61º North: The Love Issue | February 2016

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FEBRUARY 2016

Alice Rogoff / Publisher Maia Nolan-Partnow / Editorial Director Aaron Jansen / Creative Director Jamie Gonzales / Editor Viki Spiroska / Production Coordinator Joshua Genuino / Art Director Rejoy Armamento / Graphic Designer Kelly Day-Lewis / Layout STAFF WRITERS Bailey Berg, Kirsten Swann PHOTOGRAPHY Rejoy Armamento, Bailey Berg, Jamey Bradbury, Scott Dickerson, Kerry Tasker, Studio Ardent Photography SALES Joy Guest, Linda Gutierrez, Nick Humphreys, Tony Lewkowski, Meghan Mackey, Brianna McKibben, Brandi Nelson, Emily Rohrabaugh, Clare Tilley, Erika Watsjold

ALASKANA 6 You Make Me Feel So Young

by J. Besl

10 Then and Now

by Rejoy Armamento & Kirsten Swann

PUDDLE JUMPER 12 Long-Distance Love

by Kirsten Swann

14 Family Circle

by Bailey Berg

To advertise, call (907) 257-4242 Copyright © 2016 Alaska Dispatch News P.O. Box 149001 Anchorage, Alaska 99514 Please send letters to the editor to jgonzales@alaskadispatch.com, and include your name, city of residence and phone number. We cannot guarantee publication of letters, and we reserve the right to edit letters for length.

16 Barrow's Beating Heart

by Kirsten Swann

LOOK 19 Happily Ever After

by Stephanie Prokop

21 Date Night Ideas

24 You-Nique Weddings

by Joshua Genuino

BODY, MIND & SPIRIT 26 Kodiak's Sweetheart: Brittany Tregarthen

by Bailey Berg

28 Obsessed with Winter

by Megan Spurkland

SAVOR 30 Meat Lovers

by Bailey Berg

32 Alaska's Aphrodisiacs

by Jamey Bradbury

WHAT WE LOVE 34 Coffee compiled by Bailey Berg & Rejoy Armamento

by Joshua Genuino & Rejoy Armamento

ON THE COVER: Artist Rejoy Armamento created this issue's exclusive cover art.

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6

you make me feel so

YOUNG

68 YEARS OF MARRIAGE AND CHANGE VIVIAN AND RAPHAEL JIMMY

by J. Besl

for

PHOTOS BY REJOY ARMAMENTO

7

OISED AT CENTER STAGE, Vivian Jimmy—age 87—is armed with her five-feathered dance fans, leading her fellow dancers, occasionally relying on the security and support of her walker.

In the back row, Raphael Jimmy—age 91 and Vivian’s husband of 68 years—paces the male drummers, all dressed in matching blue kuspuks. Together, the 22 members of Kuigpagmiut Dance Group perform songs both ancient and new (including several originals written and choreographed by Raphael).

Raphael and Vivian’s enthusiasm—and their obvious dedication—radiates a shared love of dancing. One could assume they fell in love during a dance performance in their youth.

But no, the Jimmys met under much different circumstances. And Kuigpagmiut Dance Group, organized only two years ago, is just the latest chapter in their long lives together.

Before their wedding, neither Raphael nor Vivian were really that interested in getting married.

Especially not to someone they just met yesterday.

Both grew up in the same area of the vast Yukon Delta, just outside the village of Nunam Iqua. But despite their proximity, the two didn’t meet until Raphael arrived at Vivian’s school for a wedding arranged by their mothers.

At the time, Vivian was in Akulurak, the Jesuit mission that later became the village of St. Mary’s.

When she turned 16, the mission priest started asking when she intended to marry. She was completely uninterested.

“I said ‘Noooo,’” she laughed, eyes widening.

The priest persisted, yet she resisted, fixed on becoming a nun. “Then I got tired one time and I said, ‘Yeah,’” she sighed.

Meanwhile, back near Nunam Iqua, Jimmy’s mom was pursuing the same subject. Raphael, for his part, wasn’t keen on marriage either. At 23 years old, he had three dogs, a .22 rifle and a new 5-horsepower motor. Why would he need a wife?

“I don’t want to get married. It was too early,” he said. “But I couldn’t say no because I respect my mom and my dad. If they need something, I have

8

PHOTOS BY REJOY ARMAMENTO

to do it, no matter what.”

One day, Raphael’s mother delivered some lifechanging news—he would be married to a girl in Akulurak. Oh, and they’d be leaving tomorrow on a seven-hour boat ride with the girl’s mother. “I didn’t sleep good,” Raphael recalled of that night.

Departing the next morning in his freshly laundered clothes, he got ready to meet his bride at the Jesuit mission, built on an island between two arms of the Yukon River. The boat docked as dusk settled in, postponing the wedding for another restless night.

On Friday morning, Aug. 29, 1947, Vivian was in her Sunday dress in the school’s sewing room, along with two female classmates. Raphael remembers the moment he opened the sewing room doors, seeing Vivian for the first time—as well as her two friends.

“When I see her, I was thinking, ‘I wonder who’s going to be my wife?’” he laughed. “Because I don’t know. I’d never seen her.”

They were married that afternoon in a small chapel—no rings, no veils, only schoolchildren in the audience. After the ceremony, their mothers, waiting outside, boarded the boat and left them to their lives together.

Despite their hesitations, they’ve become quite a pair over the past 68 years.

The Jimmys returned to Nunam Iqua—then called Sheldon’s Point—to start a family. Their first child arrived during hunting season, when they were alone in a tiny house at an isolated camp. As Vivian went into labor, Raphael stood outside the bedroom door.

Kuigpagmiut dancers at the Dena'ina Center in Anchorage.

A strange noise suddenly started—a sharp, severe rattle that grew louder as his wife’s wails escalated.

