Courtney Nelson

Downtown dilemma: Life on the street

2011-12-04T17:49:00.001-08:00

By Courtney Nelson

FOR THE JUNEAU EMPIRE

Editor’s note: Freelance writer Courtney Nelson interviewed several people who are living on the streets about their lives and their drinking habits for this first-person article. We are using only their first names.

Juneau’s chronic inebriates live in a complex sub-culture. Like many homeless people, they were hanging on until some event forced them into the street. Their situation is further complicated by their heavy dependence on alcohol. In many cases theirs are stories of generational alcohol abuse. In many cases, a new generation is being born on the street.

Emily
I met Emily, 27, sitting on the spot where she sometimes sleeps in Marine Park. She was holding a pair of wool socks someone gave her because hers were stolen off her feet while she slept. Emily described a typical night.
“If I don’t have a place to crash I start walking around at 3 a.m. and if I get lucky, and it’s a weekend, I can find someone to hang out with. We are all kind of on the buddy system here.” She drinks and walks to stay warm.
Emily has three children, ages 4, 6 and 7. Emily met the father of her children the first time she was homeless in 2002. As of early November, she was looking for housing so she could keep them from going into foster care.
She quit drinking for a while, but says losing her sister to lupus last year was a shattering experience, and she started again. When she tries to stop drinking she has seizures, though she says she is tapering off alcohol.
Her 70-year old mother is couch surfing.

Nick
Nick, 25, came to Juneau from Seattle. He’d gotten into some trouble. He was also drinking, and into heroin and other drugs. He was let go from his boat yard job when production slowed. He said he has only used alcohol in Juneau.
“I needed to change something so I figured moving would help,” said Nick who says he has members of his family in Seattle who are either in recovery or alcoholics.
He met Emily when she was grieving for her sister and moved in with her, her children, and her mother. When they were evicted, the three kids went to their father, and Emily and Nick to the street, where they do whatever they can to get by, panhandling and sometimes selling their food stamps to pay for their cell phones.

John
John, 46, is a roofer from California who took a job on a tender in Petersburg for a year. After losing his identification, a pastor advised him to go to Juneau or Ketchikan. “It was a spur of the moment thing and that’s how I ended up in Alaska. It’s all gone downhill since I moved here.” He’s been on the street for eight years.
John says he broke his neck when he fell off a roof. “I’m in constant pain and have no medical insurance to care for my condition.” He takes small jobs to pay for the two “tilts” of beer a day he says uses to treat the pain.
John says his family in the Lower 48 refuses to help. He wants medical care and solid employment so he can take care of his fiancée, Valerie.

Valerie
Valerie, 44, from Hoonah, has been living in Juneau for 24 years, and on the streets for the last 10. She says life on the streets is tough.
“Some people think because I am a female, that they can take advantage of me. My boyfriend, my fiancée, takes good care of me, but it’s tough down here. There’s nowhere to go, we have nothing to do,” said Valerie, who has faced several criminal charges involving violence.
Valerie graduated from Rainforest Recovery Center but hasn’t maintained her sobriety. She says she needs to drink two 40-ounce bottles of beer a day to maintain her alcohol level or she has seizures.
Valerie says she has fetal alcohol syndrome. She had a child with FAS who was taken away from her when the child was 6 months old and was raised by his father. Her child said in an article that he doesn’t harbor any ill will towards his mother. She had two other children with a homeless man, Greg. Those children were also taken away.

Greg
Greg, 48, has a grown daughter from a previous relationship who isn’t in the picture, besides his two children with Valerie. He is no longer with Valerie. He says he drinks to forget a past that makes him sad.
Greg has a half-brother in Juneau, Dan, who he met for the first time at their mother’s funeral. Dan says his mother was an alcoholic and drug addict who killed herself when Greg was 18 years old.
Dan, who also was a heavy drinker, has struggled with his own sobriety so he can’t take Greg in. Greg managed a restaurant in the valley, but when his relationship fell apart and he lost his children, he moved into the woods.
“If I could get my personal identification back then I could get a real job and stop living the life I’ve been living,” said Greg, adding, “what I really want is a cabin in the woods and a life of peace.”

Joni
Joni, 50, was born in Metlakatla. She moved to Juneau when she was 19, and has been living on the streets for the last five years. She became homeless after her husband left her, and she experienced another personal trauma. She has an 18-year-old daughter in town who she says is not returning her calls right now.
Joni says she has fetal alcohol syndrome. She chose to start drinking at 19. She averages a couple of pints of whiskey a day, but is trying to taper off on her own because Rainforest Recovery Center is full.
“I’m freaking out so I’m drinking myself to death,” she said with a laugh. She later said her laughter was a cover for her pain. Joni says people give her money because she did the same when she worked and had money. In November, when the nights were getting too cold, she was filling out documents so she could move in with her best friend, Doug.

Doug
Doug, 50, is from Skagway. He and Joni have been living on the streets of Juneau for five years together. “I don’t care where we live, I just want a warm place for her to be,” said Doug.
Doug was a construction worker who came to Juneau after he said his marriage ended. “I came to Juneau to get away from Skagway,” said Doug. His two children live in California.
Doug, who’s retired, is drinking about a quart of whiskey a day, and living off his union pension.

• • •

Life on the streets of Juneau for people who are homeless and alcoholics is a tough life, especially in the winter.
Chronic inebriates do whatever they can to earn money to support their alcohol habits, which for most means drinking a minimum of two 40 ounce beers a day. Some I met were drinking as much as two pints of whiskey a day. If their alcohol levels drop below a certain point, they may start having seizures, and some die.
Some are picked up by Rainforest Recovery Center or by the police who first take them to the hospital for medical clearance before they are taken to what’s called the drunk tank at Lemon Creek Correctional Facility.
To get their alcohol fix, they panhandle, barter, do odd jobs and look for financial help from charitable organizations, among other things.
Because they are almost always under the influence, they tend to lose important documentation like Social Security cards and driver’s licenses, which for many appear to be insurmountable problems and they just give up.
This feeling of helplessness often leads to anger and self-pity. They drink and then lash out and people walking down the street or aggressively panhandle and berate those who won’t give them money.
People living on the street tend to bond together and form alliances. Women say they must pair up with men for safety and warmth. This often leads to pregnancies and babies born with FAS that are taken away from the mothers. These children often end up homeless themselves.

Downtown dilemma: Giving people aid in their darkest hours

2011-12-04T17:47:00.000-08:00

Michael Penn / Juneau Empire

Reserve Officer George Gozelski of the Juneau Police Department checks on an inebriated local man at Gunakadeit Park (also known as Pocket Park) on Franklin Street last July.

By Courtney Nelson

FOR THE JUNEAU EMPIRE

Several institutions and individuals are tasked with dealing with Juneau’s chronic inebriates. Here is a look at three of them:

The Juneau Police Department
Last summer, for the first time, the Juneau Police Department, after pressure from the Downtown Business Association, assigned an officer dedicated to the downtown area to monitor inebriates and to manage any problems that might arise. Downtown shop owners appreciated the efforts of the first liaison, Officer Tracy Murphy.
Murphy moved south, and this winter, Officer Thomas Penrose has stepped into his shoes. Penrose is still learning the job. He said that one of his main goals is enforcing Title 47, which is concerned with personal welfare, social services and institutions. Basically they administer public assistance for adults in need, which are often people who have passed out from alcohol abuse or are in medical danger.
“They really want me to be boots-to-the-ground to interact with business owners, inebriates, homeless, customers or citizens on a positive level, to try and figure out how we can move,” said Penrose.

Rainforest Recovery Center
“One in every 10 people in this country has troubles with alcohol or drugs,” said Sandy Kohtz. Kohtz is the director of Rainforest Recovery, a 16-bed facility that’s an offshoot of Bartlett Regional Hospital. She has been working in the substance abuse field since 1977, first as a social worker, then director, of a 175-bed statewide treatment center in Nebraska.
She said clients arrive at the door of Rainforest in different ways, but often their clients are picked up because they’re considered a public nuisance. Besides getting calls from the community, Rainforest actively looks for individuals who are obviously drunk. If an individual refuses services, they may be held for 12 hours at Lemon Creek Correctional Center.
That 12-hour stay, or “sleep-off”, is considered the first stage of a five-stage recovery. “Most people in sleep-off are in the pre-contemplative stage,” said Kohtz. Stage two is contemplation, stage three is preparation, stage four is action, and stage five is maintenance.
Kohtz says no two people arrive at sobriety the same way. Sometimes it’s like a revolving door.
“Relapse is part of the disease. The lucky ones are the ones that come back”, said Kohtz. “Unfortunately sometimes they die.”
Though many seem treatment resistant, Rainforest’s staff never gives up on a client. For example, one person had 76 admissions, and on the 76th he stayed sober for the rest of his life.
Kohtz said she never knows what is going to be effective.
“They have to be sick and tired of being sick and tired. And they have to do some recovery on their own,” said Kohtz. She has seen many people recover in her 35 years in the field, and she knows one thing for sure; if the outreach people are working harder for the sobriety than the client is, it’s not going to work.
Kohtz said the workers have to have a broad attitude. She doesn’t like the term “chronic inebriates,” as she thinks the term implies hopelessness.
“I would rather them be called a person who has a disease and aren’t ready to change,” she said. “If you don’t treat them as if its treatable, and if I didn’t believe that some of these people can get straight and sober, then there is no point.”
“For the most part I’ve been doing alcohol and drug treatment because you can see people get well. Even if it is 1 out of 10, it’s that one that keeps people going.”
This is one of the things that keep doctors and nurses going as well.

Bartlett Regional Hospital
Rose Lawhorne, a registered nurse, has been the Emergency Department manager at BRH for two years, after working for many years as an emergency room nurse. Lawhorne says inebriates are in the ER almost every day.
“Inebriates are one of the highest risk populations because there are so many things that can behave like intoxication. Blood sugar problems, strokes, low oxygen from heart problems, lung problems or infection,” said Lawhorne. Sorting out the problems can be tricky.
Every nurse feels differently, but some find their patience tried, especially when they see the same person twice in one day, or have to deal with violent behavior caused by drugs like methamphetamine. Consequently the hospital has security watching potentially violent people.
Frequently inebriates picked-up downtown must pass through the emergency room for a medical clearance before being transferred to Rainforest Recovery or Lemon Creek Correctional Center.
“We have to watch them at the hospital if security isn’t available, and it starts to take up time,” said JPD patrol officer Sarah Hieb.
Lawhorne says individuals average blood alcohol levels between 0.2 and 0.3, but there are many who blow 0.4, 0.5, and even above 0.6 because of their tolerance. A level of 0.08 is presumed by Alaska law to be too drunk to drive. Sometimes they are given medication to help relieve withdrawal symptoms before being released. Some simply get a sandwich and a warm blanket before being sent to Rainforest.
“At the same time we are seeing heart attacks and strokes, traumas, sick children, injuries,” said Lawhorne. “People come to us in their darkest time and the thing that keeps the nurses going is being able to meet them in their hour of need and support them.”

Downtown dilemma: Impacts of chronic drinkers a fact of life for downtown merchants

2011-12-04T17:41:00.001-08:00

Larry Spencer, of the Downtown Business Association, thinks the city assembly decision to ban smoking in bars and thus force people to smoke on the sidewalks has made Juneau a more dangerous place.

By Courtney Nelson

FOR THE JUNEAU EMPIRE

The Glory Hole in downtown Juneau was established in 1984 to help anyone in need. At that time, people were passing out in the cold, sometimes even dying. Until the economic downturn, chronic inebriates were the main clients. Executive Director Mariya Lovishchuk described the Glory Hole in 2009 — the year she began work there — as “strange and unmanageable.” She noticed most of the problems involved just a few people, and were always alcohol related.
The Glory Hole instituted a breathalyzer policy in 2009, which effectively eliminates services for 10-15 percent of the people who used the facility. Lovishchuk feels bad about turning them away, but she said the situation became much more manageable within a few months.
“Most of the people at the Glory Hole come to us and use us as a stepping stone to get back on their feet, but the chronic inebriate folks have been here for many, many, many years,” said Lovishchuk. Back outside, inebriates wander the streets, and look for cubbyholes in which to sleep and stay warm.
Many business owners who interact daily with inebriates, though angry and frustrated, would not speak on the record for fear of retaliation.
They all agree the inebriates need the right kind of help.
“Look at the Canvas,” said Joan Deering, owner of Paradise Café, “I consider the inebriates to be disabled and in need of a space where they can be helped.”
“I’ve been in business nine years at this location and it’s a thoroughfare from the Glory Hole to Marine Park. What disturbs me the most is that I’ve seen the same faces year after year,” said John Chapman, owner of Picture This. He thinks the problem is getting worse.
“I was driving to work one morning and saw a guy stealing booze off the back of a delivery truck, then he took off to share his score with his friends — I mean it really has a carnival type atmosphere — it’s lively,” said Chapman.
Larry Spencer is president of the Downtown Business Association (DBA) and owner of the Senate Building on Franklin Street.
“I don’t view this as a downtown problem, I view this as a community-wide problem. We have inebriates that hang out downtown and in the valley,” said Spencer, who said people focus on the problem downtown because of its economic importance.
“We’re the face of the capital city, the entertainment and cultural center, we have bars, restaurants, local shops. We’re the economic engine with the tourism and we’re a major center for work, public and private,” said Spencer, who said the DBA is concerned with the vitality and safety of downtown.
He said he didn’t know of any attacks, but thinks inebriates pose a perceived safety problem.
“It’s perceived safety, I don’t know how valid it is but when people are allowed to stand on the street and shout obscenities it doesn’t make it a good place for mothers and their kids to shop,” said Spencer, who spearheaded the panhandling ordinance that was passed by the city in 2007.
“They also responded with a private contract through the DBA in the summertime that the cruise ship tax pays to roust people from private property in the mornings so they’re gone before the cruise ship tourists arrive,” said Spencer.
Spencer believes the inebriate problem has gotten worse since the smoking ordinance was passed, because bar patrons and smokers congregate on the street. “We gained clean air in the bars and dumped the problem out in the streets,” said Spencer, who said there was more to the problem.
“I think when we have problems in the villages, lack of economic opportunity, people come here from the villages for a variety of purposes, for social services, and they come here for jail,” said Spencer, who says jail is one source of the problem.
“Once they get out, we socialize them and try to line them up with housing. Some fail and some succeed, and the ones that fail become our public inebriate problem,” said Spencer. “The more services we provide, the more of a magnet we are, or dumping ground, for an inebriate population. If you build it, they will come.”
Spencer said the DBA has discussed the topic many times over the last 10 years and they believe stricter law enforcement of panhandling and open container ordinances is the answer.
Shop owners who felt too intimidated to go on the record tell the same story of daily encounters rousting people from doorways before opening their businesses. Of cleaning up liquor bottles, cans, trash, cigarette butts, feces, urine, vomit, and the occasional needle. Of fear when having to confront the daily situations, which they feel have developed an edge. They’ve had drunk people sleep on their couches, patios and even in their cars. Some inebriates have tried to steal the keys to the place when their back was turned, screamed profanities and even taken a swing at them. All report local and tourist customers avoid their businesses when there are drunk people congregating and panhandling in front.
Most business owners feel sad about the plight of the inebriates, but for many compassion has run out. One said just the sound of a paper bag crinkling on a liquor bottle triggers him when he’s trying to work.
One coffee shop manager has been serving “no trespassing” papers that she downloads from the City and Borough of Juneau website.
Especially this time of year, people who live on the street seek a warm place to spend time.
The downtown branch of the library is one such warm place. “As long as people follow our conduct rules and don’t cause problems, they are welcome to be here. There’s no specific rule that says they can’t have had anything to drink before you get in here, it’s just how can you conduct yourself,” said Library Director Barbara Berg.
Common library misuses include doing laundry or bathing in the bathroom, eating, sleeping and talking too loudly.
Despite this, the staff is more concerned about the well-being of their patrons than conduct violations. Untrained in drug and alcohol issues, they agree that Juneau needs a facility to address the needs of the people who take shelter in the library. ”But it’s not here, or at the Glory Hole, or in the front of local businesses,” said Circulation Supervisor Mark Whitman.
Berg added any facility needs to have Internet access.
“It’s not just a luxury anymore, they need to communicate with family in distant places, get benefits for disabilities,” she said.
Both librarians said they feel that a police presence is helpful.

Cartoonist TOE releases Palin book

2011-12-04T17:35:00.000-08:00

By Courtney Nelson

FOR THE JUNEAU EMPIRE

A collection of Sarah Palin cartoons by Tony Newman, who draws under the pen name “TOE,” is being released in book format at the upcoming Alaska-Juneau Public Market.
The book, titled “When Sarah Palin Came to Town,” is a chronological look at Palin’s political career, focusing on the effect she had on Juneau and its residents.
“If there are two characters in this book they are Sarah Palin and Juneau,” Newman said. “The relationship between Palin and Juneau — the impact of her celebrity and leadership was something I hadn’t seen explored fully in the books that have been about her and by her.”
Newman pairs his personal reflections of political events surrounding Palin with his published cartoons, adding a couple dozen previously unpublished drawings. He said the book seemed like an impossible dream until a tragic event helped push him forward.
“If anything gave me the motivation to do this it was the loss of my friend John Caouette a year ago,” he said.
While processing and reflecting on Caouette’s unexpected death with his friends, Newman said they realized they needed to go after the things they want — relax about work, travel more and do the things they love.
“I realized that I already do what I love to do in these cartoons,” Newman said.
Caouette had always encouraged Newman to take his cartoons further, but Newman had struggled to find a unifying theme for his collection. Then Palin came to town.
“I thought Frank Murkowski was an incredibly colorful governor and when he lost I thought we were going to enter a quiet boring time, no matter who it was, and obviously Sarah Palin was anything but,” he said.
Newman had a 10-year cartoon retrospective at the Juneau-Douglas City Museum in 2007, as Palin was just starting her first term as governor, and he was asked about her as a new subject. He was quoted as saying, “She’s a striking-looking person, so she’ll be fun to draw. She also seems like she’ll be a dynamic sort of personality that may get into hot water or at least be visible.”
He couldn’t have known then how right he was. With a colorful subject to work with, Newman’s Palin cartoons were inspired and people responded locally and nationally.
Newman has received a lot of positive feedback over the years with Alaska Press Club awards and a solid fan following, One particular letter to the editor in 2008, a little more than a year after Palin became governor, said Newman had found his muse in Palin and called one of his drawings a masterpiece; the letter confirmed his idea that Palin would be a solid unifying concept for the book.
“The arc of Sarah Palin’s career from governor to not governor has been a single story line. I realized I do have a theme here,” Newman said.
Juneau also plays a major role.
“Prior to Sarah Palin we were all about — to outsiders — snow and tundra, polar bears and fishing, and now, post-Palin, tell me that’s not the first question you get when you talk to friends that find out where you are from.”
Newman sees the book as a sort of Palin therapy, and he hopes that both Palin critics and Palin fans will identify their own reactions to her in the book.
“This book is both for us, Juneau residents to relive this interesting time in our history, but it’s also for people who are interested in Sarah Palin, and either love her and don’t understand why there has been sort of a general reaction against her from Alaskans, (or) for people who don’t understand what her appeal ever was and how Alaska could put her out as sort of our best citizen.”
His tone is playful rather than biting, and he says most of his subjects, including legislators he’s poked fun at over the years, have asked for the cartoons.
When he initially pitched his Palin collection idea in front of the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council, they were encouraging even though the idea wasn’t fully formed.
“I didn’t even have a clear idea of what I wanted, I just knew I wanted to enhance and develop my collection of Sarah Palin work as it relates to Juneau specifically. I didn’t know if that was an exhibit or a book or a pamphlet or a movie,” Newman said.
The arts council gave him an individual artist grant and a deadline, which Newman says was critical to the project.
“Without a deadline I could never have dragged myself through it,” said Newman, who is also a father, husband, and full-time state worker with many community commitments.
Newman, who has contributed cartoons to the editorial page of the Juneau Empire for more than 10 years, doesn’t always focus on politics in his drawings — he covers a wide range of topics of community interest, like the weather and personal tributes.
“One thing I can say about my work is that it’s erratic,” he said. “I don’t claim to be a great artist, I’m not trained as an artist, I’m trained as a journalist. I think my strength lies in my ideas.”
His family gives him the space to create when he needs to.
“When it’s cartoon night I plant myself in the middle of the kitchen where all the action is and draw,” Newman said. He is comfortable with chaos, having grown up with nine brothers and sisters Pittsburgh, Penn.
“When I was a toddler my mom set up a chalkboard in the kitchen so she could keep an eye on me, and I remember she would step around me as she worked in the kitchen as I sat there and drew.”
Newman drew lots of cartoons for friends over the years but it wasn’t until he moved to Anchorage in 1993 and noticed a call for cartoon submissions at the Anchorage Daily News that he became published. After moving to Juneau, he went on to draw for The Paper, begun by former Empire editor Larry Persily, and the Capital City Weekly before becoming a regular contributor to the Empire in 2000.
Newman’s book will be available at the Alaska Juneau Public Market, running Friday through Sunday at Centennial Hall. He hopes it will inspire conversations.
“There’s something about the combination of the right brain and the left brain — there’s the artwork but there’s also an intellectual stimulation that tweaks people in a way.”

Open Artists Studios in October

2011-10-26T14:16:00.000-07:00

By Courtney Nelson

FOR THE JUNEAU EMPIRE

The first open studio event of its kind begins this week on First Friday, and continues throughout the month of October.
Participating artists will have an art piece hanging at the Franklin Street Gallery at the Baranof Hotel, and most will have their art studios open for public viewing at different times during October.
This is a rare opportunity for people to visit artists’ private zones. You can see where artistic ideas are given life, in some cases, even in the absence of running water and heat.
Most participating artists have never opened their studios to the public. Many confessed they are using the pressure to get themselves organized. I caught up with a few of the artists in their spaces to chat about what they’re working on.

DOWNTOWN ARTISTS
Pua Maunau
Event organizer and artist Pua Maunau was inspired to coordinate the event during a trip to San Francisco several years ago where she attended a similar event while visiting her first painting teacher.
Maunau got her start painting in San Francisco in 1979. After seeing some paintings she loved at an art gallery in the Mission district, she inquired about the artist. He happened to be working in his fourth floor studio.
She complimented him in person and he offered to teach her how to paint. She went twice a week for four years and loved it.
Maunau painted in studios until she moved to Juneau in 1999 where she began painting outdoors. She and Barbara Craver formed Plein Rein, a group that meets weekly to paint outside.
“In Juneau you can’t help but paint outdoors,” said Maunau.

Barbara Craver
In July of this year Barbara Craver, a self-proclaimed recovering lawyer, moved her artist space from her small home basement to the Articorp building downtown, next to friend and fellow artist Constance Baltuck.
Having all her painting supplies together in one place has been helpful to Craver, as well as the separate space.
“Not having the distractions of being at home was wonderful, you know the laundry, the phone, a nice chair with a book,” said Craver with a laugh, “I decided to give it a try.”
Craver used Baltuck’s space to paint while Baltuck was artist-in-residence at Kobuk Valley National Park painting in the great sand dunes with bear scientists. Craver loved working in the studio and soon got a space of her own.
The two artists check in with each other in the morning, paint together outside and help each other with paintings. They use baby strollers to push their gear up mountains.

Constance Baltuck
Constance moved her studio from her home in January of this year and has a corner office in the Articorp building with spectacular views. The painting she picked for First Friday is of her friend’s daughter playing with ravens in her yard.
Baltuck has a show opening at the Alaska State Museum in November.

David Woodie
David Woodie has an artist’s space in the Emporium Mall downtown, upstairs from the Nickelodeon Gold Town Theatre. He promises to organize his studio for visitors.
“I’m going to get things cleared away, kick the wine bottles in the corner and put a table here,” said Woodie, who started his career drawing ships when he was 6 years old. He’s had his studio for about 12 years and also teaches at the University of Alaska Southeast.

A family of artists: Rohrbachers are rich in talent

2011-10-04T13:40:00.000-07:00

Courtney Nelson / Juneau Empire

Charles Rohrbacher's studio in Douglas

By Courtney Nelson

FOR THE JUNEAU EMPIRE

Deacon Charles Rohrbacher and his daughter Phoebe Rohrbacher both have artist’s spaces in Juneau and shows opening this November.
Charles is an iconographer with a studio in a converted garage at his home on Douglas, while Phoebe, primarily an oil painter, has a space on Seward Street.

Charles
About 10 years ago, Charles, with the help of his father and other friends, stripped his garage down to the beams and built a heated room with lots of lights to serve as his studio. There are flat files, books and drawers that help the Deacon stay organized. It’s here that he makes his own egg tempera paint from a powder.
“The advantage of tempera paint is you can paint rather transparently,” Charles said.
Charles came to Juneau in 1982 from San Francisco and married his wife, Paula, a Jesuit volunteer.
He had always done art, including woodcuts, relief prints and drawings, but he became interested in iconography when he realized he could bring his faith and his art together.
In icon paintings, the artist is not supposed to be represented. Icons are meant to be a locus for prayer and, as such, belong to the church.
They have certain general characteristics that distinguish them from religious paintings: their lines are deliberately frontal, and they often have halos and inscriptions. Icons are designed to get past linguistics and draw the viewer in, becoming a still point in a tumultuous world.
Charles had the opportunity to study abroad on three separate occasions with the great iconic artist Egon Sendler, a Byzantine Catholic priest. He also studied with about 25 other iconographers in Évian-les-Bains, on the south shore of Lake Geneva.
“I showered in Evian water,” he joked.
In addition to technical direction, he says the experience introduced him to other iconographers, which was very confirming, and a testament to the iconographer explosion that has occurred in the last 20 years.
He’s painted hundreds of pieces for Catholic, Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches, including many private commissions.
Charles just became a member of the Juneau Artists Gallery cooperative and has a show scheduled in November at the Canvas featuring the original artwork from his soon to be released book “The Illuminated Easter Proclamation.” It is being released by Liturgical Press and has been 10 years in the making.

Phoebe
Phoebe, who was born and raised in Juneau and graduated from Juneau Douglas High School, received a Rasmuson Foundation Emerging Artist Award in 2010 and secured a downtown studio space with part of her award money.
Phoebe currently has two pieces hanging at Alana Ballam-Schwan and Chad Medel’s new Figment art gallery in the Senate Building, and will have a solo show opening there in November.
Phoebe also has a job working at a REACH group home.
Phoebe has painted from old family photographs in the past but takes creative license.
“I’m interested in conveying the emotion of the image as opposed to being completely visually accurate.”
“I looked at photos of my mother’s family and I picked images I found to be visually compelling with a lot of emotion in them,” Phoebe said in reference to her last show at the city museum.
Phoebe went to college in Seattle and says that one of the most valuable things she learned in art school was to loosen up a little. Paintings were frequently seen as exercises in technique, so there wasn’t pressure for each painting to be a masterpiece.
This skill came in handy right away.
While Phoebe was preparing for her last show, four of her paintings were stolen two months before her opening. She quickly had to double her output.
“They took most of the work I had done and left me with 2 ½ paintings, my goal was 10.”
The robbery was shocking and confusing to Phoebe.
“It’s not like there’s a black market for paintings by pretty unknown artists.”
A small part of her thinks she might find them at the Salvation Army at some point in the future.
For emerging artists, Phoebe advises finding a space dedicated to artwork, a place that is comfortable and where the artist wants to spend time.
She said she wants to continue improving technically and conceptually as an artist, and become more disciplined. She is considering graduate school because she finds value in being immersed with other artists, getting support from teachers and receiving thorough critiques.
Phoebe’s solo show at Figment, located in the Senate Building, opens Nov. 4.

Paula
Paula Rohrbacher, Charles’ wife and Phoebe’s mother, has also jumped in the creative flow, making portable prayer shrines in re-covered Altoid tins using Charles’ icon prints. Light and portable, these tins hold a tea light candle, colored icon and a prayer for women fighting breast cancer – an inspired idea.
“We had a reception at the cathedral at Parish Hall, to view an icon, and Paula had this great idea and paired up with Team Survivor, a support group for women fighting breast cancer, to help them get active and back into good health. Some women take the shrines with them for their treatments,” Charles said.
“It was the kind of thing that would never occur to me, but this just came to her and it has been a blessing,” he said, adding that Paula is much better at marketing then he is.
“To give you an example of why I shouldn’t be allowed to market anything, we printed up biblical cards of Jesus and Mary, and for some reason, I had 200 crucifixion cards made up. When we got them Paula said, ‘For what occasion are people going to be sending these cards?’” Charles recalled with a laugh. “So we have about 195 crucifixion cards left.”
“People don’t send ‘Happy Good Friday’ cards, they just don’t,” said Paula.
• Contact freelance writer Courtney Nelson at roughhouseboxing@gmail.com.

Evolution of an artist

2011-09-04T12:49:00.001-07:00

Juneau resident Harrison has tried just about everything

Michael Penn / Juneau Empire

Gordon Harrison works in his home shop on Tuesday.

FOR THE JUNEAU EMPIRE

Gordon Harrison is an extremely busy retired person.
When he and his wife, retired Juneau family practitioner Sarah Isto, built their Juneau home 27 years ago they built a garage so Harrison would have a space and tools to create art. Since then, the garage has never housed a car.
His garage studio, located on top of the hill above Juneau-Douglas High School, has sweeping views of the channel and Douglas Island.
These days it serves primarily as a shop for his latest passion: ceramics.
“I started taking courses out here at the University in clay with Todd Turek, I took at least four semesters with him and learned how to work with clay,” Harrison said.
He combines his woodturning skills with ceramics to make pottery that rises up out of a mold. He makes intricate woodworked pieces like beaks and feet, which he adds as finishing touches to his ceramic pieces.
As it turns out there aren’t a lot of people using this technique.
“I kept looking in all the clay magazines and books about surface treatments and surface textures and things and nobody was describing this technique I was doing — and I thought that was strange because I didn’t invent it — but nobody was writing about it,” he said.
Harrison sent off a query to one of the main clay magazines and ended up writing an article on the subject.
“I sent them pictures of what I was doing and she was really excited about it and jumped on it — so (an) article was the result.”
Making ceramic pieces gives Harrison a thrill.
“It may sound corny but it is a joy to make some of those pieces,” he said. “I see those figures come up, those birds and fish come up out of the clay, it’s just absolutely thrilling when I do it ... and I do it just for the pleasure of seeing it.”
He doesn’t earn much money from his work, but to Harrison it doesn’t matter.
“If you don’t sell them, you can’t just keep making them. I mean all my friends have all the fish plates they are ever going to want so what do you do? By selling them it keeps me active and it keeps me working on new designs,” he said.
Currently, Harrison has his pieces on display at the Juneau Artists Gallery where he is also a board member.

