Chatter Marks

EP 036 Atomic Landscapes with Photographer Ben Huff

Ben Huff believes that photography is gloriously incomplete, that it has the potential to start a conversation, but it takes the viewer to finish it — to bring their own history and their own knowledge to the table and fill in the blanks. That’s one of the things that’s wonderful about photography, he says, it prompts a narrative. It introduces a concept or an idea for further examination.
Much of his work is interested in exploited landscapes, in the things that we’ve brought to places. His recent book, Atomic Island, details the U.S. military occupation of Adak Island during World War II and the aftermath of their departure that left so much abandoned infrastructure and debris.

EP 035 When a story gives itself to you with James Dommek, Jr.

James Dommek, Jr. grew up in Kotzebue playing basketball. Most kids did — it was and still is a big part of the rural Alaska experience. In the summertime, they played all night because the sun was out. And in the wintertime — despite the cold and ball going flat — they would still play. In 1996, James moved to Anchorage, where he continued playing basketball for a while, but eventually moved on to playing music. He became as obsessive about music as he was basketball and, after high school, he joined a rock band called The Whipsaws. And that’s where he spent his 20s, playing drums all up and down the Alaska road system at almost every bar that had a stage. He says that he realized he was a storyteller from those days on the road. If something memorable happened, he would be asked to retell the story because people had a tendency to listen when he spoke.
In 2019, James and his producers released Midnight Son, a true crime podcast that explores the story of Teddy Kyle Smith, who went from being an actor to a fugitive in a quick succession of tragic events. What followed was a case that involved Alaska Native folklore and the United States justice system. In the podcast, James talks about how this story gave itself to him — how it showed its neck. So, for two years he and his producers worked on Midnight Son — collecting interviews, listening to courtroom audio, writing and just generally wrapping their minds around the case. James says that he was genuinely obsessed with Teddy’s story and that if he didn’t tell it, he would regret it for the rest of his life.

EP 034 Building an Alaska-grown business with Jennifer Loofbourrow

Jennifer Loofbourrow is the owner of Alpine Fit, an Alaska-based outdoor clothing company that specializes in offering a variety of fit options for different body types. Jennifer’s active, outdoor lifestyle influenced her decision to start the brand. From 2004 to 2009, she kayaked the outer islands of Alaska's southeast coastline. In that time, she gained an intimate understanding of what basic gear is needed on those trips and how it’s important to consider things like weather and the duration of the trip. She’s actually been told that she’s the bullseye of her target audience. 
She says that she lives her life like it’s an endurance sport, so finding a balance between work and rest is important. That balance hasn’t always been easy to find, but she’s getting better at it. 

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