• Nonfiction

    Removing the Mask of Grief with Shelby Coleman and Connor Tindall

    by Ryan Shofner The ephemeral nature of life dawns upon all beings. One day, the powers that be remove someone special from our lives and from that day forth, life is forever changed. It is what we do with the loss and how we handle the days to come that matters. February 21, 2014: I interview Shelby and Connor, facilitators of the Young-adult, Peer-supported, Greif Group, Co-sponsored and supervised by the Hospice of Anchorage and the University of Alaska Anchorage School of Nursing that caters to 18-30 year-old individuals. Christina, an intern of the Hospice of Anchorage and assistant of Shelby and Connor sums up the group: “We provide a…

  • Fiction

    Equanimity

    by Megan Baker Swirls of something and nothing flow as rivers of sand in my dreams, teasing me with little glimpses of him. My daydreams told me he would show up at the perfect moment, scoop me off my feet, and we would ride off into the sunset on a white stallion. Reality told me otherwise. My life was everything but ordinary. I spent my childhood battling aliens in distant galaxies, saving earth from the malicious wizards who use black magic to threaten the innocent, and brawling nasty ghouls who threatened to take away my superhuman abilities. On the shore society curse the brave sailors of the mind who dare…

  • Fiction

    Cosmos

    by Alexa Dobson Good evening, friends. My name is Neil DeGrasse Tyson, and I’d like to thank you for joining me for the thirteenth and final episode of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. Over the past twelve weeks, we’ve traveled through both space and time, exploring the depths of space, our own planet and even our minds. We know that the observable universe was born nearly fourteen billion years ago in a fiery explosion, and since then, countless stars and planets have coalesced into galaxies and solar systems not too different from our own. In our little corner of the universe, life has grown and flourished for thousands of millions of…

  • Nonfiction

    The Hired Gun

    by Mike Gordon There was a motorcycle gang in Anchorage named The Brothers in the early ‘70s.  Rumor had it that when one of them died the rest of them would cremate him, roll some of him into a marijuana joint and smoke him.  Now that’s taking brotherly love to an all new high. In the early 1970’s someone in the gang got the bright idea of teaming up with the Hell’s Angels, which they did, so then we had The Brothers roaring around town in Hell’s Angels colors.  If they decided to visit your bar they would typically hang in a group and intimidate everyone else in the place,…

  • Nonfiction

    Drinking = Glamorous?

    by Tara Bales Drinking is widely considered, and referred to in the entertainment industry as, cool. Whether it’s a teen house party scene in a movie where all partygoers are clinging to / chugging from red Solo cups, country songs whose sole purpose is the celebration of the aforementioned cups, or websites like Texts from Last Night that alternately mock and salute what is more often than not alcohol-fueled behavior, we as a society generally glorify and add an almost shiny luster to the antics of one who has consumed alcohol to excess. Professional athlete and celebrity “role models” convicted of DUIs are given a slap on the wrist and…

  • Poetry

    The Irish Sweepstakes

    By Sarah Felder Snow now is only means of weathered transport: Sleep in hinged places just so I can See the bricked fire char and breathe, Lighting the burgundy flooring. I wrote this letter a generation ago; When all those lit Augusts were Nothing but spruce, spurs, spinning And growing up and over on the Chain- link. I wasn’t in the light then because I didn’t understand the destiny of being Born in the first place: I hadn’t re-taught my youngdom To begin again. I contemplate your breathing beats, What they were when I was young: The flaws in our own ticking machines, My dinner to the floor, rocking my…

  • Poetry

    Fool’s Paradise

    by Édouard Ruess Rotor blades pierce the January breeze loud enough to shatter my nightmare. Realizing the untruth that controlled my mind, The night is blocked.So starts another day at war. As the vibrations fade, my eyes struggle to regain perception. In their success, I once-over my room. Every morning, wagering my life against death, I walk out the door. The sharp breath of earth fills my lungs, Awakening every muscle in my body. I never thought the clause I signed Would have landed me here. Anticipation builds for the return home. A fool’s paradise remains my home, Until a birds view of the city reflects in my gaze. [divider]…

  • Nonfiction

    Dream of Fish

    By Jenn Baker We soared over great volcanoes in the Aleutian Range. From my peephole, I watched the land ripple off into grassy tundra. I took a breath. I could do this. I could live, survive, on my own. We landed on the runway in King Salmon. I walked out on the tarmac into a rough looking building, into a large white-walled room, its rows of orange vinyl chairs split to the foam, leading to large shabby check-in desks for the post-apocalypse. The commercial fishermen had followed the Salmon migration north to King Salmon, on the banks and flats of Bristol Bay. They stayed in town or flew out to…

  • Nonfiction

    Silugtua Sugt’stun (I’m Happy to Speak the Sugpiaq Language)

    by John Yakanak Reflecting on the growth of the Anchorage Sugpiaq language group, my journey so far has proved to be challenging, exciting, trying, and filled with blessings; the experience tested my resolve and further built my character. The adventure began when I was asked if I would be willing to start a Sugpiaq-Alutiiq language program here in Anchorage. Seeing only some of the challenges ahead and moving forward on faith and determination rather than experience, I began making calls. With different organizations doing their part to initiate a program, the Anchorage Sugpiaq-Alutiiq language preparations came together. As an Alaska Pacific University student, I was fortunate enough to incorporate the…

  • Fiction

    Semi-Permeable Membrane

    by Gabby Brandner I sat at the oak table, lost in the pattern of the wood and only vaguely aware of my wife’s distant silhouette as she brewed a pot of Seattle’s Best; it was her favorite, but to me, it was just another variation of an ordinary beverage. I heard the scrape of the metal spoon as she shoveled generous teaspoons of coffee into the filter and my mouth was filled with the taste of citrus. All of it brought me zooming back to that awkward post-adolescent idealistic phase, where I drank coffee to play the part of whoever I thought I was and assumed the role of a…