After a moment of confusion, he realized he was the sound; Raphael, about to deliver his first child, had been trembling hard enough to shake the teakettle atop the wood stove.

Baby Stan was the first of their 12 children (the next two kids also arrived at hunting camp). As the family expanded, the Jimmys moved to larger villages—Emmonak, Chuloonawick—to be nearer to schools (and, coincidentally, Yup’ik dance groups). But high schools were rare in Western Alaska, and the oldest kids flew 1,000 miles away to Wrangell, returning in summers speaking English and boasting of strange awards like Boy Scout badges. Eventually, the family moved to Mountain Village so the youngest kids could attend high school near home.

Though they had family in town, their new home lacked one key element. “When we moved, there was nobody dancing down in Mountain Village,” Raphael recalled, and for several years, all was quiet.

Then the Jimmys got restless. Raphael hiked to an elder’s home to ask permission to start a new dance group. He found the old man, the last living member of the town’s prior dance group, slouched in his small home outside of town. The man immediately jumped to life at the idea of restarting a dance group in Mountain Village.

For years, Raphael and Vivian danced and drummed in Mountain Village as their family flourished with grandkids (30) and great-grandkids

(38 and counting). But as age set in, the couple moved away from the Yukon in 2011 and into their daughter’s home in Anchorage. Surrounded by framed photos of the past five generations, Raphael had become the old man slouched in his home, removed from the dance.

Soon enough, Vivian and Raphael again grew restless. So in 2014, they started their own dance group, naming it Kuigpagmiut (a Yup’ik word meaning “People of the Big River”). The Jimmys—born near the Yukon’s mouth, married in an island chapel midstream, raising many kids in many villages along the banks—are certainly people of the river. Though now in Anchorage, the Delta’s cultures and traditions have defined the Jimmys since the first boat ride that brought them (reluctantly) together.

Raphael and Vivian are no longer as mobile and energetic as they once were, but watch them perform and it’s clear their enthusiasm hasn’t waned. To see them in action, with younger generations on either side, is to understand the rejuvenating power of drumming and dance. With the energy of their younger selves, these elders continue to perform after 68 years together.

“Old people, when they dance, they think of nothing but fun,” Vivian said.

“When I am Eskimo dancing, I forget all about [health concerns], just fun only,” Raphael added.

“I only think of dancing and laughing, all the time smiling. I never worry. Every time.”

J. Besl is a writer at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

You can find him at the bus stops and bike lanes of Anchorage.

10

Wallace and Janette Riehle were married Dec. 27, 1959, in Harrington, Washington.

Janette grew up tending traplines and fishing with her family around Cook Inlet.

These days the Riehles live on Janette's old family homestead in Palmer.

THEN and

NOW

Even after years of being together, some things never change.

by Rejoy Armamento and Kirsten Swann

Dick and Susie Mikkelsen, first met on a blind date nearly 50 years ago—it wasn't long before they were married. Today, they live in Anchorage, where they've been active supporters of the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts.

11

Gayle, 68, and Julie Schmidt, 73, have been together for 38 years. They first met over a game of softball with friends. They were married on Aug. 1, 2007, in Vancouver, Canada, as they didn’t think same sex marriage would ever happen in the U.S. in their lifetime.

Aron and Pat Wolf dated for 8 years before they got married on March 30, 1961 in New York City. When they first came to Anchorage, they lived on the Elmendorf Air Force Base for 3 years along with their 3 young kids.

They've been together for 55 years.

12 AUSTIN & DUSTIN GRIMES, NORTH SLOPE OILFIELDS WORKER

LONG-DISTANCE LOVE How Alaska Couples Stay Connected When They’re Hundreds Of Miles Apart

by Kirsten Swan How do you keep the spark alive when your loved one spends weeks or months at a time working on a North Slope oilfield, deep inside the belly of a mine, high up in the mountains or far out to sea on a fishing boat? Alaskans do it all the time.

So we asked these couples for advice: What’s the secret to long-distance love?

“Thank goodness for technology!”

- Austin Between raising two children and Dustin’s two weeks on, two weeks off North Slope schedule, the Grimes' rely on nightly Skype sessions, Facetime and email to keep the family connected.

Dustin also sends postcard and letters, because their young son loves getting mail from Daddy. A special calendar helps count down the days until he comes home again.

It can be hard, but they make it work.

“It’s kind of a normal part of life.”

- Austin

JENNIFER:

JENNIFER & MATT HENLEY, NORTH SLOPE OILFIELDS WORKER

J.J. HARRIER & JOSH MILAM, A MEDIC WORKING ON THE NORTH SLOPE J.J.:

Josh works two-and-two (two weeks on, two weeks off). We pride ourselves on doing a lot when he's home in Anchorage, so when he does go back up for work, it's a bit of a shift change for both of us. In fact, I can count on him being pretty grumpy the day he leaves back to the Slope, so I make sure to take it easy on him. Haha.

We text throughout the day and usually call or Facetime each other three to four times a week. He wants to feel like I'm there, which I get. Facetime is cool ‘cause then he gets to snoop around the house to see if I've cleaned, or if the cat and plants are still alive.

BOBI:

JOSH: We stay busy and we communicate often—that is key. Physical separation is expected and necessary for any relationship but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep our minds and hearts connected. Keep up the chatter often and openly no matter the significance.

This is how we keep focus of what is important for us and within us. Tempus will Fugit no matter what—it’s the preparation for what comes next that counts!

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14 IX YEARS AGO, TOM AND Deborah Burns were your average

M

Y L I

CIRCLE THERE'S SO MUCH MORE THAN BIOLOGY in the MAKING OF A FAMILY

by Bailey Berg

ILLUSTRATION BY REJOY ARMAMENTO

FA

middle-aged Alaska couple. They had jobs they enjoyed in Palmer.

They shared a meal every night at 7.

They put miles on their motor home whenever they could and the last of their eight kids had just moved out.

