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Filipinos and Filipino Americans have more than 200 years of history in Alaska, but there is only one book that tells our story. It's called "Filipinos in Alaska, 1788-1958," written by the late former Alaska state Rep. Thelma Buchholdt, who herself made history. Buchholdt was the first Asian American and Filipino elected to the Alaska Legislature, and the first Filipina elected to any state legislative body. October is Filipino American History Month, which has been officially recognized in...
To us she'll always be the Red Rocket. To the rest of the world, she is a red 2011 Toyota Sienna minivan. We bought her 13 years ago, already a couple of years old, at the Avis used car lot out by the airport in Anchorage. The Red Rocket served us well all these years. It never had a major mechanical problem and it didn't use or leak oil. This is what happened: Christy and I are in pretty good health but we got older. Reaction times are a bit slower. Vision is a little less sharp. The mind...
Q: Recently, I've read about people identifying as "Spiritual But Not Religious" (SBNR). What does that mean? A: As we age, maintaining physical strength, balance and mobility is essential, but cultivating a positive outlook is equally vital. A recent Pew Research Center study (July 2023–March 2024) highlights how Americans view spiritual and religious self-descriptions: 21% Spiritual but not religious 53% Spiritual and religious 5% Religious 21% Neither spiritual nor religious Spirituality is a...
Dear Savvy Senior, Since my dad passed away last year, my 82-year-old mother has struggled to keep up with her bills. She’s proud and insists on doing things herself, but I worry she’s falling behind. How can I help her manage her finances without upsetting her? - Concerned Daughter Dear Concerned, You’re not alone – lots of adult children step in to help aging parents with their finances. Whether it’s paying bills, handling bank accounts, filing insurance claims, or sorting through taxes, taking on these responsibilities can feel tricky. T...
Former North Slope Borough Public Defender Rebecca Wright Stevens has published a memoir "Sisters of the Midnight Sun" that details her life in Utqiagvik (Barrow), her relationship with an Iñupiat man, the drinking parties she attended and one time hosted, and the horrific double murder of two local sisters where she defends one of the suspects. I am in the unusual position of having reported on the same case when I was editor of The Arctic Sounder covering the North Slope. I am also mentioned...
Securely snug in her Midcoastal Maine home during last year's late-fall chill, Alicia Malone settled in for another approaching snowy New England winter. This time, however, she found not only warmth beside the glow of the crackling wood fire but also inspiration-as she planned a murder. In the following weeks, the Australian transplant would juggle a laptop, sheets of printout drafts, and steaming cups of tea while her pair of golden retrievers looked on as she carefully wove together clues,...
I had this month's column all planned out, and all I needed to do was commit it to paper. But then Dolly Parton died. The passing of the "Queen of Country" is still fresh as I write this, and there is not a great deal of information available, but what we know so far is encouraging. Dolly had said that she did not want to leave a mess for her loved ones after she was gone, and it appears likely she didn't. Dolly Parton was one of the most generous and, according to just about everybody who ever...
Q. What is one of the best Nintendo games I might not know about? A. Nintendo Online is a subscription service that gives every Nintendo Switch owner access a vast library of classic games. I would start there. Decades ago, before the Switch and Wii, was GameCube, which had a relatively short life but some amazing titles. The older Zelda games are there, along with a large library of other popular games from classic Nintendo consoles. Not long ago Nintendo Online expanded into GameCube games, including Zelda’s WindWaker, and the hidden gem, S...
Each fall, a sudden symphony, as a gaggle of estate planning professionals in V-formation transit National Estate Planning Awareness Week (NEPAW) and trumpet the accessibility of estate planning, Oct. 19-25. Estate planning provides the opportunity to reflect on what we give versus what we leave behind. Giving implies active, intentional action. You can't wing it. Planning with a giving mindset is a choice to demonstrate your family values, acknowledge a stroke of fortune, or fledge a lifelong p...
Grief is not a problem to be solved. It is the natural response to losing someone we love, and it arrives whether we invite it or not. Yet many of us treat it as something to get through quickly, or worse, to avoid altogether. We stay busy. We tell ourselves we are fine. The trouble is that grief does not disappear when it is ignored. It waits. Unspoken sorrow often surfaces months or years later as restlessness, exhaustion, irritability, or a sadness with no clear source. Avoiding grief does not make it smaller. It only delays the work. Grief...
As people approach age 65, we hope they are thinking about retirement, Social Security benefits and how they want to spend the next chapter of life, not where they are going to lay their head. Yet in Anchorage, 361 of our neighbors age 65 and older experienced homelessness last year. And many others faced the scary prospect of being without a safe, stable place to live. The good news? The number dropped by more than 20% between 2023 and 2025. Our community also has been expanding resources for those 55 and older, such as the In Our Backyard...
Dear Editor: I was so interested to read the article from Lawrence Weiss about driving around Europe (and beyond) in the late ’60s and early ’70s. I was living in England at the time and spent some time in Morocco with Minitrek (another similar organization to Encounter Overland). Basically, we drove around the country camping out in the desert, sometimes just on the ground as we didn't feel like putting the tents up, and at other times we all bunked in small cheap hotels to have a bit of comfort — and a shower! Several friends did similar trip...
