Make A Scene Magazine February 2022

The First Fifty Years of the Last Great Race

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Cheyenne, Age 9

Leanna, Age 6

Piper, Age 7

Rowen, Age 11

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Coloring Page

FIRST NAME

MAILING ADDRESS

LAST NAME

AGE

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Coloring Page

AGE

FIRST NAME

LAST NAME MID-FEB 2022

MAILING ADDRESS

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Theatre

Contributed by Brenda Davis In November of 2017, Colony High School Marching Band, Color Guard, and Choirs flew to New York City to participate in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was on this trip that the group of over 200 students, staff, parents and family members attended Anastasia the Musical on Broadway.

Inspired by this beautiful production, CHS choir director Kelly Rentz and CHS band director Dr. Jamin Burton decided to bring the production to our hometown.

This February Anastasia will be performed at the Glenn Massay Theatre. Over 70 cast and crew members and 21 musicians forming the orchestra have been rehearsing for the past four months and it promises to be a gorgeous event.

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Actor Porter Reynolds says of the production, “Being a part of this show has been amazing! Despite a few challenges, such as losing a week of rehearsal due the windstorm, our directors Kelly Rentz and Jamin Burton have done a great job putting this show together. Our choreographers and costumers have been wonderful to work with. Prepare to be in awe by the talent of this cast! This is the perfect show for the reopening of the Glenn Massay Theatre!”

Inspired by the beloved films, Anastasia transports us from the twilight of the Russian Empire to the euphoria of Paris in the 1920’s,

as a brave young woman sets out to discover the mystery of her past.

Pursued by a ruthless Soviet officer determined to silence her, Anya enlists the aid of a dashing conman and a lovable ex-aristocrat. Together they embark on an epic adventure to help her find home, love, and family.

Colony High School Senior Charly Rentz plays the role of Anya (Anastasia).

When asked what challenges the production has presented, she says “The most challenging thing about bringing this story to life has been making my character my own, and getting into her brain so that I can portray her authentically.

Growing up I love the animated film and Anya was the first princess I saw that was sassy and stubborn – a lot like me. She is royal blood and has those characteristics in her subconscious, but she’s funny and haughty and genuine because she’s also had to find her own way around as a commoner.

Broadway’s Anastasia took a sweeter approach with her character, but

across the board, Anya has this unshakable passion to find her truth.

She also has deep rooted trauma regarding her past, which is something we can all relate to and interpret in our own ways. It’s really been trial and error when figuring out how I personally want to portray her – what tonality to use here and how to carry myself there – but we are very similar in a lot of ways, so when something sticks, it really sticks. And I think it carries off onto the rest of the cast.”

When asked who should see this production, Charly responded, “Anyone who has ever been lost and had to find their way through it. It isn’t just Any’s story – every character in the show has a story with thorough depth, and a different way of coming into themselves. I think that the most heart-wrenching story is that of the main antagonist, Gleb. He’s a Russian deputy who is torn between his sense of right and wrong throughout the show because of something that happened to him in

his childhood. In the end, the only way of accepting himself is through love, just as it is for Anya, her grandmother, and everyone else. I’ve struggled with being lost a lot in my life, and so has everyone in the cast, so it’s interesting to see them take their experiences and use them in their performance.

It’s beautiful to see, and I think the audience will feel that w ay too.”

Band and orchestra director Jamin Burton says, “This is one of my favorite musicals because it is great music and is a perfect blend of fairy tale and reality. It presents some of the realities of the turmoil in Russia from the 20th century, with just enough light heartedness to really be a show that has something for everyone. The music is challenging but it’s a great opportunity for students to develop.

The costumes, lighting, music, sets, dance and acting all come together in a stunning way that is absolutely captivating.”

With its opulent settings, dazzling costumes, and a soaring score including the song favorites from the hit animated film, “Journey to the Past” and “Once Upon a December”, Anastasia is the spectacular new musical about discovering who you are and defining who you’re meant to be.

Anastasis runs February 24 – March 12 with shows at 7pm as well as Saturday matinees.

Tickets can be purchased at: cdrama.Bootktix.com

Contributed by Kaelan Paulson Inspired by childhood memories of Sam McGee, and the haunting tale of The Shooting of Dan McGrew, awardwinning Alaskan cartoonist K.Paulson has illustrated and released in the soft cover format: The Cremation of Sam McGee. The Shooting of Dan McGew. The Spell of the Yukon.

