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Send us Fan Mail He grew up in Haines, Alaska with a bike, a beach, and more wilderness than rules and it shaped everything that came after. My guest, longtime local Stuart DeWitt, walks me through the moments that built his edge: early hunting trips, learning to trap from old-school mentors, and the kind of outdoor freedom that turns into real capability when things go sideways. Then we get into...

Send us Fan Mail A licensed daycare in a small town sounds simple until you hear what it actually demands: nine-hour days, strict ratios, constant trust from parents, and almost no margin for error. We sit down with Kim Larson, a longtime in-home child care provider in Haines, Alaska, to trace how she got here and why her work has quietly held up families for decades. From Kansas roots to growing...

Send us Fan Mail A Disney crew, a Gold Rush story, and a tiny Alaska town that had to pull off big-league logistics in the dead of winter. We’re joined by longtime Haines resident Tom Andriesen, a familiar face to anyone who’s spent time around town, and he walks us through how White Fang ended up filming entirely in the Chilkat Valley and what it took to make it happen day to day. Tom shares the...

Send us Fan Mail A kid in Queens watches planes at LaGuardia, runs a small-time “slug” hustle on coin machines, and then gets stopped cold by a store owner and a furious mom. Years later, that same kid hitchhikes across America at 16, goes to Woodstock, and somehow ends up getting paid to draw Bert and Ernie for Sesame Street. Michael Marks’ story is one of those rare life arcs that connects real...

Send us Fan Mail One decision, one returned phone call, one job opening in a tiny Southeast Alaska town and a whole family history gets rerouted. I’m sitting down with my mom, Charlotte Olerud, to capture the stories people have been asking for for years: growing up between Fort St. John and rural Minnesota, learning to work early, and watching my grandpa keep going after losing an arm in a brutal...

Send us Fan Mail A gun store in Alaska. A filmmaker from Berkeley. A quiet movie about a noisy country. We talk with director writer producer Aaron Davidman about American Solitaire and the long road from early theater mentors to a feature film built for real conversations, not talking points. We get into what shaped Aaron’s craft from intense conservatory training to learning how to direct, fund...

Send us Fan Mail A police chief doesn’t just arrive in a town like Haines, Alaska with a clean slate. Every choice gets remembered, every interaction becomes part of the story, and trust is earned one conversation at a time. That’s why I wanted to sit down with Haines Police Chief Jimmy Yoakum and let you hear the full arc, from where he comes from to how he plans to lead. Jimmy opens up about gro...

Send us Fan Mail A local newspaper can feel quaint until you see the bill: thousands per month just to print, plus a supply chain that depends on flights, couriers, and weather. We sit down with Rashah McChesney, owner and publisher of the Chilkat Valley News, to talk about what it really takes to keep community journalism alive in Haines, Alaska when the old ad-driven model is collapsing and ever...

Send us Fan Mail A 400-foot ski hill in Pennsylvania shouldn’t produce a heli-ski guide who opens Alaskan lines, designs technical gear, and races a 900-horse rock car at 140 on dirt—but here we are. We sit down with guide and multi-sport athlete Tom Wayes to trace the decisions, near-misses, and outrageous stories that shaped a life built on edge. Tom takes us from late-blooming collegiate gates...

Send us Fan Mail A cabin burns to the ground on a winter night without phones. A young volunteer watches a ragtag crew of neighbors save what they can and decides to spend the next three decades running toward the worst moments in people’s lives. That’s the hinge of Al Badgley’s story, and it opens into a rich, surprising life that stretches from Texas bayous to the Chilkat Valley. We start in Bay...

Send us Fan Mail A slice of fresh bread on a Sunday night can shape a life. Travis joins us to share how those early kitchen memories, a scientist father’s quiet example, and a teenage “pop-up” at home set him on a winding path from Shoreline to Maui, New York, and finally Haines, Alaska—where Deer Heart now serves as both restaurant and community anchor. We dig into the reality of restaurants aft...

Send us Fan Mail A love story to place doesn’t always start pretty. For Reba Hylton, it began with a mother who worked fields and fought racism, a softball swing that opened college doors, and a gut feeling that life had to be wilder. Alaska answered. Reba learned to read rivers, run tours, and solve problems the way guides do: watch, decide, commit. From guiding and managing Skagway operations to...

