THE MAGAZINE OF THE ALASKA HUMANITIES FORUM SUMMER 2020 Encounter between Alutiiq and Deaf cultures The role of the arts in a time of pandemic History made visible in Sitka and Juneau A positive vision for self-governance LETTER FROM THE CEO ast month, George Floyd was laid to rest. His name is still being spoken by protesters worldwide, protesters who have L 421 W. 1st Ave., Suite 200, Anchorage, AK 99501 not rested, who will not rest in their pursuit (907) 272-5341 | www.akhf.org of justice. These protestors line the streets of Minneapolis, streets George Floyd walked every BOARD OF DIRECTORS day, and they line the streets of more distant Moira K. Smith, Chair, Anchorage places: of New York and DC, of London and Kristi Williams, Vice Chair, Anchorage São Paulo, and here in Alaska from Kotzebue to April Albeza, Treasurer, Anchorage Ketchikan. Thea Agnew Bemben, Interim Secretary George Floyd’s murder is unprecedented and Member-at-Large, Anchorage for what it has set off around the country Bruce Botelho, Douglas and around world, but it is not unique in its Anne Hanley, Fairbanks demonstration of the deadly consequences of Aldona Jonaitis, Fairbanks systemic and institutional racism embedded in Cordelia Qig• ñaaq Kellie, Anchorage our society. The Forum cannot Peter Metcalfe, Juneau Nearly twenty years ago, three Alaskan Laci Michaud, Anchorage teenagers targeted Alaska Natives in downtown fight racism Judith Owens-Manley, Anchorage Anchorage with premeditated and racially Don Rearden, Anchorage motivated drive-by paintball attacks. The without first Sheri Skelton, Anchorage incident provoked a statewide response that Jeannine Stafford-Jabaay, Hope led the Alaska Advisory Committee to the recognizing that Kathleen Tarr, Anchorage U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to hold Sharon Thompson, Anchorage community forums and produce a bipartisan we are part of this Mead Treadwell, Anchorage report, “Racism’s Frontier: The Untold Story of Elizabeth Qaulluq Cravalho, Discrimination and Division in Alaska.” system... Past Chair, Kotzebue, ex officio That report included recommendations to promote change—recommendations that led to STAFF the creation of some of the Alaska Humanities Forum’s longest standing programs: Kameron Perez-Verdia, President & CEO the Sister School Exchange and the Educator Cross Cultural Immersion and also Megan Cacciola, Director of Programs deeply influenced the direction of Leadership Anchorage, which had been founded Amanda Dale, Education Program Manager only a few years earlier. The work of those programs has inspired additional efforts Nancy Hemsath, Operations Manager and Board Liaison to promote equity and inclusion: the Creating Cultural Competence (C3) program Chuck Herman, Youth Program Manager for rural educators and the Tengluni program for rural youth. Erica Khan, Education Cultural Specialist The work we are doing today is the direct result of the work that people did Zach Lane, Education Program Coordinator nineteen years ago in response to an incident that forced us, for the moment, to Ted Leonard, CFO contend with systemic racism. In 2001, Alaskans chose to harness that momentary Kari Lovett, Program Manager attention and energy, channeling the momentum into a sustainable framework for Emily Lucy, Youth Program Coordinator change. They were playing the long game: they understood that cultural norms and George Martinez, Director of Leadership perceptions need to shift in order to see long-term, lasting social change. and Youth Programs The moment we find ourselves in now shows us just how much work there is Jann D. Mylet, Director of Development and Communications yet to do, and just how long that game is. Reading “Racism’s Frontier” today, we Lisa Ragland, Education Program Coordinator can see many ways that the report has not aged all that well. It seems to equate all Sarah Richmond, Alaska Fellow experiences of racism in Alaska, chalking them up to a rural/urban divide and Kirstie Lorelei Willean, Education Program Manager failing to acknowledge Black experiences, Filipino experiences, Latinx experiences, Cheryl Williams, Youth Program Associate Samoan experiences, and all the many distinct experiences of systemic racism that show up in Alaska. FORUM MAGAZINE STAFF We, the Alaska Humanities Forum, cannot fight racism without first recognizing Jann D. Mylet, Editor that we are part of this system and reflecting on how we are complicit in Dean Potter, Art Director preventing change. We are committed to starting this work from the inside and Contributors playing the long game as we pursue our vision of a culturally diverse, economically Brendan Jones, Clara Barton, Melissa Silugngataanit’sqaq Borton, Debra vibrant, and equitable Alaska where people are engaged, informed, and connected. McKinney, Maisie Thomas, Joe Yelverton, An Alaska where Black lives matter. Watch us. Work with us. Persevere. Wendy Willis, Kim Stafford, Melissa Shaginoff, Simonetta Mignano, Kevin