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Books

Published originally in 1907 in the critically acclaimed book “Songs of a Sourdough,” these classic examples of Alaskan literature are largely credited as a driving force which inspired the Alaskan gold rush, and the eventual course to statehood.

These timeless works live on in the hearts and minds of Alaskan performers and outdoorsman alike.

Passed from generation to generation through campfire stories, antique recordings, and impassioned recitals

which stand the test of time.

All recontextualized, and given new life through the signature vibrant K.Paulson style that readers of all ages are growing to know and love.

Ring in Fur Rondy this year by taking home a signed copy of each!

K.Paulson will be attending a book signing at Anchorage’s own “Titlewave books” on Northern Lights Blvd.

February 26th. 12:00 am to 4:00 pm.

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Poetry

Contributed by Doug Ferguson This month’s “Great American” is the poet Robert Frost. Those following this series based on outstanding people I have either met or experienced personally in my lifetime know that some are not well known, and others are very well known. Robert Frost is, of course, the latter.

Many years ago when I was an engineering student at Case Institute of Technology (now the engineering school at Case University in Cleveland, Ohio) we were honored with a day long visit from this Pulitzer Prize winning poet who later would be seen and heard by the nation on national television on a chilly January day as he was chosen to speak at John F. Kennedy’s inauguration in 1961.

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While certainly known as an outstanding American poet today, many are not aware that he spent a

good deal of the later half of his life lecturing at colleges, mostly in the east, and actually had month long lecturing arrangements with Amherst College in Massachusetts and Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. Reading accounts of historians and others who knew him well, he apparently had a “love/hate” relation with science and it’s potential for detracting from the human spirit.

Looking back all these years today, it seems he had a reason for wanting to come and talk to a bunch of young engineering students.

the scientists and this led him to the question of “Who are we?”

He arrived on campus Monday morning April 5, 1959, submitted to a press conference, and then spoke to a very large audience in our new gymnasium. Afterwards he then went to a reception at the student union attended by a smaller group of 50 or so students who gathered around him to ask questions in a relaxed atmosphere for a good two hours and, as our student newspaper The Case Tech reported, “—wound a spell with his colorful answers and remarks.”

(The Soviet satellite Sputnik was fresh in everyone’s mind as it had been launched in 1957 and shocked the world as it’s first orbiting object placed there by man. Later that year after Frost’s visit, the first human-made object to touch the Moon was the Soviet Union’s Luna 2, in September 1959.)

Many of his answers were quite humorous, but were very subtle and provoked thought.

Again from the Case Tech: Initially the poet claimed that “science is the great enterprise” and built his remarks around this theme. He reminded the people that we all are

At the more informal reception meeting with students he was asked: Are you shocked by ballistic missiles and rockets to the moon?

Frost: Who are scientists, but you and I? I suppose this will change our lives.

We’ll all have a Sputnik for the Fourth of July. That would make a good song title. We’ll all have a Sputnik for the Fourth of July!

engineers need English and grammar to how good really are eastern colleges for which to each he gave an entertaining answer.

I wish I could find the exact quote, but I remember him making a point of saying that science was man’s great enterprise, but we should remember it is only a tool with which to understand the physical universe, while implying that it’s probably not the one to understand the spiritual one. It’s certainly a much needed lesson to be remembered today!

At the end he was asked: Why do you avoid giving opinions?

Frost: I make my stand in books. I have no campaigns. I am merely interested in history and poetry. Perhaps this couplet will help you out:

Do you realize that scientists will soon send rockets to the moon?

It takes all kinds of in and outdoor schooling,

Frost: I have considered the idea of some poets that science can ruin the moon for lovers. All I can do is laugh at this until they get to the moon!

To understand my kind of fooling!

(Frost didn’t get to see men on the moon as he died in 1963 and the moon landing was in 1969) Of course there were many other questions ranging from whether

A great limerick from a Great American!

------------------------Doug Ferguson is a retired engineer living in Palmer, AK who has had a lifelong interest in nature, science, history and human behavior.

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Books

Contributed by Alys Culhane

other Palmer-based shelves.

Recycling defined: Convert (waste) into reusable material. Return material to a previous stage in a cyclic process. Use again.

Lesson # 3: Make sure that you and your staff have the requisite skills for the task at hand. I’m a lifelong writerreader, so pairing readers and books came easily to me. I’m also passionate about this particular form of reuse, for I, like many saw this as one of many ways in which we might address environmental concerns. This is why I’m adept at seeking out those with administrative, publications, and grant writing expertise. For example, BLBP Editorial Consultant Bea Adler now gives a much-needed assist with all of the above.