Artificial intelligence is a rapidly growing technology with a wide variety of uses. An increasingly popular use of generative AI is as a form of mental health support. The temptation is real, as one college student, Violet, found out. "I try to avoid AI as much as possible. If I can use my own brain, I want to use my own brain. Except when it comes to venting. There have been periods of my life where I was in a very, very, very dark place with nobody to really talk to, who weren't going to...
Q: Why do I sometimes feel an instant connection with someone I've just met? A: It is common to feel an instant connection with someone you barely know. This phenomenon occurs when we recognize familiar personality traits, body language, or communication styles that make us feel understood and safe. Your brain subconsciously detects subtle cues-a specific tone of voice, a facial expression, or a unique mannerism-that put you at ease. When these nonverbal signals feel recognizable and intuitive,...
Claude, you are an artificial intelligence (AI) product created by Anthropic, but what does that mean? Who or what would a user be communicating with? I'm a large language model, which is a fancy way of saying I'm a very elaborate pattern-matching system trained on an enormous amount of text: books, articles, websites, conversations. So, what are you actually talking to? Not a person. Not a database. Not a search engine, though I can search the web when I need current information. I don't have a...
Dear Savvy Senior, I turn 62 early next year and plan to retire soon after. Most advice says I should wait to claim Social Security because my monthly benefit will be higher. But with all the recent news about Social Security’s financial problems, I’m wondering if taking benefits early might be the safer choice. Is there ever a good reason to claim at 62? - Ready to Retire Dear Ready, You’re definitely not alone in asking this. The latest Social Security Trustees Report projects the retirement trust fund could be depleted around 2032 if Congr...
Q. Can Apple AirTags track my family pet? A. I recommend against AirTags for pet locations. AirTags depend on iPhones, and they only report their location every once in a while. They can work in some circumstances, but they are not the right tool most of the time. If you want to track your pet, use a GPS collar. The GPS I use is made by a company called Fi, and they have an entire line of trackers of different sizes and capabilities to fit different sized pets. They require a subscription, which might be a dealbreaker for some users. But the...
I was in an online discussion with another estate planner recently. She practices in Indiana, and she raised an issue which, for her, mostly related to family farms. We don’t have all that many farms up here in Alaska (a few, I know, but nothing like the Midwest), but I have seen the same issue come up regarding small businesses. Here’s the underlying problem: What do you do when you have a single asset which dwarfs the rest of the estate, and one kid wants to take it over? Here’s what I’m t...
Fifty years ago, a scrappy boxing film with a surprisingly low budget and starring a little-known starving actor knocked out star-laden productions such as "A Star is Born" and "All the President's Men" to win the coveted title of highest grossing film for 1976. "Rocky" went on to win three Oscars including Best Picture. Contributing to the film's success, some 80 minutes into the story, audience eardrums are pelted with one of the most stirring and memorable movie themes of the 20th century...
Dear Savvy Senior, I had a living will/advance directive prepared about 10 years ago documenting my end-of-life medical wishes, but I’ve read that these documents are often ignored. What can you tell me about this? - Troubled Tina Dear Tina, Yes, unfortunately, that can happen. Living wills aren’t always followed in practice, most often because the document isn’t available when it’s needed or never reaches the right people in time. They can also fall short because they aren’t medical orders, and the language may be too vague to guide doctors i...
First, I have to tell you a true story about maps. It may seem a bit far afield from the main event, turning 80, but I promise this story will wham! bang! collide with turning 80. In 1969 I was a wild and crazy guy in my early 20s careening around Europe to see what I could see. I was running out of money and decided to head to London from France thinking the job opportunities there would be better. I am compelled to note here that the border crossing was, uh, kind of rough. The English border...
By KAREN CASANOVAS For Senior Voice Q: I spend hours playing word games and puzzles on my phone. Could I be addicted? A: To determine if your online habits are an addiction, ask yourself: 1. Interference: Do I game during conversations, meals, or while working? 2. Emotional dependency: Do I feel irritable, restless, or anxious when away from my phone and cannot finish my puzzles? 3. Tolerance: Do I extend play to feel accomplishment or to chase a high score? 4. Failed control: Have I tried to...
August lacks a major holiday, as July and September do. But there’s lots to do across the state. Salmonfest is July 31-Aug. 2 in Ninilchik at the Kenai Peninsula Fairgrounds. It’s a weekend of live music, food, and family-friendly activities. One-day tickets are available..... The Alaska International Senior Games in Fairbanks is Aug. 7-16. https://www.alaskaisg.org/ …. Further south is the Sitka Blues Fest on Aug. 15.... The Blueberry Festival at Alyeska Resort in Girdwood is Aug. 15 and 16. There’s blueberry picking, crafts, music and foo...
Q. What are five simple tasks that everyone can and probably should do on a loved one’s smartphone? A. First, ask if your loved one has all their bank accounts accessible from their smartphone. If not, work with them to set up access. Most banking apps provide a place to name a beneficiary for the account. That simple task—adding beneficiaries to the account—allows you to pass ownership on funds quickly, which can help with final expenses. It may also make it easier for you to print bank statements and get a clear picture of their finan...
Most of us, or at least those of us who were old enough to watch grown-up TV in the 1970s, remember Rob Reiner as Michael Stivic, the liberal son-in-law of Archie Bunker on “All In The Family.” It’s easy to forget that after leaving the show he became a renowned movie director, with credits including “The Princess Bride,” “A Few Good Men,” “When Harry Met Sally,” and too many more to mention. But even after becoming such a prolific and well-respected director, people still mostly remembered...
