‘Cruise Boom’
Dear Editor: Thank you to everyone who came to the screening of the ‘‘Cruise Boom’’ documentary last week. After the lights came on there were a lot of conversations around tables, a reminder, we think, of the value of continuing to stay engaged in the conversation about cruise ship tourism in Sitka.
Thank you so much to the Sitka Film Society for helping organize the event, to Paul Kraft and the University of Alaska Southeast, Sitka Campus, for co-hosting the screening and conversation afterwards and to our volunteer helpers and bakers.
We want to share our appreciation to everyone who’s participated in the film, shared their stories, perspectives and questions. We want to thank all the organizations, businesses and individuals that let us film their meetings and operations. It was a wild year or so of filming people at work, travel and play, be they locals or visitors in the sun and the storms.
It’s always an education to lift the hood on a realm you have no experience in. ‘‘Cruise Boom’’ is a film that starts in the summer of 2021 as the community prepared for a post-COVID rise in ships. One element that came with that starting point, that we had to both shorten and put on the cutting room floor, was a lot of behind the scenes footage of preparation and organization, roundtable meetings of the non-profit and profit attractions, bus and tour operators, plus hours of Assembly and planning meetings. Despite our edits, the film included something a Midwest college professor sees as unique for a documentary on tourism, that is;” a complicated planning processes and internal community negotiations.” He wants to use the film in a class on globalization, as a teaching tool that doesn’t lay the focus on the aftermath, but preparation beforehand and a sense of ongoing process and participation.
Look for our next local screening at the Coliseum Theater in mid-December.
Learn more at cruiseboomfilm.com
Ellen Frankenstein
and Atman Mehta
‘‘Cruise Boom’’ Directors
Artchange Inc., Sitka
Operation Shoe Box
Dear Editor: We wish to extend a warm thank you to everyone who donated to the Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child shoebox project this year. The Hames Corporation, Alaska Computer Center and Dr. Ross Marley made generous donations to help us fill the shoeboxes.
Additionally, hundreds of items from caring Sitkans, were packed into shoeboxes and taken to AML who once again graciously provided shipping to Juneau where all the shoeboxes from Southeast Alaska will be gathered together and shipped to Seattle for distribution worldwide.
Thank you also to all the folks at Calvary Chapel Sitka, Grace Harbor and Sitka Christian Center who packed their own boxes or donated to the 307 shoeboxes that Sitka shipped to Juneau!
In addition to receiving a Christmas shoebox – a first for many recipients – kids ages 2-14 will be introduced to Jesus, our reason for the season. To learn more about this project, you can search for Operation Christmas Child online.
Susan Jensen, Denise Klingler,
Operation Christmas Child