Room to go
His latest art endeavor has been the culmination of years of trying out different art forms since childhood.
“(Art) is just something that’s been compelling in me — and again, I don’t feel like I have any great talent, I have a nice sense of design and so on — but it’s just been a compelling need to physically make things with my hands, and if you have that you just have to give it room to go,” Harrison said.
One of his first artistic passions was blacksmithing, which he picked up while he was a professor of political science in Fairbanks. He also took glass workshops, and eventually started making jewelry.
“I got on a jewelry jag, I was making belt buckles for a while and I came up with a really nice design for belt buckles. So, I thought about making those but there was just too much work in it,” he said.
Harrison then turned to woodturning, which also ran its course because it was too repetitive and restrictive.
“Wood turning these big bowls — you have a tremendous amount of time invested in it and most of that time is just sanding — but it’s just really hard to get the money out of it. It’s just not worth it to spend that much time and you can’t charge that much for it,” Harrison said.
He also worked with wood doing carpentry and building furniture for their remote family cabins in Denali and on Admiralty Island.

Finding Alaska
Harrison was born in Stockton, Calif. In June of 1969, he simultaneously completed his Ph.D in political science from Claremont Graduate School and his master’s in journalism from the University of California Berkley. In October of 1969, he took a job teaching at the Institute of Social and Economic Research in Fairbanks, but Alaska had been on his radar for a while.
“I always had a childhood fantasy about Alaska, and between my freshman and sophomore year of college I spent a summer, this was in 1962 or so, in Kodiak logging and at the end of that I went out on a commercial fishing boat. The next summer, I came up to Kodiak and worked for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game as a stream guard. It was the best job of my life,” Harrison said.
“They took us way out in the boondocks and left us with a boat and flew in every two weeks and brought us food and mail and left us alone again, and oh god it was wonderful … I think I’ve been always trying to reconstruct that summer. That was my introduction to Alaska and I just absolutely loved it.”
Fairbanks was where he met his wife, but the weather turned out to be too brutal for him, and he was drawn to Juneau.
“I’d begun to do a lot of traveling with a project I was working on in Fairbanks, and it brought me into Juneau in winter I saw Juneau and said ‘this is where I want to live.’ It was just magical to me.”
They moved to Washington for about seven years so his wife could continue her education as a doctor and Harrison did consultant work with Dames and Moore in Seattle.
He ended up living in Juneau for a legislative session while working for Fran Ulmer in 1978 and was hooked. When his wife completed her medical education in Washington it was his turn to pick where they lived and he picked Juneau. Here he spent years as the director of the Legislative research agency from which he retired.

Continuing evolution
In addition to his different art ventures, Harrison has been doing photography, studying calligraphy and has now gotten fired-up about papermaking thanks to David Riccio of Lemon Creek Digital.
His wife said she has enjoyed seeing her husband’s constant evolution.
“I don’t care about traveling to exotic places, I just cherish the time I have to fool around with art,” Harrison said.
He also admitted it was a luxury.
“I’ve had the luxury to just indulge myself and a lot of people don’t have that — they are just trying to get by,” he said. “I think there are a lot of people that have talent that are never going to be able to do anything with it, because art you know doesn’t pay. I mean a few people can make a living as artists but they have to be good and have somehow figured it out and found a niche.”
“That bothers me about society, you know, because society doesn’t reward art,” he said. “People are not willing to spend much on it, they’ll spend $400 on getting their car repaired and think nothing of it, but spending $400 on a painting — I mean, they just won’t do it.”
With all Harrison’s education and numerous careers, one may wonder how he has accomplished all he has.
“You can get a lot done if you don’t watch television,” Harrison said with a laugh.
See more of Harrison’s work at the Juneau Artists Gallery.

DJ Manu - Making a scene

2011-07-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

By Courtney Nelson

FOR THE JUNEAU EMPIRE

Manuel Hernandez loves to DJ almost as much as he loves to dance. Hernandez, who goes by DJ Manu, has become an integral part of the local DJ scene, an activity he juggles with running a downtown shop, Choco Boutique, with his wife Dana.
Hernandez says the late night DJ lifestyle is difficult to maintain while running a business.
“That’s why I look like a vampire — because I’m working at night,” he said.
Hernandez took a two-year break from DJing to get the store going in 2006; when he returned to the music scene, he had to catch up with the transition from analog to digital equipment.
“I was the obsolete DJ,” joked Hernandez.
He eventually acquired some new DJ software and a new computer and now plays private parties, big bashes, bonfire raves, and restaurants and clubs. He says he can cater his music to any age group or genre, he just needs about a week to prepare a song collection.
“I feel proud about this — I can play anything you guys want. I can entertain a crowd of 50 and up with nice ’50s and ’60s rock, swing, 70s, 80s, 90s. I can do Mexican parties or Latin parties,” he said, noting that there’s a big distinction between the two.
“Mexican parties like banda, corrido, norteno, cumbia, and a little bit of Mexican. Latin parties like cumbia, salsa, merengue, bachata, and reggaeton,” he explained.
In 2010 Hernandez got in touch with REACH and the people at the Canvas and started to play their events, including the monthly poetry slam organized by Christy NaMee Eriksen. He doesn’t mind volunteering his time for a good cause.
“I love to do that because it gets me in touch with the people and keeps me playing,” he said. “If I get money out of it, well, that’s wonderful, but it isn’t my livelihood.”
MEXICO and ALASKA
Hernandez grew up in Monterrey, Mexico, which is just south of the Texas border. His grandfather on his father’s side moved from Mexico to Alaska around 1968 with his two brothers in search of opportunity, adventure and to conquer the last frontier. The brothers started the Alaska Fur Gallery and Fur Factory and Hernandez’s grandfather returned to Mexico. He eventually returned to Juneau and started the House of Eskimo Dolls & Gifts on Seward Street, which is now run by his aunt.
“I went to Juneau in the summer of 1993 at 13 years old and fell in love with the place,” Hernandez said. “It was a dream come true to come to Alaska, so I tried to return every summer.”
By 19 he was living half-time in Monterrey and half-time in Alaska, and in 2003 he and Dana moved to Southeast and called Juneau home after their first winter.
“I consider myself a local now — we are here year-round, rain or shine or snow.”
DANCER TO DJ
The transition from dancing to DJing came naturally, from the same source.
“DJ ‘Miss Kittin’ said if you can’t shake your booty than you won’t be a good DJ,” said Hernandez.
Hernandez got an early dance start, sheepishly admitting he hit the club dance scene in Mexico at the age of 15.
“I would call myself a first generation ‘raver’.”
Hernandez addressed the stereotype of ravers as drug users saying, “not all people that have the energy and want to dance are on drugs ¬— people on drugs usually aren’t dancing — they are in a corner freaking out.”
Hernandez has some advice for party-goers. “Whenever you go to parties, don’t make trouble, don’t ruin it for the rest of the people. Just do what you like, but do it right.”
While dancing, Hernandez became aware of the people playing the music and became a big time DJ groupie in Mexico.
“I would carry their bags and stuff. I liked their music but I wasn’t interested much in playing it, rather I was doing the dancing.” This changed after a while.
“I ended up doing turntables which I bought off the world-renowned DJ Astronomar,” said Hernandez.
Hernandez said he’s not alone in the local scene – others have included DJ Fess, DJ Snoop, Chris Calandra, DJ Crumbs, Adam Ward, the File Jerks, DJ Gift, DJ Judo and Stewie — and that he’s had lots of help from other locals along the way, such as Keith Giles, of Rozwick Giles music. He’s had other influences as well.
“I liked DJ Krush and his early work because he started that acid jazz hip hop scene, DJ craze. I also liked hip-hop drummer based live act turntablest, Trent Moller who has a great minimal feeling. A little bit of this a little bit of that, throw in a little ’80s and make it happen.”
While in Mexico, Hernandez went to college and studied television, communications and marketing. He learned how to run all kinds of electrical wires at a television studio and has been known to save parties by fixing blown speakers and bad connections — like last year at a huge party at Centennial Hall called “Let’s Glow” where a few things went awry.
“We were expecting 200 people and got 600, the fire alarm was pulled twice and the speakers blew.” He repaired the speakers in about 20 minutes.
CHOCO BOUTIQUE
Hernandez and his wife, both 31, opened the clothing and accessory store Choco Boutique in 2006. They’d been thinking about it since Dana did her final thesis on the business idea in college; she envisioned it as a clothing and music store with a bar lounge named Zoporo, but it ended up being Choco, named in part for chocolate, a food that can be traced to the Aztecs in Mexico.
“We thought it was a sweet name,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez merges his store and his music by working on creating collections for upcoming parties and familiarizing himself with music in the store while shoppers dance around.
“We play the music loud and it draws the customers in.”
JUST MAKE ‘EM HAPPY
Making crowds happy means playing music they like. At one of the Canvas street fairs he started a set with a classical piece and said people were looking at him funny.
“Well it’s 10 in the morning, I’m not going to start with Guns and Roses and blare it out,” laughed Hernandez.
With all the technology out there, pleasing people has become easier.
“When it’s a bar and there are 20 people hanging out and somebody wants to listen to CW McCall, well if you have it on your iPod or iPhone I can play it for you.” He usually has a back up computer so Dana can download new music on the spot.
“I’m really flexible,” said Hernandez. “The aim is to have a happy crowd anywhere. Just make ‘em happy.”
Hernandez says bars are the toughest venues because bar owners want customers happy and dancing, but they also want them sitting and drinking.
Hernandez says there are about 12 active DJ’s in the Juneau scene.
“We are really nice people — you know amongst ourselves, we are really chill and really mellow I don’t see any pompousness or glorified people saying ‘I’m the DJ, raise your hands and clap for me.’ I don’t think of myself as a big DJ, I just consider myself to be a guy that plays music.”
At times, this can be a tough job.
“At the end of the night it’s like, ‘thank you great job,’ and you still have to pack your stuff and drive home and it’s 4 in the morning. It sucks to be the DJ when you have to go to work the next day.”
FUTURE PLANS
Hernandez would like to open some more boutiques, build a bigger DJ scene and then do events for all ages — no drugs or bars — eventually incorporating all of Southeast Alaska.
“I would like to have a party — say in Sitka — where I get together a production team of go-go dancers and a couple DJs and we’d bring the party to your town. Hopefully it would do well as a business but hopefully it would unite Southeast.”
In the meantime, Hernandez is not slowing down.
“I love music and I don’t want to stop,” he said. “I don’t care if I’m old with gray hair and hanging out with crazy teens making music, that’s me.”

The art of brewing beer

2011-06-06T11:56:00.000-07:00

Michael Penn / Juneau Empire

Brewer Tyler Lindquist, left, and Quality Assurance Analyst Darin Jensen pose in an older brewing tank that is being decommissioned at the Alaskan Brewing Company.

By Courtney Nelson

FOR THE JUNEAU EMPIRE

This weekend, brewers and beer lovers from all over Alaska will converge at the annual Great Alaska Craft Beer and Home-Brew Festival held in Dalton City at the Southeast Alaska State Fairgrounds in Haines. Brew Fest, as it’s informally called, celebrates the art of making — and drinking — beer, and recognizes the work of those who’ve dedicated themselves to perfecting the craft.
In Juneau many of those craftsmen can be found at the Alaskan Brewing Co. Though the company now ships its beer to 10 states, it continues to celebrate the art of small-batch beer and the creative innovation of its employees, especially through its Rough Draft program. In this the business stays true to its roots: Alaskan Amber, the company’s flagship beer, started out as an experimental home-brew based on a Gold Rush-era beer brewed by the Douglas City Brewing Company, open from 1902 to 1907. While doing research on breweries in 1986, Alaskan Brewing co-owner Marcy Larson came across some old shipping records from the Douglas brewery that included beer ingredients, and an article describing brewing techniques. Her husband Geoff, a home-brewer, brewed up a batch and was so impressed he made several more, tweaking the balance until he came up with something he thought was similar to what the miners were drinking.
“Gold Rush miners in Juneau were a hard working bunch who seemed to appreciate full flavored beers,” Geoff Larson said. “The rich, yet smooth, attributes of this particular brew is what caught me, and it appears the mining crews drank quite a lot of it in those days.”
Since that first batch of home-brew 25 years ago, Alaskan Brewing Co. has been growing and thriving, attracting a staff that includes beer lovers and home-brewers alike. Some have stuck around to become experts in the field — such as employees Darin Jensen and Tyler Lindquist, who together have invested a combined 33 years with the company.
Road to brewing
Darin Jensen has worked his way up through the ranks for the past 18 years to hold a position coveted by many as Quality Assurance Analyst. He gets paid to drink beer.
Darin moved to Juneau in 1993 from Minnesota and really wanted to work at the brewery. He got his first chance on “volunteer day,” an annual event where the brewery would shut down all brewing operations and take outside volunteers to bottle the beer.
“You’d get paid with rejects and a free lunch,” Jensen said. He then started refurbishing kegs for them and as the company expanded he landed a part-time position.
“I became fascinated by the process of making beer, I was ambitious and I was able to work my way up,” Jensen said. He moved from keg cleaning to tank cleaning to warehouse work, then managed a crew on the weekends and eventually moved into a brewing position just as they scaled up from the 10-barrel system to the 100-barrel.
It was this transition to creating something tangible like Alaskan Amber that gave Jensen the most work pride.
“It was a six-month learning curve to learn the process, but it was the start of a lifetime journey of creating beers and learning the art of brewing,” Jensen said.
He said the brewery’s Rough Draft program, in which small batches of brewers’ specialty beers are released on draft within the state, has allowed him to spread his wings.
“You might be inspired by a different style that’s out there, or you want to clone a beer that you’ve had,” said Jensen, who created a Rough Draft with a particular hop called Simcoe.
Fellow employee, former home-brewer and beer craftsman Tyler Lindquist says he arrived at the Alaskan Brewing Co. fresh from Eugene Ore., where he’d lived with a hop grower and become a home brewer in the middle of a micro brewery explosion in the early 1990s.
“I took a tour of the brewery about five times in a row, then they asked me if I wanted to fill out an application and about two or three weeks after that I got a call to interview, I got the job and it’s been 15 years,” Lindquist said. The first beer he had scaled up was the Alaskan Heritage Coffee beer he made after being approached by Heritage Coffee employees.
“We home-brewed at my house, they really liked the recipe I somewhat developed and we scaled it up at the brewery and from there it took off,” he said.
He added that the brewery’s ESB was the brewer’s beer of choice and noted his displeasure when it was discontinued.
Brewing is a complex process. Beer has so many different factors there is virtually an endless amount of combinations. Beer elements include appearance, aroma, flavor, mouthfeel, gravity and alcohol concentration, yeast, grains, hops, fruits, spices, water. Within these categories are even more complexities. Different hops for example have floral, fruit, earth, herb, pine and spicy characteristics.
Beer is also affected by production methods - like aging beer in bourbon barrels, and recipe, history, origin, and seasonal considerations can all influence the overall beer experience.
Music: beer’s unseen force
Along his journey Jensen’s come to believe that music and beer are a circular dynamic — continually inspiring and propelling each other forward.
Lindquist agrees, saying many brewers loosen up by listening to music, which prompts inspired beer discussions and new recipes. Music is also played in all phases of production and throughout the whole brewery.
“It’s neat to walk around the brewery and hear all the different kinds of music being played in the different areas,” said Marcy Larson.
In some cases, it’s live music. Once in a while someone will grab an instrument and rock out in a decommissioned lauter tank because of the good acoustics.
It was a shared love of music and beer that brought together the band Brown Haven, a band that includes both Jensen and Lindquist. The name of the band has a double meaning: it’s the leftover yeast scum on the top of a tank, and refers to the early band’s early jam sessions in their “haven,” a brown storage unit in the Mendenhall Valley.
Brown Haven blended the musical styles of Jensen, a self-proclaimed “metal head” from Minnesota; Lindquist, a surf punk from California; and Damian Horvath, a reggae musician from St. Croix, who also worked at the brewery. The band has broken up but will reunite for a private party this summer.
Jensen has just released an original song he wrote called “Soul Surfer,” which is being played on KRNN on Wednesdays.
Jensen and Lindquist are just two of the many brewers who have passed through or grown roots at the brewery, empowered and encouraged by the Larson’s artist space.
Courtney Nelson can be reached at roughhouseboxing@gmail.com.

Lucky We: Newlyweds thrive in reclusive artists retreat

2011-05-02T11:10:00.000-07:00

By Courtney Nelson

FOR THE JUNEAU EMPIRE

Juneau’s Kent Crabtree is a Renaissance man. The second time I met him, he brought me in his skiff out to an artist retreat he built himself, pulled a live crab from a pot on the way and then served it to me for lunch on one of the best salads I’ve ever had.
After spending the afternoon with Kent and his wife Julie Crabtree, I came to understand why they named the waterfront home Lucky We.
Before meeting Julie, Kent bought a piece of land on Douglas Island, south of the area known as Lucky Me, a roadless community accessible by a long walk or a short boat ride. He built a small waterfront cabin on his property and, eventually, a main house with the help of his friends.
With Lucky We, Kent got what he wanted: to live remotely and have a career. Now, with a house in town and one off the grid, he and his wife Julie have the best of both worlds.
Kent designed the timber-frame home himself, although his occupation as a fisheries biologist didn’t train him for architecture design. He said he taught himself the necessary skills by reading books in the library.
“I basically winged it,” he said.
The main house, built in two summers, has large skylights and strategically placed windows that open to allow rising heat from the main floor to warm the loft bedroom. The house is filled with paintings and art supplies, and there are inspiring nature scenes out every window. Kent even made his own stained glass light fixtures out of beach glass he collected.
Kent and Julie use the house as an artists’ retreat when they aren’t living in their downtown house. They paint out on the beach for hours or take up other bright nooks in the house. They say the remoteness of the space helps them create.
“Just the fact that we are off the grid with no distractions — we never know what time it is — that helps the art,” Kent said.
Kent and Julie, who initially met through mutual friends at the Alaska’s Folk Festival, were acquaintances for many years, unaware that the other was an artist until they stumbled upon each other’s exhibits. They eventually began dating.
They got married in January of this year in a surprise wedding ceremony at their Lucky We home. They currently have a joint art show hanging through the end of May at the Heritage Second Street Café downtown.
Kent
Kent, originally from Eugene, Ore., began painting after doing research on how to make stained glass windows for his house. He’d always liked Henry Matisse, and thought Matisse’s colorful cut-outs would lend themselves well to stained glass. He began thumbing through art books and, after immersing himself on the floor of the University of Alaska Southeast Egan Library for hours, he became inspired.
“I got so excited, I thought, ‘Screw windows, I want to paint,’” Kent said with a laugh. He immediately went out and got some discount, off-color paints at the paint store and a piece of plywood, then went back to his cabin and started to paint. He eventually took some art classes with John Fehringer at UAS.
In addition to being a biologist, a painter and a carpenter, Kent is a rhythm guitar player for the Chillkats and is the only founding member left in town. He has also dabbled in jewelry-making and even designed the couple’s wedding rings.
Julie
Julie realized she had a talent for drawing in high school after taking a couple of art classes, and she majored in art for a year at Ball State University in Indiana. Her favorite painter is Georgia O’Keefe.
“I guess I had a natural knack for drawing, it was my first awareness. I didn’t actually know I could draw up to that point,” Julie said, adding that she eventually changed her major.
Julie arrived in Kodiak in 1993 as a Coast Guard firefighter and eventually found her way to Juneau in 2000. While she was in Kodiak she used her drawing talents to paint names on boats, restaurant signs and even took jobs painting houses.
In addition to painting, she also loves photography, beading and necklace-making, juggling those artistic pursuits with her job as a bodywork specialist and her role as a mother of two children.
Julie has done bodywork for 13 years, and for the last six she has specialized in structural integration at her company Deep River Body Work in the Valentine Building.
“We basically reorganize the basic tissue in the human body, make people feel better, stand up straighter, walk better,” Julie said.
After having her first child nine years ago, she decided she wanted to do art again, and set a goal to have a show. She began doing art alone in the middle of the night. But this all changed when she started creating art with Kent and collaborating with him.
Union
“I’d never done art with anyone before, that sounded really weird,” said Julie, who has since changed her mind.
“I had these preconceived ideas that I only do art alone, in the middle of the night, hunched over the table — I had these ideas that that was the only way I could produce art.”
Kent thought she looked uncomfortable.
“She had a wonderful art show and all of the pieces had at least 20-50 hours put into them, but she’d be sitting in a chair all balled up in the fetal position and she’d talk about how exhausting that work was and how her body was so sore,” Kent said. “it was a foreign idea to her — painting together. She wouldn’t talk about anything, she was used to being completely alone in her own world.”
He built her a fully adjustable beach easel.
“It got her standing up and stretching out and painting like a human being, in the middle of the day,” said Kent laughing.
Julie went from drawing realistic, identifiable things to more abstract paintings.
“By painting together, it (the art) started to develop a life of it’s own,” she said. “We paint together and listen to music and laugh and sing or are quiet for a long time. I started loosening up — now I dance when I paint and do heel clicks and we talk.”
To sell or not to sell
The couple has differing ideas about the fate of their paintings; Kent wants to keep them, Julie wants to let them go.
Kent has had two art shows but this is the first show in which he’s been willing to sell any of his work. Consequently he has hundreds of paintings in storage. His art is personal to him. He only sold one piece of art in the fourth grade and sees mixing money and art as somehow taking away the purity of the art. He has started to change his mind about this however.
“Why not sell them if someone wants to buy it and put it on their wall?” Julie said.
Advice for beginning artists
Both Julie and Kent think art should be accessible to everyone. They make their own canvases using plywood and Kilz paint. They use brushes but also use sticks and twigs and other organic materials to paint. They use materials found on the beach.
“I’m totally into cheap materials,” said Kent, “I’m all about that.”
Their art can be seen at the Heritage Second Street Cafe downtown through the end of May.
• Courtney Nelson can be reached at nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net

San Diego - a city with sol

2011-04-07T17:47:00.000-07:00

Photos by Courtney Nelson

Article by Courtney Nelson
San Diego is my birthplace. With such beautiful weather, the city has adopted the motto “City of Sol.” It’s also home to over 3 million and is the eighth largest city in the United States.
San Diego proper and North County are all accessible from the main artery the Interstate 5 freeway and the beaches can be accessed from Highway 101. Some of my family still lives nearby in Cardiff, so I asked my cousin and her daughter to share favorite local hot spots for all ages.
Susie Nancarrow, 47, San
Diego picks in North County
• For families traveling with babies and toddlers, Susie recommends LEGOLAND in Carlsbad.
• Powerhouse Park in nearby Del Mar offers a full playground on the water and is within walking distance to a great indoor and outdoor dining and shopping area at the Del Mar Plaza.
• Susie thinks families, especially with elementary age kids and tweens, will enjoy low tide at Swamis Beach in North County, Encinitas. It’s also a huge surfing spot and Swamis is just west of Interstate 5.
• Hiking at Torrey Pines State Beach offers trails down to the shore.
• Walk around downtown Encinitas and visit two cool stores, Flashbacks and Home.
• Water parks are in Vista and San Diego.
• Families with teens might visit San Diego State University and California State University San Marcos if they are looking for colleges.
• VG’s Donuts at Cardiff by the Sea is worth a visit, and Good Morning is a funky store in the same shopping center.
• Active families with teens should visit Yoga Tropics, a hot yoga studio in Encinitas, or Haute Yoga in Solana Beach. There are also surfing schools in the area; Susie recommends Kahuna Bob’s in Encinitas.
• Families, teens and couples should enjoy La Paloma Theatre in Encinitas, an old theater built in the 1920s that features small movies and a funky environment.
• There’s a flea market in downtown Encinitas on Saturdays and Sundays and there are great restaurants all along Highway 101 in Encinitas.
• Susie shared a local secret, a gourmet “snack shack” called Bull Taco, located in the San Elijo Campground in Cardiff by the Sea offering great food, a casual environment, reasonable prices and proximity to the ocean.
• Couples on date night should visit The Belly Up, a great music venue on Cedros Avenue in Solana Beach. Cedros Avenue also has great boutiques on one long block. Other notable shopping areas are the Del Mar Plaza in Del Mar, Carlsbad Outlets and downtown Carlsbad.
Hannah Nancarrow, 22, local recommendations
• Hannah, a student at San Diego State, says she loves the Self Realization Fellowship Meditation Gardens because they’re so beautiful and calm. “Koi ponds and flora for days,” and a wandering path leads to a breathtaking ocean overlook.
• Pacific Beach is a young, fun beach community with tons of bars and restaurants. Hannah thinks Crystal Pier and the small breakfast place right next to it, Kono’s, are the hottest spots. She says Kono’s is “inexpensive and has amazing omelets and oceanfront seating.”
• The Cardiff Kook is a statue in Cardiff, formally named “the magic carpet ride,” and it’s been the target of practical jokes and costumes almost daily becoming a local symbol of surf culture.
• “I love Mission Bay,” says Hannah. Bike, skate, roller blade or walk the path that traces the coast of the bay. It’s usually un-crowded and it goes for miles with views of sailboats and the ocean. The bay has no big waves so it’s “perfect for kids because it has a big park and play structures along the beach.”
• Hannah also recommends The Black, a famous smoke shop “that smells like hemp and patchouli from 200 yards away,” she says. The shop features “amazing tapestries, handmade greeting cards and candles by local artists, plus funky jewelry. It’s walking distance to the local pier and an assortment of bars.”
Courtney Nelson’s picks
I need to add the following more mainstream attractions:
• The San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park are legendary and great for kids. You can also get lost in nearby Balboa Park for days, as well as the San Diego’s Museum of Natural History.
• Old Town, located in downtown San Diego, is great for feeling like you have stepped into Mexico. You can also drive an hour south on Interstate 5 and visit Tijuana, if you dare. Prepare for a long wait getting back across the border.
• The Hotel del Coronado on Coronado Island is another fancy spot across the bridge out of downtown San Diego. The room rates are really steep; consider getting an inexpensive room nearby and then strolling the hotel grounds with an umbrella drink and an attitude.
• La Jolla is another must-see in my opinion, but this is where I was born so I am a little biased. I spent most of childhood summers swimming and snorkeling in the La Jolla cove, a small sand beach protected by a low crescent-shaped cliff. If you are a strong ocean swimmer you can swim out to the buoys that are placed at a quarter mile and half-mile distances. Kelp beds will get thick there and brushing kelp leaves might spook swimmers afraid of sharks. The last great white shark attack off the San Diego coast happened in April 2008.
• My advice is to find a place to stay that’s within walking distance to the beach so you don’t have to drive as much. When you do drive, allow time to find parking and fight traffic along the coast. Most importantly, enjoy the sun.
• Courtney Nelson is a frequent traveler with small children and can be reached at nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net.

Fighting under a supermoon

2011-03-22T09:54:00.000-07:00

By Courtney Nelson | FOR THE JUNEAU EMPIRE

Roughhouse boxing at Marlintini’s Lounge Friday night occurred while the supermoon was rising, possibly influencing the large number of TKO’s.
Kole Skaflestad, 18, of Hoonah defeated Brett Van Alen, 25, in the MMA main event. After an even first round grappling on the mat, Skaflestad threw Van Alen to the mat in round two, injuring his shoulder and forcing his retirement.
In one of two MMA bouts, Hoonah’s Mitchel Zarazua, 21, 3-1-0, defeated first-time fighter Joshua White, 23, in a bout that was even after round one when the two traded power positions on the mat. In round two, Zarazua landed more blows and was dominating the third round when he delivered multiple face blows that forced White to retire.
In the only female fight of the night, student and first-time fighter Samantha Coronell, 19, defeated Shannon “Fighting Irish” Williams, 28, in a surprising bout. Coronell was trained by her uncle Al Valentine, saying, “Boxing is in our family.” Williams, a Marlintini’s bartender, 1-0-0, agreed at the last minute to give Coronell a bout and stopped pouring drinks to put on some boxing gloves.
Coronell proved to be too much for Williams who retired after taking a right hook to the temple that sent her to the mat in the second round.
First-time fighter Erick Scholl, 25, defeated fellow newbie Regal Hudson, 18, a fisherman hailing from Prince of Wales. An adrenaline-filled first round had them both sucking air early in the second. Scholl was knocked down by Hudson at the end of round two, but he came back to tag Hudson hard in the third.
Ray Coronell, 19, with a record of 0-1-0, defeated first-time fighter Michael “Papa Smurf” Williams, 27, to grab his first win by decision after a close match.
Charlie “Vicious” Gallant, 21, defeated Dominick Sedano, 24, by TKO in a match that stayed even through round two. Sedano poured it on in the third but Gallant answered with a series of headshots sending Sedano to the mat.
Royal “Crown Royal” Hudson, 20, a fisherman hailing from Prince of Wales with a record of 6-5-0, defeated IT programmer Ryan Wong, 34, 7-2-0, after Hudson tagged Wong in the temple, issuing him a standing eight count early in round one. They were pretty even in round two, but Hudson stunned Wong with another head shot. In round three, both boxers were gassed, but Hudson took Wong down with a right haymaker to the head.
The next Roughhouse Boxing will be April 15 and will feature Edna Abbott coming out of retirement to fight another mom who couldn’t find anyone to take her on in the main event.