But when they saw a television ad calling for people with the willingness to open their hearts and their homes for foster children, they decided they weren’t quite ready to be empty nesters.

In doing so, they, and numerous other Alaska foster parents, have found there are myriad ways to make a family.

Tom and Deborah had each come from childhoods of neglect and abuse, so they felt like they could relate to the kids. Now it’s six years and several dozen foster kids later—they stopped counting at 25—one of whom they adopted.

Another Alaska foster family, Amanda Metivier and her husband, Anthony Hernandez, had been in the foster care system as kids—her for three years, him for 15. Now both work doing non-profit advocacy work for foster kids that engages youth to share their stories in an effort to promote systemic change.

“We just know what it’s like and want to help in whatever way we can,” Amanda said. “You have a different view of the system when you’ve experienced it.”

Anchorage mom Leesa Little knew she wanted to adopt and felt the foster care system was a good place to start. She now has full legal guardianship of three of the four children who live with her.

Though the job can be taxing, time-demanding and economically challenging (Tom estimates the state reimbursement covers only about 80 percent of the total costs), each of the families said their experiences have been worth it.

“I like that you get to give someone a family and get to guide them and watch them grow,” Amanda said. “The youth we have now has been to 46 foster homes, but she drives now, has a job, goes to college.

It’s cool to see them overcome and to see where they end up.”

While Tom and Deborah said they knew the ultimate goal was to reunite the children with their parents, it didn’t stop them from loving their foster children, even if they were only there for a couple weeks.

“There was no difference between our foster kids and our own kids,” Tom said. “They were all equal. I always hoped when they left here, they left knowing that and knowing that we love them.”

Much of the drive was providing their foster children with things they wouldn’t have otherwise had: a better education, healthy meals, a warm bed and opportunities to travel. Both Tom and Leesa noted that most of their foster children hadn’t been out of the state, let alone Anchorage.

“For so long Anchorage was their whole world,” Leesa said. “I wanted to show them there is more to life outside of Anchorage and maybe more importantly, more to life and its opportunities than just what they had.”

Since then, Leesa and her children traveled extensively throughout Alaska and the Lower 48.

And now that her boys are older and thinking about the future, Leesa is working to instill a strong work ethic. They’ve connected with a mentor who is a college professor and home remodeler to help them plan for life post-graduation.

Helping teenagers grow into self-sufficient adults is front of mind for many foster parents. Tom and Deborah, who garden and raise chickens, have made it a point to teach their kids how to grow and cook whole foods.

“I really enjoyed teaching them how to do things,” Tom said. “Most of them came from backgrounds where they didn’t have the chance to learn how to do things. But we got to watch them flourish here and when they left had skills.”

Besides homemaking skills, Tom said he and Deborah did their best to model what a strong home looks like so that their fosters have a chance to be good parents themselves.

Their first foster daughter, Deborah said, still routinely comes over on weekends with her husband and dog to catch up and help Tom around the yard.

For Amanda, she wants all her foster kids to know they do belong somewhere. “When I was in the system, I had a lot of shame associated with that and it wasn’t something I talked about,” Amanda said.

“I think people have a biased view that you’ve done something wrong. I hope to give my fosters a sense of belonging.”

That’s not to say there weren’t difficulties along the way. Each family said navigating emotional hurdles and what can feel like mountains of paperwork from the state can take all the patience you have as a foster parent.

“It’s difficult because you want to be a normal family, but you don’t always have the authority to make the decisions,” Amanda said.

Tom said those limitations often turn off potential foster parents. Deborah added, “When we went to the orientation, I asked what percentage of people who come to orientation actually become foster parents. I was told about one percent.”

Amanda said currently there are record numbers of children in need of foster parents in Alaska—over 2,800 children in need, but only about 1,400 homes.

“They need a stable home,” Tom said. “They need to know that they’re a part of something.”

Bailey Berg writes for the special content department at Alaska Dispatch News. She got into journalism to combine her two great loves: writing about interesting people and drinking a lot of coffee.

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16

BARROW'S BEATING

HEART A LIBRARY AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD

by Kirsten Swann

UILT BETWEEN THE TUNDRA AND the ocean, Barrow’s library stands out.

The location is unforgettable—less than half a mile from the shore of the frigid Chukchi Sea. The monthly Internet bill is staggering—approximately $7,000, according to library administrators. The potted plant that stretches up to the ceiling in the main reading room just might be the tallest living tree in town. Yet the most remarkable parts of the Tuzzy Consortium Library sit on the shelves, in the armchairs and reading nooks, behind the desks and in rows of neatly stored archival boxes in a back room.

The northernmost public library in the United States is a guardian of Arctic culture and history, a gathering

place for the tight-knit Inupiat community it serves and an invaluable connection to the outside world.

Some call it Barrow’s living room.

On a frigid afternoon in late November, that’s exactly what it feels like. People of all ages browse Facebook and other websites on the library’s desktop computers. An elderly woman flips through a magazine in an armchair by a window. A young mother chases a toddler through the bookshelves; a man carves baleen on a table in the conference room.

Then there’s David Ongley, the widely respected library director who’s worked at Tuzzy for the past two decades. Despite all his time there, Ongley still considers himself a guest in Barrow’s living room.

“We try to be a community center,” he said,

17

the land of the

MIDNIGHT SUN

with the videoconferencing equipment necessary for a teacher to lead a class in remote Atqasuk three times a week.

For Ongley, running a library at the top of the world means cultivating a collection that pays homage to the region’s cultural values and traditional ways of life. It’s a labor of love.

Many of the books that fill Tuzzy’s shelves focus on Arctic peoples and places, from Northern Alaska to Canada, Russia and Scandinavian countries.

Often, the library materials aren’t books at all, because Arctic cultures embrace oral storytelling over the written word, Ongley said.

