Inupiat people in the face of climate change. Daniel Buitrago co-hosts the “Alaska Wild Project,” a show that gives an inside look at Alaska outdoor lifestyles. Ralph Sara is the host of the “Anonymous Eskimo Recovery Podcast,” a show that features conversations with guests who are working through alcohol and drug addiction, many of which are Indigenous People.

EP 029 Writing about a life spent living off the land with Seth Kantner

Author Seth Kantner was born and raised in Alaska, among the animals and the wilderness, and his writing reflects that. It draws from personal experience, often dealing with themes that involve animals, the environment and living off the land. He says that when he was a kid, his family was entirely attached to the seasons and food from the land. Both decided what they would do every day, be it hunting, fishing, picking berries or chopping wood. Seth continues to live this way of life. In the winter, he hunts for caribou and chops wood for the fire that heats his cabin and in the summer he works as a commercial fisherman. Writing, he says, is what he does after he’s done working for the day.
Seth says that he’s meticulous with his writing, that keeping the messiness and the irreverence and the beauty all mixed together is important to expressing an authentic image of remote Alaska. One that shows the reality of living in harsh, inhospitable environments, not just the beauty of things like the Northern Lights and flawless wilderness. Having grown up on the land, and remaining so close to it today, he’s watched how much everything has changed as a result of human encroachment and climate change. His writing details these observations and what it’s like to have, as he says, modernity bumping up against his life.
Photo by Kiliii Yuyan

EP 028 Teen Climate Communicators on talking about climate change

The Teen Climate Communicators program is hosted by the Anchorage Museum and offers activities and conversations around the past, present and future relationships between people and the land. Those involved, learn about how climate change is affecting Alaska’s diverse landscapes by hearing from Museum and community experts. Climate change is an ongoing conversation—one that is constantly evolving. So, to talk about it responsibly and thoughtfully, requires an ongoing education. That includes citing credible sources and learning about new ways to convey the effects of climate change. 
In the following conversation, Cody is joined by four Teen Climate Communicators. Sofie Chisholm, Eleanor Poe, Emma Ellison and Emma Haas.

EP 027 How mapping affects our perspective and understanding of land and our place in the world

Joining this conversation are artists Stuart Hyatt, Dan Mills and Christina Seely. Stuart uses sound to understand our relationship with the natural world. Dan uses maps in paintings and collages as a way to explore ideas of historic and current events, including issues like colonialism. Christina uses photography to address the complexities of both built and natural global systems. All of their work—Stuart, Dan and Christina—is featured in the Anchorage Museum’s exhibition “Counter Cartographies: Living the Land,” which challenges our traditional understanding of what a map is.
Often, maps are viewed as objective and above reproach, but maps—just like any piece of art—come with the bias of their makers. They can be made with the intent of acquiring land and resources, as has historically been the case. So, it’s important to consider how they affect our perspective and understanding of land and our place in the world. It’s also important to consider ways we can re-imagine the traditional idea of mapping because an image can’t always document or express the reality of a place.
Artwork by Dan Mills

EP 026 How Alaska is contributing to the global conversation surrounding climate change with Brian Brettschneider

Brian Brettschneider is a climatologist and a research scientist. He collects data and analyzes it. And within that mountain of data, he believes many of the secrets of the world exist. But extracting meaning from all that information is a big challenge. It takes time, education and technology. 
With its many research institutions located in arctic environments—including universities and weather stations—Alaska is important in the global conversation surrounding climate change. Brian says that, in a lot of ways, the state is a research laboratory with a collection of intellectual firepower located in close proximity to locations that are experiencing quick and dramatic changes. Changes that affect our ways of life, societal infrastructure, transportation and cultural identity.