His and her artists spaces

2011-03-22T09:39:00.000-07:00

By Courtney Nelson | FOR THE JUNEAU EMPIRE

The Bentwood and Bead gallery, in the big yellow building on Third Street between Starr Hill and the Historic downtown district, is a dream artists’ space that’s been a long time coming.
Jim and Salty Hanes created this his-and-her artist’s paradise, where they have space to create art as well as a gallery to show and sell it in, and no commute to get there — they live upstairs.
When their gallery is open, they don’t carry mass-produced tourist gifts, but rather offer one-of-a-kind items for locals and tourists, featuring their own work as well as that of other artists.
The space
Visitors enter the Bentwood and Bead gallery on the ground floor gallery space, which features Jim’s engravings, Salty’s beadwork and two different guest artists every year. They like to carry diverse artists and mediums such as painters and potters to balance their engraving and beadwork. But after decades of running public shops, the most important criteria in considering guest artists is “ease of doing business with,” said Jim.
Also on the ground floor are two studios. One is Jim’s, with violins and engravings, and the other is Salty’s, with bead-working materials.
Over the last 28 years, Jim and Salty have had many different business arrangements and many different careers.
Salty had Taku Tailor in the Emporium Mall downtown and also Spirit Beads on Fifth Street, while Jim had his String Shop in a couple locations.
After being too big, too small, or too spread out, they now say they’ve got it right. The couple can work on projects separately but meet in the gallery to collaborate.
This ability to share ideas has led to inspired pieces. For example, Jim exhausted an engraving he was never quite happy with and he showed it to Salty, who beaded the image into an octopus purse.
Mr. Valentine
During the Gold Rush days, Emery Valentine, Juneau’s sixth mayor, owned the building where Bentwood and Bead is located.
Valentine became a little cash poor in 1901, so the then 43-year-old jeweler gave the building to his business manager as payment for a year’s work. Valentine went on to build the Valentine Building and the Seward Building in 1913, which border the downtown historic district.
In 1997, Salty and Jim were simplifying and consolidating their lives so they formed a plan and bought the house. It was run-down, so they stripped it to the studs for a custom renovation, completed in 1999.
Now they arrange their gallery schedule around their travel plans, doing what they love.
Jim
Jim, originally from Seattle, graduated with a degree in marine biology from Western Washington University and worked at the Navy’s arctic research lab in Barrow on contract. When he found he couldn’t move further up without getting another degree, he looked around or a career change. He liked working with wood and wanted to learn how to fiddle so he put them together.
“I found out violins were all carved and not bent into the shape they are in. That just seemed fascinating to me so I sent letters off all around the country to see if I could get an apprenticeship, and I got one, on the East Coast.”
The apprenticeship, based in Washington, D.C., spanned two years. When he wasn’t making and repairing violins, Jim worked for the Smithsonian identifying arctic artifacts, and sometimes commuted back up north for periods to work. He returned to Juneau and opened a string shop in 1983, the same year he met his partner, Salty.
Things didn’t go exactly as planned. Instead of making violins as he had intended, he ended up providing instrument rentals and repairs for 18 years. So he closed his string shop in 2005, and started making violins again. Now he only repairs instruments in January and February.
After Jim closed his string shop, he had time to try new things so he took a few classes at UAS with Alice Tersteeg, a renowned printmaker. Engraving and printmaking have now become a passion.
“(Tersteeg) has taught so many famous Southeast Alaska artists over the years in printmaking. She’s an unsung hero as far as her contribution to artists,” Jim said.
Jim was also inspired by woodblock print artist and engraver Dale DeArmond, who passed away in 2006. Jim uses her old press for his art. He creates his images on finely polished blocks of wood using little chisel tools. Each piece is very labor intensive; a polished block of wood can take 50 to 60 hours alone to make because it has to be perfectly smooth.
He also does relief and reduction prints, wood boxes with carved lids and wood sculptures.
Salty
Salty, named after an adored aunt, was born on the East Coast. She grew up in a large family in which everyone worked with their hands. She started beading at an early age, went to school in Colorado focusing on sculpture and moved to Juneau in 1976.
She’s worked in Juneau as a carpenter, house painter and ski-patroller, among other things, and was very handy repairing outdoors equipment, which prompted the opening of her business, Taku Tailors.
After meeting Jim in 1983, she started her beading store, Spirit Beads. Like Jim, she got so caught up in running a business, teaching and doing workshops, she was unable to work on her own things.
Salty said her interest in beads stems partly from her belief that they tie us together; she uses and carries many vintage and antique beads, and is interested in their history through the bead trade routes that passed through Alaska.
Salty has kept her finger on the pulse of the beading community in Juneau over the years, holding beading circles at Spirit Beads, working with youth and teaching in schools in Alaska, the Yukon and British Columbia. She has also had exhibits of her beadwork at the Juneau Douglas City Museum.
Future plans
Jim and Salty have found a balance of work and play that works for them. Their philosophy is to try to live simply and not plan too far ahead.
“You don’t know what the future holds so stop dinking around with 10-year plans and just take it day by day,” Jim said.
“It’s a really great life and we are grateful,” Salty said.
Bentwood and Bead is open in the winter by appointment, and will resume its regular hours in the spring.

Former Juneau jeweler returns for show

2011-03-03T15:22:00.000-08:00

By Courtney Nelson | FOR THE JUNEAU EMPIRE

Jewelry artist and former Juneau resident Leah Sturgis lives in Alexandria, Va., but her ties to Alaska are still strong. She’ll be back in town this week to show her latest jewelry designs at Annie Kaills as their featured First Friday artist.
Sturgis, a jewelry artist, lived in Juneau for more than 10 years before moving east in 2003 to accompany her husband, musician Frank Solivan. Solivan had managed to do the almost unthinkable: earn a stable income with benefits for his family as a bluegrass musician. He did it by taking a position with the U.S. Navy’s official bluegrass and country band, Country Current, an honor for a musician and one which took the couple to Washington, D.C.
“He got the job and we moved to D.C., next thing you know I was a Navy wife,” she said.
While in Juneau, Sturgis had begun designing and selling her own line of jewelry through Rock, Paper, Scissors, a store she co-owned in Juneau with partners Lindsay Campbell and Amy Fletcher. At that time her jewelry business, though very popular, was more of a hobby than a profession. Once in D.C., however, Sturgis had more time to devote to perfecting and expanding her designs. She learned about wholesale jewelry and her business expanded from availability in five stores to 100 stores from Chicken, Alaska to New York City.
“I think what’s unusual about my jewelry is the design,” she said. “I don’t use unusual materials, I don’t use unusual techniques — I have an architectural, Asian aesthetic. And I love natural materials.”
Porcupine quills and caribou antlers are among the elements she uses, pieces that have long been popular, but that she includes in unsual ways.
“I want to combine it in a way that looks really fresh, clean and contemporary.”
Creative journey
Sturgis credits most of her creativity to the Waldorf School she attended her first three years of formal education. She said they taught her to clean and spin wool, make her own bread and soup, and explore other languages.
“I think it shaped my creativity really early,” she said. “I learned you can make anything from anything.”
She took her first basic jewelry-making class while working in a new age bookstore as a teen in Chicago, and that was virtually all the training she needed.
“I learned the basics and didn’t feel the need to master it,” she said. “I just ran with that because my techniques are pretty basic.”
Part of her design influence was Native American jewelry; as a kid she attended powwows in North Dakota with her family, and that is where she first saw animal quills used.
“My best selling piece of jewelry is the abacus with a Juneau porcupine quill in it. I get the quills from my mom.”
Sturgis’ mom, Mary, still lives in town.
Ties to Juneau
Sturgis moved to Juneau soon after high school because she had a beloved aunt, Grace Elliott, also known as the “Blues Goddess” on KTOO, who lived here.
When Elliott left Chicago for Juneau, she blazed the trail not only for Sturgis, but for six of her siblings to make the move eventually.
As an eight-year-old Sturgis said she was particularly crushed when her aunt moved.
“She lived with us when she was 18 and she was like another parent to me — she was like my fairy godmother — and she went to visit her friend in Juneau and was so captivated she never came back. It pretty much broke my heart.”
Sturgis was 10 when her mother Mary brought her to Juneau to visit Elliott. During her trip she experienced the Alaska Folk Festival and fell in love with Alaska.
“I was 19 and following my spirit of adventure, but I was also following my aunties who were replanting themselves in Juneau from Chicago.”
Many years later, she met her husband Frank at the Folk Festival when he was visiting from Anchorage. He eventually moved to Juneau to join her, but soon after the couple began discussing other options.
“Juneau is a really difficult place to be a professional musician,” Sturgis said, adding that this spurred his move into the Navy.
She said it was really hard to leave her Juneau friends and still maintains strong connections in Alaska. Despite her distance, she’s been showing her jewelry at the Eastern Market and says she always has someone from Alaska stop by.
“Every single weekend I see somebody from Alaska at the market.”
Generous philosophy
After six years of creativity and hard work, income from Sturgis’s jewelry sales now support the couple. Solivan recently left the Navy to pursue his career as a musician.
“For the last two years he has been with his own band, the Dirty Kitchen Band. They just got hired by the Anchorage Folk Festival,” Sturgis said. She’d like to show her jewelry at all his stops.
“We have been kind of been trying to combine our two creative worlds — which is hard — but easier in Alaska,” said Sturgis.
Sturgis credits her success with the generosity of successful people in her craft who were willing to openly share their experience.
“I feel like generosity of spirit is key,” she said.
For more on Sturgis, visit www.leahsturgis.com. For more on Solivan, visit www.dirtykitchenband.com.

Lucid Reverie: An artists' space mixing business with pleasure

2011-02-03T17:28:00.000-08:00

By Courtney Nelson | FOR THE JUNEAU EMPIRE

Patrick Race and Aaron Suring founded Lucid Reverie LLC in 2002 in Race’s grandmother’s basement. Originally established to create websites and commercials for Juneau companies, the business has grown into a force in Juneau’s film community, and was one of the major players in the creation of the Juneau Underground Motion Picture Society (JUMP). The winter JUMP film festival begins tonight at 7 p.m. at the Gold Town Nickelodeon.
Soon after starting up their business, Race and Suring moved from grandma’s basement into a space downtown in the Emporium Mall. They’ve been there for more than nine years.
Part of history
The Emporium Mall, which stretches from Franklin Street to Shattuck Way, was built in 1901 on pilings, because at the time it was waterfront. Suring said sometimes at high tide he sees water under his desk beneath the floorboards.
The building was originally the old Alaska Steam and Laundry, one of the oldest and longest-running Alaska businesses, built by Ernest Jaeger. Jaeger added to his wealth with gold from miner’s pockets that stuck in his drain traps.
“Where we’re located was a wood shed to store fuel for the boiler,” said Race.
The space has hosted many other businesses in addition to the laundry. It was a blacksmith for knife-making and horse-shoeing, a tattoo parlor, a café, an outdoor gear swap meet and is rumored to have been a donut shop.
Lucid Reverie, meaning “clear daydream,” is located on the first floor of the historic building, and is divided into three rooms.
The Ruby Room, their storefront, was the latest addition to their space when they punched a hole through from their offices. It has rich colors and a playful feel with comic books, cards, humorous T-shirts, and their latest passion — graphic novels.
Race and Suring have desks in the adjoining room, as does Lou Logan, who joined the company a few years after it started. Suring thinks the lack of walls and vaulted ceilings create an open feeling good for project collaborations.
The third and innermost room is used for gear and general storage.
While the three don’t see themselves in this space forever — they would ultimately like a window with a view — they are grateful for it, said Race.
“It’s comfortable, it’s working and I’m glad to have it.”
Finding balance
After four years of offering commercial services such as website design and video production, Race and Suring realized they weren’t having any fun. Ironically, Race made a short film in college titled Lucid Reverie about an Orwellian cubicle drone escaping her dreary life.
In 2006, they decided to reject commercial work and focus on comics and short films. They had fun but eventually found personal projects alone couldn’t support them.
“After about a year of this we were almost out of money, so we decided to start taking commercial work again,” said Race with a chuckle. “The business has always been really good to us, depending on how much we want to work.”
With the creation of their film company, Alaska Robotics, which falls under the Lucid Reverie umbrella, they attempt to balance commercial and creative endeavors — and it seems to be working.
“We’ve been doing this for nine years now, so at this point I guess you can call us successful. It’s not a fluke that we are still here. And it’s not like I have income from somewhere else, so it must be supporting us,” said Race, who admits that he doesn’t need much.
“I never raised my standard of living after I got out of college so that helps.”
Finding each other
Race and Suring met while in school at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. They met through the honors program and were both computer science majors, filmmakers and soccer players; they’d lived in Juneau before but never crossed paths.
Suring and Race also met Logan at UAF. Logan was majoring in natural resource management at the time but found science wasn’t his passion, and decided to join Lucid Reverie.
“Aaron and I met Lou when we were doing film festivals in Fairbanks, and he was submitting films to them and doing really cool work, and he took over the film club once his thing ended,” said Race adding that he was a welcome addition to their company.
“He’s really technically proficient. He’s kind of a genius when it comes to details, and he has a really good eye for detail and obsesses over it. He holds a strict standard but it’s really helpful when we are working on big projects.”
Logan is also a founding member of the UAF Film Club and the JUMP Society.
Sarah Asper-Smith is also a part of the creative team, but is currently away at school for museum exhibit design. She recently published a vibrant kids book “Have You Ever Seen a Smack of Jellyish?” through Sasquatch Books.
Inspiration
When it comes to tapping into creativity, Race says he has more ideas than he will ever be able to produce.
“I’m working on a script adaptation, a script for a graphic novel, several short films, several comics, then I have a list of other stuff I want to do. I’ll never do it all but it keeps me busy.”
Suring agreed, saying “Pat’s a wonderfully creative guy with lots of ideas that just keep coming.”
The jobs haven’t all been fun and light-hearted; the team has taken on some challenging projects dealing with heavier topics.
“We have recently finished the Taylor White film for the Taylor White Foundation, and we are working on a film for the University about Native students from rural areas attending UAS and some of the challenges they face,” said Race.
Suring says his favorite challenge was the Science on a Sphere project they created for the Alaska State Museum.
“There were a lot of technical things that were completely different,” he said.
The trio also love to bring up artists from the comic community to Juneau. Race, who created comics for JDHS’s school paper when he was a student, says the community is really tight.
“There’s this group of people doing things together and talking about story and art, and it’s more of a community than I’ve ever run into than anything else. Everyone keeps in touch, comments on each others work, and it’s nice to see that and be on the edge of a community like that.”
After the success of bringing up a well-known comic artist from Japan, Race is working with the library to bring up professional storyboard artists Chris Appelhans and John Clauson this spring.
“These guys are incredibly talented,” said Race.
Suring, Race and Logan don’t have plans to slow down any time soon. As for his inspiration, Race says it’s everywhere.
“It’s an appropriation of culture, you just live your life, see what’s around you and then try to tell your story.”
If that doesn’t work, maybe they can find gold under the floorboards.
• Courtney Nelson can be reached at nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net

Open doors and big windows

2011-01-02T13:22:00.000-08:00

By Courtney Nelson | FOR THE JUNEAU EMPIRE

The Canvas Community Art Studio and Gallery is an inspired artists’ space. Located downtown on the corner of Seward and Second streets, the thriving three-room artists’ studio brings together REACH artists who experience disabilities and other local artists in a new model for successful social integration and inclusion.
In 2005, Canvas Director Annie Geselle was asked to expand REACH’s small, one-windowed, day-habilitation space. While researching successful facilities in California and New York, Geselle learned that local artists were trying to create a downtown community artist space, and suggested combining forces.
With the help of an advisory board, NorthWind architects and the efforts of many community members and organizations, her vision was carried out.
“REACH has always been dedicated to connecting people who experience disabilities with the community,” said MK MacNaughton, Canvas program developer. REACH, a local nonprofit that provides a range of services to those who experience disabilities, is the third largest employer in the city, after the state and the city.
“There are hundreds of direct service providers who work one-on-one with REACH clients who go out with people in the community. You see them at the pool, at concerts, but this was a different model.”
The Canvas has created daily interactions between Juneau community artists and REACH artists, enhancing their communication, independence and socialization.
“People of all abilities and all ages can create, so it was great thinking on Annie Geselle’s part to come up with it,” MacNaughton said.
Paving the way
The Canvas is one of the first integrated art studios in the country, according to Richard Fagundes, executive director of REACH. MacNaughton said the facility has been a long time coming, and is a testament to the efforts of those in the disabilities awareness movement who have worked to shift the culture from isolation to integration.
“I want to recognize all of the work people in the disabilities awareness movement have invested over the past 50 years. Because of all the work people have done before me, I have the luxury of helping to create this beautiful program,” she said.
“There are adults in this program who grew up in institutions very separate from other people – isolated. That doesn’t happen very much anymore, and it certainly doesn’t happen in Juneau like it did years ago.”
Let there be light
The welcoming space has large windows along the Seward Street side that allow natural light to pour into the studio and gallery, and encourage passers-by to observe the artists at work, but MacNaughton said initially they drew the shades.
“When we first opened, people were worried about the community staring in and we kept the shades closed more.”
That started to change when REACH artist Corrine Jackson was working on a project involving wheel chair painting, where she’d roll paint-covered wheels around on a canvas on the floor to create a design. People watched through the windows as Jackson made tracks with her chair, and she didn’t mind the attention.
“She loved performance art — she loved people watching, and other people who weren’t in wheel chairs wanted to get in her wheelchair,” MacNaughton said.
The artistic process also helped Jackson get used to the chair itself.
“It had been very painful for her to move into a wheel chair and she didn’t like it very much, but through the process of using it as a paintbrush she became really proud of her tool.”
Once finished, Jackson’s art piece hung in the stairwell of the Capitol for a year.
“We never care about closing the shades anymore.”
Art explosion
In addition to becoming more visible to the public, the Canvas has contributed to an art explosion in the community through its extensive schedule of classes that are open to everyone. The facility offers up to three classes a night in the three different rooms, and helps support more than 100 different local artists by hiring them to teach and by hosting gallery nights so artists can sell their work.
Day habilitation and community classes include jewelry making, ceramics, painting, drawing, weaving, mixed media, film-making, culinary art and marimba playing, and REACH artists also have the opportunity to study acting in collaboration with Shona Strauser of Perseverance Theatre.
“There’s a lot of different arts happening, it’s not all just painting and glass,” said Tasha Walen, REACH art teacher. “There’s music and movement and yoga and theater and weaving, we cover pretty much everything.”
Music and movement
The current exhibit at the Canvas is “Music and Movement,” a joint show by REACH artists in the day habilitation program. On a recent afternoon at the studio, REACH artist Amanda Savikko furiously shined up a mosaic she’d been working on for more than a year, using tile shards from the pottery studio.
“It has stars and a couple of word stars and a bear,” said Savikko, who was inspired to create the image after studying a black and white picture of a saxophone.
Another artist, Melanie Adams, was finishing her Rock Banjo mosaic.
“Every day I create art in this space, painting, drawing, pastels, beads, pillows —everything. I love music and I have some of it for sale too,” she kidded. She says she puts half her money in the bank and half in her wallet.
Niall Johnson was making a pillow for his father for Christmas. He also plays the guitar, banjo and electric guitar, and is a mask maker.
“I do my own face in a mask, and Flash Gordon,” he said.
In addition to MacNaughton and Geselle, the Canvas has a handful of studio assistants on staff and often invites local artists to lead day habilitation classes.
Chelsea O’Neill, a Jesuit volunteer from Chicago, said she loves her job as an assistant.
“It’s great, I brag all the time that I have the best job,” she said. “(The REACH artists) are all very excited for the show to show their art to their friends and family and they’ve worked really hard. It’s really inspiring — they are so creative and they don’t hold back. It’s empowering to watch.”
REACH artist Avery Skaggs had a solo show this past fall, and Ed Parish will have one in February.
“Our culture has changed but The Canvas goes even a step farther by getting to truly celebrate talents and expressions, and I think people come in here and see work that is really beautiful,” MacNaughton said.
• Courtney Nelson can be reached at nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net.

Holiday Greetings

2010-11-29T14:48:00.000-08:00

Bells Jingle Christmas

Shop Shutterfly.com for elegant Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

A world made of paper

2010-11-18T22:25:00.000-08:00

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

Sherri McDonald says she's an artist with a paper problem.

"I have an addiction to paper - I make books or do art so I can buy more paper."

Luckily, McDonald's paper landscapes and her company, Paper Mountain Studio, have been well-received, allowing her to keep the addiction alive. Her intricate landscapes are made using scraps of colored and textured paper that are bound by non-toxic adhesive. Two of her pieces, "Blueberry Hill" and "Douglas Harbor," were selected for the All Alaska Juried Art Show in 2008. She has a show at Annie Kaill's opening Dec. 3, for Gallery Walk, and is working toward a solo show opening March 4 at the Juneau Arts & Culture Center.

When she isn't preparing for a show, McDonald is known as "Wild Bird" on Juneau's Roller Derby team.

Drawn to paper

McDonald received her undergraduate degree in art at the University of Minnesota, with a focus on printing and papermaking. After graduating, she apprenticed for three months with Japanese-style bookbinder Karen Saro in Washington state, whom she met at a Saturday market in Oregon.

"I fell in love with bookbinding during the apprenticeship and the craft - it just connected," said McDonald. "It's the physical act of tearing the paper and laying it down that connects to me, I guess I'm more of a physical artist."

She began creating landscape collages for her book covers, but soon became hooked on bigger works.

"That's when I started to challenge myself and do more complicated collages."

McDonald said the art form combines aspects of two- and three-dimensional work.

"Paper is like sculpture and drawing at the same time," she said. "It's two-dimensional but at the same time there's a three-dimensional quality to it because you are cutting and shaping it. It's very forgiving - you can layer it."

Creating space

After apprenticing with Saro, McDonald moved to Austin, Texas to work in a hand bindery. She met her husband, Mick, in Austin, and he got a job in Juneau two days after their wedding. While shopping for houses, McDonald and her husband agreed they had to find a home with a studio and a garage.

"We weren't going to stop until we found a place that would offer both," she said.

They found a place with a large basement crawl space on Douglas Island that fit the bill, but it took another two years before renovations began and about eight more months before they were complete.

"It was just a basement when we moved in. It was very dungeon-esque with dirt floors, visqueen, plywood and a single light bulb."

The project accelerated when her father, who came out to help during the birth of their second child, ended up doing electrical work and installing sheetrock. They used gravel to raise the floor, put in floor heat and concrete and had stairs put in.

Now the studio has a large window overlooking Gastineau Channel providing natural light.

"It's great as a landscape artist to be able to look out at a gorgeous landscape that's constantly changing."

McDonald says she uses her art to deal with the dark winters and wet weather.

"Part of the reason I do the art I do is to help me get through the winters, and a view helps me see the beauty during weather that normally makes me depressed. If you capture that weather in art, then it becomes something different, it isn't your enemy as much."

Having a separate studio also allows her to flourish in a home with two young children.

"I like to come down and work on things and then leave things and know that I will find things exactly as I left them. I don't have to clean stuff up every time I walk away."

The creative process

McDonald says her time in her studio is not always productive. She sometimes procrastinates by pacing, checking e-mail, and figuring out music to play while she waits for inspiration to strike.

"In the beginning of a project you are filled with uncertainty, you don't know exactly what you want to do, whether it is going to be a good choice and worth spending any effort on or not. At a certain point you just have to say, 'Okay, go for it.'"

Once she has an idea, she starts to give it form before it eventually takes off.

"When it starts to come together - after making critical early moment decisions which are the hardest - if you make good choices, then it starts to take on its own life. Everything seems more clear, where you are going to go next ... it's just a flow from the brain to the paper or to the art."

The challenges

Although McDonald's art is primarily done in her studio, where she has a 16-drawer flat file filled with all types of paper, she has gone out with Juneau's Plein Rein artist group - with mixed results.

"Any bit of wind blows the paper away, if it's raining it gets wet. But there's a certain aesthetic to an immediate application of when you are looking at something and doing it right away that you can't really get in studios."

For those who are stuck or just starting out on their creative journey, McDonald suggests seeking out an encouraging person. For her, it was Rie and Juan Munoz, who bought McDonald's first prints to resell in their gallery. Their belief in her helped her accept that she was an artist, a major epiphany for her.

McDonald has learned that when she creates art that speaks to her and isn't created with a profit in mind it turns out better.

"For me it's really rewarding to create something that's not expected with paper, constantly trying to make it look like something beyond just a piece of paper - more of a painting. That's the challenge for me."

To read more about Sherri McDonald visit www.papermountainstudios.com.

Courtney Nelson can be reached at nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net

Tersteeg exercises her creative muscles in new show

2010-11-04T13:00:00.001-07:00

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

Alice Tersteeg has been exercising her creative muscles lately. Last month, the local artist and former University of Alaska Southeast professor of art was featured in exhibits at both the Canvas and Annie Kaill's, in two shows that highlighted her extensive influence on the arts community of Juneau. The Canvas show, which included Tersteeg's work, featured pieces by many of her former students in a variety of media, from silk screen prints to etchings. The Annie Kaill's show featured art from Tersteeg's personal collection, and was organized to raise money to help pay for large medical bills her husband incurred before he succumbed to lung cancer in July.

This month she headlines a second show at Annie Kaill's, this time featuring her own original work. The show opens Friday with a First Friday reception also celebrating the downtown gallery's 35th anniversary.

Born in northern California, Tersteeg earned a degree in art from the University of California Chico, then received her masters in fine arts from Syracuse University - in spite of her father's wishes.

"I was always interested in art and I knew it was all I wanted to do, but my father thought it wasn't a very practical career - that didn't deter me at all," said Tersteeg.

University days

Tersteeg paved the way for many more people to tap into their creative energy by creating new art degrees at UAS, including an associate of arts degree and certificate in Northwest Coast Art. It's the accomplishment she's most proud of.

"I was working to support the Northwest Coast Art program, which I started in 1983 with Dr. William Demmert," Tersteeg said. "Members of the community had come to the university to ask if the classes could be offered on a more regular basis because they were hit and miss, so we started the program."

With her help, UAS went on to offer bachelor's degrees in art, as well as degrees with an art emphasis, for a total of five art degrees.

"To me that was my biggest life goal, to provide that many opportunities for students."

The importance of art

"I think they are making a huge mistake when they start cutting art programs and music programs. These are areas of creativity that are absolutely essential for people to grow," Tersteeg said. "If you go through your life without creating artwork or always listening to other people's music instead of creating your own music, then you may be doing a disservice to yourself - there may be a lot more creativity inside you that never comes out."

While doing art is often perceived as relatively expensive, Tersteeg believes making different choices can lead to more creative endeavors.

"If you spend your money on expensive cars or expensive sound systems or talk on the phone a lot, what do you have to show for it when you are finished? If you are spending money on art supplies, you are doing yourself a lot of good for your own mental health as well as developing the creative muscle."

Early years

Tersteeg moved to Sitka in 1973 after doing graphic design in Chico. She worked for eight years at Sitka's community college before taking a job at UAS in Juneau in 1981, where she fell in love with the setting. She's lived here 35 years.

"It was the setting and the personality, and it's the size city and state where you think you can make a difference."

Tersteeg met her husband Roger, who'd moved to Juneau from Minnesota, on a blind date set up by one of her students, Joanie Dahl, who was a model for one of Tersteeg's drawing classes.

Although Tersteeg sticks primarily to landscapes and wildlife, she did a show last year titled "Chrome" which showcased her appreciation for Harley Davidson motorcycles the Pandhandlers biker club, which she says collects toys for kids and coordinates other charitable fundraisers.

Her husband Roger was a mechanic in town and he loved restored cars and liked to attend car shows like "Dip Sticks" in Juneau, which got her interested.

Lessons

Tersteeg recently suffered a huge loss - her husband died of cancer. Roger was a smoker and Tersteeg urges people to do whatever they can to help their loved ones stop smoking and to prepare for financial strain of potential illness.

"Discuss medical coverage early and often," Tersteeg said.

Her husband's Social Security did not cover the costs of emergency transportation because he was covered under Tersteeg's insurance at the time. When she retired, he was no longer fully covered.

She also advises people to look into emergency Medevac insurance with ground transportation, such as the one offered through Apollo MT for $100 a year. Airlift Northwest is another option for $79 a year that covers entire households but they don't offer coverage for ground transport. Without the insurance, the air and ground emergency transportation can cost over $50,000.

Tersteeg has been through some stressful experiences, but is doing better.

"I have a wonderful support system of friends and I would never move anywhere else because I have such wonderful friends here. There's no way to explain how important that is."

• Courtney Nelson can be reached at nelsonfamily@acsaalska.net.

Artists' spaces: Playhouse turned artist's retreat

2010-10-18T14:48:00.000-07:00

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

Landscape artist Constance Baltuck's space for creating is tucked away in the Juneau flats, on a grassy plot of land next to Gold Creek with a view of Mt. Roberts from the porch. Before becoming her studio, the small house on 10th Street had been used as a getaway spot from her family's main home just a few blocks away, an arrangement she admits is unusual.

"Most people buy recreational property in Shelter Island or Mexico, but we came here everyday because it had a yard in the flats and swings in the trees," she said.

Baltuck renovated the previously abandoned house in 2006, hiring a guy to fix the holes in the ceilings and floors and to stabilize the building. She now creates her colorful paintings in the kitchen.

"I tried setting up my work space upstairs and in different corners, but it always ends up being central," Baltuck said, adding that the kitchen has the advantage of access to running water.

Baltuck has been painting and showing her work in Juneau since 1983, when she had her first show at the now closed Orpheum Theatre.

"I've shown my work once or twice a year since then, except when my children were babies, so Juneau has been really receptive to my work."

Though her paintings are based on the natural world, she allows herself plenty of room for elaboration and interpretation.

"I want it grounded in reality, because that's what makes the painting convincing, but I want a lot of freedom to play with it, because I'm an artist and if we can't do what we want with our worlds on canvas, then why bother?"