“We have a very strong video collection, and we try to purchase just about anything we can get our hands on that has been filmed or recorded on those [Arctic] cultures,” the library director said. “Those are very popular. I can’t tell you how many copies of

ILLUSTRATIONS BY REJOY ARMAMENTO

sipping a cup of tea in his modest back office. “And this is an Inupiat community, first and foremost.”

Part of Ilisagvik College, Barrow’s two-year tribal school, Tuzzy Consortium Library spans the length of the North Slope. There are branches in Wainwright, Point Lay, Point Hope, Nuiqsut, Kaktovik, Atqasuk and Anaktuvuk Pass, but the main library in Barrow is the beating heart of it all.

Here, there are story hours, family movie nights, science talks and an adult book club. The bulletin board near the front door is papered with announcements about other community events; a bake sale, a holiday bazaar, cooking and yoga classes, an upcoming election.

The library facilities were expanded and upgraded during a multimillion-dollar renovation project several years ago. Now, there’s a room for teens, a room for Ilisagvik College classes and another room

18

‘The Fast Runner’ we’ve been through.”

During his tenure at the library, Ongley has sought to build a place that caters to the community around it—developing Tuzzy’s collection, founding the Alaska Library Association’s Native Issues Round Table and helping create the AKLA’s Culturally Responsive Guidelines for Alaska Public Libraries His dedication to Barrow’s library hasn’t gone unnoticed.

In 2006, he was recognized by the international Library Journal. In 2009, Ongley was honored by the American Indian Library Association for his efforts on behalf of Alaska Native library patrons. Librarians around the state continue to praise his work.

“On the most fundamental level, the job of the library is to collect things and make them accessible,” said Tyson Rinio of Fairbanks, current chairman of the AKLA Native Issues Round Table.

“And you need to collect things that people want.”

For libraries in indigenous communities like Barrow, that means presenting relatable material in familiar languages and formats, and preserving and recognizing Native cultures as the living, breathing things that they are.

“I think David’s doing that, and it’s very rare,” Rinio said.

Besides the books, audio recordings and videos that line the shelves in the front of the library, the Tuzzy Consortium Library is home to an extensive archival collection. There are old documents from

Barrow’s now-defunct Naval Arctic Research Lab— shipping and receiving records, personnel files, environmental information and legal documents, occasionally mundane yet invaluable catalogues of days past in the far north.

Then there’s the Tundra Times, the iconic newspaper written by and for Alaska Natives for more than 30 years. When the paper ceased publication in 1997, the archives and copyrights were acquired by Barrow’s Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation, which then turned it over to the local library.

The newspaper archives are brimming with regional history. You can find everything from articles about political issues to Yup’ik poetry to dog race schedules, state game board happenings and stories about the Alaska Natives who helped build the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. Anyone anywhere in the world can read those stories, because many old editions of the Tundra Times are now available digitally via the Tuzzy Consortium website.

Through Barrow’s public library, people can explore the North Slope’s past and present, sharing Inupiat culture and heritage with future generations and the outside world.

Between 300 and 400 people visit the library every day—nearly 10 percent of the entire community.

Some people spend hours here; some are daily visitors. Ongley’s work is paying off.

“I like to consider it the best small library in Alaska,” he said, smiling.

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PLANNING HAPPILY EVER AFTER for a

PHOTOS BY STUDIO ARDENT PHOTOGRAPHY

A CHIC ALASKA BARN WEDDING

by Stephanie Prokop HANDELIERS WITH CANDLES and flowers brightened the barn’s pavilion where guests retired after the outdoor ceremony. Revelers sipped Moscow Mules and Kentucky Mules, the copper mugs given as parting gifts along with custom-designed cigar matchbooks.

Welcome to the wedding of Dr. Shannon Gulley and Corey Swisher.

The event was held on a crisp fall day at the Gloryview Farm in Wasilla, a gorgeous rustic barn reminiscent of the early 20th century, with farm tables, antique trunks, wine barrels and old books.

A touch of the modern—contemporary lights, marquee letters and white organza sheers draped from the ceilings—transformed the setting from inviting to elegant.

“Bringing the outdoors in is very Alaskan,” said Rebecca Kopperud, owner and chief designer of La Boum Events.

As a wedding planner who is first on the scene and the last to leave, Kopperud worked with the couple for over a year to plan a memorable day.

Their number one priority was to make it a stressfree occasion, where friends and family from out of state could have fun and relax.

“I had ideas but Rebecca took what I thought I wanted and then, as we went along and adjusted and changed, the end product was way better than I could have done on my own,” Gulley said.

That included a “mash-tini” bar—martini glasses filled with mashed potatoes and toppings—tasty finger foods served in waves throughout the day, shucked oysters on demand, a dessert buffet, hot cocoa and s’mores around the fire pit and a bourbon and cigar bar that was a big hit with guests.

KNOT-TYPING IN THE LAST FRONTIER The wedding industry is booming in Alaska, according to Kopperud. “Despite those cheeseball

20 THERE IN SPIRIT “Weddings are key to a family unit. Well, weddings and funerals. But weddings are something they will talk about for the rest of their lives, good or bad,” said Kopperud. “It’s nostalgia, stories to pass down to children and grandchildren. It’s celebrating something really substantial, a lifelong commitment to someone.”

Sometimes, loved ones who have passed are not physically present but may be there in spirit.

The week before the wedding, for example, while cleaning out his fiancée’s truck, Swisher came across a ring hidden in the seat cushions. The ring belonged to Gulley’s sister, Erin, who had died in a car accident. “I can’t really explain why it turned up all of a sudden,” said the bride, noting the ring had been lost for years.

“It was her way to tell me she was there.”

The bride wore it on a necklace on her wedding day.

Although the morning started out somewhat cold and wet, Gulley had a sense of calmness, because her wedding planner had instilled tons of confidence that it would all be fine. As it turned out, the rain stopped as if on cue, in time for family portraits. And guests were full, happy and entertained by evening’s end.

