In the wake of the storm

Last November, storms brought exceptional damage to some of the communities we serve. Two separate storm systems in the Bering Sea – severe, in large part, because of their strong winds, high seas, and potential for coastal flooding – ripped through our region in less than a week. While Nome saw some relatively moderate damage, […]

From Alaska to Russia, with love

News director Laureli Kinneen was able to take advantage of an incredible opportunity this fall: to report, on location, from an international conference in Anadyr (AH-nuh-deer), a city in the northeastern Russian region of Chukotka (choo-COAT-kuh). The gathering – The Beringia Days International Conference – brought together researchers and cultural representatives from both sides of […]

Elder Voices: Harriet Penayah, Part Three

This series features Yupik Elder Harriet Penayah. Listen to the previous episode here. Harriet Penayah stays active in her community. The 80 year-old elder teaches children native drumming and dance. She also recently opened up her home to her community’s youth. Savoonga has no teen center. After the “hang-out place” closed down, Harriet saw teens […]

Elder Voices: Harriet Penayah, Part Two

This series features Yupik elder Harriet Penayah. Listen to the first episode here. For most of her life, Harriet Penayah worked as a health aide in Savoonga. She tended to the wounded and sick within her community, stitching up cuts, transfusing blood, and even delivering twins. There were no doctors in Savoonga. No nurses. But Harriet says […]

Elder Voices: Harriet Penayah, Part One

This episode is the first of a three-part series featuring Yupik elder Harriet Penayah. When Harriet Penayah was growing up in Savoonga in the 1930s, the Alaska native village looked much the same as it does today. “No igloos,” she says, “no sod houses.” Just wooden-frame homes clustered above the black sandy beach. But, she says, […]