Northern Soundings: Alaska in Conversation

This episode, I’m joined by Bil Paul, author of Awaiting the Sun. Paul’s book considers the often-overlooked Aleutian Campaign of World War II. With his father having served in this conflict, he brings a personal connection to the story, viewing it from the service-members perspective. As a seasoned freelance writer, he also drew from historical … Continue reading Awaiting the Sun: Bil Paul

In the three months following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, the Anti-Defamation League reports Anti-Semitic incidents in our country leapt 360%. Despite the rising tensions and their past experiences of anti-Jewish riots in Libya, my guests this episode, Penina Solomon and Dr. David Gerbi, insist they are hopeful for a more peaceful future. … Continue reading If I Forget You, Libya: Penina Solomon & Dr. David Gerbi

My guest this show is University of Alaska Fairbanks historian Tyler C. Kirk. His book After the Gulag: A History of Memory in Russia’s Far North, was recently published by Indiana University Press. Kirk will be talking about the people and policies featured in his book Thursday evening. 

You are what you eat. Just ask Dr. Matthew Wooller, a paleoecologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The eating habits of a mammoth some 14 millennia ago allowed Wooller and his colleagues to map the animal’s journey across Alaska. Wooller also shares how his concerns for student mental and emotional health stirred him to … Continue reading Matthew Wooller: A Life’s Subtle Path

I continue my conversation with Jon Holmgren. Besides being an inventor, machinist, geophysicist and mountaineer, Jon is something of a philosopher. So says his friend and colleague Matthew Sturm in his book Finding the Arctic. Jon’s shop is the site for great discussions. To stimulate the conversations, one of the books Jon often hands out to … Continue reading Jon Holmgren Pt.2

My guest in the next two shows is Jon Holmgren. I've known about Jon ever since I first talked with snow scientist Matthew Sturm years ago. Matthew in his book Finding the Arctic describes Jon as a machinist, miner, geophysicist, traveler and arctic philosopher. As you'll discover, that's a pretty fair description

As part of this past UAF Summer Session's Tall Timber series, I spoke with Tom Bundtzen. Many know him as a research geologist as well as an avid mining historian. After retiring as Senior Economic Geologist for the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Survey (ADGGS), Tom formed Pacific Rim Geological Consulting, Inc. The state … Continue reading Mining History: Tom Bundtzen

Each summer I talk with fascinating Fairbanksans through UAF Summer Sessions‘ “Tall Timber” series. One of those figures this past summer was Wendell Shiffler. Wendy, as he is known, has spent a lifetime relishing life and the outdoors. He’s also spent a good deal of time communicating those passions to young people. In 1981 he … Continue reading Sharing Resilience: Wendell Shiffler

Banning books has a disturbing history in our country. Greg Hill is probably best known locally through his weekly columns in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Parents may know of Greg's work starting the Guys and Gals Read program in the elementary schools, which engages young readers with books that combine vivid images with exciting plots, … Continue reading The Right to Read: Greg Hill

On this show I talk with psychologist Stephen Parker. Parker has been a practicing therapist in Fairbanks for decades. More than twenty years ago, in response to a series of coronary troubles including a massive heart attack, he built a series of stone structures on his property as therapy. Perhaps the most striking of these is … Continue reading Finding One’s Way: Stephen Parker

In the summers University of Alaska Fairbanks' Summer Sessions hosts a series of conversations. It's called “Tall Timbers” and salutes Fairbanks residents who have made an indelible mark on the community. One of the people tapped this past summer is Terry Reichardt. Over the years she has contributed to Fairbanks in a number of ways. … Continue reading Cultivating Community: Terry Reichardt

Dr. Gary Laursen was one of the guest speakers at last month’s Fairbanks Fungi Fest. Laursen taught biology and mycology for decades at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He's traveled the world studying fungi and leads the High Latitude Mycological Research Institute. He has also authored a number of books, including Alaska's Mushrooms: a Wide … Continue reading Dr. Gary Laursen: Elevating a Kingdom’s Standing