“I can’t think of a thing I would have done differently,” Gulley said. “It was better than anticipated, and really nice to have our families get to enjoy it. Alaska is such a beautiful, magical place, there’s nowhere else like it.”

Stephanie Prokop is a freelance journalist specializing in business and technology. Part-time traveler, full-time bookworm, she resides in Anchorage with her husband.

PHOTOS BY STUDIO ARDENT PHOTOGRAPHY

reality shows that may mischaracterize the state, people want to have an experience here,” she said.

She noted that some clients have had 200+ people on their guest lists where not one attendee was actually from the area. They come for the event and stay for the lifelong trip they always wanted. Gulley’s dad, for one, was excited to catch a fish during one such excursion.

Consultations at La Boum often begin with a love story. For Gulley and Swisher, theirs began in Montana when they were introduced at a friend’s party; he was in school for engineering, she was in the process of moving to Kentucky. They maintained a long-distance relationship for almost three years before moving back to Alaska and eventually settling in Palmer.

Swisher, a true Alaska guy according to his wife, is not into fanfare. Gulley balked at the stuffiness of a traditional wedding. The couple wanted something simple and rustic, but not “too country.” And it couldn’t be held in the summer because Swisher’s friends are busy Fairbanks firefighters. Nor could the date interrupt hunting season. Fall was Gulley’s favorite, with its colors and crisp mornings, and their October date worked out just right.

The bride’s aunt performed the ceremony and the first dance was to "Fishin’ in the Dark" by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. “Not a typical love song but it suits us: funny, being under the stars, wasn’t too serious.

We are not super serious people,” Gulley said.

As Swisher is of German descent and Gulley is Irish, they performed two rites to honor ancestry: together they sawed a log in front of guests, representing the “first trial as a married couple” and they completed a Gaelic knot to bond their families together.

21

DATE NIGHT IDEAS fold and make your own origami chatterbox

Avoid date night indecision. “What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know, whatever you want to do?” Instead, let an origami chatterbox decide!

Whip out your scissors and get in touch with your crafty side.

You'll be glad you did.

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Pick up hot chocolates from your favorite drive-thru kiosk, then watch planes land overhead at Point Woronzof.

Reverse roles – (wear each other’s clothes, etc.)

Go low tech!

Cribbage and cocktails.

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Do a progressive dinner -apps at one place, mains at the next, dessert at the next.

5

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6

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24

B O DY, M I N D & S P I R I T

E’VE ALL SEEN OUR FAIR SHARE OF pretentious, Portlandiaworthy weddings. There's often too much focus on the glamour of the wedding and not enough on the marriage. 2016 brings a breath of fresh air to the industry with its “anti-trend” attitude. Get out of the mindset of modeling your Big Day after unattainable fads on Pinterest boards. This year, get personal—give your guests even more insight into who you are.

Take a peek at our wedding “anti-trends” for ways to showcase your younique personality as a couple.

SYMBOLIC DECOR Floral arrangements and tulle draping may always be staples, but it doesn’t hurt to explore other decor ideas. Try highlighting your relationship by choosing to decorate with accoutrements that represent a cherished memory.

If you’re the newlyweds who got engaged on a romantic camping trip in Trapper’s Creek, opt for vintage Coleman lanterns for lighting, creative feather centerpieces inspired by flyfishing lures and color-coordinated enamel dishware. You want your guests to feel that they were a part of that moment in time.

COMFORT FOOD Trade in your 100 percent organic, allergy-aware, farm-to-table theme for a more down-to-earth menu that tells a story about you and your partner.

Remember all those late-night grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches you’d make together every Friday night? Or maybe Polynesian is your thing—there’s nothing wrong with serving up that hefty loco-moco you always eat together. Instead of an artisanally decorated cake, how about opting for a “deconstructed” cake that is reminiscent of how creatively challenged you are at cake decorating.

Share a piece of those memories at your wedding reception!

25

by Joshua Genuino

COMPLETE IMMERSION

DUAL PURPOSE VENUE There’s nothing more nerve-racking than reciting vows in front of a stadium-seated audience followed by an awkward transition from ceremony to reception. Instead, the ceremony and reception can be in one place where food follows right after the vows. There’s no more need to appoint that loudmouth relative to direct the herd from one place to another.

Try an eclectic reception-style seating arrangement that combines various table shapes and seating styles. This will help make your Big Day less of a tense theater production and more of an intimate gathering.

Wedding photography has come a long way from contrived poses in Polaroids to #heavilyfiltered Instagram posts. Expand on the drone and GoPro POV-wedding trends introduced in 2013 and take it a step further by jumping on the Periscope bandwagon.

Now those unable to attend will feel like they’re a part of the experience in real time.

Joshua Genuino is the special content art director at Alaska Dispatch News.

Originally from Southern California's fashion and creative circuit, he moved to Anchorage in 2013 for a much-needed change of pace.

26

KODIAK'S

SWEETHEART : BRITTANY TREGARTHEN WHAT HAPPENS WHEN AN ENTIRE TOWN IS ON YOUR TEAM

by Bailey Berg

PHOTOS BY BAILEY BERG

"

ERE, WALK BY THE WALL, SO I can protect you,” Brittany Tregarthen said as we walked down a questionable alley in Kodiak, Alaska.

Full disclosure: Brittany is just over 100 pounds and doesn’t even clear my armpit, but she’s adamant that she’s going to protect me if any harm were to befall us.

That’s probably because despite her small stature, Brittany, a 28-year-old Kodiak woman with Down Syndrome, carries herself like she’s seven feet tall— she did just medal at the Special Olympics World Games in powerlifting.

As far as she and her community are concerned, there’s nothing she can’t do. She’s produced music, co-authored one book with her mother (and is working on a second) and in July, she represented Alaska at the World Games, where she added another four medals to her vast collection.

