Sitka Sound Slayers
Dear Editor: Thank you, Slayer Fans! Last weekend the Sitka Sound Slayers hosted the Rat City Rollergirls’ Throttle Rockets. The Hames Center was packed when the final seconds of the game ticked by and the Slayers triumphed over the first team we have ever played from outside Alaska. That moment was HUGE for us, and we hope we made you all proud.
However, the feedback we received from some of the Throttle Rockets was even more impressive. They told us that we have the best fans they have seen. “Your fans cheered at the right time, they knew what was going on, they were excited and loud!’’ This wonderful town of Sitka has supported the Slayers in so many ways: you come to our fundraisers; you buy tickets to our games; you follow us on Facebook. Some of you are even wonderful enough to be a sponsor.
On behalf of the Sitka Sound Slayers we want to thank our fans, you are THE BEST! Thank you for everything, and we’ll see you next time we hit that flat track.
From the Board of Directors,
skaters, referees, non-skating
officials and volunteers
of the Sitka Sound Slayers
Quilters Auction
Dear Editor: The Ocean Wave Quilters guild is a wonderful group of generous, talented folks! Our recent 19th Annual Scholarship Auction is a testament to that! Featured in the auction were 26 miniature quilts all made by guild members; these quilts were sold through a secret auction process. A silent auction as well as an outcry auction were part of the evening as well.
The guild has many folks to thank for helping to make our evening so successful. Grace Harbor Church most graciously accommodates our meetings, including the auction. Raven Radio, Daily Sitka Sentinel, Sitka Soup, and KIFW are wonderful at getting the word out. Jill Scheidt at Abby’s Reflection and Quiltworks created an eye- catching window display. And community members Marg Parsons, Patty McPike and Jan Rogers generously donated items.
Working behind the scenes and helping to keep the evening running smoothly were Megan Pasternak, Nancy Young, Sabra Jenkins, Margie Esquiro, Marie Murray, Mary Levesque, Dana Pitts and Karen Boyer.
The Ocean Wave Quilt Guild is grateful to you, our community, for attending and supporting our event. Thanks to all who donated, attended, and purchased. Close to $2,900 was raised to be given in scholarships to Sitka students; both at the high school level for two graduating seniors; and at the elementary level through the Fine Arts Camp.
Annette Blankenship
Ocean Wave Quilters
Ship of Fools
Dear Editor: If you have noticed something being built on the shores of Sitka National Historical Park, a rickety type of ship or boat or raft, it is The Ship of Fools. I am an Australian writer/researcher connected with the Island Institute now returned to Sitka with my fiction writer niece Jesse Blackadder.
One day when we were walking in Totem Park, noticing all the logs and wood newly washed up on the beach, we decided to build a Ship of Fools. I originally developed the idea of the Ship of Fools about five years ago, beginning as an environmental sculpture built from wood washed down by a flooding river to the coast. I collected all that debris, mostly controversial logging offcuts from a sacred Aboriginal mountain, and so the boat project started to grow over about three weeks with beach walkers, dogs and kids all involved.
The Ship of Fools is like humanity at this moment, on a course with no idea of where we are going or what we can do, about climate change. No one is steering the ship and we are rudderless, knowing we are all in the same boat, with no escape.
The first Ship of Fools came from a book written in the 1500s about how foolish humans had become, in their waywardness from religion. In Renaissance Italy, mad or insane people were placed on ships to sail around and around the Mediterranean. People would flock to the wharves to see the ‘‘lunatics,’’ our human detritus.
When Jesse and I began building, we were lugging wet, heavy logs over slippery rocks, weaving smaller branches into the structure, dropping logs onto cold toes and finding special pieces to act as carved figureheads. It’s no easy task in these freezing conditions, and when the big snow dump hit, well, miraculously, the Ship of Fools became a transformed beauty, trashed somewhat by the iced high tides, but still enchanting, more like a phantom ship.
All cultures have their ‘‘flood’’ stories, of course, Noah and his ark being well known, but many Indigenous cultures hold stories too, of floods that transformed landscapes. The Tlingit hold one such story in this place, Sitka, I have been told.
In Australia, the Ship sculpture morphed into an interactive performance piece, where everyone in the theatre was given a voice, to express or not, issues of local and global significance.
If you would like to see the Ship of Fools, read out some of your own or others’ writing concerning climate change, help build the Ship some more, or if you would just like a casual chat over thick jackets, beanies and hot tea in a thermos, then turn up at the Ship from 2 to 3 p.m., near the Battle of Sitka site on Sunday, March 12.
Dr. Carol Birrell
Visiting Australian artist/writer/researcher
for the Island Institute
Have a Heart
Dear Editor: On behalf of Southeast Alaska Independent Living, I want to express our appreciation to the individuals and businesses who contributed to the success of the Have a Heart for SAIL dinner auction held Monday, Feb. 13 at Centennial Hall.
Special thanks is extended to Fireweed Dinner Service for their delectable catering, Baranof Brewing Company and Ludvig’s for their generous donations of beer and wine, SAFV for their donations of decorations, Blatchley Middle School shop for cutting of the hearts, as well as the Pioneer Mountain String Band for filling the evening with delightful music.
Thanks goes out to all of the artists and community members who shared their talent in creating unique works of art auctioned off for donations. Artists include (in no particular order): Misty Dawn Warren, Lynne Brandon, Eleyna Rosenthal, Pam Ash, Yvonne Heitzner, Ashia Lane, Marcy Frank, Stanley Schoening, Rilene Ann, Ed Pratt, Marie Yoon, Kelsey Kizer, Lola Hitchcock, Leah Murphy, Tiffany Justice, Avery Viator, Laura Kaltenstein and Emjay.
Furthermore, we cannot express our appreciation enough to the many volunteers who donated their time and resources to assist in ensuring the event ran smoothly. Thank you, Dave Nuetzel, Julia Smith, Danielle Cassedy, Gabriella Alarcon, Edie Leghorn, Michelle Bricker, Allie Gabbert, Claire Sanchez, Bob Pervis, Mike LaGuire, John Stein our energetic auctioneer and Dan Etulain for filming.
Have a Heart would not have been possible without all of your support. Thank you for continuing to believe that we can make a difference in our community by empowering elders and people with disabilities and inspiring personal independence for Sitkans of all ages and any disability.
Tiffany Justice,
Interim Program Director,
Southeast Alaska
Independent Living
Saturday School
Dear Editor: We would like to thank the members of the Sitka community who supported our recent Saturday School. We had students engaged in student-instructed activities ranging from Taiji fan dancing and ukulele to light painting and judo. Our apologies if we have forgotten to thank anyone, but we wish to specifically acknowledge the following for sharing their knowledge, time, and/or equipment with us: Keith Anderson, Jake Laduke, Hunter Littlefield, Seth Pook, Pacific High School, The SEER School, Larkspur Cafe, Rebecca Danon and Susea Albee. The students of MEHS had a memorable Saturday School thanks to you!
Video footage of the event is being collated for a Cutting Edge Newscast that can be found soon on the www.mehs.us homepage.
The Liberal Arts Department of
Mt. Edgecumbe High School
