Wildlife biologist Caroline Van Hemert discusses her book The Sun Is A Compass, A 4,000-Mile Journey into The Alaskan Wilds. Caroline Van Hemert has written an incredible book, from the first paragraph to the last. At this event, she will discuss writing The Sun Is a Compass and offer a slide presentation. The Sun Is a Compass has received glowing reviews "A riveting book full of birds, danger, beauty, and wonder. Van Hemert’s intrepid travels with her equally adventurous husband left me...

Dan L. Walker presents Letters from Happy Valley, Memories of an Alaska Homesteader’s Son Fifty years after leaving the family homestead in Happy Valley, Alaska, Dan Walker unexpectedly received a shoe box full of letters penned in 1958 by his parents as they traveled from Sugar Tree Ridge, Ohio, to build a new life on the Last Frontier. In Letters from Happy Valley, Memories of an Alaska Homesteader’s Son, Dan Walker rediscovers and honors his Alaska roots and the life lived before his...

Carla Williams presents Wildcat Women, Narratives of Women Breaking Ground in Alaska’s Oil and Gas Industry. The book, Wildcat Women documents the life and labor of pioneering women in the oil fields of Alaska’s North Slope. It profiles 14 women while exploring an untold history of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. “These trailblazers faced down challenges on and off the job: they drove buses over ice roads through snowstorms; wrestled with massive pipes; and operated dangerous valves that put...

In the new book, We Have Not Stopped Trembling Yet, Letters to My Filipino-Athabascan Family, E.J.R. David shares intimate letters written to his Filibaskan (Koyukon Athabascan and Filipino) family. In these letters, he addresses the need to nurture connectedness, strength, freedom, and love, in order to heal the injuries endured from historical and contemporary trauma and oppression. E. J. R. David is Associate Professor of Psychology at UAA and Director of the Alaska Native Community...

At the event "On the Frontiers of an Inner Life: Kathleen W. Tarr presents Thomas Merton's 1968 Journey to Alaska", author Kathleen W. Tarr discusses her newly released book, We Are All Poets Here (VP&D House). Part memoir, part biography, with Thomas Merton as the spiritual guide, the quest to seek an interior life amidst a chaotic, confused, fragmented world is explored. Trappist Thomas Merton (1915-1968) lived as a sequestered monastic for 27 years. However, he wrote over fifty...

Chantelle Pence, Fred John Jr., Karen Evanoff and Floyd Guthrie, discuss the task of recovering our human nature, as a collective people. Indigenous perspectives are often not recognized or acknowledged in modern day life, yet, they provide guidance and pathways for walking as a true human being, which is everyone's birthright. Chantelle Pence is author of Homestead Girl: The View From Here, a patchwork quilt of poetic essays that covers the human condition, from the...

Alaskan author Lizbeth Meredith shares her emotional international journey to rescue her kidnapped daughters.  Within her quest, the unveiled truth within abusive relationships is explored as she traverses the challenges of her story, mirroring her own childhood experiences. Joining Lizbeth Meredith is Tradition Bearer Elsie Boudreau. Elsie Boudreau is Yupik from the Village of S. Mary. She was the first to bring a civil lawsuit against Father James Poole and a key figure in the film, The...

In his memoir, Sandra's Hands, A Reflective Journey from the Vietnam War to the Siege of Wounded Knee, Paul Berg explores his experiences in the Vietnam War and working as a teacher on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. After 1973, when tensions on the reservation exploded and culminated in the 72 day siege of the village of Wounded Knee, Paul Berg finds himself drawn into the conflict as he strives to provide quality education to his...

Miranda Forner presents Can I Do This, a collection of essays covering her experiences becoming an independent, single mother in Alaska. Born and raised in Alaska, Miranda has lived in Sitka, Ketchikan, Petersburg, and Kodiak. She is a Cub Scout Den Leader and has graduated UAA with a major in English and a minor in creative Writing. Joining Miranda is her son, Charlie, who shares his experiences with his mom in Cub Scouts.

Alaskan journalist, playwright, and documentary-maker, David Holthouse shares his work; discusses finding, reporting and writing stories; and fields questions about how writing goes When the Going Gets Weird, the Weird Turn Pro. (Hunter S. Thompson. Skin heads, drugs, street life, rape and good writing are discussed at tbis event. Towards the end of his talk he recites Outting the Bogeyman, his personal essay that is the theme of the play Stalking the Boogeyman.

Alaskan authors Charles Wohlforth, Debra McKinney and Kaylene Johnson-Sullivan discuss he numerous challenges faced in co-writing another’s life story. Charles Wohlforth co-authored To Russia With Love, An Alaskan’s Journey (Victor Fischer); Debra McKinney co-authored Beyond the Bear How I Learned to Live and Love Again after Being Blinded by a Bear (Dan Bigley), and Kaylene Johnson-Sullivan co- authored Our Perfect Wild: Ray and Barbara Bane's Journeys and the Fate of the Far North....