“Brittany isn’t one of those people that just doesn’t try things,” said Suzanne Bobo, Brittany’s mother. “She doesn’t care if she’s going to fail, she’s going to try it over and over and over again. She has that confidence that someday she’s going to get it.”

As we walked around downtown she seemingly knew everyone (and she made sure I, in turn, knew everyone). The two servers at Henry’s Great Alaskan Restaurant happened to be her bowling coaches (who she delighted in taking surreptitious photos of as they refilled her Shirley Temple), the other athletes at the gym recognized her from her picture hanging behind the squat rack (right next to a poster of Arnold Schwarzenegger), drivers on the road honked and waved as she walked down the street and her peers at the community resource center greeted her with fist bumps and group hugs.

“She’s never met a stranger, really,” said Jon ‘Bo’ Bobo, her dad. “She can walk into the airport and within five minutes she knows everybody in there.

That’s just the way she is.”

Just one day with Brittany is enough to see she has secured the tireless support of her Kodiak community. Much of the town has pitched in to help her achieve her myriad of goals.

When Brittany wanted to write music, her pastor, Father Innocent, volunteered his time to compose the melodies. When she co-authored The Road Going, a book about her family’s journey dealing

27 with disability, chronic illnesses, relationships and the transition from childhood to adulthood, it sold out. When she was selected to compete at the World Games, a team of coaches, nutritionists, physical therapists and other supporters helped her train.

And when she came home from the competition, she was welcomed back by a swarm of banner-holding supporters who filled the tiny, one-room Kodiak airport.

When Brittany and her parents moved to Kodiak in 2007, they were delighted to find a community that supported people with special needs so fully, which was something they didn’t quite have in Colorado.

“Kodiak, and Alaska as a whole, really supports its people,” Suzanne said. “We have much more comprehensive support here. Because there are these bonds of community here, nobody slips through the cracks. If someone wants support in this town, I tell you what, they have it.”

Father Innocent, Brittany’s musical partner, can attest to that, too.

“When we performed together the restaurant was packed, overflowing,” he said. “Folks generally look

for ways to help her. Kodiak is very, very supportive of adults and children with special needs. Don’t need to promote things too much; people will just come out and show support.”

Suzanne said a big reason Brittany is able to thrive in Kodiak is because the community does a good job of taking her seriously when she expresses a desire to try something new, whether that’s learning how to hunt or cooking homemade jams for a farmer’s market stand.

“I think people have learned that when she says she wants to do something, she really wants to do something and if you get involved, you really get involved,” she said. “She will push. She has that desire and the initiative and the perseverance.”

Lindsay Knight, who coached Brittany two to three days a week for the year leading up to the World Games, can speak to that, as well.

“She’s pretty tenacious,” Knight said. “She’ll hold her bench press too long, her squats are deeper than need be. She’s very dedicated. Her heart is definitely all in.”

Daniel Canavan, the head of the Kodiak Special Olympics, said the town's heart is all in for its Special Olympics athletes, too.

“Kodiak is unique because the people here see Special Olympics as a serious sports program,” Canavan said. “All of our athletes, no matter what league or school or sport, are given a tremendous amount of support in anything they do.”

Right now Brittany is on a powerlifting hiatus— she has some issues with her feet and knees and a pinched nerve in her neck that need to be resolved before she can compete at that caliber again. For now, that means exploring the numerous other activities she enjoys. Chances are she'll bring home another medal to add to her collection. There are easily 100 plus hanging on her wall, a number that would be considerably higher if she didn’t have a habit of giving them away to her many friends.

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28

B O DY, M I N D & S P I R I T

OBSESSED

with

WINTER

by Megan Spurkland

PHOTO BY SCOTT DICKERSON

PHOTO BY KERRY TASKER

PHOTO BY KERRY TASKER

PHOTO BY KERRY TASKER

PHOTO BY KERRY TASKER

REBECCA CHARLES IS A TWO-TIME finisher of the Iron Dog in the Trail Class, a snowmobile race that goes from Big Lake to Nome through hundreds of miles of sometimes snowless terrain, ground blizzards and open water crossings.

Raised on Nantucket Island, she moved to Alaska with 20 sled dogs in 2004 and got her first snowmachine three years later.

Charles has a tattoo on her arm that matches the bumper sticker on her truck. “No Bad Days,” it says, reminding her that every day is a blessing and offers lessons to learn and challenges to overcome. She works 100-hour weeks during summer road construction to stash money for sled parts, fuel, entry and lodging fees. Her winter days are “all about the Iron Dog,” and filled with careful mechanic work on her sled and long, hard training rides. When her daughter, Kelley, was a newborn, she would strap on a carrier and take her on 80-mile rides. She does the race partly to inspire her now 5-year-old daughter that she can do whatever she wants; all she has to do is believe and work hard.

“Challenge,” she says, "doesn’t scare me.

It inspires me to succeed.”

LARS FLORA WAS A COMPETITIVE CROSScountry skier for 22 years, chasing his older brothers off lava cone wind-lips at Mt. Bachelor and twice representing the USA in the Olympic Games. After retiring in 2012, he became the program director for Skiku, an organization that brings 500 pairs of skis and 130 volunteers to over 40 Alaska villages every spring.

There was some funny clicking while I talked with Flora. “Just putting my boots on,” he said, straining to pin the phone to his shoulder with his ear.

Crunchy snow steps were followed by a muffled conversation with the liftee. “I have fallen in love with the mountains of Alaska again, exploring and finding new terrain. Getting to ski in villages, hanging out with skiers. Coaching in Anaktuvuk Pass and then taking a 5-hour tour to ski off a 4,000-foot peak.

Skiing in the middle of the Bering Sea. Racing around the Sweetheart Loop in White Mountain.” He treasures skiing at Alyeska with his nieces and nephew, and loves climbing up ridges as much as descending. Fueled by a good cup of coffee and an egg sandwich, a long day of skinning up mountains provides the perspective and adventure he needs.