I first met Avis Wanda McClinton on-line. Three times a week a small group of people gather via Zoom and sit in silence and then share concerns and thoughts. For anyone familiar with the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, that practice will sound familiar. Avis, who is an African-American Quaker, lives near Philadelphia, PA. … Continue reading Avis Wanda McClinton: Unearthing Disquieting Truths

Olivia Hill's memoir Travel North Black Girl examines her past in Kansas City and her time in a small Native Village on Prince William Sound. Hill lived in Fairbanks for more than a decade and studied at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Fairbanks author and columnist David James profiled Hill here, and reviewed her memoir … Continue reading Olivia Hill: Portals to Self Discovery

Fairbanks roads are clearing of ice and snow. That means you'll find growing numbers of bicyclists pedaling alone or in packs around town and in the hills. Summer is bike season, but Simon Rakower, my guest today, and some other hard-core cyclists made a name for themselves by transforming the mountain bike into a vehicle … Continue reading The Cycler Within Cycles: Simon Rakower

Rev. Dr. Anna Frank photo: University of Alaska Fairbanks My guest this episode has a long and distinguished life and career. Anna Frank was born and raised in Old Minto. At 15, she left the village for Fairbanks and a 57 year-long marriage with Richard Frank. In 1975, after raising their four children, she worked … Continue reading It Takes a Village: Rev. Dr. Anna Frank

March is a busy time at the Birch Hill Recreation Area. This week sees the USSA Cross Country Ski Junior National Championships play out. Then later this month, the Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks hosts the annual Sonot Kkaazoot, a home-grown equinox event that celebrates springtime’s growing light and warmer temperatures. This episode I speak … Continue reading Grooming for Success: Tom Helmers

June Rogers was born in Alaska and raised in Fairbanks. Following school, she was an owner of a mechanical contracting company. But her passion, as you'll hear, has always been music and the arts. Both behind the scenes and in front of audiences she has made an indelible mark, as her Governor's Award bestowed from … Continue reading Human Connections in Music and Public Service: June Rogers

Jo Heckman, photo by Jake Poole Jo Heckman received two degrees from the University of Alaska Fairbanks: a BA and MBA in Business Administration. She forged a successful banking career in Alaska and, in fact, made history as our state's first woman bank President and CEO. She was tapped by Governor Sean Parnell to serve … Continue reading Banking on the Future

This show is the second part of a look at the immigrant experience in Alaska and the U.S. It draws on two different conversations. I spoke with Linda Thai, who is an immigrant, but also a Fairbanks therapist and educator who helps trauma sufferers, in 2018. I spoke with historian and bibliographer Ron Inouye back … Continue reading Acknowledging Contributions

I’ve been thinking about immigration lately and our country’s conflicted legacy of welcoming those from other parts of the globe seeking a better life here. This Northern Soundings episode draws from two previously aired conversations with Vietnamese refugee Linda Thai and Japanese American Ron Inouye, who had family members placed in internment camps during World … Continue reading Who is Welcome: Linda Thai & Ron Inouye

Corlis Taylor modeling one of her creations This week I talk with Corlis Taylor. While many in Fairbanks know her as a gifted fiber artist, she’s also enjoyed a long and distinguished public health career in Alaska that began in 1979 in Bethel as a Vista Volunteer. 

Bishop Otis McCormick At this time of year, I recall Jacob Marley's words to Scrooge: “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were all my business.” This week on Northern Soundings I talk with Bishop Otis McCormick whose work in Fairbanks embodies Dickens’ words.