Reuse, defined: Use more than once.

The Bright Light Book Project (BLBP) incorporates aspects of both defined terms, with an emphasis on reuse.

Reuse items include household and furniture goods, textiles, paint, fivegallon buckets, construction materials, bicycles . . . and books. Books can be read multiple times. However, as with recycling, reuse implementation has its own set of challenges.

When Distribution Manager Bill Schmidtkunz and I started the BLBP, books, magazines, and like-paper items were dropped off at the Valley Center for Recycling Solutions (VCRS). Hardback books were pulped and paperback books were shredded by VCRS volunteers. The profit made off mixed paper remains dependent upon a variable market price.

Lesson # 1: As Steve Covey, the author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People advises, begin with a plan.

Early on, Bill and I were like kids in a candy shop. We unloaded pallets of books and Gaylords (chest high cardboard boxes); onto the VCRS baling room floor. However, we failed to foresee that the VCRS facility was primarily designed with the processing of recyclable goods in mind. The VCRS staff cleared out space adjacent to the processing floor for a bookstore, and assisted me in turning the front area of the processing floor into a storage area. The bookstore and storage areas were filled to capacity in less than two months. The sorting process was also problematic. Recycling centers are generally noisy and shredded paper brought in by businesses and individuals generates dust when baled. We dealt with the noise generated by the baler and heavy moving equipment by donning earplugs. A staff member

blew the dust off the books with a leaf blower. However, the particulates then fell back onto the innumerable books.

Tarps became dust magnets.

We were fortunate in that donated space was made available to by Sarah Welton, the Pastor of The Church of the Covenant/Meeting House in downtown Palmer. This a quiet, clean space was well suited to the post-salvaging processes: cleaning and categorizing books.

Lesson #2: Beforehand, determine how you’ll go about making your reuse items accessible to the public. None of us knew what we’d do with the rapidly accumulating books. Fate intervened.

BLBP Jack of All Trades Pete Praetorius, and Bill talked with local business owner Janet Kincaid and Turkey Red Restaurant owner Alex Papsavas who agreed that putting stocked bookcases in the Koslosky and Valley Hotel buildings, and as well in the Turkey Red Restaurant lobby was a wonderful idea.

We now restock these and a dozen

Lesson # 4: Keep in mind that adaptability is key. Consider yourself to be an explorer who is venturing into the unknown if you opt to go into the reuse business. Recycling (at its best) is a linear process in that goods come in, are processed, and then put out for bidding. Conversely, reuse is a more non-linear process in that goods are cleaned and/or repaired, then sent elsewhere, elsewhere being any number of places.

Lesson # 5: Remember that most reuse items need to tended to on a regular basis so as to keep them in the reuse slip stream. For example, Bill and I noticed that readerly interest was heightened when we removed fliers and discarded magazines from bookcase shelves, tidied up the stock and added new books.

For more information about the Bright Lights Book Project, contact BLBP Outeach Coordinator Alys Culhane at Alysculhane@hotmail.com and check out the BLBP website: www.brightlightsbookproject.org

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When Bill and began salvaging books, 90 percent of the VCRS books were shredded. Now, 90 percent of the VCRS books are salvaged. The remaining ten percent consist of non-reuse materials such as torn, moldy, waterlogged, scrawled upon, or chewed up books.

The same holds true of out-of-date magazines, with the exception of National Geographics for which there’s always a ready audience. There’s a market for used textbooks; however, it is far more elusive than say, children’s books which are so popular that we have a hard time keeping them in stock. Some of the lessons Bill and

I learned in the early stages of this project follow.

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Creative Writing Contributed by Charles Dean George could here the noises of the infected outside again tonight. Tomorrow he’d have to leave this safe haven for the first time in years. He wore a worn out white long sleeve shirt, and equally worn out blue slacks. His hair was long and unkempt. His eyes had tired black rings, while his skin looked sickly.

He’s been here alone for two years, all the others left, or, perhaps they died.

He wasn’t quite sure. Tonight he ran out of food and water, he shook hungry and licked his lips thirstily. To keep his time he’d starting writing on the walls and floors. “ I must leave, I must go, I must survive!” His writings said in example.

Besides the sound of moaning, there was an aged oak grandfather clock ticking and tock. His heart’s pulse was fast and felt hard, it sounded like a drum. It was just another sign of ex-

haustion. Why was he still awake? The thought pressed him like a button on an arcade machine.

scribe it. It wasn’t them moving he was afraid of, it was their eyes watching.