LARRY CABANA IS A COMMERCIAL fisherman during the summer, and on all but the windiest winter days, you can look out at Kachemak Bay and see his 58-foot seiner trolling for winter king salmon. How many kings has he landed in the past 30 years? “A few…just a few,” he smiles.

Cabana’s winter king fishing began on the F/V Madonna. It was usually just him with his blind Shar Pei dog, who fell off the dock once, sank and slowly walked along the bottom of the harbor until it emerged back onto the beach and shook all the water out of its wrinkles. Now he brings along 94-year-old Taurus Fisk who rinses down the deck and reels in fish.

“All I need is a box of donuts and a cooked chicken, and I can spend all day with the old timers out here. You can’t buy a day back. And … it keeps me outta trouble,” he says, pausing to shout directions up at his 88-year-old father, Roy, who is driving the boat. On Sunday nights, Cabana and his wife, Dawn, fill their long dinner table with these old timers and they share a feast of king salmon.

PHOTO BY SCOTT DICKERSON PHOTO BY SCOTT DICKERSON

MARTIN RENNER IS AN AVID WINTER cyclist who lives, but hardly ever drives, in Homer, Alaska. He won the 2014 Fireweed 400 race, has completed the snowy Homer Epic 100k three times and recently returned from the grueling 1,200-kilometer Paris-Brest-Paris Randonnee.

If you ask Renner what the optimum number of bikes to own is, his reply is immediate. “N plus one,” he says with a grin. A freelance biology researcher who bikes through blizzards and downpours every day to get to work, Renner's commuting complements his training and he logs around 10,000 kilometers a year. His children clamber after his example, riding along on their tandem bike or inviting along a pack of their third-grade friends. He was almost kicked off Homer’s volunteer firefighting crew by the chief because he bikes to fire calls; luckily, he is fast.

“Cars,” he says, “are simply a bad idea.”

Obesity, air pollution and accidents are just a few of the reasons to put on a few flashing red lights, a good helmet and pedal through a dark winter morning.

If the question is how many bikes you should own if you want to stay married, Renner quickly changes his answer: “N minus one.”

720 D STREET | ANCHORAGE | 907.277.6119 secondrunalaska.com

After writing this, Megan Spurkland wants a new bumper sticker, an egg sandwich, long meals with old timers and N minus one pairs of skis.

Truly, you cannot buy a day back.

30

SAVO R

MEAT LOVERS the butchers behind Alaska's prime cuts

PHOTOS BY KERRY TASKER

by Bailey Berg

N A BACK ROOM AT MAT-VALLEY Meats a mammoth beef cow is suspended from the ceiling.

Nate Burris dances around the carcass, deftly slicing through skin, muscle and tissues to remove the largest sections of meat from bone first, then moving to the smaller sections with just a few cuts of his knife. First the front quarter, then the chuck, then the prime rib. There’s a rhythm to it. A cadence. A flow. For Burris, it’s a song he knows well after 30 years of working as a butcher.

Later in the day the tune changes. If “breaking” meat were classical music—thoughtful, rich and time-tested—then creating signature sausages would be jazz—improvised and sultry.

The lazy sensuality of a mongrel blend of spices hangs heavy in the air, tantalizing the tastebuds as heavy sausages are hung to dry. Some are a riot of flavors, mating ingredients like kale and cranberries, or blueberries and birch syrup, or chicken, feta and spinach. Others keep it simple: a pinch of salt, a dash of sugar, a smidgen of garlic put the superior quality of the meat at the forefront.

Burris is a maestro of meat and Mat-Valley Meats is his symphony.

Nate Burris of Mat-Valley Meats

Butchering—of the real, old-world variety—is scientific process bound with a dying art form, a topic Burris can rhapsodize about for hours.

After the advent of the uniform supermarket chains and pre-packaged, freezer-stored meat, the mom-and-pop butcher stores of yesteryear saw a steady decline. Now, Burris maintains one of the few independent butcher shops in Alaska.

He’s also one of the few who can call themselves a “journeyman” in the truest sense of the word.

Burris explained that in the old world a journeyman was someone who was hired on as an apprentice for a master. After several years of studying the trade from top to bottom—whether it be blacksmithing, woodworking, or in his case, butchering—and understanding everything the trade encompasses, they would be considered a journeyman.

“It’s a term that has since become very watereddown,” Burris said. “If I hired a grocery store journeyman and asked them to completely break down a cow, they’d probably be like, ‘I don’t know how to do that.’ Forty years ago everyone would have had to have been a journeyman, because they’d have to know this, but boxed beef has really changed the meat business.”

PHOTOS BY KERRY TASKER

SAVO R

Heather Muzzana of Mr. Prime Beef Unlike supermarkets, butchers like Burris sell only top-tier meat, a task that is particularly challenging in Alaska, where there just isn’t as much livestock as in the Lower 48.

For Burris to produce world class pastrami, prosciutto and sausages, it’s essential that he buy the freshest meat possible. It’s also imperative that the animal has been raised properly. Luckily, much of the pork raised in Alaska is fed barley—unlike the Midwest, where pigs are fed corn—because it's generally easier to grow here. While the difference between corn and barley might not seem like much, it makes a world of difference in the fat make-up of the pork.

“The fat of corn-fed pork tends to be greasier and that’s a game changer when you try to make salami, because grease is your enemy,” Burris said. “You want animals with very hard fat, so when you touch it, it doesn’t leave residue on your finger. Because that residue gets on your palate and makes it taste differently. It distinguishes what makes a well-made salami from a poorly-made one. It’s the ingredients.

No matter how good you are at this, the quality of your ingredients makes it.”

Temperature, humidity, time, the introduction of cultures and a whole host of other influences are the other x factors that can warp the taste of your meat, said Burris.