She doesn't sketch things first or recreate scenes from photographs, but rather paints things as she sees them in nature, taking her materials to different spots around Juneau. She takes creative license with her colors; most of her paintings contain bold, vibrant hues.

"I really try to paint what I see, and then the colors just sneak in and are brighter and more intense and completely unrelated to what I'm looking at, but for some reason it works," Baltuck said. "By the time I get home and look at my work, it really has no relation to what I took a picture of - it's a whole different thing. I'm not thinking 'Does it look like what I was looking at?' I'm thinking, 'Does it make a good painting?'"

From Detroit to Juneau

Baltuck was raised in Detroit, Michigan, and learned the basics of drawing at the kitchen table with her father. After her father's death, her mother hatched a plan to take the kids to all the national parks in the United States.

"We didn't do that, but we saw a heck of a lot of them, including Alaska," Baltuck said. She already had some familiarity with the state through her great aunt, who worked at the Mount McKinley Lodge in the 1950s.

"We drove here from Michigan with all the kids in a van, so it was 1967 when I first came to Juneau. It was the trip I remembered."

It took Baltuck 14 years to get back to Alaska. During that time she earned a degree in museum studies from the University of Washington and in 1981 got a job as a naturalist for the state ferry system. The job was over before it began: on the ferry to Juneau she was seasick the whole time, and ended up working for the Legislature instead.

She also worked with the U.S. Forest Service and studied botany.

"It was a combined sort of approach to study where I did a lot of work interpreting natural history," Baltuck said.

While she paints primarily Alaska scenes, she also paints when she travels. Last year, with help from a scholarship from the Juneau Arts & Humanities Council, she took her VW bus filled with blank stretch canvases to Arizona's Petrified Forest National Park, working there as an artist in residence through the National Park Service program. She stayed in an adobe house, venturing out to paint in her bus, sheltered from the harsh elements.

"It was great, I had nothing else to do but paint and really explore the park."

Baltuck, who admires artists John Singer Sargent and Claude Monet, believes painting is a luxury.

"In these days and times (being an artist) is really self indulgent," she said, "but I lead a simple life so I can paint."

Juneau's Plein Rein

Although painting is largely a solitary activity, Baltuck says it's nice to have company. She often joins Juneau's Plein Rein on their weekly excursions around Juneau. The group, founded by Barbara Craver and Pua Maunu, go out every Saturday to paint in different locations.

"It's like we hunt and gather and we come home with our prize. The fun part is going out and collecting and painting outdoors - I could do the first stage so easily forever. Then you come home and you've got to make it work. That takes time and sometimes days to finish up."

Sometimes she comes up with a painting she wouldn't show to her own mother.

"When you put that kind of energy and focus into something for days and it doesn't work, that's horrible, it's crushing," she said.

Other times she'll look back at a painting and think it wasn't so bad.

"Nowadays if I do a painting and I'm dissatisfied, I don't destroy it right away, and if there's a chance I think I might like it I'll put it away for a while. But usually if it's bad, it's just plain bad."

Occasionally she'll pull someone in to help her pinpoint a problem.

"One time we did the old trick of turning a painting upside down and there it was, three dark spots that carried your eye right off the canvas. Just by getting rid of the middle dot of color, it stabilized the painting."

Baltuck has shows scheduled at the Canvas in November and the Alaska State Museum in November 2011. In preparation for the latter, she is taking a sabbatical to devote herself as much as she can to her craft.

"One thing about being an artist is no one can tell you you've done it wrong. There's only one important judge of the work and that's the artist."

For more about Baltuck and her work, visit www.constancebaltuck.com/.

Artists' spaces in unusual places

2010-10-18T14:36:00.000-07:00

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

It's a little known fact that the Viking Lounge on Front Street downtown, known for its karaoke and martinis, also houses a thriving artists' space. Upstairs, the scent of fresh-cut red and yellow cedar and alderwood leads to a small carving studio, located behind a door that reads, "Do not enter." The space is not open to the public.

Only a few carvers and artists are allowed to create here, said Viking owner Jack Tripp. In addition to the on-site carvers, about 18 artists check out supplies from the studio and work on their carvings at home, he said.

"Someone has to vouch for you - it's kind of an honor system because there's a lot of value in this shop," said Tripp, referring to the raw cedar and ivory kept under lock and key.

One Tlingit carver, Arthur Johnson, has worked pretty exclusively with Tripp over the last six years. Johnson creates scrimshaw, soapstone carvings and masks, as well as totem poles, gun grips, sketches, museum reproductions, canoes and items used in Native regalia.

"I make paddles, rattles, drums, box drums - anything Tlingit," Johnson said.

Johnson, 45, of the Kaagwaantaan in Hoonah, has six children, and has been carving and doing artwork since he was 9. The youngest of 11 children, Johnson is self-taught. He said he became interested in the artform after observing his teenage cousins carving, and now really enjoys what he does.

"I like coming to work every day, there is always something new," he said.

The carving shop is in use seven days a week, opening in the morning and closing as late as midnight. Other artists who use the space in addition to Johnson include Jason Vonda, Nick Vonda III, Dwain Price, Charles High, Browne Willard III and Milo Irish.

The artists' finished products have many different outlets, but the majority of their pieces go down the street to the Mount Juneau Trading Post, also owned by Tripp, where they are marketed to tourists and collectors.

Johnson says his most memorable piece was a legends canoe etched on a tusk commissioned by a collector.

"The look on her face and the hugs and tears said it all," he said. "It was really cool and that's what it's all about for me as an artist. We do this because we love to do it and because people really appreciate work done by Tlingits. Nobody likes to look on the bottom and see Bali or Indonesia."

In addition to Northwest Coast traditional art, Johnson is also called in to repair art knocked over by customers in the shop, a steady problem. The shop contains art made not only by Native Alaskan artists, but also by artists outside the state. Artwork made by Native Alaskans usually bears the Silver Hand symbol, featuring a silver hand and the words, "Authentic Native Handicraft from Alaska." Items made by Alaska residents who are not necessarily Native may bear a "Made in Alaska" sticker or emblem.

Tripp said that the artists who work out of the Viking space also supply the majority of the drums and paddles used in regalia for Southeast dance troupes.

"My wife is Tlingit, so she's immersed in the culture, and my daughters are dancers," Tripp said. "Her uncles are the Chiltons, who are the silver producers in town."

"We produce about 250 drums a year, an average of two drums every three days," he said. "It's a really weird niche market."

Producing art in bulk allows Tripp to focus on the expertise of each artist. For example, he may ask one artist to produce skins for the drums, and a different artist to paint them, according to dancers' specifications.

"We have blank drums, they tell us their crest and we can have it designed and made," Tripp said.

Tripp believes that by sharing the space and supplies, he is helping artists create work that might never have been attempted.

"Maybe they don't have the $50 to buy the piece of wood to make a paddle, then that piece of work never exists," he said.

Johnson agreed. "I don't have to pay for any of the materials, everything is provided for me, except for my knives, so we have no costs," he said. "Other artists have to put stuff on commission and hope that it sells that year and lose a large chunk of the profit. We don't have to worry about whether our stuff is going to sell or not. We are good at what we do and have been doing it for a long time."

A small totem pole will take Johnson about a week to finish, working eight hours a day. His scrimshaw pieces are also labor-intensive but he doesn't mind.

"I've been a tattoo artist for years, and crossing over from tattooing people to tattooing walrus tusks is about the same thing, but you don't have to worry about the walrus tusk moving, or saying 'ow' or bleeding all over you. It was a great transition for me."

Contact Courtney Nelson at nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net.

Won't you be my neighbor?

2010-08-25T00:11:00.000-07:00

Do you know your neighbors? Should you know your neighbors?

Everyone defines a perfect neighbor differently. My ideal neighbor would do the following: say hello, check my mail and watch my house, shoo ravens and bears from my garbage, comment when I look nice, provide cooking ingredients, alert me to good weather coming, notice if my tires are low, loan me power tools and mechanical advice, proofread my stories, remind me to file my Permanent Fund Dividend, call me when solicitors are heading my way, babysit the kids in a pinch, and make me feel okay about the junk pile on the side of my house.

Luckily, I have this all rolled into one neighbor - they've got my back. It might be better if multiple neighbors each took on a few of these traits so my one neighbor isn't burdened with my high maintenance. But after five years on the block, I've never been in anyone else's house, haven't had many conversations and don't know anyone else's story. What if we have big things in common that will make me feel warm and fuzzy? Or what if I got to know them, and found out I didn't like them or they had a shady past?

Some swear friendly neighbors will make life more pleasant. By being the neighbor you want to have, you might get that reflected back. Here are some thoughts on improving neighbor relations.

Make yourself available

Take walks around the neighborhood and say hello to people in passing. Or sit or work in your front yard and act approachable. Have an open seat next to you for a short visit.

Meet new neighbors

We just had new neighbors move in next door so I arranged for my "good" neighbor and I to go in on a little homemade goodie basket. I had the kids draw some pictures of our family and we included some baked goods, smoked salmon, homemade jelly and assorted teas in a bag and hung it on their door on move-in day. They stopped by to thank us and I learned their names, occupations and landscaping plans. Could be the start of a beautiful friendship - and with two boys, it's nice to know there's a nurse next door.

Lend a hand

If there are any struggling elderly people on your block, offer to help them somehow or give them your phone number in case of an emergency. This will foster good feelings and make them feel a little safer. If you are the struggling elderly, don't be afraid to ask for neighbors' numbers or hire neighborhood kids to help out with strenuous chores.

Pets and music

Noise seems to be a big problem for many people. My mom fought with neighbors over their barking dog by blaring Mexican music full blast in their direction when the dog wouldn't stop. The neighbors in turn reported my high school parties and I spent a summer weeding the side of the house. However, this led to their son helping me and we started dating.

Walk the line

There's a fine line between being neighborly and nosey. If you want to talk, leave your neighbors wanting more, not wishing you would go away. Just a little information will go a long way.

Have an open mind

Neighbors are thrown together with no real rhyme or reason except that they can afford to live in the same neighborhood. A tree hugger can live next door to a logger, a Republican next to a Democrat. Use this as an opportunity to get to know the "other" a little. With some common ground, maybe some understanding can be reached.

If that doesn't work, as Robert Frost said, "good fences make good neighbors."

This is the last Straight Talk column. Thank you for reading. Courtney Nelson can be reached at nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net.

Artists' spaces: Down in the basement

2010-08-03T22:01:00.000-07:00

Basement Studios, a glass business opened six years ago by married artists Tasha Walen and Lincoln Farabee, began in the corner of their cellar with only a torch and an open window. Now it's taken over the whole floor.

Since the purchase of that first torch, the artists have expanded as rapidly as their glass. They now have a larger torch with oxygen propane, a diamond-embedded wheel, a lapidary grinder, a kiln and lots of glass materials to help them create their lampwork, beads and jewelry. To adhere to safety codes they installed a ventilation system capable of sucking all the air out of the room in just seconds. In the winter, this unfortunately chills their living space above.

Although the thought of a huge heated studio downtown is appealing, they wouldn't have their space any other way. They like to travel too much. They show their work with the Juneau Artists Gallery year-round and exhibit their larger scale work once or twice annually.

Walen and Farabee met while working on their undergraduate degrees in Bellingham; both were bass players in the symphony. They eventually moved to Alaska and attended the Univeristy of Alaska Anchorage; Walen earned her master's degree in early childhood special education, and Farabee got his nursing license.

Walen now combines her degree with her passion for glass, teaching art to adults who experience disabilities at The Canvas. She also helps The Canvas design their music program.

"I teach art glass there, and glass engraving and infusing with my students. It's amazing," said Walen.

A love of travel

Basement Studios isn't incredibly profitable, but it allows the couple to travel the world learning more about the art of glass.

"We've been using it (the company) to help build on itself," said Farabee.

"For me the fun part is traveling and studying," said Walen. "The glass community is very inspirational, people are very generous, and we've met people from all over the world just blowing glass, taking classes and working with teachers."

Farabee's mother, who was hooked on glass at the same time as her son and daughter-in-law, works out of Seattle and travels with them.

"It's such a good way to get to know your mother-in-law," said Walen. "We both studied at Pilchuck Glass School, and we spent some time studying in Murano, Italy, which is sort of a mecca for glass artists."

Farabee and his mom are currently preparing to visit Germany to study glass, and to learn how to make prosthetic glass eyes.

In addition to Pilchuck, Walen studied at the Pratt Fine Art Center in Seattle, and the Corning Glass Museum in New York. She has also worked with Martin Rosol, a Czeck glass artist who taught her a laminating process called hextol, where two pieces of crystal or optical glass are joined with laminate glue.

"When you move the piece, it changes colors," she said. "It's all cold working, so the glass is shaped without any heat."

Walen and Farabee both find that glass workshops are very productive times, but there's something about the intensity of workshops and the transformations they create that taps into emotional releases.

"There is always somebody that cries at glass camp," Walen laughed.

"Everytime we take a class it kind of bumps us up and gives us so many ideas it's almost hard to manage it all, she said. "Then there are times I come down here and stare at the wall for three days and don't know where to start - especially right before a show."

Show and politics

Their current show features engraved glass with iconic figures in unconventional locations, like an Alaskan cast-glass totem pole with the Great Wall of China as a backdrop.

"I've been exploring the mass production of Alaskan images, especially in our community where they purchase stuff from China and then everybody comes to Alaska to buy them," Walen said. "I'm trying to find humor as well as make people think about things and question what is going on. Maybe people will stop and think about it a little."

Inspiration and planning

When asked about the source of their inspiration Walen said, "My design work comes usually in the form of a weird non-sleeping evening - absolutely overwhelming ideas come one after the other. I write them all down. It all kind of comes out all at once, and then I'm working on that."

Sometimes this design inspiration is shaped by practical concerns like glass compatibility and cost of materials.

"Glass moves at different rates so it can be like trying to blend oil and water."

Some glass colors cost more than others, she said, and using recycled glass can be tricky because the glass type is not usually known.

The rewards

Besides travel adventures and continuing education, Walen says the most rewarding thing for her is teaching glass fusing and cutting to people who experience disabilities.

"It's super rewarding, and some of the best artists I've ever met are in that studio," she said. Anyone can do it, you just make it work and stop putting limitations on people."

"I think teaching is the direction I'm headed," said Walen, who also wants to exhibit in museums and out of state. "There are some people who are great artists but not good at teaching - I think I'm an OK artist who's good at teaching."

Farabee says teaching isn't in his future. For him it's a creative outlet from his day job.

"I don't feel like I'm fighting myself; I have creative ideas at work and this is my outlet for them."

Though they exhibit together, their work is very different.

"We are very individual in our taste and flavors for glass," said Farabee. "(But) we work together and respect each other a whole heck of a lot, which really helps."

Chaos to order

2010-06-30T13:56:00.000-07:00

Juneau Empire

May I have your attention please! Please suspend your techno presence for a moment. Refrain from uploading, downloading, emailing, Skypeing or texting for a very important message.

We've become a society of attention-deficient multi-taskers. We consume "exabytes" (a unit of digital content) in many forms and we have endless information and amusement at our fingertips. Video games, Internet, music, apps, texts, movies, books, television, and youtube to name a few.

Some say this hyper-techno-connectivity is just a different kind of adaptive behavior; part of natural human evolution. Others say it's a crisis threatening the very foundation of our society. Here is my take on the controversy.

Price of distraction

Distraction is costing companies and families money. Business owners are paying employees for splintered attention and we are drugging children into submission. The annual price tags for productivity loss and ADD and ADHD drugs are both in the billions, according to studies.

There is also loss of life. Distracted drivers are making drunk drivers look good. Distracted health care workers are giving the wrong medications and, in some cases, lethal doses to patients. Some hospitals have made it mandatory that nurses giving medication wear an orange vest so people won't distract them.

Channels

Information overload can be balanced, we're told, if different information channels are used simultaneously: oral, visual, auditory... If too much information is being delivered into one channel, we overload. But if several channels are humming together, like listening to music while surfing the web, the experience can be intensely pleasurable. Like a shot of morphine.

By allowing down time to synthesize these information streams, we can find connections and insights, but many never pause to reflect.

Getting "stupider"

Our brains, while having the potential for unlimited capacity, can only process so much information in the short blink we are on the planet. It seems with our endless information streams, we are only grasping surface understanding of topics and are failing to understand how the world actually works. We are digging many shallow holes while drinking water from a fire hose.

When we overload ourselves, some studies say we dump information we learned in our early years, like lessons learned earning a girl scout patch.

Fighting for attention

The two forces of attention and distraction are dancing as distraction takes attention away from one thing, only to draw attention to another. We've developed a pattern of giving brief bursts of attention. Often times attention seekers want something from us.

The Internet, like a Las Vegas casino enticing disoriented people who can't find the exit, encourages people to stop and spend cash. This distraction can backfire, however. Just when a virtual cart is full of stuff, the shopper will get distracted, the spell will be broken and they will disappear.

Often it's people competing with technology for attention. Like when my husband and I are out to dinner and there is a tennis match playing on television behind him. I won't hear a word he's saying when Roger Federer is playing.

What about the children?

I've heard reports from a friend down south who says people are going into restaurants and setting up DVD players for the kids at the table. It seems the days of teaching kids how to behave at dinner and talking to them are going out the window.

Family vehicles are being sold as moving media vessels. A family on a road trip will each have different headsets, DVD players, iPods and iPhones to distract them from looking out the window or interacting. When I was little on road trips, we had conversations, I contemplated them, looked out the window, then came back with more questions. I learned silly songs, read books and heard family stories.

Now we seem very fragmented and fast moving. There is a lack of discernment in where we receive all our information. We're unable to figure out the source and determine the value.

Bringing order to chaos

Maybe the skillful management of attention is the key to happiness and fulfillment. If in between exabytes we allow space for self reflection, personal growth, understanding, compassion, charity work, and creativity we'll be better off. If we generously lift someone else up instead of being self absorbed in our technology pleasure. If we sit still and meditate, we might bring order to our fragmented pieces of thought and a whole picture will emerge. We can bring order to the chaos if we give it our attention.

•Courtney Nelson had over 1,000 interruptions while writing this piece, it's a miracle it was finished.

Artist Rob Roys: 20 years of productivity and counting

2010-06-17T11:45:00.000-07:00

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

I met with Juneau's abstract artist Rob Roys in his downtown studio to talk about his art and paintings. With a view down Seward street, the studio above the Lisa Davidson boutique downtown feels like an inspiring place to create. Previously it was the creative home of John Fehringer, and then Jane Terzis, who used it for over 20 years.

Roys often plays music and warms up to painting by reading or sketching, then begins work on several different pieces simultaneously. When he is in high production mode, he'll spend up to 30 hours a week in his studio.

Roys says he's always wanted to be an artist and, aside from second grade when he sold a rooster sketch to a teacher, he created his first legitimate piece of art in 1992.

"It wasn't really derivative of anything that I'd been taught to do," he said. "It was personal, but had universal qualities to it. It looked like a painting and had brush strokes. It was the first time I thought I'd done something that was good," said Roys, who'd had an art studio since 1988.

Referred to by many as an abstract artist, he describes himself as "an Alaska modernist currently working in the figurative idiom," a description that confuses even his wife, Pagan Hill.

Early years

Before settling on acrylic paint as his medium, Roys tried many different art forms. He broke his hand many times playing sports, so he was steered toward hand-building activities. Being a ceramics major at UAF seemed logical.

"I couldn't control pencils very well, but I could control clay," said Roys, who eventually dropped out after a tumultuous time.

"When I encountered ceramics academia it was all about the wheel, if it wasn't about the wheel or the ceramics dogma at the time it wasn't considered anything worthwhile."

Upon his return to Juneau, an artist group called "Arts R Us" emerged and Roys tried different mediums like painting, drawing, and collage, showing pieces at local cafes.

Portfolio Arts eventually hung an 18" x 12" painting by Roys in their front window and someone bought it.

"It felt pretty good, it was pretty awesome because it was a real painting. I had just done it and hadn't really thought about it as a product," said Roys, adding that he would have been happy if someone just liked it but wouldn't have cared if they didn't.

Since then he thinks he has gotten better at painting, but believes people have also gotten used to seeing his work.

"Once they understand, it's a bit more approachable. If they see something they don't understand, they immediately don't like it."

Critics

At one of his first art shows over 21 years ago, Roys had someone write in his comment book, "Someone is wasting nice white pieces of paper."

Roys said the offhand remark really influenced him,

"I haven't ever wanted to waste white sheets of paper," he said. "I took it very personally, but at that time I needed criticism."

Roys says he feels it was a sign of attitudes of the time.

"At that time people thought you should kick younger artists as hard as you can and as viciously as you can because it will make them tough, and if it makes them quit doing art, well, good, then they shouldn't have been doing art in the first place. What I really learned was that wasn't right - it's better to be supportive and helpful to young artists."

Roys thinks this attitude has been changing.

"Critiques are so nice now - before people were mean to each other and now it's 'what's good about it?' Some people need to get kicked in the teeth once in a while though, as long as it's honest and constructive."

Art and money

"If you are trying to make a living at art, there are much better ways to make money," said Roys, who has a day job working for the state as a procurement specialist. He says his job isn't reflected in his work but did try to use it before.

"One time I tried to do a piece that tried to communicate the dismal situation of an office job and it was horrible - it was really awful, awful stuff. I keep thinking I'll revisit it but nobody wants to see people sitting in cubicles."

In contrast to the Renaissance days when artists could just create and not worry about money, Roys says today's artists are different.

"For modern Americans who are really trying to do real art they have to have some other source of income, that's just the way Americans are - we have jobs."

"A life in the arts is very rich. You won't be rich monetarily but you'll be rich in friends and culture and life experience."

Juneau

Roys was born in Cordova and moved to Juneau when he was two. His father was also a painter and worked for the state.

"All my art is really about Juneau when it comes down to it," Roys said. Motioning to a painting in progress of a woman lying on a rug, Roys explains the meaning.

"That's somebody I've known for years - I've seen them grow old, go through relationships and have children."

In addition to people, Roys likes to draw pictures of spots in Juneau that have special memories or meaning for him.

He said he just knows when he's going to turn a sketch into a painting.

"Sometimes when I'm drawing, I just know that I'm drawing in a zone - I'm warmed up, everything is just perfect, everything is just right, my pencil is at the right sharpness ... so that's part of it, when I feel like I'm in the zone," said Roys, whose current projects include sketches from a life-drawing class he has been running.

He also gets his inspiration from headlines, the news, and, as a self-described "troubled teen," he also gets ideas from his past circle of friends that "had pretty bad life circumstances." "Apologies and Accusations" was the title of one of his art shows at KTOO that he says was "pretty therapeutic."

Intentions

For Roys, painting is not a hobby, it's a passion. Roys has his eyes set on the all-Alaska juried show, which he hasn't been selected for - yet.

For people viewing his art, he wants them to experience whatever they want.

"I don't care what they think, because the most important thing is what I think, but I really want them to enjoy it. It's my way of contributing to the world."

"Art should try and make things that make the world a better place. Art makes peoples lives richer and better."

In search of holistic healing in Juneau

2010-06-07T18:32:00.001-07:00

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

For a small town, Juneau has a robust holistic health care scene. As treatments that promise to cure ailments without medication often are discounted or misunderstood, I decided to go in search of the basic philosophy and benefits of naturopathic healing in Juneau. I found disease prevention, and even cures, can be as obvious as finding the right mix of diet, exercise and sleep - naturally.

Diet

David Ottoson, the owner of Rainbow Foods, a downtown natural foods store, said he and his family have been using naturopathic doctors as their primary care providers for more than 25 years.

"I believe in 'first, do no harm,'" he said. "I want the gentlest, most side-effect-free treatment as a first resort, and if that doesn't work, then I bring in the big guns."

He says for optimum health, he tries to be careful about what he eats and tries to stick with organic fruits and vegetables, and grass-fed game.

"I try and eat grass-fed animals with no antibiotics and junk that they feed animals in commercial operations," said Ottoson, who carries grass-fed bison at his store.

Naturopathic doctor Kristin Cox, of Rainforest Naturopathic Medicine, said the top ailments she treats in local patients are food-related digestive problems like constipation. She also hears complaints of fatigue, depression, anxiety and insomnia.

Cox says most of these problems stem from dietary and nutritional deficiencies, and many of them can be fixed with simple adjustments. Cox also notes that vitamin D deficiency is a big problem and many ailments stem from a low-functioning thyroid, especially in women.

"Many people are eating something that doesn't agree with them, or they have a nutritional deficiency," Cox said.

She has had success with many patients by using an elimination diet to determine which food is causing the problem. Cox said she's had many patients who were treated with surgery and pharmaceuticals for a simple food allergy.

For example, She had a patient with acute abdominal pain who'd already had three organs removed and a complete hysterectomy before Cox saw her. Cox determined her pain was from a wheat allergy.

Diet also is a focus at the SEARHC medical clinic, where Stephanie Zidek-Chandler is the health promotions and injury prevention manager.

"I'm into prevention, so I encourage diets that are rich in fruits and vegetables, and getting out in the sunshine to get vitamin D. There are really basic remedies that help support health," she said.

Data shows that heart disease, cancer and diabetes are the primary health problems for SEARHC patients.

"Most of our lifestyle-related diseases involve stress, diet and exercise, and having an imbalance there," Zidek-Chandler said.

Diet has also made a difference for Bret Schmige, who is married to naturopathic doctor Emily Kane. Schmige said he has felt a lot better since meeting Kane and changing his diet.

"I really appreciate eating a lot more vegetables now. Bachelors don't tend to eat very well," said Schmige, who also said his energy level is now much better now.

Exercise

Kane encouraged Schmige to exercise and stretch more to take care of back problems for which most doctors would have prescribed drugs.

"Naturopathic doctors look for alternatives to pharmaceuticals. (My wife) always tells me her healthiest older patients are the ones that are not on medications. It's just so easy to go to a doctor and complain about something and have them put you on medication. That should be the last resort," Schmige said.

Rainbow Foods' Ottoson also values exercise.

"I like to get up and move around and do something every day, and I meditate."

Ottoson also avoids prescription drugs but sees them as a necessary evil.

"There are instances where they are extremely valuable, but I think they are over-used."

Energy work

For treating lifestyle stress that affects your well-being, energy work is a drug-free option. Massage, acupuncture, reiki, healing touch, chiropractics, physical therapy, occupational therapy, meditation or counseling can all enhance your health, and, in many cases, can be prescribed and covered by insurance.

Bartlett Hospital is an indication of changing attitudes. It has offered healing touch for about 10 years now with much success, according to Bartlett nurse Mary Donlon.

"Healing touch is energy work used to try and remove energy blocks that can cause illness," said Donlon, who said it is often used after surgery and can be requested by patients.

A whiplash injury from car accident years ago left me with chronic pain in my neck. Juneau's occupational therapist Linda Newman treated me with a cranio-sacral treatment that released the memory of the accident that I had stored as a knot in my neck for more than 15 years. Bartlett is offering this treatment now as well.

Instead of running to Western medicine for quick fixes like medications and surgeries, which are often recommended to save time and avoid lawsuits, why not start with a naturopathic doctor who can take a look at your complete picture and guide you to optimum health - naturally? I found it takes being proactive with our own health, which includes clearly communicating symptoms and health history.

"If people can get connected to a program or a personal system or something that results in them taking action, they can improve their health and decrease their risks for so many diseases and just enjoy life to the fullest for a lot more years," Zidek-Chandler said.

2010-06-06T21:16:00.001-07:00

Rapper Murs performs tonight

2010-06-06T21:14:00.000-07:00

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

Tonight the rapper Murs will be performing at Marlintini's Lounge for the first time in Juneau. Doors open at 8:30 p.m. and local rap and hip hop performers Astronomar, Judo and Phonetic will open the show at 9 p.m. Tickets are available for $25 at groovetickets.com.

Anchorage's Heather Prunty, who founded Synapse Productions in 2001 in Girdwood, arranged to have Murs perform three dates in Alaska. Prunty has been dedicated to bringing a hip-hop scene to Alaska for almost ten years.

"I brought the first hip-hop show to Juneau in 2007, with Del the Funky Homosapien, followed by Chali 2na, Zion I and the Grouch, then I brought Swollen Members there last year," said Prunty, who sees it as a win-win because the rappers can see the beauty of Alaska.

Murs, now working independently, is originally from the hip-hop group Living Legends that formed in Oakland in the early '90s. Living Legends was created so the artists could create, promote and perform their music independently. After many years together and over 300,000 units collectively sold, they have gone on to work on their own projects.

Murs, Nick Carter's performing name, is an acronym for "Making the Universe Recognize and Submit." He's now signed to the independent label Record Collection. In 2003 he released his first debut solo record "The End of the Beginning."

A messy business

2010-06-01T13:04:00.000-07:00

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

When the Glacier Valley Elementary School wanted to enhance and expand their Art is Elementary program (www.jsd.k12.ak.us/~heagyl/ArtIsElementary/Art_is_Elementary.html), specifically the after-school clay studio program, they turned to the Canvas. They wanted to bring private lessons to children who might not be able to afford it and get a fire kiln. Thus began a collaboration between the Glacier Valley Clay Club and The Canvas.

The idea of partnering with the Canvas was sparked when Susan Sielbach, librarian and art teacher of Glacier Valley Elementary, contacted Canvas program developer MK MacNaughton to ask her a few questions about the school's recently installed kiln. Sielbach asked what type of clay and what tools they would need once the kiln was installed.

"The kiln itself was funded through Glacier Valley's Capital Improvement Project and was installed in the summer of 2009 during the renovation," said Sielbach.

This got the two talking about a partnership, and they were able to get funded through a grant.

Sielbach and Glenda Lindley of Glacier Valley Elementary partnered weekly with The Canvas and local clay artists who provided professional development. MacNaughton made sure Glacier Valley had potters and teaching assistants every week.

"During this time the Canvas artists Saran Arnston, Dana White and Gina Frickey, modeled lessons for the students and provided training in the operation of the kiln for the staff," said Sielbach, who, along with Lindley and the students, learned the proper techniques in hand-building with clay. The adults also learned procedures needed in preparing clay, glazing, loading and firing the kiln, and proper technique for teaching students this art form.