Send us Fan Mail What if the hardest things you’ve lived through could become your superpower? We sit down with Dr. Marnie Hartman—physical therapist, yoga teacher, author, and death doula—whose life moved from the precision of competitive gymnastics to the intimate, human work of helping a rural Alaska town heal. From Orange County’s boutique sports clubs to a basement room next to a utility clos...

Send us Fan Mail A life can hold multitudes, and Bill Thomas’ story proves it. Born and raised in Haines with deep Tlingit roots, Bill carries us from Main Street memories and Chilkat dancers to the hot ramp at Bien Hoa, where a young crew chief learned to keep planes—and people—alive. He talks about flying VIP missions in U-21s, the daily reality of fear, the rare medal signed by General Creighto...

Send us Fan Mail A World War II tent. A Yamaha piano hauled off a swaying dock. Five bears on the playground. A cancer diagnosis delivered in a plastic-lined hallway. And a small town that kept showing up. This conversation with superintendent Lilly Boron is a sweeping, human story about grit, grace, and what schools must become to truly serve kids today. We start with Lilly’s off-grid childhood i...

Send us Fan Mail What turns a humble birding shop into a global optics leader? A leap of faith, a relentless work ethic, and a belief that service beats slogans. Sitting down at Vortex HQ with CEO Joe Hamilton, we trace the arc from a dentist-turned-retailer to a family business that learned retail on the floor, listened to customers asking for binoculars, and built Eagle Optics before consolidati...

Send us Fan Mail What if healing starts with a simple truth: your body already knows the way? Licensed counselor Cesre McQuaid joins us to share how a life-altering NICU crisis awakened her faith, redirected her career, and taught her the power of real-time support. From that hospital room to leading crisis response in Alaska, she unpacks what actually helps in the hardest moments: clear words, st...

Send us Fan Mail What does it take to build a life anchored in service, humility, and real hope? We sit down with Vince Hansen—former city administrator and borough manager, longtime deacon, firefighter, and hospice volunteer—to chart a remarkable journey from pear orchards in Northern California to leadership and ministry in Alaska. Vince grew up one of ten kids, working paper routes and orchards...

Send us Fan Mail  A broken engine, a borrowed wheel, and a room packed with glossed-over facts—sometimes the biggest turns come from the smallest moments. We sit down with Gershon Cohen, longtime Haines resident, potter, scientist, and environmental advocate, to trace a path from North Philadelphia to the Bering Sea and into the hearings that reshaped Alaska’s cruise ship standards. Gershon shares...

Send us Fan Mail  What happens when a saltwater-obsessed kid from Tampa grows up on Cuban bread routes, learns to fish for dinner, and then moves to Alaska to rebuild his life—and ends up mayor? Andrew Cremata sits down with us to trace that winding path and the big ideas it shaped: subsistence vs sport, fisheries and trawlers, faith and persuasion, ferries and bureaucracy, and why access decides...

Send us Fan Mail A plywood smokehouse recipe, two commercial smokers, and a head full of cannery memories—that’s where Harry Rietze started. What followed was nine lean years, a gutsy pivot, and a methodical buildout that turned a tiny smoke operation into a modern plant moving four million pounds with a 60-person crew. We dig into what actually changed the trajectory: tender service that let gill...

Send us Fan Mail The sky rarely hands out straight lines. Rick Dunning’s journey proves it—line boy in Indiana, a bruising exit from Embry‑Riddle, and a leap to Southeast Alaska that rewired everything. We sit with Rick, now a Delta captain, to unpack the tightrope of judgment that bush flying in Lynn Canal teaches: learning routes like a hometown map, respecting weather more than ego, and underst...

Send us Fan Mail A river can teach you how to build a life—and a town. We sit down with legendary boatman and entrepreneur Bart Henderson to chart the line from Vernal’s early raft culture and Grand Canyon miles to first descents in Ethiopia and the bold move that helped reimagine Haines, Alaska, as an adventure hub. The stories are gripping: a waterfall misread that changed how he leads, improvis...

Send us Fan Mail  A brown bear mauling, a river business built from nothing, and a small Alaska town trying to find its future—our conversation with longtime Haines, AK resident and entrepreneur Duck Hess is a study in grit, ingenuity, and community. We trace Duck’s path from Oregon logging camps and Air Force intelligence to family logging in Southeast Alaska, the realities of owning bars in a bo...