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This month, we have two photos either entirely generated by AI or modified using AI. We want to be transparent and forthcoming with you about this. The cover photo we modified so that there is a bit more foliage present than in the original image. It helps us fill in the space we need to run this photograph. The second one is clearly labeled, and it was generated using Gemini, a popular AI platform on the internet. It goes with Lawrence D. Weiss’ story about using AI to try to find out more abou...
Editor's Note: National Centenarian's Day is Sept. 22. The day honors those who've celebrated 100 birthdays or more. We're publishing profiles of people who have hit this milestone. The Alaska Commission on Aging is working with the Governor's Office, Pioneer Homes and Long Term Care Ombudsman to celebrate Alaska's centenarians. If you know someone who is 100 or older and would like us to profile them, contact editor@seniorvoicealaska.comeditor@seniorvoicealaska.com. You can take the girl out...
Katie Chadwick got the idea last summer that she wanted to do the all-women Gold Nugget Triathlon, an event with origins in an early 1980s effort by moms to create sports opportunities for their daughters and other girls. Katie had been on what she describes as a “health journey,” and saw the Gold Nugget as an opportunity to demonstrate how she had become stronger and leaner. Her 60th birthday was coming up, and she wanted to set a goal to mark the moment. “I just had this idea that I wante...
Anchorage and Juneau will both host events in May to connect members of the community with resources about Parkinson's disease that are organized by the American Parkinson Disease Association. The event in Juneau is May 6 and it's an afternoon of information. The event in Anchorage is May 9 and it's all day. Both events are titled "Parkinson's today: A conversation on care, treatment and living well." There is also a Parkinson's Care Partner Education Day in Juneau on May 7. It's from 9:30 to...
This is the second in a series about people finding or rediscovering creative pursuits later in life. The reporting project is funded by a grant from the Alaska Center for Excellence in Journalism. If you have a suggestion of a person who has explored their artistic or creative impulses upon retirement or when other life demands lessened, email editor@seniorvoicealaska.comeditor@seniorvoicealaska.com. Frank Entsminger came to sculpting the hard way-through fire. A taxidermist by trade for...
I came across the Polish word przedwiosnie recently. The meaning is something like "pre-spring" or the time before spring. That's a perfect word for what we experience in the north, when the calendar says it's spring officially and our friends and family in the Lower 48 are showing off their daffodils or peonies or whatever happens to be blooming in their backyard. Up here, we have to look for more subtle signs of change as we endure more days of gray or decaying snow. Sure, the days are...
Editor's Note: National Centenarian's Day is Sept. 22. The day honors those who've celebrated 100 birthdays or more. We're publishing profiles of people who have hit this milestone. The Alaska Commission on Aging is working with the Governor's Office, Pioneer Homes and Long Term Care Ombudsman to celebrate Alaska's centenarians. This interview was made possible thanks to the Alaska Commission on Aging. Forgive Shirley Gordon if she doesn't tell you she's fine if you ask. "All my life people...
This is the first in a series about people finding or rediscovering creative pursuits later in life. The reporting project is funded by a grant from the Alaska Center for Excellence in Journalism. If you have a suggestion of a person who has explored their artistic or creative impulses upon retirement or when other life demands lessened, email editor@seniorvoicealaska.comeditor@seniorvoicealaska.com. David Brown looks like he is headed for a day of fishing when he takes a seat in a Midtown...
John Wood, 78, holds his own with teenagers on the ski trails. At the Tour of Anchorage ski race on March 8, he earned a seventh-place finish in the 25-kilometer classic event. "Youth will be served," Wood said, a day before he left to go to Talkeetna to ski the 50-kilometer ski race known as the Oosik. "My intent was to ski within myself," Wood said. "I'm not getting any younger." Because Anchorage had received a lot of fresh snow in the 48 hours before the race, times were slower than normal...
The Anchorage Genealogical Society's annual seminar will feature nationally known genealogy expert Judy Nimer Muhn on April 18. The seminar is from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Waldron Hall, 2222 E. Tudor Road. Muhn began her professional genealogical work in 1993. She has lectured at National Genealogical Society conferences, RootsTech, Federation of Genealogical Societies as well as conferences in Europe and around the United States. Traveling extensively around the worl...
My husband and daughter are avid cross-country skiers, but somehow my love of running never turned into a similar enthusiasm for snow sports. But one spring I decided I would sign up for the 25-kilometer Tour of Anchorage ski race. My sister-in-law, an adventurous young woman who pledged to do one thing outside her comfort zone every year-skydiving, stand-up comedy, trapeze artistry-had died a few months before. And maybe I was honoring her legacy by registering for an athletic event I had...
This year's Fur Rondy will be different in that there is now an Anchorage Mushing District arch over Fourth Avenue, marking the starting line for the Fur Rendezvous Open World Championship Sled Dog Race and the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, the state's most famous international event. The landmark was inaugurated in November 2025, and it was the culmination of a multi-year effort by led by Jim Huettl, the president of the nonprofit Anchorage Mushing District. "He was indefatigable," said Rod...
