Hometown, Alaska - Alaska Public Media

Taquka’aq B-Duk Took Drum Group at the Alaska Native Heritage Center (Jeff Chen/Alaska Public Media) Since 1990, federal, state, and local governments have recognized November as Native Heritage Month to celebrate and honor America’s Indigenous Peoples. November is such an interesting time for Native peoples, though, as it is right after Halloween when folks still commonly dress up in stereotypica...

Cosplayers at Senshi Con, Alaska’s largest fandom convention, spent the day as their favorite comic book and anime characters last weekend at the Dena’ina Center. (Photo by Ammon Swenson) In Alaska pop culture and entertainment serve as a means to escape the dark, chilly winters that conquer the final months of each year. The politics and popularity of film, comic, game, and novel franchises have...

The Tagiumiut Dancers perform at the 2019 Alaska Federation of Natives Conference at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks. (Zachariah Hughes/Alaska Public Media) Indigenous Peoples’ Day strikes the intersection of beauty and triumph, controversy and pain. Many have fought to reclaim its purpose and name from Columbus, to the people of the land he claimed to discover. The history of this day has shown t...

The month of October has been recognized by the U.S. Congress and by several state legislatures as Filipino American History Month, to celebrate the long history of Filipinos in the United States. When we think about Filipino Americans, however, the states that people most easily think of are California and Hawaii; very few think of Alaska. But Filipino Alaskans have just as long and just as rich...

(Image from Flickr ) Addiction and recovery are two sides of a heavy coin. September is National Recovery Month, so this week on Hometown Alaska, we’ll learn how substance addiction contributes to recidivism and how to celebrate recovery and support sobriety and sober-curious lifestyles. HOST: Justin Williams GUEST: Alaska Addiction Rehabilitation Services LINKS: Recover Alaska resources and frequ...

Jeff Bumagat-Hidalgo, co-owner-manager at Jeepney Filipino Hawaiian Fusion Food, prepares an order of butter garlic shrimp on a weekday afternoon in April. (Jeff Chen/Alaska Public Media) Alaska’s food and restaurant culture is a massive and ever-shifting adhesive for the local economy, serving and effecting both customers and business owners alike. But why is it so crucial? And how are local rest...

Cover of Welcoming Anchorage’s roadmap manual. (Courtesy of Welcoming Anchorage) Alaska’s ethnic and cultural diversity has grown significantly as more immigrants and refugees make Alaska their home. How are new Alaskans adjusting? How can the government help in their transition? What are the ways through which immigrants and refugees enrich Alaska? Join host E.J. David for conversation about a co...

This cover of the new “Alaska Women Speak” anthology is artwork by Teresa Ascone that first graced the cover of the WINTER 2014 journal. Ember Press, a Palmer-based small independent publisher specializing in Alaska non-fiction, adventure, conservation and history, has just released an anthology collecting the first 25 years of the journal “Alaska Women Speak,” from 1992 to 2017. The journal is st...

‘One Headlight’ by Matt Caprioli and ‘Pluto Cove’ by Arran Forbes. UPDATE: Writer Matt Caprioli, featured in this episode, has changed his last name to Frye Castillo. His website can be found here . Hometown Alaska is back after its short summer hiatus, and we return Aug. 23 at 10 am with a program featuring two Alaska writers with first books. In the first half of the program, we’ll meet Matt Cap...

The Juneteenth flag was raised on June 11, 2021, at Anchorage City Hall. (Jeff Chen/Alaska Public Media) Juneteenth has been called America’s second Independence Day. But surveys show only about half of Americans know what Juneteenth is. What exactly is Juneteenth? Why is it important, and how should it be celebrated? With community leaders Jasmin Smith and Dino Allen, we will discuss Juneteenth’s...

What if our latest conversations about Alaska didn’t lodge on the dollar amount of a PFD, or how much a budget should be cut? What if we leaped over these sticking points and employed our collective imagination to envision an Alaska of the future? What kind of place do we want Alaska to be? What kind of place do we want the next generation to experience? These are the questions that moved Ky Holla...

The stand of a bouquiniste , the French term for second-hand books resellers, in Paris, near the Cathedral Notre-Dame of Paris. Books are as popular in Alaska and in Anchorage as they are in Paris, thanks to public libraries, bookstores and the Alaska Center for the Book. (Benh Lieu Son g/ Wikimediia Creative Commons ) For three decades, the Alaska Center for the Book has promoted literacy through...