Actors Stephan Wolftert and Dawn Stern of Decruit are back in Fairbanks. I talked with them several months ago, when they were in town, about applying Shakespeare’s texts, modern science and dramatic techniques to help heal veterans and others recovering from trauma. In this longer conversation, we discuss the process by which they create new … Continue reading Therapeutic Theatre

On this show I talk with Shirley Gordon; at nearly 100, she has seen much of Alaska's recent history, and even participated in it as the wife of William Gordon, the state's flying Episcopal bishop. A replica of his plane hangs on permanent display in the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitor Center. This episode is … Continue reading A Successful Life: Shirley Gordon

University of Alaska Fairbanks Director of Creative Writing Gerri Brightwell has been on my Northern Soundings wishlist for years. The publication this month of her latest novel Turnback Ridge seemed like the perfect occasion for discussing her life, her work, and her marriage to fellow author Ian C. Esstlemont. Brightwell has penned four novels, three … Continue reading Gerri Brightwell: Emigree and Writer

This is another conversation sprung from UAF's Summer Sessions‘ Tall Timbers series that saluted individuals who’ve made a difference in our community. Mary Shields was a natural for the list. She was the first woman to finish the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. She's also penned books for adults and kids and served as an … Continue reading Mary Shields: Musher, Author, Wilderness Advocate

Well, okay, Paul Taylor says he’s an entertainer not a crooner. But the former Green Beret, forensic economist, and dog musher also admits he’s most at home with a microphone in hand and in front of an audience. And I talk to the husband and wife team of DeCruit who recently visited Fairbanks giving workshops … Continue reading From Green Beret to Cabaret

This spring, I happened to run into Sally Smith.  Smith has a long track-record of public service. Not only did she represent Fairbanks in the Alaska House of Representatives from 1977 through 1983, when the Permanent Fund was established. She also served as Juneau's mayor. Additionally, she held posts in both and the Eagan and Sheffield … Continue reading Sally Smith: Permanently Engaged

For the last decade or so, I've been lucky to talk with notable individuals who have been shaped by their time at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Those conversations were part of UAF Summer Session's Legacy Lecture series. This year the program saluted Steve Frank, former UAF basketball star, local banker and businessman, and Alaska … Continue reading Steve Frank: Law-maker, Team Player and Coach

Lydia Violet Hartoonian returns to Fairbanks. That’s a first for this musician and activist who often tours, but hasn’t before returned to deepen the link between her and visited communities. She draws inspiration from the teachings of ecologist and Buddhist scholar Joanna Macy. She will lead a pair of engagements on Friday and Sunday in … Continue reading Return and Revisit

Carl Benson has a long track record with the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute. He first visited it in 1950, and joining its faculty a decade later. Matthew Sturm came up as a grad student to study with Carl in the 1980s, and is now part of the G.I. During the pandemic, I recorded … Continue reading Geophysical Tales

Last week, the PBS series Nova highlighted University of Alaska Museum of the North Director and paleontologist Pat Druckenmiller's work on Alaskan dinosaurs. Like most kids, I entered a dinosaur phase where I poured over books and collected toy dinosaurs. Unlike most kids, I never really emerged. In fact, one of my joys as a … Continue reading Northern Bones

On this episode, I talk with botanist Jan Dawe who heads up One Tree Alaska, a program that celebrates the boreal forest in relationship to the humans that live in, on and with it.  And painter and art historian Kesler Woodward has long attracted praise for his portraits of birch. Now, he is drawing inspiration … Continue reading The Boreal Forest and One Tree

Last week, a long-time creative icon of the Fairbanks theatre community died. Fairbanks Drama Association Executive Director Peggy MacDonald Ferguson succumbed to complications following a fall. She was 75.  To pay tribute to a woman who forged so many vital connections across Fairbanks and Alaska, I’m replaying our conversation that originally aired in 2019. Along … Continue reading Peggy Ferguson: A Vital Link

As we approach the depths of winter, many of us are casting about for a hobby to keep our minds and hands active amidst the cold and dark. My guest this show doesn't lack for interesting avocations. Bill Angell is a senior mining engineer at Ft. Knox Gold Mine, but he's also a bee-keeper and … Continue reading Honey, Value Added and Then Some

Charles Mason has been snapping images since he was eleven. In his long career, he has earned international awards, and he’s passed along his knowledge to generations of students at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He continues to explore the limits of his art, even if it means turning back to earlier times with “wet … Continue reading Serendipitous Visions

University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysicists Carl Benson and Matthew Sturm continue their discussions of Carl’s work in Greenland and Alaska. And the late Frank Soos recorded several book reviews earlier this year. This episode I include his look at Rachel Kushner’s The Hard Crowd.

