Tag: Events

Final Update on StoryCorps Unalaska!

Our "homemade" sign by the lovely Kristine.
Our "homemade" sign by the lovely Kristine.

Well, the Alaska Initiative of StoryCorps has officially ended.  Our equipment is boxed up, ready for shipment, and we are finishing up the paperwork that needs to accompany the last recordings.  A little snafu with the mailing – apparently for the way we want to mail the boxes, we should have used paper tape instead of reinforced tape.  Well…I am sure Kristine will get to the bottom of this!

We recorded 119 stories in Unalaska and Akutan.  That was 14 more than our official quota of 105.  When Kristine and I were first training, we thought that 105 was a number that we would surpass in a matter of weeks!  How wrong we were.  I have to give credit to my partner – the best – Kristine King – for her tenacity in enticing folks into the recording seats – week after week and month after month. 

The one and only!
The one and only!

We want to give a big thank you to KUCB, our partner in crime, who agreed to accept local recordings for editing and broadcast.  We thank the director and staff of the Unalaska City Library, for agreeing to be a local repository for the recordings, and for allowing us to use the Alaskana Room, on occasion, for recordings.  We are thankful for all of the help from April Pelkey and Darryl Pelkey in setting up our recordings in Akutan.  A huge THANK YOU to the groups who allowed us access and use of the AA room at the Burma Road Chapel.  Without your generousity of the use of the site, our goals would have been much harder to obtain.  We appreciate each and every minute that we spent there.  (Can you believe that on the last night of recording, we ran behind schedule, and actually were still there recording when our time ran out?  And we had such a perfect record!)  The use of the room was also a surprise icebreaker, as folks peeked their heads in the door, expecting an impromtu intervention.  Thanks for the laughs and the thought provoking decor.

MS

We thank our families for allowing us the freedom to take on this important project.  Especially, kids, grandkids, and husbands.  We thank our families, also, for those guilt and pity recordings that helped get us off to a great start!!  We thank Dave Isay and all of the staff at StoryCorps for hiring and working with us…yes we know we were a little unorthodox, but we can blame that on me and my bad influence on Kristine!  We met some incredible people through this project.  A huge shout out and thanks to the Unalaska blogging community for taking on the StoryCorps challenge early on in the project!

Last, and certainly not least, we thank each storyteller and their partner for braving the unknown and facing those obnoxious, intimidating microphones!  Thanks also for allowing Kristine and I the opportunity to get to know you a little better.  The tag line for StoryCorps is that listening is an act of love, and I have to say that our bonds to this community are even stronger (as if they weren’t strong before) for having been given your gifts of stories.

Kristine King, the strongarm, and Sharon Svarny-Livingston, the databaser.

You might live in Unalaska if…..

And now, by popular demand, the list presented by mc’s Kristine and Sharon at the Aleutian Arts Council Coffee House.  This list was lovingly crafted by Kristine and then massaged to perfection.

You might live in Unalaska if…..

  • You only go to seafood buffet when you have out-of-town guests
  • You can still smoke in a restaurant
  • You think it is normal for a playgound to sit adjacent to a propane farm
  • 75% of the sweatshirts you own were once door prizes
  • You are not confused why the Polar Bear Run does not have polar bears
  • Your graduating senior from UCSD earned more than you did last year
  • While on vacation,  your children don’t know to run inside for shelter during a rainstorm
  • You remember when the bars used to be on the “other side”
  • You don’t really expect to fly out on time, on schedule…or ever really
  • Once you fly, and each time after that, you find that you are more willing to ask the clinic for some assistance with your next flight
  • You’d rather not fly with Frank Kelty
  • You can pronounce Iliuliuk correctly:  “Town Creek” – right??
  • You get smacked by AB when you say you live in Dutch Harbor
  • You can quickly organize a VALID work-related field trip if the sun breaks out
  • While on vacation, you forget you can pull out in front of cars when entering traffic
  • You join Fire/EMS so you can drive fast…..and then resign when you learn that you still have to follow the speed limit
  • You’ve been on television
  • You had Wilma Adams as your Kindergarten teacher.  And then your kids had her.
  • You’ve been Annabelle Wilt’s go-to person for at least one project
  • You can’t count to “TWO-” “FIVE-” or even “TEN-” when followed by the phrase “-YEAR PLAN”

In all of her fiestiness, Kristine told me to add this if you don’t get the list, or don’t find each little item endearing:  you should probably, as soon as is humanly possible,  move away from Unalaska!

Waiting to exhale…

So…we had the first cruise ship of the season.  Naturally, it had to be a big one.  Having not done a cathedral tour since last September, a couple of days ago I got the chance to do a dry run.  I thought it would be a good idea to get the rust out – you know – remember all those dates and saints and Russian names.  So I agreed to do a little tour for a Headstart field trip.

Good Lord!  I never realized how many icons I don’t know.  The kiddos wanted to know “Who’s that?” for every icon they could see.  Thank God some of them were too far up for them to notice, or I would still be there.  It was wild, sweet mayhem, let me tell you.

We had 3 buses today, with about 50 passengers per bus – give or take a few.  Wait, let’s make that give a few.  There were loads of people.  My volunteers didn’t make it by the first bus, so I was ever so thankful that Cyri Petrova and her mother, Rufina, willingly lent a hand.  By the time the 2nd bus rolled around, my wonderful (at times, yes, I admit it) husband rolled in.  Caleb is a pretty good enforcer.  It is pretty important to us that people do not wander around the church by themselves, so, in the absence of my mother, the absolute enforcer, Caleb was great!

I always forget how exhausted I get doing tours.  I finally realized why I get that way, several years ago.  Let me tell you a secret.  It is damn hard being PERKY for 3 to 4 hours!  Oh, and I had to move all the huge planks that were used during Easter, plus the long back benches before the buses got there. 

All these red planks were piled in the St. Innocent chapel.
All these red planks were piled in the St. Innocent chapel.

So that got me a bit tired.  But it is that PERKINESS that does me in, for sure.

CB showed up with some folks who were doing video work.  I put a real downer on their plans when I had to let them know that since I didn’t have permission from the Bishop to film in the church, alas, no cameras.  They were very gracious.  And we had a good time talking before the 3rd bus showed up.  Great seeing you on this side, CB.

I am awaiting my new couch.  It was supposed to be delivered to Ashley Furniture in Anchorage on Thursday.  They will deliver it to ACE.  It didn’t come in today, and I don’t know yet if there is a plane tomorrow.  How disappointing.  If you knew that I have been without a couch since August, you would be disappointed for me, too! 

StoryCorps has less than a week of recording time left in the Alaska Initiative.  Kristine and I facilitated number 109 this evening with lovely storyteller Jane Bye, and interviewer Anne Hillman. 

Don’t forget to attend the Coffee House this Saturday at 7PM in the Burma Road Chapel.  Should be lots of fun.  I missed the board training provided by the City of Unalaska for non-profits due to my work and volunteer schedule.  Hopefully they will provide a training video.

Have a great weekend everyone!