Patnik, Brian Adams Warmly, Kameron Perez-Verdia President & CEO 2 ALASKA HUMANITIES FORUM SUMMER 2020 THE MAGAZINE OF THE ALASKA HUMANITIES FORUM SUMMER 2020 4 GRANT REPORT 24 The Future 38 Togetherings 14 Miles Our Past Creates Radio creates a place Artists consider distance and the role A conversation with Don Rearden, to gather thoughts, together of the arts in a time of pandemic author of the Alaska pandemic novel The Raven’s Gift 40 LEADERSHIP ANCHORAGE 10 Connecting “I Always Knew Across Cultures 30 The Founders I Wanted To Come Back” An encounter between Alutiiq We are Waiting For Jason Metrokin reflects on education, and Deaf cultures results in an Perhaps now we can set forth a diverse thinking, and leadership enlightening friendship positive vision for self-governance 43 AFTER IMAGE 14 LEADERSHIP 32 KINDLING CONVERSATION Alaska Water Wars Salmon Fellows Pandemic Poems Sarah James of Arctic Village Move Forward What impacts our capacity to care, as Participants reflect on the good, the individuals, and as a society? ABOVE: Sitka Home Mission, 1887. On the bad, and the experimental left is Austin Hall, built by missionaries and 34 Toward Solvency students in 1882 with materials from an 18 DONOR PROFILE and Wholeness abandoned cannery at Old Sitka. On the right Not Here to Sit The Forum and NEH help is Kelly Hall. PRESBYTERIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Behind a Desk human ities and cultural organizations SHELDON JACKSON COLLECTION Charles “Lew” Tobin weather the pandemic COVER: “Architecture of Return, Escape,” 20 GRANT REPORT 36 From Acknowledgment by Sitka artist Nicholas Galanin, 2020. Deer A Sense of Place to Action hide, pigment, and acrylic. Collection of the Projects in Sitka and Juneau bring How can Land Acknowledgment Metropolitan Museum of Art; installed at complex histories to the public meaningfully contribute to equality? Peter Blum Gallery, New York City. FORUM is a publication of the Alaska Humanities Forum, supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, with the purpose of increasing public understanding of and participa- tion in the humanities. The views expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the editorial staff, the Alaska Humanities Forum, or the National Endowment for the Humanities. Subscriptions may be obtained by contributing to the Alaska Humanities Forum or by contacting the Forum. No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission. ©2020. ALASKA HUMANITIES FORUM SUMMER 2020 3 n November of 1997, the editor of I would once again write about Frankenstein—specifi- the Daily Sitka Sentinel assigned me an cally, 14 Miles, her 37-episode series shot in Sitka, which article on a young filmmaker in Sitka examines everything from Sitka’s secondhand store to named Ellen Frankenstein. It was my the annual cabaret; the local quilting klatches to what third or fourth major assignment since it’s like to be queer on the island. In one episode, to cre- taking the job at the newspaper. I had ate a new awareness, Frankenstein attached a Go-Pro left college in New York City, taking to a wheelchair so that viewers could see what it’s like a Greyhound across the country, and to travel down a Sitka sidewalk from that perspective. ending up in Alaska, where I intended A compilation of the episodes shown by Alaska Pub- to write a great novel. I lived on the lic Media has over 200,000 views, and the Anchorage Sheldon Jackson Campus, working at Museum displays episodes on a continual loop in their the salmon hatchery for room and board. I had become, atrium. at the age of 19, one of two reporters in town. “My goal from the beginning was to do a kind of col- Over coffee at the Backdoor Café, Frankenstein dis- lage of a time and a place, like poems or short stories,” cussed her Sundance-nominated film Carved From the Frankenstein said. IHeart alongside her co-producer and friend, Louise When we did our second interview, in March over Brady. The film intertwines the story of a Tsimpsean video-phone, things had changed. COVID-19 had landed totem carver in Craig who loses his son to drugs, and in Alaska. Frankenstein was particularly interested in the the community eager to help him heal. Both carver and role of Alaska artists in the moment—and also suggested community use art to see themselves through trauma. that 14 Miles might reboot in an effort to better under- Over twenty years later, FORUM magazine asked if stand—and help others understand—the present moment. 4 ALASKA HUMANITIES FORUM SUMMER 2020 “As artists at this time, we can be the mirror, the door, the win- dow,” Frankenstein told me. “Right now, we might be a door, cre- ating a way for people to walk through these tough times. That’s always been something that has interested me.” Compared to other states and the rest of the world, Alaska has been relatively untouched by the virus. As the rest of the country has 129,000 deaths at press time, Alaska has had just twelve, with fewer than 800 cases.