Acting Anchorage Police Chief Ken McCoy poses for a photo in the Anchorage Police headquarters in downtown on May 7, 2021. (Hannah Lies/Alaska Public Media) On this edition of Justice Alaska on Hometown Alaska , the Anchorage Police Department’s Acting Chief Ken McCoy joins host Kathleen McCoy for a conversation on APD’s work in Anchorage and on modern policing, a public safety field that has come...

Guests Nithya Thiru (left) and Joshua Albeza Branstetter (right) discuss anti-Asian racism on Hometown Alaska. (Images courtesy of guests) Recent events have put a spotlight on anti-Asian racism. Many Americans even seem shocked & surprised that it’s happening. But is anti-Asian racism new? Is anti-Asian racism rare? What does it look like? Where does it happen? And how does it impact Asian Am...

Dave Bronson and Forrest Dunbar head to a runoff election on May 11. (Photos courtesy Bronson and Dunbar campaigns) Hometown Alaska will host RUNNING 2021: Runoff Candidates for Mayor Monday May 3 from 10-11 am. Both candidates will join us for the program. Questions are welcome from the listening audience (see format below). The program will air again at 8 pm Monday evening and will be podcast on...

Students play during recess at Dena’ina Elementary School in Wasilla in September. (Jeff Chen/Alaska Public Media) Today’s question came from a listener, a father who has weathered and completed his own family’s journey through expensive childcare, for which he’s grateful. But his own success don’t solve the huge challenge in our community, and he asked us to share with listeners the scope of the...

A listener posed a question for Justice Alaska o n Hometown Alaska and we tackled it on this week’s show. Where are the Alaska Native defenders, prosecutors and judges in our state’s judicial system? What would justice in Alaska look like if there were more robust representation of Alaska Natives throughout the process? Sigvanna (Megan) Topkok, staff attorney for Kawerak in Nome. In conversations...

The nuclear-generated power industry is taking off. Among the latest developments are microreactors that might have advantages for remote communities in Alaska struggling with high energy costs, or military bases, or remote mining operations. It’s time to find out more. (Image courtesy of Office of Nuclear Energy, US Department of Energy.) It’s probably time for everyday Alaskans to learn more abo...

Indigenous Peoples and Languages of Alaska. (Alaska Native Language Center) Over the past few years, acknowledging the Indigenous roots of the places we call home has become more common. This is especially true in Alaska, a state rich with Indigenous history and the state with the highest percentage of Native people in its population. Alaska, however, also has a rapidly growing non-Native populati...

Tying different colored ribbons to a tree to remember victims of crimes is an annual event across the nation, including in Anchorage, during National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, April 18-24. The focus on victims is an opportunity to review and evaluate how victims’ rights are being observed, and what changes still need to happen. (Photo courtesy of Victims for Justice, Alaska.) One week in the mon...

Bunny ears image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Host images by Alaska Public Media. The arrival of a new host to Hometown Alaska is a good opportunity to open the phone lines to hear what topics you want us to work on. We call it “all ears” because we’re listening for the ideas you want us to pursue. Joining the Hometown Alaska team is EJ David. You may have heard him co-host the RUNNING program f...

Anchorage on an April evening. Taken April, 2008. Photo from Flickr/Wikipedia, by Frank. K. Creative Commons License 2.0 Generic UPDATE: Candidate responses to Alaska Public Media’s 2021 Mayor Candidate questionnaire are now available at Running 2021 . Fifteen candidates filed to run; 9 candidates returned the questionnaire. Albert Swank, Reza Momin, Anna Anthony, David Bronson, Darin Colbry and J...

UPDATE: Candidate responses to Alaska Public Media’s 2021 School Board Candidate questionnaire are now available at Running 2021 . Sixteen candidates are running; 12 responded to the questionnaire. Candidates Judy Norton Eledge, Marilyn Stewart, Kim Paulson and Marcus Sanders did not respond. (Scroll for a full list of candidates and seats.) The mail-in election is April 6, and ballots will be sen...

Many programs on Justice Alaska focus on explaining Alaska’s judicial system from the inside, from the perspective of judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys, as well as participants in therapeutic courts and administrators within the Department of Corrections. Kyle Hopkins, in the ADN newsroom after learning “Lawless” was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. (Alaska Public Media/Julia O...

Partial logo from the PBS historical and cultural exploration of the Black Church in America. In a sweeping, song-filled and emotional telling, Henry Louis Gates takes viewers through the beginnings of the Black Church in America, from its beginnings in white Christianity with influence from home countries and spiritual traditions that enslaved people brought with them. The 400-year history of the...