Lydia Violet Harutoonian With divisive politics, climate change and a pandemic to worry about, it is difficult to see a positive way forward. But for musician, composer and teacher Lydia Violet Harutoonian imagination and creative presence offer a dependable ground from which to respond to these and other challenges. Harutoonian draws deeply from the thoughts … Continue reading Singing Truth to Power

Ronnie Rosenberg is known for her volunteer work in Fairbanks and with those in need. She has a number of skills to draw on. Trained as a nurse, she practiced in a war zone, and on the streets of New York. Later, she decided she needed other challenges and went to law school and practised … Continue reading A Broader Community of Life

We often hear about speaking truth to power. What isn’t often spoken is truth to the pain and suffering suicides leave in their wake. When pastor Jim Wisland’s son Erik took his own life Jim went in search of answers. Scripture, of course, but also other ancient texts. He then founded the Arctic Resource Center … Continue reading The Consolation of Words

Michelle Bartlett credit JR Ancheta Many, maybe all, of us get good ideas. Unfortunately, when a great notion strikes me, I quickly find ways it won’t work. That doesn’t seem to trouble University of Alaska Fairbanks Director of Summer Sessions and Lifelong Learning Michelle Bartlett. She combines a zest for life and learning with an … Continue reading Creative Learning

Credit: Karl Kowalski Writer Frank Soos was also a first-rate thinker, and he claimed his best ruminations took place on the ski trails or while biking. He was on his bicycle in Maine when an accident claimed his life. In tribute, I’m replaying a “Memory Lane” interview with Frank from two years ago.  Also, Frank … Continue reading Frank Soos: Alaskan Ruminator

Earlier this month, the University of Alaska Fairbanks bestowed on author Dan O’Neill an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters. I talk with Dan about his background and his published works, most famously The Firecracker Boys, but also The Last Giant of Beringia, A Land Gone Lonesome and the children’s book Stubborn Gal.

This is the third in a series of conversations between University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysicists Carl Benson and his former student and now colleague and friend Matthew Sturm. As earlier conversations made clear, Carl’s work in Greenland took place during rising tensions in the Cold War between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union. But his epic transects … Continue reading “A Sea of Ice and Snow”

Last week saw the 51st Earth Day. A year ago, I interviewed my guest this episode Rich Seifert along with Dave Norton about the event’s history. As I thought about this year’s Earth Day I realized Rich has a long career championing the ideas of sustainability through his work with the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ … Continue reading Existing Cooperatively

It is sometimes said it takes a village to raise a child. For some combat veterans, it takes a band of fellow vets, with the help of great literature, to heal from war and reenter society. I talk this episode with David Perkins who co-founded a local chapter of the Epic Warrior Training program. Also, … Continue reading Forming a Band of Brothers and Sisters

Some of the earliest records we have of ancient humans are the painting in caves. Retired University of Alaska Fairbanks Dean and painter, Todd Sherman discusses his art, those who influenced him, including Bill Berry who created the beloved mural in the Noel Wien Public Library, and the precarious state of the humanities in higher … Continue reading Ancient Traditions

Last Summer, during COVID lock-down, I recorded a series of conversations between University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute scientists Matthew Sturm and Carl Benson. Both men have made important contributions to our understanding of snow in high latitudes. Matthew was Carl’s grad student and over the years he heard about a long line of important … Continue reading Cold War in a Cold Place

A. P. McDonald is a Vietnam War Marine Corps veteran. He is also the owner of Parks Highway Service and Towing. I met him a year ago along with other participants and organizers of Epic Warrior Training. The program aims to help vets and active service members deal with the emotional burdens of war through … Continue reading War Classics