The Clay Club had 47 students ages 6 through 11. Students in other Glacier Valley classes gave-week unit on hand-building with clay.

This collaboration was beneficial for both the Canvas and the Clay Club, MacNaughton said.

"The Glacier Valley after-school Clay Club offered a unique opportunity to offer training to the Glacier Valley staff from an experienced pottery teacher from The Canvas, as well as an opportunity for an adult artist who experiences a developmental disability to gain experience as a teaching assistant. The model worked well to support everyone involved, and most importantly, the students had the opportunity to enjoy learning about clay. It was a wonderful collaboration!" she said.

The Clay Club was supported by a grant from the Arts and Education Initiative, sponsored by the Rasmuson Foundation and administered by the Alaska State Council on the Arts.

"The students got messy, playing in the clay," Seilbach said. "Many wonderful clay pieces were created and everyone involved learned something new." "Seilbach said she hopes to continue the partnership during the 2010-2011 school year.

Feng Shui, personal directions: Feeling lucky?

2010-05-10T23:10:00.000-07:00

By Courtney Nelson | Straight Talk

My last column, "Feng Shui for life," encouraged readers to pick a space that needed energy work and to clear the clutter and grime, inviting prosperity with Feng Shui. This second part will touch on personal directions, bad "sha" energy and adjustments.

Lucky numbers in the east and the west ideally, placement of a building, rooms and furniture should be based on best directions. A personal kua number, stemming from the Feng Shui Eight Mansions and determined by year of birth, determines individuals' luckiest directions, the way sleeping heads should lie, office locations, and oven and front-door placement. When it's not possible to accommodate all household members, place the major bread winner in their ideal locations first.

Determining kua numbers is simple but different for men and women (www.trustyguides.com/feng-shui4.html). For women, add the last two digits of the year you were born (subtract one year from your birth if your birthday is between Jan. 1 and Feb. 20) and keep adding the digits of the sums until there is only one digit. (For example, a person born in 1983 would add 8 plus 3, which equals 11, then add 1 plus 1, to get 2.)

Now add 5 and continue adding until there's one digit. On the last step, men should subtract 10 instead of adding 5. Whala - your kua!

One, 3, 4 and 9 are east people and 2, 5, 6, 7, 8 are west. To complicate the matter, the numbers also have water, earth, wood and fire element associations and trigrams.

Start with bedroom basics

The head of a bed should be placed against a wall to reinforce security. Avoid placing it under a window. Ideally you can use your kua number to determine the top four directions your head should face. If those directions aren't practical, then do sleep experiments to determine where you sleep best.

There should be only one door to a bedroom so chi energy can be absorbed instead of continuing through another door. Mirrors should not be visible from the bed. A-frames should not pass over the bed because stagnant chi accumulates in them. And don't hang lights or pictures over the bed head, because they are subconsciously threatening and reduce sleep quality.

Most importantly, upon waking, do you see an inspiring painting or breathtaking view or do you see a pile of clothes that need to be darned and a cluttered dresser? Adjust to inspire.

House compatibility

What direction does your front door face? If it faces southeast, northeast, southwest or east, then it's an east house. If it faces north, south, west or northwest, it's a west house. If you and your house belong to the same group, then your basic house Feng Shui is in your favor. Some people instinctively use another entrance that's more compatible with their direction.

Inside the house there are lucky directions associated with people's lives. Recognition and fame in the south, marriage prospects and marital happiness in the southwest, children in the west, mentors in the northwest, career prospects in the north, education in the northeast, family relationships and health in the east, and finally wealth and prosperity in the southeast. Determine your room direction placements and try to arrange accordingly.

Secret or poison arrows

"Secret arrows," are unseen energy lines that create disharmony. They are strong attacking energy in the form of pointed or sharp edges, pointing at your personal energy field. A neighbor's satellite dish can be a secret arrow if it's directed at your house or your most vulnerable spot: your front door. A church steeple, electrical pylons, roof lines or any set of parallel straight lines can cause problems. Furniture and framed photos can create disruptive secret arrows.

At the intersection of Egan Drive and old Glacier Highway is a huge radio tower creating secret arrows. The arrows are directed directly at the spot I, and many others, have lost control of our cars. I ping-ponged from the guardrail to the ditch when I entered the secret arrow energy line and was shaken to the bone. I'm just sayin' ...

Many secret arrows can be softened or deflected quite easily with mirrors, plants and crystals. Take a look outside your front door. Can you see any secret arrows directed at you?

"Killing Breath" - too much of a good thing

If chi is off balance in either direction, the life force energy can turn into a destructive element called "sha," or "killing breath." This can happen in your home or in the larger city.

I looked at accident locations in Juneau over the last 10 years and found Back Loop Road, Mendenhall Road, Egan and Glacier Highway are accident hot spots likely due to long stretches of road where chi moves so swiftly it turns destructive.

Gentle meandering Old Glacier Highway along Twin Lakes for example might be a better travel choice.

Stagnation

Stagnation is created by sharp corners and angles and the United States designs things on square grid patterns which is problematic. Juneau recently put in the roundabout on Douglas Island to improve the flow and ease of traffic, which is more in line with Feng Shui's circular patterns.

Round objects are also good inside the home as opposed to sharp angled furniture. Angles can be softened by plants or other elements.

Avoid the "T"

If your house is positioned at the top of a "T" with cars driving toward your front door, consider an adjustment. This is practical because if they don't brake or turn adequately, they will end up on your property. Consider moving or protecting your house with a fence or row of trees.

Buckingham Palace, for example, is placed at a "T" intersection but has a statue and roundabout that deflected the channeled energy flow coming down the mall. That is until they "pedestrianised" it, and energy flowed directly into the palace. Some people believe the popularity of the British Monarchy went down after this, and Prince Charles and Princess Diana broke up as well as all the Queen's children's marriages.

•••

Feng Shui can be used as a tool to access the mysteries of the universe by studying the environment, seasonal changes, tides and vibrations of nature.

And it's a fun way to look at your environment.

• Contact Juneau resident Courtney Nelson at nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net">nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net if you would like a part three to the series covering Trigrams, elements, sexagenary year, the 12 earthly branches and more.

Disclaimer: Courtney Nelson is not a Feng Shui master, so take this column with a grain of salt and a shot of tequila.

Rachael Juzeler takes us inside the historic home that inspires her art

2010-05-08T11:36:00.001-07:00

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

Rachael Juzeler, multimedia artist and Quality Assurance Analyst for the Alaskan Brewing Co., knew she wanted to buy her home before she'd set foot inside.

"The realtor hadn't shown up yet so I walked underneath the house and I saw the post and beams were all original, old-growth timber and that's when I knew I had to have it."

According to articles from 2003 in the Douglas Island News, Willette Janes, who has since passed away, determined the house was built as early as 1910, making the historic home a landmark, 100 years old this year. Sitting on the upper corner of St. Ann's Avenue on the Treadwell side, it was one of only three houses that survived the Douglas Island fire of 1926, during which St. Ann's Hospital, schools, businesses, private homes, and Tlingit Alley on Sandy Beach all perished.

The location of the home has been a source of inspiration for Juzeler's art, which covers a wide range of media and often incorporates unusual materials. Rusty nails, for example, are featured in many of her art pieces.

"I've always been drawn to the color of rust - my whole life," said Juzeler. "I really like decaying organic patterns."

Her Sandy Beach location bordered by the Treadwell mining ruins has lots of decaying and rusting things from gold mining days.

"Pots on the beach, rusty gates, old tricycles - they all inspire me."

Preserving history

Juzeler bought the house in 2001. In the 91 years prior to her purchase, there were only three families associated with it. It was owned by the Brown family from Scotland as early as 1914; David Brown started the annual Robbie Burns Day. Brown was married to Agnes and they had three children, Etta, David Sinclair and David Alfred.

As early as 1920, Etta Brown married the head linotype technician for the Empire Printing Company, Arthur Bringdale.

To Juzeler's delight she found some Empire newspapers from 1923 under her kitchen floor when she tore up carpeting.

"There was obviously a kitchen fire that left a hole in the floor, and they used newspapers as insulation along with a tin and some plywood for a quick fix."

Brown worked for the Treadwell Gold Mining Company, the biggest in the world at that time. In 1917 three of the four Treadwell mines, tunneled to depths as low as 500 ft. below sea level, flooded and then caved, causing a splash that shot over 200 feet in the air. Brown went to work for the Alaska Juneau Gold Mining Company (AJ) after that and eventually moved.

In 1925 the Alaska Douglas Gold Mining Company sold the house to one of their managers, Englishman Frank Pearce and his wife Margaret, for $1. Pearce also worked for the Treadwell mine and then moved to the AJ mine. The couple had two daughters, Margaret and Mary Ellen. Margaret lived there until she died around 1990, and her husband Donald Murray lived there until about 2000.

The hills in Treadwell were nicknamed for the majority of nationalities that lived on them. Juzeler's house sits on "Belgian Hill." The Treadwell post office used to be directly across the street.

Juzeler has discovered many exciting clues that help paint a picture of the home's history.

On her woodworking room wall she found the signature of the man who built the home.

"I knew what it was right away - the calligraphy, the lead pencil, the placement," said Juzeler. She framed the signature in the builder's honor.

Wallpaper left over from a two-room addition and remodel done by the Pearce's in 1926 was left on the wall for nostalgic reasons, Juzeler said.

"it was similar to my grandmother's, in her home in eastern Washington."

Burning and building

Juzeler creates art all over her house but her primary tool is her fire-pit. "I burn big pallets in my front yard fire-pit, collect the burnt nails in a bucket, soak them in water until they're rusty, and extract them with a giant magnet."

"I'm always building things," she said.

She also uses a kiln, cooks wax on the stove, and works with felt on the floor. Last year she had a solo show at the Juneau-Douglas City Museum that features large-scale textile projects, felted vessels and resin-covered shadow-box style three dimensional works that incorporated metal objects such as bullet casings. This year she was featured at the Plant People with a new series of work that incorporated paper, wax, wood and wing nuts.

"I usually try and contain the work to one room, but before a show, I take up all the rooms."

This is fine with Tiffany Rutherford, who rents a room from Juzeler. "It's exciting because the house is full of energy, and Rachael is being creative all over the place. Every time you come home a new piece of art is done and you can sit and listen to her brainstorm about her new projects."

This is the first time Rutherford has lived in a 100-year-old home and she loves it. "It's quirky - the wood creaks. There are little hidey holes like under the stairs. It would be a great place for little kids to play hide and seek."

Sometimes Rutherford feels like she's not alone. "Every once in a while a presence is felt - the room will get really cold - sometimes when I'm home alone at night something is moving around and it isn't the sleeping cat and dog."

Rust-colored beer

When she's not at home creating rusty art, Juzeler is assuring the quality of rust colored beer based on a Gold-Rush era Douglas City Brewing Co. recipe. That beer, brewed up by Marcy and Geoff Larson in the 1980s, has turned into the flagship beer of the Alaskan Brewing Co., Alaskan Amber. Juzeler also comes up with her own flavors, such as the original rough draft, Ginger Shandy.

Juzeler's realtor said there was rumored to be a still in the basement that had to be dismantled before the Murray family could get a loan.

Juzeler plans on restoring the home as close to the original shape as she can. She's currently rebuilding the front porch so it looks like the original structure and color.

"That's why I painted it red with green trim, but I'm taking a little liberty with the tone of the color," she said. She is also in the process of placing it on the national historic register.

Her wood floors are original and the worn patterns on the floor also tell a tale of life in the house: Gold miners picking up mail from the post office across the street and heading back to Belgian hill to have a beer.

Radio personality highlights the power of narrative

2010-04-29T09:41:00.000-07:00

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

About 900 people packed Centennial Hall Tuesday night, eager to see Ira Glass in person. But he made them wait a bit: The man behind the popular weekly PRI radio show "This American Life," took center stage while all the lights were off, simulating the non-visual experience of radio.

In the dark, Glass described the challenge of covering Hurricane Katrina on the radio when there were so many compelling images on television.

"It turns out that hearing someone talk about something that they went through takes you inside an experience," said Glass, adding that this could be conveyed over a scratchy phone line. "You can feel what it would have been like to be there."

He played a phone interview of a woman describing the scene at the Superdome.

"There's an intimacy to just hearing somebody's voice," he said, joking that he might conduct the whole show in the dark. "It would be the most radical evening of theater ever presented from this stage, with the possible exception of some of your gubernatorial addresses."

When the spotlight finally turned on, Glass was standing behind a control panel, smiling behind his signature black-rimmed glasses.

"I feel like when you meet people in Alaska they are constantly asking, 'How do you like Alaska? You're going to stay longer, aren't you? What are you going to see in Alaska?'" he said. "I just want to get that out of the way right now so we all are square with each other - it's super, I love it here."

Glass was endearing in his humanness, sharing stories about his life and craft throughout the nearly two-hour performance. He played audio clips from some of his favorite shows, talked about the process of interviewing and editing, and shared his thoughts on the power of narrative and the importance of surprise.

"There's a moment that I really love on the radio where something is surprising and fun, where joy happens and it can happen in any kind of story at all."

Glass said surprise is lacking in broadcast journalism, a profession he has been perfecting for 30 years. "You can't show surprise, discovery or delight, that would be too human - and honestly I feel like it's a total failure of craft."

"There is a strict segregation of the serious and the funny and the two are not to touch, this is from the bottom to the top of news programming," he said. "I was always told by my betters at NPR that the job of journalism is not just to tell us what's new but to tell us what is - that this is going to be the part of the media that's going to say, let's look at the world and capture it accurately," said Glass, who didn't buy this logic.

"It is a world utterly without pleasure and surprise and humor and joy and a sense of discovery, which makes the world so much smaller than it is," Glass said.

Glass originally started "This American Life," because he thought it would help bring more balance and fun to public radio.

"When you're doing journalism, so often you are hearing about how terrible it is in the world, and to not balance it out with the sense of hope that you feel when you have that moment of discovery and that sense of, oh my god, look at that... this is my problem with broadcast journalism. It usually makes the world seem smaller and stupider and less interesting."

Glass also touched on censorship, and the lack of "adult supervision" his show has now. Glass also described how he and the show's other producers get new story ideas: usually through people contacting the show themselves, or through the internet, newspapers or friends, when all else fails.

Glass revealed he used to make balloon animals at birthday parties and had a balloon-off with K3 program director Jeff Brown. Brown's balloon moose defeated Glass' poodle by a longshot.

Glass closed the performance with an impassioned discussion about the power of narrative using the story of the Arabian Nights as an example.

"Narrative is a back door to a place that is very deep within us, a place where reason and logic don't necessarily hold sway."

He encouraged journalists to find that universal human connection.

"It is so rare for it to be a story where they give you enough information about the people in it that you could actually imagine what it would be like to be them. It's so rare, and when it happens you notice, and when you hear that kind of story, it makes you feel sane, when you finally understand 'that's what that's about."

Feng Shui for life

2010-04-27T09:37:00.000-07:00

Move your bed, change your fortune?

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

Do you think it's possible to arrange our physical stuff to bring wealth into our lives? I do.

After reading my last article, "The glass is already broken," which had strategies on letting go of unnecessary stuff, one reader was left wanting more. She needed specifics on letting go of physical clutter. When she look around a cluttered space, she becomes overwhelmed then paralyzed saying "I don't know where to begin."

I understand. I short-circuit as well when I enter our garage and see unfinished projects. My current strategy is to stand outside the garage door, take a deep breath, then repeat "dog food ... dog food ... dog food." When my mission is focused, I open the door and make a beeline.

I mentioned the connection between our physical stuff and our emotional state. There is an ancient practice that promises to join the two harmoniously. Feng Shui. This is the first of two parts on this ancient practice.

Feng whatever!

Feng Shui, pronounced "foong shway," is the ancient Chinese art of harnessing the heaven and earth to bring health, wealth and good fortune. Feng Shui harmonizes the seen world with unseen energies present known as ch'i (pronounced chee). For thousands of years, Feng Shui has been used to design cities, build homes and bury the dead. Many Chinese companies won't fill a shovel until they've consulted a Feng Shui master.

Before you dismiss Feng Shui as superstitious nonsense, consider this. Right now, who does the United States owe trillions of dollars? China. Coincidence? You tell me. Try using this ancient Chinese secret and see if money starts flowing your way.

Begin with first impressions

Have you ever walked into a space and immediately cringed? It was probably stagnant ch'i energy that spooked you. Energy caused by dirty, neglected or cramped spaces or energy from a previous crime like rest stop bathrooms. People exude energy too and if someone causes the heebie-jeebies, run away or delete them.

Other spaces fill us with an inexplicable sense of well-being. Entering Merv Griffen's Givenchy Hotel and Spa in Palm Springs, I immediately feel like everything is right with the world. Rose aromatherapy is pumped through the air ducts, things are polished, beautiful, well cared for and employees are concerned with guest happiness. Their beds are so divine, I asked housekeeping for their bed recipe, (thread counts ... fluff factors) and duplicated it at home.

Now for assessing reactions to spaces. Notepad in hand, walk into spaces where you spend the most time and focus on your gut reaction. Like a metal detector, beeping will speed up around stale ch'i. Office drawers, cluttered closets. Also note areas with no visible clutter that also make you uncomfortable - they could contain "predecessor energy." The Chinese believe moving into a previously occupied space it is much like stepping into someone else's shoes.

Breath of fresh air

In Chinese Feng means "wind" and shui means "water." Between heaven and earth are clouds that consist of wind and water; therefore, many Chinese see these two elements as the intermediaries between heaven and earth and the carriers of ch'i - life force energy.

Creating good flowing ch'i is the goal of Feng Shui whether it's within the meridians of the body, rooms in homes, cubicle spaces, or outdoors. According to Karen Kingston, who wrote "Clearing Your Clutter with Feng Shui," breathing fresh air into a space requires clearing in three areas: physical grime, predecessor energy, and clutter.

Clutter be gone

Many experts say take it slow. One area at a time is the only way to go and if you don't know where to begin, start in the bedroom. Lack of sleep impairs cognitive function and clutter and messes are usually psychological. A restful sleeping space can help get your head straight.

Tearing apart multiple spaces simultaneously will lead to short circuiting - finding oneself hungry, sitting alone in a big mess unable to decide if a Taco Bell bobble head dog is a keeper. This is why enlisting a trusted and rational friend to help with decisions on what to let go is essential.

Slowly sort through belongings and get rid of anything that isn't absolutely essential and isn't loved and used often. Clothes not worn in 6 months to a year get donated. A "might need in future" box should be filled and sealed for one year and if unopened, donate the box.

Call charity spots to find out their needs, then sort stuff into labeled bins, and gift it away (remember hoarding can be considered selfish). Some stuff might need to go to the landfill. I got desperate last year and for six months I didn't go anywhere without donating something. I made it a habit because for me it's a constant daily battle.

There are only a few places to donate in Juneau, so my clutter soon wore out its welcome. I resorted to disguises which didn't work either; they'd spot me and my junk coming and yell "we don't need any more toddler toys today, Lady!"

Next column we'll look at the larger picture, and see how Feng Shui determines what effect a room direction has on marriage, children, mentors, career, education, family, wealth and fame. We'll also explore more subtle energy problems like "secret arrows" and learn about energy adjustment tricks.

To my interested readers, pick a space and set a goal of two weeks to remove clutter, clean grime and air the area. In two weeks I'll outline steps on how to arrange the area to maximize your health and wealth.

• Courtney Nelson can be reached at nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net">nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net.

Rapper Luckyiam makes first trip to Juneau

2010-04-15T21:10:00.000-07:00

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

Rap and hip-hop artist Luckyiam, gearing up to visit Juneau for the first time this weekend, wants to give you a present. The musician, who performs at the Rendezvous Friday night starting at 9 p.m., has made a mix tape called "The Present," available for free download at his Web site: www.legendarymusic.net/thepresent/.

The art that accompanies this mix tape features Luckyiam making what looks like a gang sign, but it actually symbolizes Living Legends, a group of rappers that performed together for years. Collectively they have officially sold over 200,000 copies of their albums, an estimate that Luckyiam says is very conservative.

"It doesn't count all the bootlegged copies which would put the number closer to 500,000," he said.

Luckyiam said his many musical influences include Stevie Wonder, Pink Floyd, Queen, Freestyle Fellowship, L.L. Kool J and The Outkasts.

His music isn't traditional rap, he said, but is infused with other styles.

"I'm a public speaker who just happens to have music playing in the background," he said.

Luckyiam has performed with The Grouch and other Living Legends in Anchorage and Girdwood but for this trip he'll be performing solo. He said the Juneau plan was hatched through the networking tool Twitter.

"Good things happen through Twitter," Luckyiam said, explaining that his friend Josh Boots twittered while he was performing at the Hanger last month.

"Josh Boots was hollering at me through Twitter to do a track, and we got to talking and then he said he was doing a show up there," he said.

Luckyiam hadn't done a show in Alaska in a while and said he'd had a great time in Anchorage and Girdwood, so it got him thinking.

"Then Will (Muldoon) saw the conversation, and another one of my boys heard me and he was like... 'Hey, I can get you up here,'" he said, speaking from his home in South Central Los Angeles.

He said he is looking forward to visiting Juneau.

"I've been a whole lotta places in my time and it's exciting to go somewhere that you've never been, ever... I'm running out of those places."

Countries he's visited include England, Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Norway and the French Riviera.

Luckyiam will be bringing his 10-month-old pitbull on the trip and said he's hoping to see some eagles while he's in town.

Tickets to his show are available at Aurora Projekt and the Rendezvous for $10, or $15 at the door. Juneau's own Sea Life w/ DJ Judo will open the show.

• Contact Courtney nelson at nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net">nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net

The glass is already broken

2010-04-13T16:47:00.000-07:00

Columnist discusses thoughts on letting go

By Courtney Nelson | Straight Talk

Mark Epstein tells a story about a Zen master who holds up a glass knowing it's already broken. He enjoys the glass, drinks from it, sees it reflect the sun in different patterns and taps it to make a nice sound. But when it breaks and he understands the glass is already broken, every moment with it is precious.

No one can deny that Americans have a hard time letting go, and it costs us. We fill up our houses, then storage units, and insure our stuff in case it's broken or stolen. This physical stuff throws us off balance, weighs on our psyches and manifests in insomnia, obesity, stress, sickness, disconnection or all of the above.

Prescription drugs will cure us of the stress of ownership we're told, and commercials are filled with images of life with pills. Wearing white clothes, we'll float on butterflies out of our bedroom windows as we fall asleep with Melatonin. Armed with Viagara we'll take sunny boat rides to private island cabanas with dream partners, found on match.com.

Beside taking a pill to chill, we're told the cure for our consumer hangovers is more consuming and dumping, which isn't working according to Annie Leonard, who produced "Story of Stuff." She writes about the effects of consumerism saying her "goal is to make the invisible visible and have people think more comprehensively about life."

Taking a more holistic approach to understanding our need to buy things and hold on to them reveals that we already have what we need - we just can't see it under all the garbage. Since all action originates in the invisible world of thought, the logical place to begin a cleansing of the material world is in the mind.

MIND OVER MATTER

Right now, 4 million pounds of space debris is orbiting the Earth, threatening satellites, communication and the lives of our astronauts. Our minds also have ominous debris floating around. Eighties song refrains, Smurf snippits, car accidents, vacations, fear of bungee jumping, traumatic memories, faces and places swirl in my head threatening to crash and re-surface during a board meeting.

While memories are important, certain ones can keep us attached to unhealthy emotions and energy from our past, so we need to let them go.

Some say the first step is to take an inventory. Through meditation we can observe our thoughts then acknowledge and release them, freeing ourselves to move forward to our full potential.

Sitting quietly as an impartial observer during meditation allows one to watch thoughts arise and pass away without interference. A first meditation session might go something like this. "OK, I am observing my mind, sitting quietly ... wow, I need to vacuum under the couch ... OK, I'm observing my thoughts ... my feet are cold ... focus, focus ... did I get Aunt Lola a birthday present? ... where is the vacuum? ... do I smell mold? Is that rain I hear?"

OK, there's no denying meditating is hard, but with practice I'm told it gets easier.

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a 37-year-old Harvard-educated brain surgeon, wrote a book called "A Stroke of Insight" - after she had a stroke that silenced her left hemisphere, the source of all this brain chatter. She discovered that the right hemisphere is complete bliss without language and other analytical skills. She describes it as Nirvana. Accessing it can improve quality of life.

The closest I ever came to Nirvana came from a surprising source - a gong. One sunny afternoon in Venice Beach, Calif., a healer named Laura played a gi-normous Zlidjian gong for my friends and I for about an hour.

Lying comfortably on a rug, my monkey mind jumped all over the place while she struck the gong. After a while my mind quieted, and I floated into a prescription drug commercial. Clouds were moving in fast forward, swirling in front of spectacular blue skies, I flew over large deserts and oceans, catching glimpses of my yoga instructors in warrior poses on breathtaking cliffs.

I was hooked. After buying my own gong, I begged people to gong for me while I took a quick trip to Nirvana. No one could gong more than 10 minutes before they grew bored and started talking. Now my Nirvana vessel is sitting dusty on my piano. Guess I'll settle by watching a music video.

As Folk Festival wraps up today, we've had a week of right-brain-filled moments. Guy Davis took us away to a happy place filled with chocolate kisses from the chocolate man and then brought us to our feet in standing ovation. We were united in our love of great music; these are priceless moments that can't be bought.

So stop worrying about your physical stuff. The glass is already broken, the shirt is already stained, the house has already burned down, your car is already wrecked. Just enjoy what you have, and if you like to strike a gong, please contact me.

• Courtney Nelson is a Juneau resident. She can be reached at nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net">nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net.

Friday night fights

2010-04-13T16:44:00.000-07:00

Solomon victorious; MMA fights get crowd going strong

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

The fights were evenly divided with three boxing matches and three MMA fights Friday night at Roughhouse Boxing at Marlintini's Lounge.

Anchorage's Jesse "The Roofer" Solomon, 28, hailing from Hawaii and weighing in at 190 pounds, brought his record to 47-5-1 with his boxing win over Ketchikan's Gabe "The Truth" Duckworth, 27, weighing 276 pounds, in the main event.

Solomon's strategy going in was to, "Stay tight, bend my knees and watch out for bombs," he said. Solomon fought Duckworth two times before winning by split decision.

Solomon says boxing keeps him healthy and out of trouble, as long as he doesn't get hit in the head.

"The art of boxing is to hit and not get hit, so you're doing something wrong if you're getting hit all the time, especially after nine years," he said before the fight.

Both boxers were evenly matched through the first round despite the 86-pound weight difference. They got tangled up a few times with Duckworth's reach catching Solomon under his arm after a swinging blow.

In round two there were repeated breaks when boxers got tangled and fatigued. Solomon boxed out when Duckworth had him against the ropes, but Solomon hung on for the win.

In an MMA fight featuring two first-time fighters, Petersburg's Craig Weimer, 21, an Army soldier, defeated Domino's employee and Juneau resident Brian James Samaniego-Howard, 19, by forcing Samaniego-Howard to tap out.

"This is my first official fight ever and it feels good because I won," said Weimer.

He also said he had a shaky start when he started throwing wide. But Weimer said he went back to what he knew - wrestling.

Early in the first round, Weimer, who wrestled from third to ninth grade in Petersburg, and Samaniego-Howard went to the mat, but they went out of bounds and referee Joe Isturis broke them up.

Weimer got Samaniego-Howard in a behind-the-back choke hold and the fight was over before the end of round one.

Sitka's Eric Moy, 18, brought his record to 2-1-0 with his win over Steven Roberts, 19, hailing from Klawock, who was fighting his first boxing match.

Moy, a wrestler and football player in high school, came out with boxing gloves and in an obvious mix-up as Roberts showed up with MMA gloves.

Roberts agreed to box for the first time even though he admits he would have trained more had he known he was going to box.

"They didn't tell me that we were boxing," said Roberts, who had sparred with his brother before.

Moy agreed the outcome would have been different if they'd fought MMA.

"He hit me pretty hard, I wasn't really expecting that," said Moy after the bout. "He did better than I did my first time boxing - he hit me right in the stomach and I figured he would have gone straight for my face as a first-time-boxer."

In the first round Roberts was making wide, wild swings to tag Moy, who answered by finding the opening to Roberts' head.

Early in round two Moy exploded, tagging Roberts multiple times and getting him against the ropes. At that point, the two appeared gassed.

During the third round boxers were even, then Moy recovered from a low blow and pummeled Roberts with some hard shots to grab the win by split decision.

Hoonah's Eric Larson, 21, brought his record to 3-5-0 with his win over fellow heavyweight, Klawock's James "The Beast" Roberts Jr., 24, weighing 323 pounds, in a match that left Roberts hearing-impaired.

Roberts was aggressive from the bell, but left his head open to some hard shots from Larson who seemed unphased by the heavy-leather Roberts delivered.

Larson tagged Roberts and bloodied his nose repeatedly, but "The Beast" persevered. Larson found renewed energy and attacked Roberts with a barrage of hard blows, issuing him a standing eight count before Roberts could answer with a huge left.

Larson out-tagged Roberts to grab the win.

"It's all play time for me," said Larson after the win. "He hits hard - he dazed me a couple times."

"I can't remember much and I can't hear out of one ear," said Roberts after the bout. "He must have hit me pretty hard because I can't remember much right now, but it was a pretty good fight," said Roberts, who will match up against Larson in the showdown next month.

Charlie Gallant, 20, weighing in at 210 pounds, defeated Costco worker, 202-pound Lee Finau, 21, hailing from California, bringing Gallant's record to 30-3-0.

In round one, Finau got the first punch in and Gallant answered with a pummeling that left Finau on the ground after both boxers got off balanced and slipped. Finau recovered, getting Gallant against the ropes and using him as punching bag until the bell.

Both boxers were gassed early in round two after a flurry of fists from each.

During round three Gallant was more aggressive, but both were injured when they fell to the floor, both boxers sucking air to the end.