Mike Gordon, of Chilkoot Charlie's fame, shares stories about his life, Alaska, mountain climbing and personal challenges. From arriving in Seward in 1953, to creating an internationally known nightclub, to summiting the highest mountains on six continents, to finishing a Master’s degree at Alaska Pacific University, to keeping a marriage of thirty-two years, life seems idyllic. However, underneath his quite public successes are stories that acknowledge the many low places in his life and...

Peter Dunlap-Shohl’s graphic novel, My Degeneration: A Journey Through Parkinson’s explores what it is like living with Parkinson’s and the numerous mental and physical changes brought on by the disease. Besides being a memoir, it explores new ways one can view the world and have a decent quality of life with the disease. According to author Tom Kizzia, Peter Dunlap-Shohl “tells the tale of his fast-changing reality with compassion and wicked humor, leaping from one crazily inventive work...

Chuck Sassara, a longtime Alaskan, former legislator, pilot, and businessman, shares his life and adventures at this event which also features his book Chuck Sassara’s Alaska – Propellers, Politics and People. From his arrival in 1955 with his wife Ann, through Alaska statehood and resource development, Chuck’s stories are told with humor, excitement, adventure and daring. His memoir is an Alaskan treasure.

Kaylene Johnson-Sullivan discusses her book Our Perfect Wild Ray and Barbara Bane's Journeys and the Fate of the Far North. And joining Kaylene, via Skype, is Ray Bane. The book, Our Perfect Wild, examines the life of Ray and Barbara Bane who in the 1960s worked as teachers in Barrow and Wainwright, Alaska. A decade later, Ray’s dedication to the Alaska Native subsistence lifestyle leads him to work for the National Park Service as a park planner for Gates of the Arctic National Park...

At this event, Dick Griffith shares stories and photos of his journeys and his exploration and mapping of canyons and creeks in Chihuahua, Mexico in 1952. According to Jon Krakauer, “Griffith is simply afflicted with an irresistible inclination to attempt what others say can’t be done. When asked what possesses a man to repeatedly strike out alone across hundreds of miles of rugged, lonely country, he replies, Every so often, it’s just time to walk.”

Ioana Lobontiu explores in writing and photography her return to Romania, her childhood memories and the overall theme “reality in relation to nostalgia”. Her UAA Honors class project with Prof. Don Rearden, from which this presentation is taken, consisted of 5 essays about her home in Romania accompanied by photographs. According to Ioana, “The ultimate intention of this project is to explore the concept of individual nostalgia vis à vis places that on their own seem to have no...

Ioana Lobontiu explores in writing and photography her return to Romania, her childhood memories and the overall theme “reality in relation to nostalgia”. Her UAA Honors class project, from which this presentation is taken, consisted of 5 essays about her home in Romania accompanied by photographs. “The ultimate intention of this project is to explore the concept of individual nostalgia vis à vis places that on their own seem to have no significance. In other words, I hope to capture many...

Steve Heimel has been a senior reporter and producer for the Alaska Public Radio Network and host of its call-in show, Talk of Alaska. At this event, his memoir in progress and insights about life, journalism and people will be shared. Excerpts from his memoir in progress (till 56:35) is followed by a Q & A period. Note, gaps in sound are due to lack of microphone usage.

Linda Dunegan explains the Whistleblower Act, describes what happened to her career, and encourages people to continue to stand up for what is right. Lt Col. Ret. Linda Dunegan, PhD, MS, MHSA, MMO, MAC is author of the book The Price of Whistleblowing. Linda Dunegan was a Medical Administrative Officer. The Medical Readiness Officer, Credentials Manager, Safety Officer, and Chief of Administrative Services in the Alaska Air National Guard. During her 27-year military career, she became one...

Former Anchorage mayor Rick Mystrom discusses his books My Wonderful Life with Diabetes and the book What Should I Eat? Everyone is invited to learn about diabetes and how health challenges that can be overcome. (The presentation accompanying the event is also posted in iTunes)

Former Anchorage mayor Rick Mystrom presents his books My Wonderful Life with Diabetes and the book What Should I Eat? Everyone is invited to learn about diabetes and how health challenges that can be overcome. (The audio podcast of the event is also posted in iTunes)

The book, The Stolen Years, is the story of John Wight, an Anchorage pilot originally from South Africa, who is falsely accused of espionage in Madagascar. How he survives seven years of imprisonment, from 1977-1984, is explained in this captivating book written by his wife, Jean Wight. Currently, John Wight is Associate Professor of Aviation Technology at UAA.

The book, The Stolen Years, is the story of John Wight, an Anchorage pilot originally from South Africa, who is falsely accused of espionage in Madagascar. How he survives seven years of imprisonment, from 1977-1984, is explained in this captivating book written by his wife, Jean Wight. Currently, John Wight is Associate Professor of Aviation Technology at UAA.

Dave Atcheson discusses his memoir Dead Reckoning, Navigating a Life on the Last Frontier, Courting Tragedy on its High Seas. “It’s a story in which college students and “fish hippies” work in canneries alongside survivalists, rednecks, religious freaks, and deckhands with damning secrets in dangerous waters, driven by the need to feed an insatiable appetite for adventure.” Dave Atcheson works at Kenai Peninsula College. He is also the author of Hidden Alaska: Bristol Bay and Beyond and...