Feature Article
In the Spotlight: ALPS Past, Present, Future
Sitka’s own ALPS Federal Credit Union has been in business since 1960. As president and CEO Sandi Riggs explained, ALPS was originally connected with Sitka’s pulp mill – Alaska Lumber & Pulp (ALP) – hence the name.
Read MoreIn The Spotlight: Erika Apathy & BECCC
Erika Apathy has been Director of Betty Eliason Child Care Center since August of 2019. Some people might say, “What a time for her to pick!” The 28-year-old understands the challenges and rewards of providing high quality childcare.
Read MoreIn The Spotlight: Drama, Debate & Forensics
2021-22 marks the sixth year Christian Litten has coached Drama, Debate and Forensics (DDF) at Sitka High. “It’s one of the most rewarding experiences I could ever imagine,” and not unlike coaching a sports team.
Read MoreIn The Spotlight: Hohner Instruments
Sitkans who wish to sample or hear about the dulcet tones of Hohner musical instruments don’t have to go very far. Long time Sitka residents Gary Gouker and Michael Litman are both Hohner enthusiasts.
Read MoreIn The Spotlight: Little Shop of Horrors
September 23rd marks the beginning of the “breakneck speed” rehearsal period for “Little Shop of Horrors” – Sitka’s first full-scale musical theater production in nearly three years. The cast and crew is comprised of both Sitkans and musical theater professionals from the San Francisco Bay area.
Read MoreFood For Thought: Carbon Fees
We are in dire straits from global warming – with fires in the Pacific Northwest; Hurricane Ida hitting the Louisiana coast and then killing people in New Jersey and New York; flooding in the South and Midwest; and drought in the Southwest. All these climate-exacerbated misfortunes are already here, and most of us know someone in the Lower 48 who is affected.
Read MoreFood For Thought: Indoor Cats
If you have both a cat and a closed door in your home, it’s likely the former has tried to get through the latter — either by begging you with plaintive meows to open it, trying to scratch straight through the wood, or slipping through as soon as the door’s left ajar.
Read MoreArtist Profile: Rico Lanáat’ Worl
On July 30, 2021, the U.S. Postal Service is releasing “Raven Story” – a new “Forever” stamp designed by Southeast Alaska Tlingit artist Rico Lanáat’ Worl. Sitting at his computer in Sitka’s Sheldon Jackson Museum (he was artist-in-residence in mid-July), Worl shared how “Raven Story” came to be. A few years ago, Antonio Alcala, an…
Read MoreSitka Eats: The Fresh Fish
Having just spent time with family in California, I realized that (especially in the heat) we often found ourselves “going out for poké.” Imagine my surprise when I returned to Sitka and discovered that a new mobile food cart was advertising “poké bowls.”
Read MoreIn The Spotlight: Anna Prussian & The Medvejie Solstice Run
SHS sophomore Anna Prussian is looking forward to the 2021 Medvejie Solstice Run. While she’s been running track in Sitka since the sixth grade, Anna actually began running in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho in the second grade.
Read MoreIn The Spotlight: Armchair Travels May 2021
In 2013, Sitkan Michael Mausbach traveled to Thailand and spent five months there, during the “hot season” from January to May.
Read MoreFood For Thought: 51st Earth Day
The first Earth Day was April 22, 1970. Roughly 18,600 trips around the sun later, we see the vast effects of climate change. Just in the past year, we’ve seen hurricanes, forest fires, landslides, heat waves, coastal floods, a freeze in Texas, and human climate migrations – all heightened in an environment of Covid-19 and racial & economic injustice.
Read MoreArtist Profile: Jerrod Galanin
Jerrod Galanin was born in 1977. These days he lives with his wife Brit, nine-year-old Arya, ten-year-old Ruby and their four-month-old son. Their full house looks out over the ocean and other creatures who make their home on the ocean. That water and that wildlife are where Galanin gets much of his inspiration.
Read MoreIn The Spotlight: Sitka Tells Tales
When I spoke recently with filmmaker and documentarian Ellen Frankenstein, she explained, “Normally we do Sitka Tells Tales live in a small space in Sitka.” But in the Covid-19 environment, this local staple, like so many forms of art and social interaction, has had to adapt.
Read MoreIn The Spotlight: The Sitka Spelling Bee
I recently spoke with Jeff Budd and Kari Sagel about the long and distinguished history – and 2021 reincarnation – of the Sitka Spelling Bee. The 2021 Bee will take place on Thursday, Feb. 24th, and Bee organizers are actively looking for contestants.
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