"I tested him out the first round, took a wide stance and hit him as hard as I could. Then he hit me and we both got tired," said Gallant, who said his arms and legs were really tired by the end of the second round.

Alaskan Brewing Company employee Henry Dehling, 24, brought his record to 6-4-1 with his MMA win over a first-time fighter, Chicago's Eric Nygren, 32, by tap out 50 seconds into round three.

Nygren kicked repeatedly, and Dehling got him to the mat where Nygren locked Dehling's head with his legs, but Dehling spun out. Fighters then traded choke holds to the bell.

In round two, after delivering a spinning, jumping high-kick followed by hard tags to the head, Dehling took down Nygren where they traded power positions to the bell.

Dehlig took Nygren to the mat early in round three, got him in a choke hold and started to twist his back until he tapped out. Dehlig injured his left hand in the bout.

The Southeast Showdown will be held May 7th.

Fight Card

Craig Weimer defeats Brian

Howard

Eric Moy defeats Steven

Roberts

Eric Larson defeats James

"The Beast" Roberts Jr.

Charlie Gallant defeats Lee

Finau

Henry Dehling defeats Eric

Nygren

Jesse "The Roofer" Solomon

defeats Gabe "The Truth"

Duckworth

Money matters

2010-04-06T16:47:00.000-07:00

Searching for a heart of gold

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

The Alaska gold rush got people bustling with energy and dreaming of life with gold. People were willing to gamble their lives for a taste of the good life.

I didn't come to Juneau in search of gold, but I've been doing a money dance for years. I've earned it, raised it, borrowed it, repaid it, saved it, blown it, invested it, had it stolen, won it, lost it, found it, been swindled and conned, and I'm still confused about money. And if we save a pot of gold, do we suffer worrying about it? Here are some ideas I've heard about money.

"The more you give away the more you get back"

Doesn't everybody have to generously give for this to work? It seems some people are generous while others squirrel it away. Alaska USA bank tellers in Juneau said they've noticed there are savers and spenders, and rarely people in between. Both bankers said they were spenders with one exclaiming, "The more I make, the more I spend," because she can't take it with her.

"Carpe Diem"

The poet Horace once said "Seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the unknowable future, instead one should scale back one's hopes to a brief future, and drink one's wine."

This was true for comedian Sam Kinison, who walked into a restaurant in Hollywood where I worked and enjoyed handing out hundred-dollar bills. A year later he got hit by a truck.

Seizing the day didn't work for my seamstress in L.A. He/she was a midget-transvestite ex-showgirl with romantic ties to a famous mobster. He once enjoyed four-star hotels, private jets and sequins and jewels. Now in his 80s, his mobster is behind bars, and he's struggling to pay rent and support his dog. His thick Spanish accent would rasp at me over the phone: "My dog needs surgery. Can I make you a dress?"

"Every want is not a need"

I have a rich aunt and uncle who've managed their money well and traveled the world. My aunt even broke her leg on the Great Wall of China. When asked how they manage money they said, "Every want is not a need."

This same aunt and uncle would then fly to the Galapagos Islands to go snorkeling. I'm confused. Was that a want or a need? I needed those Shoefly shoes, I wanted to eat ...

"Put your nose to the grindstone"

My grandmother, widowed with four children, found herself forced back to work. After buckling down and making a fortune in real estate, she retired in her million-dollar home, drank cheap wine and clipped coupons. She was incredibly generous with her family but would take restaurant condiments. She retired and lived comfortably below her means. I wish she'd spent her retirement traveling with a companion, drinking vintage wine.

"Go big or bust"

I used to work graveyards at Canter's, a bakery and deli in Los Angeles open 24 hours. Sunset strip clubbers packed the place when the bars closed. Before their group Guns and Roses skyrocketed to fame, a broke Slash and Axl Rose used to sit at the counter milking a cup of coffee.

Marc Canter, the deli owner's son, was friends with Slash since fifth grade. Marc loaned them money to record their first demo which had the hit song "Welcome to the Jungle." His friends achieved stardom, and Marc eventually wrote a book called "Reckless Road," about their rise. Marc said they paid him back and then some.

"I loaned money to them not just because they were my friends, but because I believed in them," said Marc, who watched their sold out concerts from the front row. "Would they have made it without me? Probably. They had the talent. I just made it a little easier, helped them get started."

"Money can't buy happiness"

I once had Buddhist monks, who believe money is essential but causes suffering, tell me about my past life, present life and future life for $200.

In my past life they said I was a male, mountain-dwelling, turban-wearing hermit who didn't bathe much. They pointed out I was a highly evolved human being though - unlike this life.

In my next life I'm going to be a successful business man with lots of money, but that might not buy me love as Paul McCartney found out.

"Do what you love, the money will follow"

Author Marsha Sinetar wrote that finding your right livelihood is the ticket to financial freedom. That each of us will eventually express our burning desires and make a fortune, settling for jobs that are uninteresting, tedious and unrewarding will make us miserable. It worked for Guns and Roses, who preferred to die doing what they loved instead of settling.

Warren Buffet - The king of money

The third richest man in the world believes in investing and has $54 billion. He'd have more but he keeps giving it to charities. While in high school he made $174,000 by placing a pinball machine in a barber shop, taking the earnings and buying another until he had machines all over town. He started creatively investing people's money and struck gold. He doesn't measure success by money.

"When you get to my age, you'll measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you," he said. "That's the ultimate test of how you've lived your life."

He stated in 2006 that he will leave all his money to charities.

•••

So where is the happy medium between saving the economy and saving us? Marc Canter thinks you should have enough money to cover unexpected stresses that arise, but not have too much.

"That's when divorces, overdoses, and suicides happen, when there is too much money," he said.

I like the attitude of writer, poet and critic Dorothy Parker who left all her money to the Martin Luther King Jr. Foundation. "Take care of the luxuries and the necessities will take care of themselves."

• Send Courtney Nelson your thoughts about money for the next column. She can be reached at nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net">nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net.

Marvel Us Music: New Alaska rap label and release spur tour

2010-03-26T12:06:00.000-07:00

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

Hip-hop and rap performers Daniel Buitrago, known as Soiled Seed, and Josh Boots will perform Friday night at The Hangar on the Wharf. Opening for them at 8 p.m. is Sea Life with DJ Judo.

The show is part of a statewide tour inspired by Boots' and Buitrago's new enterprise, Marvel Us Music, a label that replaces their previous project, Arctic Flow Records. The show also celebrates the scheduled June release of Soiled Seed's first collection "Tree Top High." Boots wants the fans to be excited about their show, promising to give 110 percent.

"We definitely earn our money - it's not going to be a few minutes show, it's going to be a couple hours show," said Boots in a phone interview. The duo will stop in Sitka, Juneau, Girdwood, Homer, Kodiak, Kotzebue, Bethel, Fairbanks, Valdez and Anchorage.

"We're really excited about doing the Alaska tour," he said. "We've been to Sitka and Juneau before, but now I actually have my own CD to sell. I'm really excited to go to villages like Kotzubue and Bethel and the Island of Kodiak." The group will then tour down south from Wisconsin to the West Coast.

Buitrago wrote his first song when he was 13, but didn't start taking song-writing seriously until he was 20. He said he was influenced by Latin music such as salsa and merengue because of his Columbian heritage, and by gospel music because of his religious mother. He eventually found rap in the '90s, liking Woo Tang, early Outkast and Most Def. Now he also likes Lupe Fiasco, Nas, Notorious B.I.G., Dizzie, and Tupok for their lyrical style. After simmering for years, these influences emerged when he and Boots formed a group in 2000.

"Josh Boots and myself started a local group called 'Star Spangled Grammar' and we made a demo that ended up being an LP," he said. "The response from that was so good we just decided to keep it going," Buitrago said.

They started selling their CD's on the streets of Anchorage.

"We would be everywhere - UAA, the mall, hockey games, anywhere there were people, we would go sell them," he said. "People would start burning them and duplicating them for their friends and pretty soon it ended up in the hands of Jeremy, who called us up and said, 'Let's try and do something here.'"

It seemed natural to join forces.

"Jeremy, 'AKream,' was doing the same thing with his single and we decided to form a label and just basically put all our equipment together and make a name for ourselves, for all of us," he said. "That's how Arctic Flow Records was started."

The label had five releases and the rappers performed hundreds of shows but it ran its course. Now Boots, Buitrago and new partner Jason Zastrow are starting something new.

"We decided to split ways (with AKream) and he started doing his own thing with his company, and Josh Boots and myself started Marvel Us Music in 2010," said Buitrago. Akream will be releasing music through his new label, Ice Box Entertainment.

Buitrago likes the symbolism of Soiled Seed representing their fresh start.

"It means a new beginning, like a new seed that's planted that's going to begin to grow. I thought about where my music was headed and I thought since it was just the beginning I'd just go with that."

Buitrago also pointed out that a seed is grounded and rooted. "My head isn't in the clouds," he said.

When he isn't creating music, Buitrago teaches English to Spanish-speaking elementary students.

Josh Boots' third album, "Built to Last" will be released in October, and will be followed up with "Soul Matters" in May of 2011.

Boots said his new projects are more soulful because of a life changing experience.

"One of my sons just got diagnosed with cancer five months ago and that whole process kind of influenced the new music, which is more soulful and more reflective and mature than anything I've ever done," he said. His son has B cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Buitrago's favorite song on "Tree Top High" is "Blue Music," also influenced by challenging experiences.

"I had three friends of mine and a cousin die all last year, Buitrago said. "It's a sad song explaining my feelings about how I didn't leave on the right situation and you never know if the person might be gone the next day." Buitrago had a falling out with all three friends a month before they died.

"It is also thanking all the people that have helped me out in my life, my family, Josh and Jeremy - overall thanks and forgiveness you know."

Not all the songs are sad, Buitrago said

"The opening track called 'Whose Listening,' says, I'm here, this is what I got, I want you to listen to me because I'm doing this for a reason, I want people to hear my music and I want to influence people with the things I'm saying."

• courtney nelson can be reached at nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net">nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net.

'Friends' star Aniston's bathtub crafted in Haines

2010-03-18T12:21:00.000-07:00

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

SeaOtter Woodworks in Haines was recently tapped by Hollywood.

Actress Jennifer Aniston's designer, working on the remodel of the star's Beverly Hills home, wanted to purchase a Japanese soaking bathtub for Aniston, famous for her role as Rachel on the show "Friends" and, more recently, her divorce from ex-husband Brad Pitt. The specialty tub, called an "ofuro," would smash the traditional his-and-her bathroom and create a spa room for her.

Only a few places currently make the tubs, so SeaOtter Woodworks owner Bill Finlay thinks the design team probably found his company in Alaska by doing a simple Internet search.

"We're one of only two builders that make these specialty Japanese style wooden bathtubs," said Finlay, who has shipped the tubs worldwide.

Ofuro tubs are handcrafted using a combination of ancient and modern woodworking techniques and are created from a rare and special hinoki wood that emits a healing lemon citrus scent.

"In Japan there is a lot of mysticism around the hinoki wood, that is certainly something that is talked about a lot because it's a beneficial wood to soak in," Finlay said.

The ofuro experience promises to turn bathing into an art, like Japanese tea.

"In Japan, hinoki is beloved for its healing qualities," he said. "They believe that when the bath steam is inhaled, the hinoki oil acts as a decongestant of the respiratory system, helps to cure asthma and is a tonic for the nervous and circulation systems."

The other use for hinoki wood is for building Buddhist and Shinto temples.

"The most remarkable thing people notice right away is the aroma," he said. "It has a citrus-type aroma and it holds up well in a wet environment which makes it a good wood for making a bathtub," said Finlay. "A lot of the wood we use for the tubs is from the Tongass National Forest - western red cedar and Alaska yellow cedar. We buy high-quality wood from a few small mills in Ketchikan, Craig, and Kake."

Aniston's tub was special.

"The size of it was custom, it wasn't just pulled off the shelf," said Finlay said.

The tub is featured in the March issue of Architectural Digest. Finlay has yet to get his hands on a copy of the magazine. He went to the library to look at it, but the April magazine was already on the shelf when he searched around Whitehorse.

Finlay hasn't heard from Aniston but said he followed up to make sure it had arrived.

"I got in touch with her assistant who said it had arrived and everybody thought it was beautiful and they were looking forward to installing it."

Finlay doesn't know if this is his first celebrity client because he sells to designers and architects who sometimes don't reveal the client.

"I don't know if the Queen of England has one, I'm just not sure," Finlay said.

Finlay, whose customers are mostly from outside Alaska, started making the tubs when the former owner of a salmon-smoking business was entertaining Japanese clients in his waterfront home in Juneau.

"Sometime in the mid '90s he asked me to build one for him and it was kind of an experiment. Then I noticed that people were starting to look for them, so over the last 15 years I have developed the product to fit that niche. It's a small niche, but it's there."

To see SeaOtter's custom tubs, visit www.japanese tubs.com.

• Courtney Nelson can be reached at nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net">nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net.

Snap out of it

2010-03-15T18:06:00.000-07:00

Tips to stop cycle of violence against women

By Courtney Nelson | Straight Talk

Whether you live in a big city or small town, assault crimes happen. But Alaska has the distinction of being 2.6 times the national average.

Snap! This is ridiculous. We should be outraged and actively making changes to protect Alaska women and children. Gov. Sean Parnell has declared his intention to address this, and I want to throw in my two cents. Here are some personal safety tips I learned growing up in the concrete jungle of Los Angeles.

Attitude

There are several things researchers have discovered about assault crimes, one being that perpetrators are more likely to prey on victims that don't look they will fight back. So, women could deter a predator if they convey a message of confidence, and awareness with their body language. Head up, glancing around, confident stride, no eye contact. If a woman values her life and thinks it's worth fighting for, she will exude that energy in her general demeanor.

'Her' story

One way to find value in oneself is to learn about the history of women - the roots and genealogy. Pick up a few autobiographies and discover that women throughout history have been abused and have overcome unfathomable horrors emerging stronger and wiser in many cases. Women are fighters and survivors. My best friend and I used to work with children who had been abused. We taught dance classes at their shelter. Their favorite song to dance to was "Survivor" by Destiny's Child. I would go home humming the powerful lyrics and I'm sure those kids needed to have those lyrics echoing in their heads.

The snap

Once women have embraced themselves as worthy and found strength in history, it's time to find the inner "snap," expressed outwardly as the "Z-formation."

Take a firm stance, like Wonder Woman before she starts spinning, then place one hand over your head and snap your fingers. Make a Z by snapping at the Z corners down the front of your body. You can make the move more dramatic by saying something like, "oh no you didn't," or "take a step back now" For advanced attitude, also move your head from side to side. This body language is a visual boundary saying, do not pass the snap or there will be trouble.

No more Ms. Nice Guy

Women walk a fine line. They need to be tough and protective yet are expected to be polite and nice. My mom admired Ms. Kitty on "Gunsmoke" for balancing both. Refer to Dustin Hoffman in "Tootsie" for another example of fierce grit under an attractive demeanor. Being nice when all your alarms are ringing can get women into trouble, like the lady who helped the serial killer move a couch into his van in "Silence of the Lambs."

Empowerment

Growing up in Los Angeles, I took a self-defense course to help give me an edge in the dark empty parking lots and alleys I faced daily. When I showed up to the first IMPACT self defense class, there were about 20 other women, including a famous actress with a stalker.

As we went around the circle, each woman told her unique story of why they wanted to learn how to defend themselves. Rapes, molestation, verbal abuse, stalkers - the stories were sad and scary. The abuse was from relatives, strangers and neighbors alike.

I picked the IMPACT class because we were allowed to use full force against padded mock attackers. By re-enacting realistic scenarios, I learned how to verbally de-escalate an attacker, assert myself, and set boundaries.

When the attacker couldn't be reasoned with, we would fight while the rest of the class cheered on. They yelled, "eyes, eyes, eyes" as I jabbed my fingers into the attackers eyes, then I would knee them in the groin, kick them to the ground and start pounding their face with the heel of my foot. I actually lifted one of my instructors off the ground with a groin shot. The environment was physically safe and emotionally supportive, which helped us gain self-confidence and a sense of personal power. I wish every woman could take this class. (Take note, Gov. Parnell.)

Heal old wounds

A strange thing happened during the IMPACT course. As women learned to fight, many broke down sobbing as they reached a point where it was so real, they were brought back to the moment of the abuse and trauma. They tapped into a pattern and then broke it by reacting differently and fighting for their lives. By changing reactions, studies show people can actually re-program their brain, break a cycle and begin healing.

Snap out of it

The biggest help could come from the community making a collective "snap" and not put up with violence anymore. They should empower the women in their lives and fiercely protect them. Women and children are being assaulted in Alaska more than other place in the United States. They are mothers, daughters, sisters, girlfriends and wives. Men wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for women. If someone assaults or abuses a woman, they are hurting themselves and the community as a whole. Perpetrators, keep your hands to yourselves.

I'm aware that assaults happen sometimes regardless of tough demeanors and that men also are victims of abuse. This column is intended for the empowerment of women.

Snap out of it!

'Mean Machine' goes down swinging in possible retirement bout split decision

2010-03-15T18:04:00.000-07:00

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

At 50 years old, heavyweight Al "The Mean Machine" Valentine fought and narrowly lost his retirement bout against a friend, Gabe Steele Duckworth, 27, at Marlintinis' Lounge Roughhouse Boxing on Friday.

"Al's retiring and he wanted to fight me, so how could I turn that down?" said Duckworth, who had the reach on Valentine and tagged him with a hard right uppercut, which was his strategy going in. "I'm going to try and keep him on the end of my jab and when he ducks, I'm going to uppercut him. I love him - but I'm going to uppercut him."

Valentine said of his pre-fight strategy, "He's weighing in tonight at 247 and he's 6-3, so I'm most likely going to attack because I'm kind of short compared to him."

The "Mean Machine" turned it on halfway through the second round and Duckworth's head popped out of the ropes. Duckworth had the edge in Round 3 and he won the fight by split decision. Valentine has since said that he wants to fight one more time.

Jack "Jackhammer" Duckworth, 50, a Ketchikan youth counselor, challenged and then defeated comedian and tire technician Dan "Animal" Fink, 31, bringing Fink's record to 11-8-1. "I'm a lot slower than Jack. I knew he was fast but being four years out of the ring really showed tonight," Fink said. "I just wanted to stop him from running and he's really technical."

Duckworth, fighting his last career fight, had the reach on Fink, scoring points by staying on the run, and then tagging him with hard shots and using fancy footwork to escape. Round 2 was more of the same, with Duckworth ducking Fink's shots.

Duckworth started swirling one glove then surprising Fink with the other in round two. Then Fink exploded in the third but it wasn't enough to overcome the reach.

"It was just a way for us to get in shape," said Duckworth, who calls Fink was a good friend.

Duckworth lost 23 pounds for the bout and also just survived tonsil cancer, and he hadn't fought in 5 years.

Fink lost 18 pounds for the bout.

Jack Duckworth's son, 30-year-old Tyson Duckworth, 31-5-1, defeated 24-year-old Alaskan Brewing Company Employee Henry Dehling, 5-4-1, in one of the best matchups of the night.

Dehling attacked early, getting Duckworth to the ground, but he wrestled and gained power over Dehling.

"It felt good. He was real tough, I was real nervous about it but getting the victory was nice because he's what you call nasty tough," Duckworth said.

The fighters put on a good show, but Duckworth had the edge in all three rounds.

"My take down defense needs some work," Dehling said. "Every time I went to throw some strikes, he was just ducking under."

"They both got into good advantages positions and they got stood up, but it was a good fight," said sparring partner and corner man Damien Horvath.

A State of Alaska employee hailing from Sitka, Selina Slack, 26, brought her record to 6-1-1 with her defeat over her cousin, 26-year-old Anita "The Bomber" Durgan, 10-3-2, of Ketchikan.

Slack fought a different cousin her last bout and found out Durgan was her cousin as well.

"I haven't seen her in 15 years and we're both very shocked," said Slack before her win, saying her family saw Durgan's photo and figured it out.

Slack said she fights because "it's about making memories and savoring them."

Slack stayed tough all three rounds, despite the heavy leather blows from "The Bomber."

Experience won over youth when Rudy "No Introduction Needed" Vonda, 45, brought his record to 53-14-3 with a defeat over Sitka's much younger Eric Moy, 18, in a match that had both fighters thinking they won two out of three rounds.

Moy bloodied Vonda's nose in Round 1 and seemed to take that round. Vonda's corner repeatedly yelled "hands up," and then Vonda woke Moy up with a right left combo and the two traded blows to the bell.

Vonda attacked Moy's body in the third round, and made an impact.

"I think I was robbed in the end, but he did a pretty good job in the third round. The body shots really hurt me a bit, but I think I took the first two rounds," said Moy after the bout.

Vonda was on the attack, winning with an edge of sheer determination and domination to the bell.

"I trained hard for a month and in the end, my hard work paid off," Vonda said.

Klawock's Steven Roberts, 19, defeated Romy Yadao, 37, in one of two MMA fights, bringing Robert's record to 3-1-0.

The fighters, evenly matched with a one-pound weight difference, went the distance. Roberts had another come-from-behind win, repeatedly getting Yadao on the ground, but was caught in an arm bar. He recovered and turned the tables, but Yadao was saved by the bell.

Roberts recovered from an unfortunate low blow, and answered by taking Yadao to the mat and breaking out of an arm bar, then delivering a series of kicks to his head. Roberts got Yadao on the ground again and it was over in Round 3.

Tawn Green, 29, weighing 149 pounds and hailing from New Orleans, picked up his first win with his defeat of Logan Henkins, 27, of Juneau. Henkins, now 3-8-0, fights to try and even out his record and "because I need a job."

Henkins was delivered a standing eight count and they stayed pretty even through Round 2. Henkins took a pummeling from Green in Round 3, and was delivered his second standing eight count, but he stayed tough to the end.

The next Roughhouse Boxing will be held April 9.

Fight Card

Tawn Green defeats Logan Henkins

Rudy Vonda defeats Eric Moy

Steven Roberts defeats Romy Yadao

Tyson Duckworth defeats Henry Dehling

Selina Slack defeats Anita "The Bomber" Durgan

Jack "Jackhammer Duckworth" defeats Dan "Animal" Fink

Gabe Steele Duckworth defeats Al "Mean Machine" Valentine

Historic Alaska in 'Sound and Motion'

2010-03-11T09:33:00.000-08:00

UAS to show treasures from the State Film Library

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

Rare footage of the 1935 Douglas Bridge opening ceremony in color, a 1969 Alaska Airlines commercial for Mt. Alyeska Resort and Senator Ted Kennedy speaking at the Democratic Party Convention in Sitka just three days after the death of Martin Luther King Jr. are a few of the treasures to be shown Friday night at the University of Alaska Southeast.

Beginning at 7 p.m. in the Egan Lecture Hall, people can view hand-picked historical Alaska films, many shown for the first time publicly. The collection was put together by The Alaska State Film Library Historical Collections and is part of the University of Alaska's spring arts and humanities series "Sound and Motion."

James Simard, head librarian of historical collections at the Alaska State Museum, said some of the films had media degrading or were in outdated and obsolete formats, so they began to digitize them.

"We've been putting a lot of effort into converting our materials to make them accessible and preserve them," Simard said, adding "film projectors are damaging to the film so we feel the most responsible thing to do with original films is to get them transferred."

Simard and Damon Stuebner, Alaska's digital archives media technician, got to work salvaging the historical media and it seemed like a natural time to showcase the collection.

"They are so entertaining and they really truly are slices of life from the period they were made," said Stuebner, who was the first to see the films in many cases.

The collection comes from many sources including an obsolete 16mm film library that was split up after the emergence of video tapes but saved because of historical interest. "We also have private donations and we continue to get family films and some that are commercially produced," said Simard. Stuebner says the home movies are some of their greatest treasures because "they are real snippits and slice of life in Alaska."

After the laborious process of repairing film reels and other media forms, Stuebner would run a clip for the first time and the hard work would pay off. On a few occasions the footage was so intriguing the office would gather to watch. After viewing over two hundred hours of archives, Stuebner narrowed it down to ninety minutes.

"We wanted to try and pull from different places around the state - we picked a fair number of short films ranging from home movies to news reels to commercially produced documentaries to a political speech which pretty much encompasses what we have in our collection," said Stuebner.

On loan from Alaska airlines are several hundred audio and video tapes pertaining to the travel industry in Alaska from the 1940s to the 80s.

"One of these is called 'Mt. Alyeska Resorts' and it's an absolutely wonderful, almost comical film about the slopes and the party life at Mt. Alyeska outside of Anchorage," Stuebner said. "What is a film festival in Juneau without a ski film?"

Some other highlights are "Timber and Totem Poles," a 1949 piece produced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture showing the Tongass National Forest as a great resource for timber and describing the meaning of totem poles. The Nixon, Polluck and Rasmuson Campaign Ads, an Inupiaq legend called "Three Stone Blades" filmed in Point Hope, and newsreels from Screen News Digest covering the history and economies of Alaska will also be shown, as will "The Farthest North School" from 1968, a weekly television show hosted by Elmer Rasmuson and Roger Laube that highlighted Alaskan subjects like history, art and literature.

UAS is a good venue to show the films, as UAS Marketing Director Katie Bausler had been informally asking the library for an educational collection for UAS students for years.

"One of our missions is to make the collections available to the public and it's pretty much up to us how we go about doing that and having a venue where we can show just a few of these films is definitely part of that mission," said Stuebner.

Stuebner thinks the Kennedy speech will be especially strong.

"The Alaska Ted Kennedy speech was during the Democratic Convention, but what makes this film really special is not Ted Kennedy but the scenario around the speech which was three days after the death of Martin Luther King Jr,. so much of Kennedy's speech highlights Dr. King's influence on the civil rights movement - that connection between someone that is culturally recognizable to a historical event that still has historical meaning and impact - that combination - and then to have it in Alaska makes the film really important."

'Cannabis North': A fictional piece with a political message

2010-03-11T09:30:00.000-08:00

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

Political activism and fiction come together in Douglas resident Dick Callahan's new book, "Cannabis North." Centering on the cannabis trade in Alaska, the book took Callahan three years to write and was begun after the author had an inspired moment in 2006.

While listening to then-Gov. Frank Murkowski attempts to increase penalties in arrests involving cannabis, and hearing testimony from lawmakers in Washington, Callahan realized he hadn't been paying enough attention. He started digging through the layers of information and, after learning about the changes in policy over the last 40 years, found himself pro-legalization.

Callahan will discuss and sign copies of "Cannabis North" tonight at Hearthside Books' in the Nugget Mall at 7 p.m. and then have a signing during the First Friday Art Walk from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at the downtown store.

The author came up for an Alaskan adventure in 1981 from New Hampshire with a friend, a backpack and $400. When asked if the main character Dan Turpin, a cannabis smuggler, represents his own views, he said, "I've got a great crowd of people that live in my head. I've spent a lot of time with them and the characters in the book are composites of these people, including myself."

Turpin and a second character, Finn Wentworth, also appeared in his first book, "Alaska Titan in a Cruise Ship Theme Park," which focused on the cruise ship industry and its effect on Southeast communities.

Callahan said he views his new book as the solution to raising awareness without making people apathetic.

Callahan himself went through shock, disbelief, anger and apathy after reading about the arrests, prison terms and financial numbers involved in the war on drugs.

"I graduated from high school in 1973 and since I graduated there have been almost 20 million cannabis arrests," he said. "That's a staggering number of people, and it has compromised so many people's lives."

He noted that young people in their 20s make up the majority of those arrests.

"What young people face today is a lot more serious than what many people in parts of the country faced 40 years ago - things like losing their student loans - and the number of opportunities that can be lost with a simple pot bust has grown so much and for what?"

He also noted that these arrests lead to an abundance of prisoners.

"There are more prisoners per capita today in the United States than any other country."

Callahan said Harvard economist Jeffrey Meyer estimated the war on drugs costs $12.9 billion a year.

"For all those arrests and with all that money, we have more people than ever that are using it, it's more potent than ever and more available than ever."

Callahan believes prescription drugs are a much bigger problem, pointing out that while the government was putting a huge emphasis on marijuana, the number of people using serious drugs continued to rise.

Callahan has degrees in biology and education but was an activities coordinator at a drug and alcohol rehab center and used this information for his book.

"It was a great job because people there wouldn't front for me and they would just tell me stories, things that they wouldn't say to their counselors," he said.

Callahan lays out his views through character Turpin, who risks smuggling because it's his civic duty.

"I don't like them putting my friends and neighbors in prison for what we all smoked back in my day, and I don't like paying for the damn prison either," Turpin says in the book. "They can't build schools, they can't build hospitals, they can't feed the poor, but they can build prisons, pah!"

He noted that there are also many positive developments in the drug war.

"I think the most important thing a person can do in a democracy is pay attention and not be distracted by hysteria on either side but become educated on issues," he said. "If you feel things need to be changed, then people have to stand up and be counted. Change has to be from the bottom up."

• Courtney Nelson can be reached at nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net">nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net.

Pounding the competition

2010-03-01T16:34:00.001-08:00

Lauth takes Guthrie in main event; Klawock's Roberts brothers win their bouts against Hoonah fighters

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

Friday was a night full of knockdowns during Roughhouse Boxing at Marlintini's Lounge which was postponed a week because fog prevented promoter Bob Haag from landing in Juneau.

In the main event, Brian Lauth outlasted Guthrie to grab the win, and brothers James "the Beast" Roberts, Jr., and Steven Roberts both won their respective bouts against boxers from Hoonah.

Brian Lauth, 19, defeated 2008 Southeast Showdown middleweight champion Shaun Guthrie, 27, again in the main event earning Lauth his third win in four bouts against the former champ.

Lauth said his strategy going in was to stay loose and calm, and save his energy for the fight. He got tips by reading Muhammed Ali's books and studying his fights.

Guthrie said he was looking to even the record by getting on the inside so he could "hit him in the body, tire him out and cut him off every chance I get."

