Welcome to Interviews With Alaskans!

I am an Alaskan who enjoys interviewing other Alaskans.  I designed this project for an independent study in my journalism program and the website you’re reading now is the public forum where all the good bits will come out.

The good bits are stories, audio clips and pictures from all the people I’ve met since I started this crazy ride.  I’ve talked to some truly amazing Alaskans this summer who are making their own way forward using methods and motivations you would never expect.  My cast list is approaching 30 people now and I guarantee the good stuff.  But talking to them is easy – talking about it later and doing their stories any justice is much harder.

Don’t get me wrong, they all volunteered..  Each person I interviewed generously donated their trust, time and consent to being questioned, recorded and photographed by a complete stranger.  My only rule is that I can’t interview anyone I already know so almost all of these stories started with cold calls except for a few referrals from family and friends.

I’m sure it’s a bit odd to pick up the phone and hear an unfamiliar voice asking for an hour to talk, but in general the response was very positive.  Most people were flattered and curious.  And the others…  Well, they just didn’t call me back. =)

I started the interviews in mid-June and I’ve been adrift on a calmly incongruous sea ever since.  The gentle waves have carried me piano tuners and puppeteers, homesteaders and homeless guys, missionaries and mountaineers and even one historic Iditarod musher.

I hope you appreciate and enjoy these folks as much as I have.  I am humbled and delighted by the stories I’ve heard and the incalculable amount of talent, hope and generosity that exists in our local population.

Some of them were born here and some of them were reborn here, but they are all Alaskans now.  These are the stories of what it’s like and how it happened.

Except for the ones that aren’t.