Jan

Endangered Spaces — Prince of Wales

Prince of Wales

“It’s like being caught in a spiderweb. You’ll find yourself pushing with every part of your body, and no part of your body will be able to move. You’re totally trapped by–held by plants,” says Elsa Sebastian, describing what it’s like to bushwhack through a 25-year old clear cut in Southeast Alaska. It’s something the lady fisherman did a lot of this past summer in an effort to defend the remaining old growth on her home island, Prince of Wales.

In January of 2017, Alaska Representative Don Young introduced a bill that would transfer up to two million acres of the Tongass National Forest to the State of Alaska for timber harvest. Much of that land would come from Prince of Wales.

For the fourth installment of our Endangered Spaces series, we travel with Elsa and her companions, botanical illustrator Mara Menahan and biologist Natalie Dawson, as they trek through the areas on the island selected for transfer to see for themselves what’s been lost and what remains to be saved.

Learn more about the project at laststands.org

Find Mara’s illustrations at maramenahan.com

Music: If Walls Could Talk by Jacob Bain & Nis Kotto • Whatever Comes My Way by Vienna Ditto • Loops to Aviemore by The Freeharmonic Orchestra • novocaine by Fog Lake • Passages by Kai Engel • The Cuckoo by Jason Tyler Burton • Belly of the Whale by Jason Tyler Burton • daemones by Kai Engel • Fog by Sergey Cheremisinov • Something by Kai Engel • rattlesnake by Fog Lake • The Fallen by MC Cullah • One Day by Bradley Carter • love letters lost by Fog Lake • Clinchfield Rail by Jeff Przech

Tracks provided by Free Music Archive and with permission from the artists.

Jan

The Year of Big Ideas 2018

“I think the jack of all trades gets a bum rap. The jack is the master of none, but I think the jack probably has a lot of fun,” says Fitz Cahall.

This year, we open our annual Year of Big Ideas with an ode to “mediocrity” from Fitz, then turn, as always, to our community for inspiration for the coming year. Happy 2018!

Music: If Walls Could Talk by Jacob Bain & Nis Kotto • Auroras by John Berry • Little Lily Swing by Tri-Tachyon • Underdog by Bradley Carter • Desert Castles by Little Glass Men • Primary Colors by Ken Christianson

Tracks provided by Free Music Archive and with permission from the artists.

Dec

Growing Down

“I’ve watched my friends and peers hopscotch across the world,” says Fitz Cahall. “Some of them have reached the top of their craft, authored ridiculous lines up mountains, followed rivers into wrinkles of the deepest canyons, found the edge of human endurance.

“If I look back on the last ten years, I’m often surprised that I didn’t end up on their trajectory. Something inside, quiet and steady, called me in a different direction–one that I struggled against, at first.”

How you grow varies for each person, and it can differ depending on your stage of life. Some people reach upward and outward; others root down.

Please consider a donation to the Bears Ears Education Center Kickstarter.

Music: If Walls Could Talk by Jacob Bain & Nis Kotto • Blowback Blues by Canyon Kids • Revival by Jason Tyler Burton • Lost Forever by Little Glass Men • Sonic Roads by Cleod9

Tracks provided by Free Music Archive and with permission from the artists.

Dec

The Shorts — Zarsian Adventures

Zarsian Adventures

“My dad started whistling. That was the first bad sign,” Cordelia Zars remembers. “Then walking around the cabin and straightening things. The second. When he tromped up the ladder, rummaged around in the loft, and hollered down at me, ‘Oh say, Cord…’? I knew it was over. Some ridiculous idea had sprouted in his brain; negotiation was futile, all hope of rationality lost.”

In this particular instance, the idea involved strapping on cross country skis and dragging a ninety pound keyboard ten miles through the snow on a nine degree Colorado evening.

Now, Cordelia reflects on how much these hair-brained excursions–postholes, shivers, sweat, tears and all–shaped the people her and her siblings became, and left them with a deep sense for what they’re capable of.

Find Cordelia’s music here.

Donate to our Bears Ears Education Center Kickstarter Campaign here!

Music: If Walls Could Talk by Jacob Bain & Nis Kotto • The Channon by Josh Armistead • Decade of Upsets by Doctor Turtle • Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata performed by Cordelia Zars

Tracks provided by Free Music Archive and with permission from the artists.

Nov

The Shorts — T-Day

T-Day

There’s a light-hearted joy in friend holidays. Thanksgiving in Indian Creek or slaying powder for Christmas may sound like more fun than going ‘home’ for holidays fraught with family dynamics. At least it felt that way for Katie Wallace.

“Thanksgiving had always been a tough holiday for me,” says Katie. “It meant days of pre-cleaning, followed by a day of wearing scratchy sweaters and enduring endless hours of adultness. Hemmed in by tradition, social convention, and trying hard to be nice, we endured Thanksgivings with extended networks of acquaintances that none of us particularly enjoyed spending time with.”

But over the past years, Katie has come to see family holidays as a privilege, not an obligation.

You can find more of Katie’s writing here.

Music: If Walls Could Talk by Jacob Bain & Nis Kotto • Warm of a Mechanical Heart by Kai Engel • I Believe That People Can Change by Publish the Quest • Our Time is Short by Publish the Quest • Original Scores from Jacob Bain & Nis Kotto