Guthrie gassed out in the second round then retired by spinning away and resting his arms on the ropes.

"I run five miles a day for endurance and that was all I got for five miles a day?" he said after the fight. "I couldn't even lift my arms."

"I did what I did and I stayed calm," Lauth said. "Round two I kept seeing the openings and going for them."

Lauth will fight again March 12.

In one of two MMA contests, Charlie Gallant, 20, with a record of 28-3-0, defeated the previously undefeated 241-pound Patryck "The Animal" Willis, 20, who had two wins under his belt.

Gallant just returned from Afghanistan where he was stationed in the Army. He also spent time in a Florida training camp where he racked up some Muay Thai fighting experience.

"I trained with much heavier guys (but) I haven't trained in a while," he said. "So, that was a tough fight and he hit me pretty hard."

The two were evenly matched, trading blows in the first two rounds, when Gallant couldn't get Willis to the mat. Then Gallant landed some head shots and a knee to Willis' face to get him on the ground. Both boxers were gassed by the third round, but Gallant out-grappled Willis and hung on for the win. Afterward, he said he was motivated by the crowd.

Klawock's 177-pound Steven Roberts, 19, brought his record to 2-1-0 with his MMA win over Hoonah's sawmill operator Nathan Nichols, 28, a first-time fighter who said he wanted to test himself.

He had no official boxing experience or physical training, but said he'd been a street fighter in Hoonah because "anywhere there's drinking there's streetfighting."

"I don't have time to train, I'm working," said Nichols, who was filled with adrenaline from the bell.

He attacked Roberts, a skilled grappler, who was calm and focused.

The much larger Nichols lifted him up and slammed him to the mat appearing to be winning the match. But by round two he was completely gassed. Most of round three, Roberts, who'd been the underdog, had him in an arm bar submission hold and that's how the bout ended.

"I locked my legs around his arm and pulled back - it hurts," said Roberts.

His brother, 322-pound James "The Beast" Roberts, Jr., 24, of Klawock, brought his record to 7-4-0 after he defeated Hoonah's 210-pound Eric Larson, 21, now 2-5-0.

Roberts remained solid as Larson landed some heavy leather to Robert's mouth. The fight remained pretty even until Larson was sucking air and Roberts poured it on to grab the win. "I'm gonna work his sides until he's tired," Roberts said prefight.

Matt Richardson, 27, a Super Bear employee looking for extra cash, defeated first-time fighter and co-worker Jacob Scanlon, 20, in a fight that started off evenly. Then, Scanlon was on the run from the aggressive Richardson. By round three he was repeatedly turning his back until referee Joe Isturis issued a standing eight count and Scanlon was saved by the bell.

Logan Henkins, 27, brought his record to 3-7-0 when he earned a TKO over Klawock's Mitchell Edenshaw, 19, early in round one.

Henkins, unemployed, fights for money for propane to heat his camper until the next fights.

"I knew I had more experience so I just had to go with it," said Henkins of his strategy to combat Edenshaw's reach early in the first round.

In a bout pairing two first-time fighters, Home Depot employee Doug Nichols, 23, defeated Wrangell fisherman William "Zeitgeist" Musser V, 27, by standing his ground in the center of the ring.

In round one, the boxers tested each other while bobbing and weaving, but Nichols had more moves. Early in round three Nichols clocked Musser with a huge right uppercut that dropped Musser to the mat. He finished the round but Nichols out-tagged him with some heavy leather to the head.

In another bout pairing first-time fighters, Sitka's Eric Moy, 18, defeated Peter Hisler, 29, from California in an adrenaline-filled fight.

Hisler was knocked down by Moy when he walked into his glove in round one and was issued a standing eight count. Moy dominated the second round, tagging Hisler multiple times when he was against the ropes. Hisler had nothing left for the third round and was sucking air, but stayed tough to the end.

The next fights will be March 12 and will feature Al "The Mean Machine" Valentines' last fight, and Ketchikan's Duckworth father and sons will be on the card.

Fight Card:

Logan Henkins defeats Mitchell Edenshaw

Doug Nichols defeats William Musser

Eric Moy defeats Peter Hisler

Matt Richardson defeats Jacob Scanlon

Steven Roberts defeats Nathan Nichols MMA

James "The Beast" Robert Jr. defeats Eric Larson

Charlie Gallant defeats Patryck Willis MMA

Brian Lauth defeats Shaun Guthrie

Techno madness?

2010-03-01T16:32:00.001-08:00

Tales of a techno gone mad

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

University of Alaska Southeast Media Communications professor Jason Ohler once taught our class how to blog but warned that when we plug into a new technology we unplug from something else.

Like a Jedi student, I took the technology with some awe and awareness. Like so many others, I am so plugged in now that I might blow a circuit. But is our quality of life better? Are we less stressed? Or are we instead saturated and over-stimulated? Here are some observations of life with new gadgets that are supposed to make our lives easier.

DVR

The good: We added Digital Video Recording capability to our cable, and so far I'm thrilled. We save time by automatically recording entire series or movies and then watching them later, without commercials.

My first Olympics with DVR has been different. Growing up in the dark ages, our family gathered around our television set to see figure skating drama unfold, in real time. Commercials were a time for processing and discussions.

Now we already know the medal winners from the Internet, so I click on my recorded Olympics series, fast forward to the medal-winning performances and call it a night. No more anticipation, just the best, forget the rest.

The bad: I think there is something cool about millions of people watching the same thing at the same time. The ups and downs are part of the experience and everyone gets their moment in the spotlight.

Another problem is limited disc space. When we start to max out, my husband and I start secretly deleting each others shows. Does my husband really have time to watch five episodes of Battle of the Bods or Jim Rome's smack talk? Delete. Ah, 5-percent more disc space.

iPhone

The good: My favorite iPhone app is - nerd alert - the stop-watch and timer. I consider my time-management extreme having gone from someone easily distracted by shiny objects to timing everything so I don't space out for a precious second. It takes me 4 minutes to fry an egg, 5 minutes to drive from Vanderbilt to JDHS, 8 minutes to fill a perfect bath, 9 minutes to blow dry my hair and 6 minutes to get from my front door to work. My friends are worried about me, but I know they are using the information for their own time management.

My second favorite application is the calendar. I input commitments, then alert myself 1 to 2 days before the event and then again one hour before. I've also started programming my husband's phone. On Friday, his phone will ring at 7:30 a.m., reading "take out the garbage," then again at 7:45 a.m. when he's forgotten. I program his phone to nag him for me. Brilliant!

My third most-used application is the microphone. I do spontaneous story interviews, record million-dollar ideas, things to do, where I parked.

The bad: The downside to the calendar is I'm either extremely punctual or a no-show. If I've forgotten to program something in, it doesn't exist. Sorry for the missed school work day!

Pretty soon I will be hunched over like a legislator or politician, constantly typing into a device. My memory brain cells will become weak.

Jump drive

The good: I have a jump drive, a disk that can hold lots of data, around my neck in case I have a chance to do some writing. This has sprung me from being tied down to a desk. My documents are accessible and I don't have to email things to myself.

The bad: Wearing a jump drive instead of a necklace is nerdy and a step toward becoming a robot. If I saw R2D2 or C3PO rolling down the street, they would probably register me as family.

Blogging

The good: Blogging is a modern-day journal, and I love to share my thoughts and ideas. I save trees while keeping my writing skills honed. Blogs could lead to potential income.

The bad: I'm a closet blogger. Once I learned how to create a blog, I became addicted and maintain too many, anonymously. The day will come when I will share them.

•••

So what are we unplugging from with these new connections? Friends and family? If we stay up late blogging and catching up on shows, are we tired the next day and frazzled from zooming through complete series of shows without pausing for reflection? Should it be more about energy management than time?

I don't text and drive, but millions plug into texting and unplug from driving then crash into people while typing - "not much - just driving ... "

All texting drivers say they are different, that they can do it. Oops - my timer went off. Time to end this story.

• Courtney Nelson is a Juneau resident breaking it down with sassy, sensible truths. She can be reached at nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net.

Children meet Mr. Gross Teeth

2010-02-24T08:31:00.000-08:00

SEARHC's circus-themed fair helps youth learn about dental health

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

It isn't every day that a Dalmatian and a snake-charmer examine teeth and give patients rides in dental chairs, but the circus - also known as the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium Children's Dental Health Fair - came to town Tuesday to take the terror out of a dentist trip.

This year's circus-themed fair provided a mix of education and entertainment to busloads of Headstart toddlers.

After a skit with Dudley the dinosaur, a fortune teller asked a puppet about his dental care. After the puppet admitted to eating sugary foods and forgetting to brush, the fortune teller pulled out a set of grisly teeth named Mr. Gross Teeth, hinting at the puppet's cavity-ridden future. Children in the audience gasped.

They moved on to squirt guns at balls that were marked with a black marker to represent sugar bugs. Children who succeeded in squirting the bugs earned a healthy snack and goodie bag.

The clowning around helps educate and deliver an important message, Headstart Health and Nutrition coordinator Melissa Morgan said.

"I'm responsible for the health and services of 262 children around Southeast Alaska. We serve 10 different communities, six in Juneau and nine rural communities," Morgan said.

Morgan, who wore a clown hat for the event, said she appreciates SEARHC's support in this effort.

"It's a huge responsibility, and the more support and collaboration we get from agencies that also serve these communities, the better off we are in making a real difference in children's lives." Morgan specifically appreciates SEARHC's dental hygienist, Lexi Olson.

"Lexi comes into our classrooms and really promotes dental hygiene; we have the kids brush twice a day and it's a great collaboration between SEARHC and Headstart."

Olson also is in charge of facilitating the annual fair. This year's circus theme was inspired by a typical day at their office.

"We have to juggle patients and everyone is busy running between the 12 dental chairs, so it reminds me of a circus," Olsen said.

Dr. Kim Hort, a pediatric dentist who works in their busy office, said the fair is useful.

"We want kids to experience the clinic in a very friendly and non-threatening way. Some of these kids have never been to the dentist before and they've heard stories from siblings or friends that have kind of made them anxious about coming, and we want them to see that the dental clinic can be a very fun place to visit."

Valerie Gamble-Houston, vice president of Headstart policy, understands the anxiety.

"It's important because little people who have to come have work done on their teeth, no matter how happy the rooms are and how kid-friendly the staff is, it's still uncomfortable to be in the chair with their mouth open - all the sounds and teeth poking," she said. "This dental fair gives them a chance to see all the equipment being used, outside their mouth, so they get to see where all the noises are coming from."

Della Lewis, 3, shook her goodie bag when asked what her favorite part of the visit was. Children were treated to healthy snacks and a box full of dinosaur toothbrushes, covers, floss, toothpaste and a timer to make sure they brush their teeth long enough. And maybe, next time Lewis thinks about skipping a brushing, she'll remember Mr. Gross Teeth.

Authentic living is only fair

2010-02-23T22:58:00.000-08:00

By Courtney Nelson | Straight Talk

There's nothing like a death, divorce or incarceration to shake out family secrets.

Relatives near and far, start asking questions to help grieve, plan memorials, arrange travel, obtain lawyers. Secrets come out during family shake-ups, and usually people finally start to tell stories.

All of the unpleasant events I just mentioned just occurred in my family. Consequently, I've been hearing so many family secrets that I'm feeling as shaken as a James Bond martini.

It is rare to find out a wonderful family secret such as Uncle Joe secretly donating millions to feed the poor.

Secrets are usually things like: eating disorders, excessive drinking or drug use, sexual abuse, greed, theft, lies and affairs. Most of these problems are based in a fear of people knowing who they really are or a fear of not being enough.

We could save ourselves a lot of heartache by being authentic and not keeping secrets. Airbrushed supermodels should be treated as harshly as steroid users. The outcome is the same - a status upgrade with a secret unnatural advantage.

If media icons would step down from their pedestals, there wouldn't be big sudden death shake-ups like Michael Jackson, who wouldn't reveal he had insomnia. Now his dancers are heartbroken, his concerts canceled, his children orphaned.

What if Tiger Woods had admitted he wasn't ready for commitment? Then the public would still get to watch Tiger play golf, be a good role model and date multiple women.

My uncle of 25 years had an affair with the bakery girl and took out secret loans when she started blackmailing him. He confessed to my aunt before the other woman could tell her.

What if my uncle would have noticed the attraction to "hot buns" as a sign of his shaky marriage which upon inspection would have ended or improved? Either way, he would have found happiness in authenticity.

(For the record, my uncle and the other woman eventually married despite learning about her extensive criminal history. It was annulled several days later when he woke up and discovered his new bride and another man had robbed him. The police at the station, tired of policing their relationship, refused to test his coffee he claimed she had poisoned.)

Play a game if you want. Pick a scandal, any scandal, and try and find the happy authentic outcome: John Edwards, Ted Haggard, Barry Bonds, Papa Pilgrim ... .

Storyteller Bill Harley recently came to town and stressed the power of telling our stories to the young. The oral passing of cultural history has all but been squeezed out by excessive media entertainment. We need to tell unflattering stories, too, so kids don't compare themselves to an illusion.

I'm guilty of attempting to show only good photos of myself. There aren't photos of me crying after not making the cheerleading squad, yet these are the stories that must be told.

Gov. Sean Parnell stated he'll take on domestic violence and child abuse in Alaska, which is twice the national average. The first public discussion meeting was standing room only. By exposing these family secrets, they lose power and can be replaced with a constructive force. SEARHC in Sitka understands this and has announced it's bringing back the talking circle for health.

With some of us in Juneau living far away from family, we have to get creative to have a family talking circle. I was writing in a coffee shop when my mom video skyped me with family news. I had a virtual coffee date with my mom, and when I went for the creamer she chatted with other patrons, a surreal talking head sitting on the table. I had a conference call with relatives in different cities.

If you won't live authentically for yourself, do it for your family so they have a chance to be happy. By the way, if you would like to talk to my mom, we are there Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

• Courtney Nelson is a Juneau resident breaking it down with sassy, sensible truths. She can be reached at nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net">nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net.

Hula HoopLa!

2010-01-25T20:23:00.000-08:00

New hula hooping group meets Thursdays; Nelson talks with world record hooper 'Dizzy Hips'

By Courtney Nelson | Straight Talk

Hula-hoops are back and they aren't just for kids anymore. The hula hoop revival officially hit Juneau with the emergence of a group of hoopers called HoopLa!

Carolyn Bergstrom watched her friend Heather Ridgway hula hoop in a hoop off during an intermission at last year's Alaska Folk Festival event. Ridgway got the hoop over her head, and Bergstrom, impressed, gave Ridgway a how-to-hula hoop video and two hoops.

Ridgway invited friend Valerie Snyder over to try them out. They loved it, but it was a little crowded in her home. The Juneau Arts and Humanities Council said they could use the main room to practice so more friends joined them. They projected the instructional video on the wall.

It was summer weather, so they started hooping on the lawn of the JAHC, and friends and some passer-bys joined them. It caught on.

This recent adult hula hoop revival started nationally in a similar grassroots fashion.

World record hula hooper Paul "Dizzy Hips" Blair, who'll be performing at the Olympics in Vancouver next month, started hooping a large homemade hula hoop at a "String Cheese Incident" concert (www.stringcheeseincident.com) in Telluride, Colo.

"The band noticed me and asked me to make five hula hoops for them," Blair said from his Idaho home.

Soon the band, credited with the hula hoop revival, was giving hundreds of hoops away at concerts. Known for themed concerts and visual effects, they even had a Halloween show called "Hulaween."

Hula hooping also is good exercise. In Washington, First Lady Michelle Obama made national news when she hula hooped 142 revolutions before she dropped it at the Healthy Kid Fair in October.

In Juneau, after kids and a gravel driveway at an office party destroyed the two hula hoops Bergstrom loaned Ridgway, she looked online for a hula hoop recipe. She bought materials for eight hoops at the hardware store, then festive decorative tape.

"I had to have the colorful tape," Ridgway said. She replaced Bergstrom's hoops and shared the remainder with the group.

Amy McCormick and Valerie Snyder are part of the core HoopLa! group.

"I met new people and learned a fun skill," said Snyder, who didn't know how to hula hoop before last June and now uses it as her primary exercise.

Bob McCormick, the only male of the group so far, tagged along with his wife and actually shed some blood during one freak hooping trick accident involving his ear.

Personally, I found myself drawn to hula hoop performances by Dizzy Hips last summer at his gig at the San Juan Island County Fair. Dizzy, a hooper from age 5 who held a world record of 197 revolutions per minute, was swirling everything from a tiny hula hoop to a hundred pound tractor tire twice a day.

Motivated by his steel core, I decided to start hooping too. Dizzy gave my kids and I private lessons and made me a custom designed hoop made of heavy construction PVC pipe. It bruised my whole torso, but I didn't care.

Waving to Dizzy as his natural gas powered RV headed off to Burning Man, I felt as empty as the littered deserted fair grounds we stood in - the lone hooper. It didn't last long.

Overhearing my dinner conversation, a waitress told me about hooping.org, a Web site that posts video of new hula hooping tricks weekly. I witnessed hoop dancing at an alternative fair in Friday Harbor and a yoga retreat in Colorado. Hoopers were everywhere.

My hoop almost didn't make it back to Juneau because security at Sea-Tac was unable to stuff it through the X-ray. They eventually determined we were a traveling circus family, opened the hoop to dump all the noise beans, and waved us through.

Hooping alone at Cope Park while playing ball with my dog, Snyder approached me and told me about the group HoopLa! I showed up to the Juneau Arts and Culture Center on Thursday night to witness a group of harmonious hoopers who were laughing, sharing tricks and telling stories. Hoops were flying and crashing, a baby cried, yet everyone seemed almost meditative.

HoopLa!, performing under their stage name "Arctic Circle," will make their first public performance in this year's Cirque de Pluie themed Wearable Art Extravaganza, on Feb. 13 and 14 at Centennial Hall, and will do a workshop for the Bartlett Hospital Foundation's Women's Day on Jan. 30.

If you want to try hooping, HoopLa! meets from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursdays at the JAHC.

• Courtney Nelson is a Juneau resident breaking it down with sassy, sensible truths. She can be reached at nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net.

Down for the Count

2010-01-25T20:21:00.000-08:00

Flying elbow ends first-ever female main event, "The Animal" earns TKO over "Knives" Horton

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

The first ever womens' main event at Roughouse Fridays at Marlintini's Lounge was declared a 'no decision' when Sitka's Selina Slack, 26, accidentally elbowed her opponent in the eye.

Slack was dominating the undefeated Nellie "Pit Bull" Phillips, 21, of Anchorage, 1-0-0, when her elbow hit the corner of Phillip's left eye, which started gushing blood causing the fight to be called. Phillips, who was fighting to "see what I've got," said before the fight she only had one strategy going in: keep her left hand up.

Gastineau Humane Society employee Patryck "The Animal" Willis, 20, earned a TKO in an MMA rematch against Hawaii hailing Ken "Knives" Horton, 21, when he clocked him with two right blows to the head in round one. The first blow sent him reeling, but he recovered to receive the second blow that dropped him hard.

Willis credited his instinct for the win.

"I just fight on instinct, I throw rights and lefts, duck and jab until it's done with," he said.

Despite the loss, Horton said he felt pretty good.

"I thought it was a pretty good fight. I didn't expect that last right to my (expletive), face," said Horton, referring to the punch that sent him to the mat to end the fight. "I actually don't remember hitting the ground. I remember people standing over me and my spine jerking."

They plan on a rematch next month.

First-time fighter, produce worker Michael Estigoy, 24, defeated another first-time fighter, Super Bear meat cutter Matt Richardson, 27, of Oregon, who was looking for a place to take out frustrations. Estigoy's prior fighting experience was in the streets of the Phillipines, but decided to fight because he "wanted to show my best for everybody."

During the first two rounds, the opponents were swinging away with hard, fast blows, but they both stayed tough and tested each other. Estigoy landed a stunning blow to Richardson's right temple in the third round, but he would hang in until the end.

Walmart employee Brian Lauth, 19, brought his record to 8-4-0 with his win over UAS student Haans Madsen, 27. Madsen clocked Lauth with a huge right that sent Lauth popping through the ropes in round one, but the two would stay even to the bell. The fighters kept getting tangled up, and a frustrated Madsen said Lauth wasn't fighting clean and was pushing him.

"I looked at my knees the next morning and they were all bruised from hitting the floor. I realized it was more than a boxing match," said Madsen who received medical attention and subsequently retired.

Mike Paddock, 36, was one of two heavyweight twins fighting for the first time at Marlintini's Lounge. Weighing in at 259 pounds, Paddock defeated 270-pound Donny Williams, Jr., 27, in a fight that started with a standing eight count for Williams, who was out tagged because he left his head open. In the beginning of round two, Paddock finished off his opponent with a rapid body pummeling and a left to the chin before a hard-right head shot dropped Williams to his knees where he retired.

The other twin, 262-pound Shane Paddock, 36, lost his heavyweight bout against first-time fighter, 241-pound Gabriel Wilson, 33, California, who won the decision with his reach.

"I was a little nervous when the bell went off, but then I just did what I had to do," said Wilson, who has been Thai boxing with Fernando at the Juneau Martial Arts Academy.

Hailing from Ketchikan, Fred Grant, 28, brought his record to 2-2-0 with his win over Juneau's Logan Henkins, 27, in his last fight for a while. Grant is moving to Fairbanks to be there for his baby, who is due in March. Grant, who has been training for two years, broke his right hand hitting Henkins.

"I think I hit him too hard, but it is all part of the game," said Grant. He delivered a jab combination, issuing a standing eight count to Henkins in round one. The two stayed tight until they both became gassed in the third, but Grant landed more punches.

First-time fighter, Juneau's Brad Bethel, 22, earned a TKO over fellow first-time fighter, Klawock's Mitchel Edenshaw, 19, in a bout Bethel dominated from the start. Referee Joe Isturis called the fight in the second round.

Get your Om on

2010-01-17T15:22:00.000-08:00

Children's yoga: Don't expect calm and serene

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

Imagine you're on a boat gliding through a jungle on a quest for lost treasure ... then a frog hops by ...

Kindergartners and first-graders start croaking, squatting and leaping onto yoga mats that they imagine are lily pads, having fun doing yoga asanas (poses).

As my work contribution at the Juneau Community Charter School, I created a kids yoga class. I merged my gymnastics coaching experience with my yoga studies and an armful of books on kids yoga to come up with the curriculum.

Rainforest Yoga instructor Jenny Strumfeld, who moved out of Juneau last year, had been the only one teaching kids yoga in Juneau until recently.

Ashtanga yoga instructor Jodee Goldsferry, of Juneau, began teaching kids yoga in September, completing a six-week class series at downtown's Raven Yoga Shala. She has found it very rewarding and also challenging.

"You need to control the excitement in the room, keep them engaged and not let them get too excited," said Goldsferry, who likes to make sure her students have fun and "still provide an actual yoga class where we talk like real people, do breath work and even learn Sanskrit words."

Yoga is a Sanskrit word derived from the root "yuj," which means union, usually referring to the body, mind and spirit. Yoga has its roots in India, and it's widely accepted that the goal is radiant health, a blissed-out feeling.

Kids yoga sessions are generally not blissful. Unlike organized adult classes, kids thrive when there is room for playful self-discovery, within a structured environment. Childrens' self esteem is boosted with learning.

"They get so excited when they do something for the first time, they say to their parents proudly 'Look what I can do!'" Goldsferry said. "They are able to adapt so quickly doing things on the second or third try that would take adults months to learn."

Ideally, a yoga session will include a sequence of centering, bends, twists, balancing, strength, inversions and rest. Like wringing out a wet towel, yoga should rejuvenate and release having stretched out the entire body, restored the breath and released stagnant energy. Concentration should improve, alertness and self-awareness.

Kids are learning about physical boundaries and yoga mats, with their colorful and clearly defined boundaries, are an effective way to define personal space. Personal space helps dismiss distractions so the child's creative energy can be focused. (Unlike adult classes, I also have them do partner and group poses to help them work together as a team to produce a result.)

Former Rainforest Yoga instructor Gretchen Anne Harrington, whose daughter was in Goldsferry's class, also thinks yoga prepares kids for sports.

"It always amazes me how quickly kids pick up yoga poses and how much they enjoy the challenge of balance, coordination and concentration," she said. "Yoga prepares them to excel in any physical activity. And, where else do they get to roar like a lion, slither like a snake, or relax like a starfish?"

Taproot Yoga owner Malia McInery will offer two kids yoga series toward the end of January.

"Kids - they are already malleable and buoyant so the benefits (of yoga) really lie in stimulating their brains, finding new ways to inhabit themselves, interact with other kids and incorporate a meaningful ritual into their life ... all things that inspire confidence and creativity," she said.

Raven Yoga Shala owner Stephanie Quigley let the charter school's K1 class use her yoga studio in the Arcticorp building downtown because she likes the energy the class brings to the room.

"For children, yoga is a way of playing," she said. "They have a treasure of curiosity about the yoga postures and explore the movements naturally with an eager and open mind. Kids are intuitively yogis."

Quigley also believes "kids seem to play with yoga in a way many adults wish they could. The end result for children's yoga is perhaps the same as an adults, and that is: calming or centering the mind, body and breath awareness: coordination, muscular strength, and natural energy."

In teaching children's yoga, which increases muscle tone, spatial awareness, circulation, imagination and self-discovery, I've found it is helpful to engage the students' imaginations. You are now riding on a camel in a desert ...

• Courtney Nelson can be reached at nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net.

Houseguest Nirvana

2010-01-03T11:07:00.000-08:00

Notes on shacking up for the holidays

By Courtney Nelson | Straight Talk

Respectful, self-aware and unarmed are some of the qualities I require of houseguests after being baptized by fire. I posed the question "What makes a good houseguest?" - out loud, to anyone, while writing this piece in a bustling downtown Heritage Coffee. Instantly people were at my table, pouring out houseguest and house-sitter stories; the good, bad, ugly and really funny.

Because Juneau's remote location makes it a desirable destination, people save considerable money by staying with friends and family. This can be a wonderful bonding experience but without clear communication, the potential for disaster is great.

Then there are special circumstances like homes with small children who rely greatly on routine.

Here are some condensed survival tips from those who have been both guests and hosts.

TIPS FOR THE HOUSEGUEST

• Thank you. Upon arrival, immediately express your gratitude for the hospitality. Continue to shower your hosts with gratefulness throughout your stay in the "inner circle."

• Bring something to the party. Offer a small gift or state your intention to contribute some fun. If your hosts have little ones, consider offering to baby-sit for a little while. If you really want to start off right, throw the door open and exclaim "go skiing, I'll watch the kids!"

• Ask thoughtful questions. Bedtimes, pet habits, good showering times? If someone wanted to purchase you a massage gift certificate where would they go?

• Leave no trace. Keep your things cornered up like a soldier ready for deployment. Wash dishes, replace food, no perfumes. I had to create a no firearms rule. Kurt Cobain, a heroin addict rock star, actually combined the best and worst qualities of guests. He was neat and tidy, according to his host, rolling up his small sleeping bag every night and upon waking asking what he could do for the house. Then he turned a one-night stay into a year.

• No space invading. If you get up early and down a pot of coffee before your host gets up, don't talk in a stream of consciousness while they are still in their robe fumbling to pour their first cup of Joe. Vibrate your phones. Strange loud ringtones can make one feel like they've been shot out of a cannon.

• Disclose your schedule and stick to it. This will help your host plan. Don't create a ruckus by returning home late, inebriated and loud. Don't invite criminals over.

• Conform to the house. Let your presence interfere as little as possible with your host's normal routine, household duties, and career. Don't impose on their time. Courtney Love, wife of the polite Cobain, tended to break all these rules by getting drunk, insulting her hosts, and then sucker-punching them on the way out.

• Invite and include. If the purpose of your trip is both to visit with your host and to see the sights and/or shop, you need to walk the line. Sightsee while your friend is at work, plan activities together for when they are not, and invite your host on your excursions.

After spending blissful quality time together by following these golden rules, one should part company wanting more. Not hiding in a closet calling anyone that will listen to lament the horror.

TIP FOR THE HOST

• Write it down. Never assume people know how to be good houseguests, especially if you have small children. State the household boundaries in writing then sit back and enjoy the magic of intimate stories, group cooked meals, restful sleep, long walks catching up with people you love. Like river rocks jostled together, you should smooth each other out.

And to all those that have put up with my clueless houseguest habits, I thank you with a short heart felt bow.

• Courtney Nelson is a Juneau resident breaking it down with sassy, sensible truths. She can be reached at nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net.

No Holds Barred

2009-12-14T08:50:00.000-08:00

Sheakley wins main event; spectator ends up in the ring throwing leather

By Courtney Nelson | FOR THE JUNEAU EMPIRE

Fans at Roughhouse boxing at Marlintini's Lounge were chanting "Hoonah" after the main event, which featured Hoonah's Elijah Sheakley, 31.

He brought his record to 8-2-0 with his win over Brian Lauth, 19, after three 90-second rounds.

Round one was even, then Sheakly poured it on in round two, delivering a huge right to Lauth's head before they both tired. Lauth found strength and finished the round punching out. In round three, Sheakley went after Lauth, who answered by racking up his own points. Sheakley tagged him with some heavy leather and Lauth was delivered a standing eight count.

"It was a good fight," said Lauth, who had the reach.

Sheakley's mom said in a post fight interview that she trained her son to be a fighter since he was little.

Sheakley squeaked the win away from Lauth despite a smoking habit.

"I smoke 20 cigarettes a day," Sheakley said after the bout.

In the semi-main event MMA bout Shaun Guthrie, 28, hailing from Ketchikan, defeated Klawock's Steven Roberts, 19, a student who likes to fight.

Guthrie dominated Roberts when their fight went to the mat. Roberts went for Guthrie's ankle to try and drop him every time. Guthrie countered to get him in a choke hold and ultimately won the bout by tiring him out.