Could they memorize his location?

He knew the answer full well. Keep the dead out! Although, his barricade made of bookcases of various colors and shades was sturdy enough. Why take the chance? To be fair he often drifted off some nights, and those days; the sun would be out and the dead were still there.

He had to believe zombies weren’t like the depictions. No way they’d been accurate! After all, those were just canonized lore. Nobody truly knew what an undead person’s weaknesses could be.

Nor, their abilities!

They seem to stand like rotten puss filled statues. Not a single utter of sound. Only the look of a thousand cataracts. Expressionless even. Still, he wouldn’t take a chance!

He had his legs up to his head, rocking slowly in the middle of the dirty floor.

Sweat beads like bullets on his goose bumped skin. He chuckled in uncertainty and of stress. The moans of dead even louder now. Every shamble he swore was like a mini quake.

“I’ll kill any I see, it’s best for my survival!” He yelled internally. It sounded like a thundering echo in a cave. Strange as it was, it’d be the best he could de-

For minutes maybe hours had passed before he’d looked up at the window in front of him. He needed too, he suddenly remembered. It showed the moon and sun, his one saving grace here! Just above his barricade to the exit of this dilapidated, decaying mess of a building. The light of the moon was the only thing left, soon, the sun would come.

Stopping his rocking, he extended his right hand out to the floor. Dragging his pointer finger along the dust caked floor. He made tiny lines to represent the seconds. He followed every tock of the clock. Every tick began a second, and even tock ending a second.

Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick,

tock… on and on. Hours flew as he drifted with sounds. Was he asleep?

Perhaps micro-sleep. Who knows but the sky?

The light of the moon was gone now.

The sun was painting the skies pink.

Shambles slowly dissipated, so too the moans. Soon the world was silent. His eyes were bloodshot, the tired black rings even darker.

George quickly got up to move his barricade away. It was the clock going off that truly set him off. His heart beating fast again. It didn’t take long for the door to be cleared. He opened the door.

There’d been something standing there. It spooked him, he jumped back. Shielding his tired eyes. Shaking violently, he slowly moved his arm out of his view. Then he saw it.

It wasn’t a zombie, it was a manikin.

And as he walked outside he saw nothing else standing still. What he saw was the modern world. Cars driving and people living life. He’d survived a delusion.

Contributed by Garry Forrester The Wild Women of Winedale is a “laugh out loud and roll in the aisles” comedy from a team of writers that brought were responsible for so many memorable episodes of NBC’s hit sit‐com, The Golden Girls. This writing team is also responsible for other hit comedies that VPA has done in the past including The Dixie Swim Club, The Hallelujah Girls, and The Savannah Sipping Society. The play has all the Southern

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Theatre

charm and wit that we’ve come to expect from writing trio of Jones, Hope, and Wooten so you won’t want to miss a single wry look or one‐liner!

Avenue, in Wasilla. VPA will also do six dinner theatre performances at Evangelo’s Restaurant in Wasilla between March 17th and 26th.

THE WILD WOMEN OF WINEDALE opens for theatre performances on March 4th and runs through March 13th. Ticket prices for these performances are $19 Regular Admission, $17 Seniors 65+/Students 18 and younger.

The theatre performances will be at Valley Performing Arts, 251 W. Swanson

Purchase tickets for the theatre performances online at www.valleyperformingarts.org or call our office at 373‐0195 for more information. Tickets for the dinner theatre shows must be purchased through the VPA office. Be sure to follow us on Facebook at: www. facebook.com/Valley‐Performing‐Arts.

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Poetry & Prose Contributed by Nan Potts The dance is when Two hearts join in To synchronize as one.

And make it known, Love has shown, It’s strength compares to none.

The dance then starts, With flaming hearts, The passion to enjoy.

Each other’s hue, They’ve come to view, And talents to employ.

Each dancer brings, Sometimes with strings, Gifts which charm or glower.

Thus, each allows, Missteps and bows, If performed a howler.

Contributed by Yvonne Moss The gift, my Valentine gave to me, Bound us together with twine; Hearts and flowers and ring and things, Asking for me to be thine.

My heart ceased to beat on the sad day, When the twine did snap, a coup.

Will my broken heart ever mend thyself, And find a new Valentine true?

It’s carried on, This dance and song, To which it has no end.

If, both elect, Not to neglect, Each other’s heart to tend.