Many cold-weather cities have a winter carnival, and Anchorage is no different. Fur Rendezvous is Feb. 26-March 8 this year. The festival – informally called Fur Rondy or "Rondy" – is a significant part of the city's history and tradition. In the mid-1930s, Anchorage was a town of about 3,000 people that stretched between Park Strip and Ship Creek. Winters were long and with few of the modern-day entertainments we take for granted. Though it started as a way for trappers and hunters to show off...
The light is coming back, and that's a good thing. But if you're not instantly heartened by the returning light and are dreading the next few months of cold and dark, this is what I've learned about coping with winter. Get outside. It doesn't matter what the temperature is or how strong the wind is blowing. Make it a point to get outside. Ideally, you'll spend 20 minutes walking or doing more vigorous exercise. If you're less than mobile, can you stand on your porch and look at the stars on a...
Editor's Note: National Centenarian's Day was Sept. 22. The day honors those who've celebrated 100 birthdays or more. We're publishing several profiles of people who have hit this milestone this fall. The Alaska Commission on Aging is working with the Governor's Office, Pioneer Homes and Long Term Care Ombudsman to celebrate Alaska's centenarians. This interview was made possible thanks to the Alaska Commission on Aging. A lot of Alaskans of a certain era can recall driving up the Alcan, their...
Dan Kline is a retired UAA professor who is expecting his Affordable Care Act monthly premiums to rise from about $192 per month with government subsidies to $1,733 per month because the U.S. government is drastically reducing subsidies that helped Americans buy health insurance in the pandemic and post-pandemic era. Kline, who is a few months away from turning 65, has used the ACA for health insurance since COBRA coverage ended after he retired in 2021. “This is for an out-of-pocket total of a...
My Alaska family is small. It's just my husband, my daughter and me and an equal number of furry creatures in our household. Sometimes we eat with friends, but our celebration is usually a low-key affair. Oh, I'd like to have two dozen people over and make a big fuss. But large or small, Thanksgiving is still my favorite. Of all our holidays, it invites you to reflect on what really matters. And it does so at the start of a season that can feel vapid in its naked consumerism. I'm lucky. Or some...
A visit to Norma Alderfer's home shows a woman who is meticulous-in her recollections, her style, her graciousness. She welcomed two visitors on a sunny day in July dressed in blue pants and a cream-colored sweater with a matching necklace, her red lipstick on and a neat stack of letters and mementos ready to share. From Kansas to Alaska At 101, Norma can tell you all about her childhood in Arkansas City, Kansas, the beloved only daughter of a couple who raised a daughter to be a doer. She worke...
A person’s name might only appear in print once in their life unless they become famous—or infamous. We had the opportunity to get Esteline “Estie” Moe’s name correct in the September issue, but we flubbed it. I committed the cardinal sin in editing: I introduced an error. I tell my journalism and communications students to get it right, and to use accuracy checklists to help them do so. Then, in the same week I delivered that lecture, I found myself with a writer justifiably upset that I ha...
Opportunities for Lifelong Education, commonly known as OLÉ, has a full schedule of classes and activities this fall for Anchorage-based learners. In Fairbanks, a program through the University of Alaska Fairbanks also offers courses. Sandra Christopherson is one of the founders of OLÉ. She a group of friends thought Anchorage needed more opportunities for adult learners. They put together a nonprofit in 2007 with that aim, enlisting people known for getting things done, such as Gretchen B...
Amy Urbanus was already an assistant professor in the dietetics and nutrition program at the University of Alaska Anchorage but missed working with patients. So she started working with patients at the Anchorage Senior Activities Center, putting in about 20 hours a month to address seniors' nutrition needs. That work, and a professional career as a diabetes educator drove Urbanus to seek a Ph.D., which she is completing at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She designed her own...
On July 18, the Republican-led Congress agreed to roll back $1.1 billion already allocated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for the following two fiscal years. The funding serves as the basis for more than 1,500 public media stations around the country. In Alaska, there are 27 radio licensees. Both Rep. Nick Begich and Sen. Dan Sullivan voted in favor of the rescission bill. Sen. Lisa Murkowski voted against the rescission package. Sullivan was awarded the 2020 Champion of Public...
Even if you lose at the Alaska International Senior Games, you win. "If you like to laugh and you like to have fun," said Diann Darnall, the president of the Alaska International Senior Games board of directors. "This is for you." The AISG are coming up Aug. 8-17 in Fairbanks. And though the early-bird registration ended June 30, there is still time to enter. A qualifying event The AISG is a qualifying event for the National Senior Games, which this year takes place July 24-Aug. 4 in Des...
Laurel Downing Bill is early for a coffee date. She announces that she has already had two cups, even though it's only 9 o'clock. She takes a seat and waits for her less caffeinated companion. But it's not coffee that keeps Bill cranking out books about Alaska history. She brims with her own stores of energy and innate curiosity. Her secret? Listening to true crime shows while she writes. "I don't pay attention to it. But words come flowing out. Murder works." Last spring, Bill published her...
Wildland fire danger is growing across Alaska. A warm and dry winter has put fire officials on high alert and prompted residents in zones where wildland meets urban development to take precautions. "The wilderness surrounding us presents a significant fire risk," said Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance at a recent town hall about fire prevention efforts across the Municipality. "Our beautiful green spaces, while cherished, also mean that the risk of fire is ever present, even in our urban core. We...
