FIFTH OPENING – The Sitka seine boats Hukilau and Rose Lee pump herring aboard this afternoon at the end of Deep Inlet during the fifth opening in the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery. The opening was being held in two locations beginning at 11 a.m. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
The future of management and operations at the Perform [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
The Sitka Sound commercial herring sac roe fishery continued today with open [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
After storming into the state 3A boys basketball brac [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
The Queen Bees’ spotless season record ended Tuesday night with a 2-1 loss [ ... ]
By SHIRLEY SNEVE
Indian Country Today
A major renovation at an Alaska museum to attract tourist [ ... ]
By CLAIRE STREMPLE
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A presentation about a jump in the number of inmate deaths in [ ... ]
By NATHANIEL HERZ
Northern Journal
Tribal and environmental advocates calling for a crackdown o [ ... ]
Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
March 26
At 2:10 p.m. a man e [ ... ]
Big Rigs Sought
For April 13
The 3 to 5 Preschool’s spring fundraiser and Big Rig event is happening [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
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By Sentinel Staff
The third opening in this year’s Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery was held Mon [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Sitka High’s Lady Wolves bounced back from an openi [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel ports Editor
Competing in the state 3A basketball tournament in Anc [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
Playing in a competitive division City League volleyball game Monday evening [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
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By NATHANIEL HERZ
Northern Journal
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By YERETH ROSEN
Alaska Beacon
In the language of the Gwich’in people of northeastern Alaska, [ ... ]
Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
March 25
At 7:48 a.m. a calle [ ... ]
Vietnam-Era Vets
Invited to Lunch,
Commemoration
American Legion Post 13 will host a luncheon 1-3 p.m. [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
The 2024 Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery got under [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Assembly will start the annual process of determi [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
Competing in the 3A state championship title basketball game Saturday, the M [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
Playing through the afternoon Sunday, City League volleyball teams faced off [ ... ]
Daily Sitka Sentinel
Selkie Zine Puts Sitka on Literary Map
By HENRY COLT
Sentinel Staff Writer
The publishers of the Selkie Zine sent out a call for submissions Tuesday for their 10th issue: “The Blue Selkie”.
Readers may wonder: What is a selkie? And what is a zine?
Ellie Schmidt and Annika Ord, a pair of twenty-somethings who co-publish the Selkie Zine as a side-gig, say a zine (pronounced ZEEN) is an informal magazine that’s available for cheap, distributed mostly by hand, and flies in the face of national magazines and their corporate structures.
Ord says a selkie is a seal-woman from Scottish folklore who spends most of her time in the ocean but occasionally comes to shore as a human to carry out certain agendas such as stealing the hearts of fishermen.
“But they’re always called back to the sea,” added Ord.
Selkie Zine publishers Ellie Schmidt and Annika Ord sport Selkie face paintings. (Photo provided)
The Selkie’s Coat
Four years ago, around the time they watched an animated film called “Song of the Sea” (about a family of lighthouse keepers whose female members turn out to be selkies), Ord and Schmidt started snorkeling together.
Ord likened the thick wetsuits worn while snorkeling to a selkie’s coat – a glowing garment that a selkie wears as a seal but sheds in order to become human.
But a selkie can’t survive for long without her coat, so Ord and Schmidt spent a lot of time in the ocean that winter among the baby-blue anemones, pearlescent jellyfish and purple octopi that Schmidt would sometimes photograph.
Then they started calling each other selkies.
Then they started calling their female friends selkies.
Then, after a short-lived moment of “AAAA! That sounds crazy!” they published the first selkie zine: the Rough Selkie. It had nine submissions from Sitka friends and a simple sketch of a selkie on the cover.
“As inclusive as possible”
Since “The Rough Selkie,” Schmidt and Ord have published “The Sweaty Selkie,” “How Do You Love This World,” “The Fresh Selkie,” “The Stormy Selkie,” “The Soft Selkie,” “The Hairy Selkie” and “The Secret Selkie,” using a website that offers do-it-yourself publishing services. Each bound issue has a glossy cover and full-color illustrations.
Though the most recent issues generated submissions from around the country and world – and though Schmidt and Ord even briefly hired a publicist (which they laugh about) – the core values of the Selkie Zine remain: everything gets published, nothing gets edited (unless requested by a submitter), no one gets paid, everyone has fun.
“We don’t want to publish things based on artistic or literary merit,” Schmidt said. “We want it to be more of, like, an open colloquium of people with different voices and different experience or training in writing and art.”
“It’s anti-big publication culture,” said Ord. “We want to be as inclusive as possible.”
Ord says they would like to see submitters work outside established art forms like poetry or drawings. She would like to see recipes, potions, or anything with lots of tape. She said she would even welcome a collection of used Band-Aids.
“Honestly, that would make a great submission!” said Schmidt, of the Band-Aids.
The Selkie List
They say the email chain for the Selkie Zine is called the Selkie List, but recently the Selkie List has become a platform for conversations that seem unrelated to selkies or zines.
Politics has been discussed. So has birth control. Schmidt thinks one email thread contains more information on I.U.D.’s than any website on the internet.
People of all genders who want to join the Selkie List – or submit something for the Blue Selkie – should email Selkiezine@gmail.com.
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20 YEARS AGO
March 2004
Matthew C. Hunter of Sitka recently returned from Cuba as part of a St. Olaf College International and Off-Campus Studies program. Hunter, a junior physics major at St. Olaf College, is the son of Robert and Kim Hunter of Sitka.
50 YEARS AGO
March 1974
Eighth graders have returned from a visit to Juneau to see the Legislature. They had worked for it since Christmas vacation ... Clarice Johnson’s idea of a “White Elephant” sales was chosen as the best money-maker; Joe Roth won the political cartoon assignment; highest government test scorers were Ken Armstrong, Joanna Hearn, Linda Montgomery, Lisa Henry, Calvin Taylor and David Licari .....