— For My Valentine Contributed by Jeffrey Winke time in the gelid emptiness letting go

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Contributed by Karly O’Loughlin Your lips, these sweet entryways for me to slip inside.

The way my bone marrow longs to be sucked dry; and your hands, these warm cradles that cup the jawline of my reckless spirit.

Drowning out the wild in me in a feverish whirling of smoke and steam.

Fabric interlacing between flesh, skin rubbed raw against bone, pressing, pressing, deepening my curves and eroding sharp edges until I am a smooth stone in the palm of your riverbed. Quenched entirely in blue; a universe of you

heavy bootfall yelling about something -upstairs neighbor bare branches above the snow crusted ground -feeling warmth within stereo’s be-bop -cratered translucent moon glows frozen in gray sky frosted window -the patchwork quilt of her warm whisper

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Poetry & Prose

Contributed by Maxine Franklin Dear people and animals that without Reservation deserve to live Forever but nevertheless have passed into oblivion.

Over the course of life on earth, This has occurred Countless times.

Thus our hope of an eternity - an endless pause in time’s relentless passage

Contributed by C.MacFarlane From a son to his father on the occasion of his first major screw up as a man.

You were always careful with my small body, wiping gently when I was wet and snotty.

Forgive me for stepping on your heart, I didn’t think it would all fall apart.

That would spare all of us - a living Suspension of cruel physical laws.

Can we change Definitions to make these less inexorable?

God was kind when he gave me to you, your love always sees me through.

Can we allow a suspension, a long endless eternal Day with no night in sight?

Where flowers bloom without Fading. Where the kitten plays in an endless summer?

Father, I’m asking for your grace, on those times I move at too fast pace.

Have patience with the dumb things I do, it’s hard living up to a man like you.

Where my love and I hold sunset And moonrise in our smooth hands?

Our joy Slowly witnessing the gentian opening?

Endlessly blooming?

Contributed by Robert Lyons When Liberty screams for thundering hoofs Since the days of Ypres, Vimy and Passchendaele Hail of hell, seeping fumy death, Canadians held their breathe Americans have tales to tell, of frozen Hells River crossings to slice Hessian throat They have also the blood that bore heavy weight Racing through veins true, lessons bore of floating bodies From Tarawa to Iwo Jima, Utah, Omaha, and Juno these places sacrosanct in the lore of liberty but reality has worn the families thin So again, the call goes out to ALL MID-FEB 2022

We the PEOPLE keep STANDING TALL, AND THE CONVOYS WIN! GATHER, GATHER, this is outstanding TAKE IT TO THEM WE the People are demanding it!

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Books

The 50th Anniversary Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race begins in Anchorage on Saturday, March 5th, and to commemorate the iconic Alaskan event local publishing company Northern Light Media recently released a new book by author Lew Freedman, 50 Years of Iditarod Adventures, The First Fifty Years of the Last Great Race.

The book details fifty years of race history, with synopses of each annual race recounting the moves of winning mushers, and explaining the legendary events which became part of Iditarod lore. Complete records of all of the award winners are included for each year since 1973, and short biographies explain how key individuals and families have contributed to make the race what it is today, a worldwide phenomenon and The Last Great Race on Earth.

The striking cover art is by well-known Alaskan artist Jon Van Zyle, a two-time Iditarod finisher (1976, 1979), a member of the Iditarod Hall of Fame, and the Official Artist of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. The artwork, which also appears as the official poster for the 50th Anniversary Race, features the smiling and ghostly features of race founder Joe Redington gazing at a scene of mushers at a campfire in the snowy wilderness that could well play out during the 2022 race – or may also have taken place during the first race half a century ago.

AN EXCERPT: "Joe Redington Sr., 'The Father of the Iditarod,' was passionate about sleddog travel and once estimated he had mushed 250,000 miles in his life, though truth be told, it seemed like a wild guess,

if a believable claim.The Iditarod may have matured in sophistication and sped up over the last half-century, but its roots touch people in symbolizing a bygone way of life. Good old Joe Redington knew he was on to something, knew it in his bones and in his soul, when he hustled and lobbied and scraped and fundraised leading up to the inaugural full-length Iditarod. Individuals of vision are often voices in the wilderness seeking to sell new ideas. In this case, it really was a wilderness adventure Redington was selling."

The book can be ordered through Fireside Books in Palmer, and is available at Amazon, or from Northern Light Media.

50 Years of Iditarod Adventures, The First Fifty Years of the Last Great Race,

by Lew Freedman. Published in February, 2022 by Northern Light Media.