Crude Conversations

This week, Crude will be revisiting the top 5 most popular episodes of 2019. Number 5 on the list is with Andy Elsberg, an emergency room doctor at Providence Medical Center in Anchorage, Alaska. Cody and Andy talk about how he went from being a ski bum to an ER doc, the idea of wilderness medicine, the pervasiveness of alcohol and opiate addiction in Anchorage, what a gunshot actually does to a h...

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with photographer Brian Adams. Brian originally got into photography by way of videography. When he was a kid, growing up skateboarding with his friends, he would film everything. The motivation back then was getting a shot in one of the local skate and snowboard videos. In high school, he took a photography class because it was the closest thing to a video...

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with Dan Redfield, the creator of Alaska Photoventures , a television series that explores Alaska through photography. Although Dan grew up in the outdoors, he didn’t start documenting it for himself until about three years ago, after he decided that this was how he could scrapbook his adventures and family memories. As he puts it: “Instead of opening up a...

In this episode of "lost anchorage," we look at how the colonization of Alaska has and continues to affect Alaska Natives through the perspective of Aaron Leggett, the Curator of Alaska History and Culture at the Anchorage Museum, and the President of the Alaska Native Village of Eklutna . Aaron explains how the effects of colonization didn't happen overnight, that it was a gradual chipping away a...

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with Anchorage comedian John Norris. John’s parents were pastors for the Salvation Army, so a good portion of his upbringing was spent moving around. He says that in order to make friends in these new places, you could either be good at sports or be funny. John chose to be funny. He says that he doesn’t exactly remember a defining moment that really pushed...

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with professional snowboarder Ben Bogart. Ben grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, he played hockey for Bartlett high school, but mainly he snowboarded. Cody has known Ben for most of his life, and has always known him to be a fast learner. So, it wasn’t long after he started snowboarding that he was getting shots in JB Deuce snowboard and skateboard videos in the...

In this one, Cody has a conversation with Stranger Things staff writer and story editor Kate Trefry. When she was a kid growing up in Anchorage, Alaska Kate says she was an obsessive reader and writer. That those two things have always been part of who she is. The need to express herself and to leave a mark was imprinted on her at a young age when her parents took her to Italy and she saw all the...

In this episode, Cody and guest host Whitney Branshaw have a conversation with retired marine and pararescueman Roger Sparks. In 2010, Roger was part of operation Bulldog Bite 2 Charlie , a heavy firefight with insurgents in the Watapur Valley in Afghanistan. The fight was, as Roger puts it, surreal. He talks about how, after the fight, he was in such disbelief that he checked Wikipedia for proof...

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with Kyle Clayton, the owner of Chilkat Valley News . To understand how Kyle ended up in Haines, he starts with the four years he served in the army. He explains that his upbringing in Indiana instilled in him a feeling of isolation, like the rest of the world and the experiences it held always felt out of reach. That was, until the army opened up the world...

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with professional snowboarder and Olympian Rosie Mancari. Rosie began snowboarding at Alyeska Resort in Girdwood, Alaska at 3-years-old. At 15, she was competing in local competitions, and at 17 she moved out of state to begin training full-time. At 21, she began racing for the U.S Ski and Snowboard Team. Her sport is boardercross, probably the closest disc...

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with Philippa Hughes , the founder of Curiosity Connects Us , an organization that connects people who would not typically associate with each other. Specifically democrats and republicans. The idea came about after the 2016 election didn’t turn out the way Philippa had hoped. So, she came up with an idea to learn why. She decided to host a dinner at her ho...

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with Anchorage public historian David Reamer. A public historian is concerned with including a public audience, while an academic historian is generally concerned with including an audience of their peers. Academic historians, David says, have a tendency to create an echo chamber of ideas that perpetuates and builds off of old and often prejudiced narrative...

In this episode of "lost anchorage," we look at the Anchorage drug trade through the perspective of an ex drug dealer. Claude "Muff" Butler ran a crackhouse in late '80s. After he gave that up, he made deliveries all over town. Between dealing drugs, prison and tragedy, Muff's past was a turbulent one. Today, he is an ideal example of someone who turned their life around. He now teaches kids how t...