But Burris is a food scientist and he just gets it.

He gets what’s going to happen to the meat during its processing time and he gets what Alaskans want.

In recent years, they’ve wanted a connection to their

meat, something that Burris has championed for years.

“We’re seeing a huge nationwide trend of people wanting to know where their meat is coming from,” Burris said. “So for small butchers who know the business, we’re seeing a boom.”

Heather Muzzana, the owner of Mr. Prime Beef in Anchorage, said her business has also seen that explosion of locals interested in knowing more about their meat.

“I think people are definitely wanting to become more aware of where their food is coming from,” Muzzana said. “Our natural meat is one of our biggest sellers. People want to know what they’re putting in their bodies and feeding their families.”

Like Burris, Muzzana is also challenged by getting fresh products up here and finding meat cutters with real experience—if she’s lucky, she’s able to find cutters with game experience and she’s able to help fine tune their skills.

But Burris and Muzzana have very different reasons for loving their jobs. For Burris, it’s about getting to be inventive and discovering new flavor combinations that create more “grand slams.”

For Muzzana, it’s that her store and her meat have consistently acted as catalysts for conversation.

“I’ve gotten to watch so many people interact with each other here,” Muzzana said. “They’ll be having a conversation about how they each cook their prime rib and that conversation will move to, ‘Oh, what school does your kid go to?’ It’s really cool to see strangers bond over something like meat. That’s why I love my job.”

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SAVO R

A L A SK A'S IACS A PHRONSDTOIS INSPIR E ROMA NCE

LOCA L SELECTIO

by Jamey Bradbury

Winter in Alaska is the perfect romantic setting: The lights are low, the aurora lends just the right amount of ambiance and the cold temperatures are perfect for snuggling close to the one you love.

It shouldn’t be any wonder, then, that Alaska also provides some local aphrodisiacs to help get you in the mood.

A ROMANTIC BREW

TRULY HOT CHOCOLATE Dark chocolate is a no-brainer on Valentine’s Day, with good reason: it stimulates the release of endorphins and helps produce serotonin, the brain’s “happy chemical.” It’s no surprise, said Zoe Oakley, owner of Modern Dwellers Chocolate Lounge, that chocolate is historically associated with romance. ` “The cacao fruit itself is very sexy,” said the Anchorage shop owner. She describes a jungle setting, raw and lush, where cacao pods ripen to a range of colors, like flowers dripping from the trees. “When they say ‘fruit of the gods,’ they’re not kidding. Cacao is magical.”

Oakley and her crew transform that magic into a variety of chocolate creations, the most popular of which, come Valentine’s Day, are the truffles.

Traditionalists love the Romantic Rose truffle, made with rosebud-infused cream. Oakley prefers savory delights like Pele’s Passion, which finishes guava and passion fruit with black Hawaiian lava salt, or spicier selections, like The Berbere, a bittersweet ganache flavored with the Ethiopian spice.

Hot spices increase circulation to get your blood pumping and stimulate nerve endings that help you feel turned on. Oakley considers adding spice to chocolate “the perfect treatment.”

Beer isn’t traditionally thought of as an aphrodisiac, but when Lee Ellis, head brewer at Midnight Sun Brewing Company, decided to make a Valentine’s Day ale, he sought out ingredients known for their passioninspiring powers.

Ellis combined Maca powder, a “superfood” said to boost sexual performance, and Modern Dwellers’ proprietary Mayan spice blend with three types of chocolate, including cacao powder and cocoa nibs, to create an ale that delivers a sultry, lingering heat.

“I always dreamed of brewing a beer that’s as close to Mexican hot chocolate as possible,” Ellis said.

Midnight Sun releases a fresh batch of Modern Romance Spicy Dark Chocolate Ale every year just before Valentine’s Day. “It’s the perfect beer for a romantic moment.”

SAVO R

TW0 FOR THE PRICE OF ONE

If beer’s not your speed, crack open a bottle of pomegranate wine from Homer’s Bear Creek Winery—a flavor so popular, winemaker Louis Maurer started offering it year-round.

“It’s got a zippy flavor—dark and robust,” Maurer said. “You can have it year-round to rekindle that spirit of summer.”

And it packs a one-two punch: Red wine contains resveratrol, an antioxidant that improves circulation, while pomegranate may contribute to an increase of testosterone, resulting in increased sexual desire.

A CLASSIC PAIRING

But the perfect romantic pairing has to be oysters and champagne.

“Oysters are full of protein, and sometimes what’s necessary to break that down is chardonnay,” said Apollo Neff, owner of Anchorage’s Bubbly Mermaid Oyster Bar. “Champagne is mostly chardonnay, so it brings out the creaminess in an oyster.”

Oysters are also loaded with vitamins and minerals that “put lead in your pencil,” Neff added. His oysters are sourced primarily from Cordova, Ketichikan, Kake and Kachemak Bay, and he expertly pairs them with champagne from an ample selection. For a well-rounded experience, Neff recommends diners try a combination of raw and baked oysters. He suggests the Saint Jacques— baked with sea scallop, shiitake mushroom, mornay, panko crumbs and parmesan—and the Cortez, which delivers a spicy kick with chorizo and chipotle sauce.

Those in the know can also request the especially creamy Blackened oyster—not currently on the menu—or the Bacon and Bourbon, which is dramatically served en flambé.

Bubbly Mermaid’s romantic oyster and champagne combo is heightened by the intimate setting. As the evening draws on, the windows of the tiny bar fog over, the lights dim and everything is cast in the warm buzz of good champagne. The Bubbly Mermaid doesn’t take reservations, so drop by early before your dinner on Valentine’s Day to snag a seat and start the evening right.

After all, says Neff, “A man without a plan is no man on Valentine’s Day.”

Jamey Bradbury is a freelance writer in Anchorage. She also writes for Alaska Life Publishing and Alaska Contractor Magazine.

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