In a heavyweight MMA fight, 222-pound Pat Willis, 20, a Gastineau Humane Society employee looking for fun and Christmas money, got his holiday wish with his win over Hawaii's 189-pound Kenneth Horton, 21, just over a minute into round one. After trading power on the mat, Willis who said he watched a lot of MMA in preparation for the fight, got Horton, a ten-year friend, into a guillotine and it was over.

"It was good to release a lot of pent up anger," said Willis who plans on fighting again.

Sitka's Selina Slack, 26, defeated her cousin, Mary Ferguson, 23, in an unconventional fight. Slack had an opponent back out at the last minute, so Ferguson, there to videotape, offered to fight her.

"I never trained to box but I have a punching bag at my house I work out on," said Ferguson who hung on all three rounds despite being a first-time fighter.

Ferguson threw some heavy leather, but Slack was more seasoned and out-tagged her cousin with body shots.

First-time fighter Ron Skoog, 25, defeated Logan Henkins, 27, in a bout that was called by split decision. Skoog had the reach but Henkins was more seasoned with a record of 2-4-0. Skoog was only in the ring three seconds when he knocked down Henkins, who was delivered a standing eight count.

Henkins fired some rocket punches, but Skoog managed to dodge them until Henkins found a sweet spot and dropped Skoog for a standing eight count. He still managed to grab the win.

Juneau's Michael Friedrichs, 20, defeated New Orleans' Tawn Green, 24, by a split decision. Friedrichs fought barefoot against the stocky Green, and all three rounds were very evenly matched. Friedrichs was quicker but Green ultimately landed more punches.

In another heavyweight MMA fight, Arizona's 220-pound Marques Jackson, 22, defeated 313-pound James "The Beast" Roberts, 24, from Klawock, to stay undefeated at 2-0-0. Roberts said he was going to work out more before attempting MMA again.

"I was barely hanging on," Roberts said about the third round when Jackson had him in a choke hold.

The next fights will be held Jan. 22nd.

Results from Roughhouse boxing at Marlintini's Lounge:

•Ron Skoog defeats Logan Henkins.

•Michael Friedrichs defeats Tawn Green.

•Pat Willis defeats Kenneth Horton.

•Marques Jackson defeats James "The Beast" Roberts.

•Selena Slack defeats Mary Ferguson.

•Shaun Guthrie defeats Steven Roberts.

•Elijah Sheakley defeats Brian Lauth.

•More photos on B8.

Tree tips: Trimming for the over-thinker

2009-12-13T01:58:00.000-08:00

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

Artificial or real? Douglas or Spruce? Store-bought or self-cut? White lights or multi-colored?

Every year the choices grow when it comes to filling your home with holiday cheer. For the environmentally savvy, there now are greener choices you can make for tree decorating, such as LED lights and homemade organic cranberry and popcorn garlands that complete the circle of life when you then throw them on your lawn afterward for the eagles and ravens.

But let's start with the tree.

Artificial or real?

Christmas trees are biodegradable, and while they are growing they decrease carbon dioxide in the air and provide soil and water retention so they're probably more eco-friendly. They also smell good.

Pine scents are refreshing and uplifting, engaging our neglected olfactory glands. Magical memories of scampering out of bed in footed pajamas to see presents under the tree and a half-eaten cookie, can certainly lift one's spirits.

However, if the scent of pine sends you searching for an inhaler or reminds you of holiday family feuds, then artificial might be the way to go. Many fake trees contain lead, so make sure to read the labels. Artificial trees are less expensive, easier to store and mean you won't have to vacuum up pine needles. Just don't let your toddler teethe on the branches.

And some people choose to use a wreath for a pine sent and simply decorate a tree outside.

"I think to avoid house fires, people should decorate a tree in their yard then they won't have to cut one down," said Juneau's Tiffany Rutherford.

Making space

Christmas trees usually force us to do a little rearranging to make room. Moving furniture around, vacuuming in corners and changing things up can be very therapeutic for the psyche. We are making room for a tree, which symbolizes generosity and magic.

Douglas Fir, Pine, Spruce ...

If you go for a fresh tree, the Douglas fir is known for its strong fragrance and needle retention, while spruce tips tend to fall off and others have especially sharp needles. Ask questions before you buy or cut.

But once you pick a tree, it's all about fresh water. Cut off an inch from the bottom right before you bring it inside for maximum water absorption. Add a little sugar to the base, mist the tree periodically and try to place it away from heat sources.

Safety

Toddlers and cats may be small, but they can take a tree down with one yank. To avoid this, make sure to get the right size base and don't move the tree once it has been secured in the stand. Secure the tree discreetly with fishing line or a festive garland attached to a secure object in the room for even more stability.

An inner glow

Put on some festive holiday music to soften the nightmare of untangling your lights from the year before. Now your blank tree canvas is ready to paint with your personality and your story.

The lights should go on first, then the tree topper, followed by garlands and then finally the ornaments.

LED lights are 80 percent more efficient than regular lights, so they are another eco-friendly choice. One hundred lights per foot of tree is ideal, and pick one type and use it for the whole tree.

Zig-zag the lights in and out of the branches to create depth so it will create a glow from the inside out. Have the lights lit so you can track your progress and avoid dark patches. Place the topper first to avoid the ladder scene where someone topples over onto a decorated tree filled with glass balls while placing an angel.

Garlands

Ribbon, tinsel, beads, popcorn, berries or any glittery material adds to the magic of a tree. If you make popcorn garlands, make sure they are stale before you thread them with a needle, and the cranberries should be frozen.

Traditional style says to swag the garland on alternating branches or doubling and tripling them up with different colors. Don't be limited to what has been done before; forge a new Christmas tradition for yourself. I have a friend who made wish lists on a string from magazine cut-outs. Another used Mardi Gras beads for sparkle and fake flowers another year.

Decorating

While decorating your tree, hang heavy ornaments first on inner sturdy branches and then fill in with smaller ones.

Telling family stories about the origins of your handmade ornaments, ones bought on vacation and others with special meanings can be priceless.

Sometimes less is more when it comes to decorating, and the tree comes to life with the spirit of the season.

Juneau resident Kay Redlinger Knapp had such a tree.

"We went up to a cabin one year to ski over Christmas and couldn't imagine lugging a tree along," she said. "But you got to have the pine smell. So we lopped a chunk off a tree and called it our 'Christmas branch,' stuck it in a can and loaded the poor thing with decorations, including lights and a star made of tinfoil. Best tree ever."

• Courtney Nelson can be reached at nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net.

Upcoming attractions at the Nickelodeon

2009-12-12T20:37:00.000-08:00

Theater adds live music and Saturday matinees to its offerings

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

The Gold Town Nickelodeon is branching out.

Beginning this month, Juneau's art-house movie theater, under the new ownership of Mark Ridgway, will feature kids cinema treasures and live music. It will continue the evening showings of independent, foreign and documentary newly-released films for which it is known, offering the kids movies as 1 p.m. matinees.

"Kids and adults of all ages are invited," said Colette Costa, who is running the films.

And on Monday, Dec. 7 the Nickelodeon will present its first concert, music duo Lindy and Kris Eli Jones. The couple, who live in Haines, describe their music as acoustic Americana; their all-original music is played on guitar and stand-up bass. Both Joneses are honored to be the first live music act to grace the intimate 70-person occupancy theater.

"Mark Ridgway is really making it into a small venue and we are totally psyched to be the first group to play there," said Kris Jones in a phone interview from Haines. "We're really excited about the direction the theater is going."

Kris Jones came to Juneau about 10 years ago during Folk Festival knowing only one person: Lindy. She showed him around and they eventually started dating and are now married. They have a CD, recorded in one morning after heavy snowfall led to their house collapsing and they needed to raise money for repairs. They sold over 800 copies - and fixed their house.

The duo sing about topics like traveling and being away from loved ones; Kris Jones spent 10 seasons (May through July) as a bird field biologist after graduating from the University of Missoula. His jobs with the Forest Service, The Nature Conservancy and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service required him to go to remote places like west Montana and the deserts of west Texas and count how many different bird songs he could hear. Working in what he called "wide open spaces" gave him solitude and the chance to reflect, which ultimately led to his own song writing.

"I worked in the middle of nowhere and the solitude helped things become clear. I call it dirt-road music," said Jones.

After their concert at the Nickelodeon, the couple is heading to the hill county outside Austin, Texas. Kris Jones said he's looking forward to hanging out with and being inspired by the many songwriters who gather in Texas dance halls and honky tonks.

The Jones' concert begins at 6:30 p.m Monday and will go for about two hours. Admission is $10.

Over the weekend and throughout the month the theater will be showing kids Christmas specials for viewers of all ages. The Friday midnight movie is a double Christmas feature of "A Charlie Brown Christmas", and "Scrooged." Saturday's matinees will be a double header of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" followed by "The Muppet Christmas Carol." The following Saturday, Dec. 12, they will have a showing of "A Year Without Santa Claus" and "Rudolph."

Saturday, Dec. 19, they will run "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," and "A Christmas Story." Slated for the weekend after Christmas is "Miracle on 34th Street," and "Frosty the Snowman."

Raise the Roofer

2009-11-17T16:42:00.000-08:00

Solomon stuns heavyweight champ

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

A heavyweight champion was defeated and boxers released aggression by fighting it out in Friday the 13th Roughhouse Boxing action at Marlintini's Lounge.

In the main event, Jesse "The Roofer" Solomon, 27, upset the 2008 Southeast Showdown Heavyweight Champion Toni Talamai, 24, after three 90-second rounds that wore down the former champ. Talamai used his brute force to take the first round, and Solomon was issued a standing eight count by referee Joe Isturis after a fall that Solomon says was a slip. Round two went to Solomon, who was lighter on his feet and had more endurance to bounce around the ring and tag Talamai, who was gassed. Talamai had little left for the third round, which allowed Solomon to get him into the corner and deliver repeated head shots as Talamai's corner yelled, "Toni you've got to throw."

Klawock's Steven Roberts, 19, quickly defeated first-time fighter Don Sapinoso, 35, New York, N.Y., in an MMA bout that was over 37 seconds after it began. Roberts exploded from the bell, attacking Sapinoso, who dislocated his ankle earlier. Roberts got Sapinoso on the ground, then flipped him backward in an arm-triangle choke. Sapinoso tapped when he was pinned and choked by Roberts. Sapinoso, despite losing, said it was an awesome first time and called the fight his aggression therapy. He explained that instead of taking out his aggressions and going to jail, he can release them in the ring.

Juneau's 169-pound Thomas McDonald, 29, defeated Juneau's 252-pound Dillon West, 21, by forcing West to tap out 38 seconds into round one.

"I broke his thumb and overwhelmed him," said McDonald, now 2-0-0, who said he used the "rear naked choke" to take down West, who was up a couple of weight classes. "He was really heavy," said McDonald, who said he likes to fight for the adrenaline rush and to release trapped aggression.

U.S. Coast Guard heavyweight John Wendelschaefer, 30, weighing 220 pounds and hailing from Georgia, defeated a fellow Coast Guard co-worker, 238-pound Marcos Andujar, 40, of Puerto Rico, in an adrenaline-filled "newbie" match. Wendelschaefer attributed his win to his cardio endurance from working out at Pavitt Health & Fitness and learning Muay Thai. He said Andujar was tough and vowed to never underestimate his opponents.

"He hit me with some good shots," said Wendelschaefer, who went looking for a bout at Marlintini's to test himself. He was paired with Andujar because they were both first-time fighters. They traded heavy blows in the first two rounds, but Andujar couldn't keep the adrenaline running, saying after the fight with a shrug, "I ran out of gas."

In another MMA fight, Mike Jepson, 22, a student from Ketchikan, defeated 21-year-old Sean Prebeg, a Breeze-In employee, in a bout that went the distance. Prebeg was aggressive in round one, pinning Jepson's arms to prevent punches while lying on this back. Round two was even with both fighters trading some hard shots. Jepson grabbed more points by tagging in round three to earn the decision.

Heavyweight, 318-pound James "The Beast" Roberts, 24, defeated first-time fighter, 272-pound Donald Williams Jr., 27, in a fight Roberts dominated from the bell. Roberts threw some hard shots, issuing a standing eight count to Williams, who stayed tough through round one. Early in round two, Roberts tagged Williams with a hard right, heavy-leather hook that sent the first-time fighter to the mat, where he retired.

Tyler Papasodora, 19, 146 pounds, grabbed his first win by defeating first-time fighter, 129-pound James Willson, 22, in a lopsided bout. Papasodora clearly dominated the first round, delivering Willson a standing eight count before he could even throw a punch. Referee Joe Isturis called the fight in round two.

The next Roughhouse Friday will be Dec. 11 with an awaited Selena Slack bout on the card.

'Little Shop of Horrors' opens at Juneau Douglas High School

2009-10-15T08:52:00.000-07:00

Musical production not to be confused with "Rocky Horror Picture Show"

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

In time for Halloween, the Juneau Douglas High School drama department - headed by Michaela Moore, Richard Moore and Lucas Hoiland - will present the musical, "Little Shop of Horrors." Originally a 1960's film, the production was made into a musical in the early '80's, then into a not-so-successful film remake in 1986.

"'Little Shop' is a fun musical with lots of entertaining, witty music and humor," Moore said. " We knew that these students would get a kick out of doing this show."

Moore said many have confused "Little Shop of Horrors" with the racier cult classic "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," and expressed concern about inappropriate content. Both are vintage-type horror movies so it's easy to see the mix-up.

"Please do not throw food at or shout at the performers," Moore joked. "This isn't 'the Rocky Horror Picture Show.'"

Moore says there is some adult content in the script but believes it to be a suitable family show.

"The musical and the movie have different endings," she said. "Even though the play is about a man-eating plant, and she does eat four people during the course of the play, it is always done without blood, and it's tongue in cheek, which fits the style of the play extremely well. Plus, you can't help but like the plant, even though you know that it is trying to take over Seymour, the shop, and then the world."

"Little Shop of Horrors," set on skid row, is about a clumsy flower assistant named Seymour, played by freshman Aaron Abella, who cross-breeds a butterwort and Venus Flytrap cultivating a blood-thirsty plant. His love of the plant, named Audrey 2 after the girl he has a crush on, drives him to kill humans to feed it and keep it alive.

Director Moore believes Audrey 2 to be a symbol of the unbridled greed that accompanies the great American dream and the high price we are willing to pay.

"It is a cost that effects many innocent as well as guilty people," she said. "This play makes us stop and think about our lives and how we are living them."

Abella said he was very nervous during the auditions for the role of Seymour, but Moore, who said Abella is a standout when he gets on stage, said she couldn't tell. Moore said Abella is not only very talented, he's also a great kid who listens to what everyone has to say. Moore added that Abella makes Seymour likeable, which is key to the role.

Seymour's Audrey 2 was created by Roblin Gray Davis from Perseverance Theatre, who pitched in at the last minute when a vendor refused to ship to Alaska. Davis designed all four puppets needed to play the progressively growing Audrey 2.

"He is a creative wonder with putting these monsters together," Moore said.

Once the puppets were created, Emily Smith and Jasmin Evans worked together to make the plant come alive. Smith plays the puppet voice of Audrey 2 and Evans is the puppeteer. Normally the voice is played by a male voice but they thought Smith was perfect for the part.

"We thought that it (a female voice) brought a whole new level to the internal battle that Seymour wages within himself," Moore said. "It lends a level of jealously between the plant and Audrey that isn't there when the plant is the voice of a man. Smith and Evans are so well in tune that if Emily says anything over the microphone Jasmin moves the puppet's mouth and body as if she (the plant) is talking."

Another successful team was Shanae'a Moore and Zoey Wilson, both former Juneau Dance Unlimited dance students who stepped up to create the choreography for the Doo Wap girls. The girls developed a taste for choreography when they were asked to work with cast from "Jekyll and Hyde" last season; both girls were injured, at separate times, and choreographing gave them a way to still be involved with dance.

Moore and Wilson said they couldn't believe how well they worked together and how much fun they had doing choreography.

"The Doo Wap girls bring the show to a psychedelic groove," she said. "They are the modern embodiment of a Greek Chorus and sing and dance in sort of the style of Diana Ross and the Pips."

Senior Callie Cummins plays her first lead role at JDHS as Audrey. Moore said she was proud of Cummins, who made the commitment to be in the play before she was given the lead role because she really wanted to be involved.

Lucas Hoiland designed the set that captures the skid row look where the Little Shop of Horrors is located.

"This is the biggest and most detailed set Hoiland has designed for one of our shows," Moore said. "Some students came in over the summer to paint all the individual bricks."

Unable to find a pianist for the play, musical director Richard Moore had to reluctantly replace the orchestra with a musical soundtrack and a digi machine, which his wife Michaela controls from the booth.

That wasn't the only obstacle for this production: Sickness, a shorter production time and longer rehearsal schedules were some of the other challenges facing the crew but Moore says great teamwork helped them reach their goals.

Moore hopes the production will inspire discussion.

"Are we living a fruitless life of materialism, or a life full of love and compassion for our fellow man?" she said. "(In the end) the chorus begs the audience not to feed the plants of greed and materialism and power."

Life after tragedy

2009-09-14T08:17:00.000-07:00

Amid swirling speculation in the aftermath of a tragic Dec. 10 shooting, victims' families endured in silence

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

Chase Schneider didn't know he'd been shot until he was lying on the floor, unable to move. His whole body felt like it was asleep and his blood was on the wall near the kitchen counter where he'd been drinking juice. The shooter was Kevin Michaud, 15 at the time.

"I saw Kevin take the magnum out of his backpack on the way from the school bus to his house and put it in the front of his pants," Chase said, recalling the events of Dec. 10, 2008. There were five boys at the Michaud home the afternoon of the shooting, but only Kevin, 14-year-old Aidan Neary and Chase, then 14, were in the room when the gun went off.

Inside the Michaud home, Chase remembers Aidan, who'd had gun safety training, taking the bullets out of the gun because Kevin was acting irresponsibly and pointing it at people. Chase said Kevin put a single bullet back in the gun and began pointing it at different things again.

"I told him to knock it off, that he was being stupid - moments later the gun fired," Chase said, now 15. The bullet struck the side of Aidan's torso and continued on to strike Chase.

"No, I counted!" Chase remembers Kevin yelling. Hours later, Aidan died.

Dareen Puhlick, Chase's mom, said it was a miracle her son survived.

"Chase was hit in the back, in the spine. He could have died from his injuries or been paralyzed. It is just a miracle that Chase is doing OK. His doctors say it's a miraculous injury," she said.

The bullet itself will remain in Chase's body as a painful reminder.

"The bullet is lodged in his spine, but bullet and bone fragments are very close to the spine that are causing him most of his pain. These fragments are the most dangerous because they are not lodged so they can move around in the body and possibly cut into organs," Puhlick said. "He's on a seizure medication that helps to diffuse the spinal cord nerve from firing."

He's trying to be a normal teen but Puhlick says it has been difficult.

"He's not a typical teenager anymore - he can't do the things he used to do."

Virulent speculation

The police's initial public account said all five boys at the house were "playing a game with a single bullet." Many observers concluded incorrectly that they were playing Russian roulette, which conflicted with Chase's account.

Patrick and Mary Neary, whose son Aidan was killed, knew that as leukemia survivor who underwent years of painful treatments, the idea of Aidan playing a game with his life didn't fit. They found the initial reports distressing, but when Chase returned from a Seattle hospital, he told investigators his account.

"Really the only witnesses in the room were Chase and Kevin because Aidan and Chase were in the ambulance and the other two boys weren't in the room, so when the police came and asked what happened - it came from Kevin. That's what he said. I will never know from Aidan what happened and that's really difficult for me," said Mary Neary. "We knew people had misconceptions about what happened. They made comments to us and we were not really able to talk about it. We of course wanted our son to be remembered honorably."

Juvenile legal proceedings are closed and confidential, so during Michaud's adjudication the families were unable to refute the speculation or clarify the initial police and news reports.

The juvenile justice system doesn't mete out punishment in the traditional sense but deals with treatment and remediation programs. Kevin was ordered to two years in a lockdown juvenile treatment facility, the system's most severe response.

The Michauds declined to comment for this story. Puhlick and the Nearys said the Michauds expressed their regret in person right after the incident, but the families haven't spoken since. Both Puhlick and the Nearys are pursuing civil suits against the Michauds. Their lawyers advised them on what they could and could not legally discuss with the Empire.

Puhlick said the initial report of a "game" also created awkwardness in the community and she felt her son was judged and labeled as a bad kid.

"I wanted to stand up for his rights because he was a victim, not a participant," she said.

Warning signs

In retrospect, the warning signs were there.

After the shooting, Chase said he and Aidan were aware that Kevin had taken loaded guns to school at least twice. Chase spoke with Kevin about how much trouble he could get in.

"Kevin said the guns made him feel safe," Chase said.

The families believe the boys were protecting Kevin by not mentioning the guns.

"None of these boys talked about him having guns; we only heard that he was depressed," Puhlick said.

Chase told his mother that Kevin "would just go on and on about how sad he was, and I didn't know what to do."

"Just listen and be a friend; you don't have to say anything," was her response.

Gunplay was not on the parents' minds.

"I was concerned about a lot of things having to do with teenagers, but for some reason guns hadn't crossed my radar," Mary Neary said. "I thought, like many Alaskan families, there are guns in the house but they are under strict lock and key."

Aidan also had mentioned Kevin's demeanor to his parents.

"Aidan told me earlier that Kevin was depressed, and in my mind I thought, that's too bad, because most teenagers do go through depression at some point - we all know that - it just never occurred to me that there was anything dangerous," Mary Neary said.

Accident vs. mistake

The police reported the incident as an "accidental shooting," which Patrick Neary thinks is a mischaracterization.

"Accidents are unforeseen occurrences with adverse outcomes, and mistakes are choices that are made that have adverse outcomes. People like to dispel their responsibility by labeling things as accidents when in reality, if you look at things that could have been a different choice, we realize that it was a mistake," he said.

The Nearys and Puhlick know this is a tragedy for all the families involved but they try to stay positive. Patrick Neary hopes Kevin won't be "inhibited by a stupid mistake he made in his teens - that he is truly transformed and takes responsibility for his actions. We don't want to minimize the seriousness of what he did, and have it seem in any way that it was a small thing."

Puhlick and the Nearys said they want Kevin to get the help he needs and make something of his life.

"I'm sure they are suffering and they know their son in a way that no one else does, I know they want to protect him and they love him and in a way they've lost him - I feel for them," said Mary Neary. "We don't know what the best possible thing is in the long term, it is what we had hoped for - I hope that it is good for him and his family in the end of this, I know that it is very empty for us."

Lessons

Both Puhlick and the Nearys kept close tabs on their kids, and yet the tragedy raised the question if they could have done more to avert it.

"Listen to your kids and take them seriously with everything - their friends and what is going on in their lives," Puhlick said. "I knew where Chase was going after school. I knew who he was with. We knew the parents; we would go to the house and check to see if they were there."

Mary Neary also kept close tabs on her son.

"We were always checking up with the Michaud family and the status of the boys. I had gone to their house; I had gone there to check on the boys and see what they were up to. When they would spend the night, I would always go over to give him his toothbrush but also to check and make sure the parents were home. Aidan had given us no reason not to give him a little freedom, which was what he really wanted as a young boy. I'm not saying that was a mistake. I'm not sure what we could have done differently."

Patrick Neary said everyone should remember to treat each other well.

"I think it is important for people to treat each other with love and respect at each and every moment because you never know if that will be the last time you see them," he said.

Aidan was a blossoming writer and a musician, his parents said. The day before he died, he and a friend recorded a music track.

"The recording got interrupted because his friend's mom came to pick him up," Patrick Neary recalled. They planned to continue the next day.

• Courtney Nelson is a writer living in Juneau and a five-year friend of Dareen Puhlick.

Princess Farhana a Pleasant surprise

2009-09-12T20:02:00.000-07:00

Renowned dancer to put on workshops, perform

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

Internationally known dancer Princess Farhana will make her first trip to Juneau to perform and teach workshops in belly dance and burlesque this weekend. Some of her moves have never been taught here before, such as her abdominal and fan dance techniques.

Princess Farhana, born Pleasant Gehman, has many talents, but it was her published writing, not her dancing, that first captured the attention of Juneau resident and dance workshop coordinator Shawn Damerval. Damerval picked up a copy of Gehman’s first book of short stories, “Escape from Houdini Mountain,” in a bookstore. Damerval was intrigued.

“The stories were so amazingly outrageous I figured that, despite the ‘fiction’ listing, no one could possibly have made this stuff up,” Damerval said. A few years later, Damerval searched for instructional sword dancing videos and pulled up two of Gehman’s nine instructional videos, “Raks al Sayf” and “Twin Blades,” and introduced herself to Gehman online.

Damerval contacted Gehman again after watching director Steve Balderson’s documentary film starring Gehman called “Underbelly.” They became friends and hatched a plan to bring Gehman to Juneau.

“She tells me about life as a glamorous globetrotting Hollywood babe, and I tell her about what it’s like to live at the foot of a glacier and hike and fly airplanes around the most beautiful place in the world,” Damerval said.

Gehman’s roots were far from Hollywood, but she says they were her early influences.

“I loved ballet dancers, The Rockettes, the Miss America Pageants, and all the 1940s-era Sinbad and Ali Baba movies I saw on television,” Gehman said. She was raised on a Revolutionary War era farm in New York with seven other siblings born to her entertainment writer father, and her ex-Broadway singer and dancer mother. She was supposed to be a boy.

“My name was supposed to be Andrew, but I was a girl and the first thing my father said was, ‘Oh what a pleasant surprise!’ So after about a week, with no decision on a name, and because of my Pennsylvania Dutch heritage they named me Pleasant,” Gehman said. All but one of her siblings are working in the entertainment industry.

After years in the 1980’s-era L.A. punk scene as lead singer of the “Screamin’ Sirens,” and creator of the underground paper “Lobotomy,” from 1977-1981, Gehman became a professional belly dancer in 1991. A chance encounter with a woman who asked her if she was a belly dancer after watching her on a rock club dance floor led to lessons and a passion for the dance. She was recognized as “Oriental Dancer Of The Year 2006” by Zaghareet Magazine, and in 2007 was nominated for “Best Instructor” and “Best Interpretive Artist.”

She added burlesque to her repertoire in 1995, joining the troupe “The Velvet Hammer,” which Gehman described as a traveling circus.

“The Velvet Hammer was not only my sister burlesque dancers, but also a full band, comedians, magicians, puppeteers, aerialists plus all of our costumes and large props — it was nuts. We did some shows where we rented a huge bus and it was just insane — champagne popping, people dancing on top of the seats, practical jokes, yelling and screaming and constant laughing.”

She is currently working on a collection of short stories about her experiences on the road.

“Since my all-girl punk band the 'Screamin’ Sirens,' I have been on the road constantly for thirty years. Believe me, I have some wild stories,” said Gehman, who also judges burlesque competitions such as The Miss Exotic World Pageant.

Pleasant soon layered belly dance with sword balancing.

“All my life, just for fun, I balanced things on my head — stacks of books while running up the stairs — for no reason. The first time I saw a belly dancer performing with a sword, I said, ‘I can do that!’ My husband at the time gave me an antique sword for my birthday, and in the middle of my party, tipsy on margaritas, I put it on my head and danced around for 45 minutes straight, to the amazement of everyone, including myself. After that, there was no turning back,” Gehman said.

She recently coached jazz dancer Tracey Phillips in sword work and belly dance technique and choreographed her sword-dancing scene in “Charlie Wilson's War.”

Living in the ‘underbelly’ of Hollywood wasn’t always glamorous and Gehman struggled with self-esteem issues, but she directed that energy into being an activist for positive body images.

“I think in our society, women are held to a very unrealistic and almost impossible-to-attain commercialized body standard, and the result is that many women do not appreciate their own natural and individual beauty,” Gehman said. “Images that are manipulated through photo-shopping, air-brushing, great lighting and professional hair and make-up teams are an unrealistic standard of perfection, but when we see them, we think we don't “live-up” to that impossible standard, and feel low self-esteem.”

Gehman thinks belly dancing can help.

“Belly dancing looks beautiful on women of all ages, weights, shapes and sizes. One of the things I adore about going to Egypt is that all the women seem so comfortable in their own skin. Actually, in most countries outside of the USA and Western Europe, having curves and little jiggly bits is considered beautiful,” Gehman said.

Gehman recently went to Egypt for the Ahlan Wa Sahlan Festival and had her most memorable dance moment to date.

“I danced in Cairo to a full Arabic band playing Om Kalthoum ... I got chills the moment my music started.”

With the success of “Underbelly”, director Steve Balderson asked Gehman to star in his new upcoming movie “Stuck!,” a tribute to 1950s noir black and white women-in-prison films. “Stuck” will be released in 2010.

Damerval is looking forward to Gehman’s visit, made possible by sponsors.

“After the success of the Dolphina workshops and shows last year, we thought it might be fun to have Plez come up this year. I approached VivaVoom Brrrrlesque in Anchorage about co-sponsoring her trip, and they were very excited at the prospect. Then Noodle of Doum agreed to host her workshops as a sponsored group of JAHC, so everything really started falling into place to make it happen. Everyone I’ve talked to who has taken a workshop with her says she's just fabulous, and I’m really excited to have her come here,” Damerval said.

Her performance will be at 9:30 p.m. Friday at the Rendezvous with Noodle of Doum and Patshiva. Tickets are available at the Rendezvous or Hearthside Books. Her workshops start at 11 a.m. Saturday, running until 7 p.m. Private or small group lessons will be available Sunday at the University of Alaska Recreation Center Dance Studio. These are sponsored by UAS and, while the lessons are open to anyone, UAS students and faculty (with ID) will receive a discounted rate. Registration information (including online registration) and detailed class descriptions at http://www.pierglass.com/noodle/events.html.

Damerval said the classes will be meaty enough for experienced dancers but good for beginners as well.

“We’re also gearing these workshops towards people who are not necessarily experienced dancers but who think it would be fun to try — in fact, one of the reasons behind having a discount for groups of four is we wanted to encourage people to get together and bring their friends to try something new and exciting.”