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with Libby Bakalar, the creator of the One Hot Mess blog . Libby’s One Hot Mess originally began as a mommy-blog, where she wrote about things like recipes, make-up, and the trials and tribulations of parenting. She says it transformed into what it is now—a social justice blog—after President Trump was elected and especially after Alaska Governor Mike Dunle...

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with Sean Sullivan, better known as Joker the Bailbondsman. Joker is, without a doubt, the most commercially successful rapper from Alaska. His music videos were in heavy rotation on BET: Uncut, a late-night, uncensored music video block on BET back in the early 2000s. Back then, Joker was fully in it, he was living the stereotypical rap life—selling drugs...

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with Gus Engle, a former professional snowboarder turned musician. Back when he was a snowboarder, rather than taking to the mountains, Gus headed to more urban locations to ride. He ollied sidewalks, slid on corrugated pipes, rode down cement ledges, and jumped off overpasses. Altogether, he helped change the definition of what it means to go snowboarding....

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with UFC fighter Lauren Murphy. Lauren was introduced to combat sports in 2009 when she dropped her son off at jiu jitsu class. She ended up taking the class alongside him so that he wouldn't  be afraid. He wasn't afraid, but she did get hooked. The following year, Lauren competed in her first MMA fight in Wasilla, Alaska. She knocked her opponent out in 17...

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with his friend Mike Dempsey. Mike is a videographer and visual storyteller. It's a hard-won career that not everybody succeeds at, and Mike's well aware of this, which is why he got a degree in computer science—so that he could work remotely. The computer science degree has allowed him to work from anywhere in the world, while he pursues his real passion o...

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with Julie Decker, the Director and CEO of The Anchorage Museum . When she took the job, Julie made a radical shift in the way museums typically function. Rather than just collecting and displaying artifacts, she decided to transform the Anchorage Museum into a living museum, focused on local issues by examining present themes in order to look at Alaska's c...

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with professional snowmachiner Cory Davis. Cory's been riding a sled since before he could walk. At least that's what his parents tell him. And it's an easy thing to believe if you've ever seen him on a snowmachine. Dude's a natural. Fast forward to 2007, and he's competing in the X-Games at 18-years-old. Today, he holds six X-Games medals in Long Jump and...

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with Stephanie Wonchala, the Executive Director of Pulse Dance Company and the owner and operator of Studio Pulse Center for Dance. Stephanie started Pulse Dance Company in 2010. Back then they rehearsed wherever they could find space. At one point they held rehearsals on the second floor of a massage studio, with carpet, low ceilings, and no mirrors. Altho...

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with Pastor Kent Redfearn. Kent has been the pastor of Muldoon Community Assembly in Anchorage for over thirty years. In that time, he's watched the perception of organized religion change—for the better in some situations, and for much worse in others. And while the fundamental job of a pastor has not changed, their methods have. Meaning, because of the in...

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with Fairbanks skate legend Josh Poe. Josh got a taste for skate culture as an army brat in Germany in the mid-90s, where he spent a lot of time skipping school to skate with friends. He got to Alaska in 2005 by way of the Air Force and caught the tail end of the Boarderline era, years that were marked by substantial growth in the Alaska snow and skate scen...

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with Alice Glenn, the host of Coffee & Quaq, a podcast that explores Native life in urban Alaska. If you live in Alaska, then you're aware of racism toward Alaska Native people. It can be casual, or it can be abrasive. Either way, it's detrimental to an entire group of people who have lived in Alaska for thousands of years. Long before the Russians or the E...

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with professional snowboarder Mark Landvik, better known as Lando. Lando has been instrumental in snowboard videos that raised the bar in the progression of the sport, as well as the way action sports are filmed. Specifically, " The Art of Flight ," " That's It, That's All ," and " The Fourth Phase ." In 2015, at the height of his career, Lando left the fil...