For this episode, we picked stories and poems that intimately professed our individual relationships with grief and loss. Storytelling has always been an intrinsic part of processing grief. It allows us to recollect the memories of a loved one, to learn about the parts of ourselves that maybe we hadn’t given much attention to. It allows us to build emotional connections with our listeners, who- I believe- will always be able to see themselves in the story being shared.
We hear from Colin Warren sharing a poem honoring a departed local, Jason Esler; Jeremy Pataky sharing a poem reflecting on the loss of our glaciers; Sabrina Simon shares a story in prose about losing her son Jude; and Katy Etterman shares a story about the grief she experienced during her professional career as an acrobat.

Quotes by Martin Prechtel (Grief as Praise), Francis Weller (The Wild Edge of Sorrow) and poem by Rosemary Wahtola Trommer (For When People Ask).

Special thanks to Cole Pampe and Richard Atmo for contributing their original music. You can hear Richard's original track here as well as hear more of his music on Bandcamp.

Visit our website at wrangells.org, or stay connected to us through facebook.com/wrangells or Instagram @wrangellmountainscenter.

This episode tells stories of injury, embarrassments and debacles all with a comedic twist. Why are injuries and mistakes so funny? Maybe we'll never know for sure, but in the meantime, we'll keep laughing.
We hear from Julie Truskowski, Monte Montepare and Jon Erdman.
Special thanks to Cole Pampe for contributing his original music. 

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In this episode, we talk with Jenny Rosenbaum about how she found McCarthy, why she made a home here, and we also asked her to give us the scoop on the cannabis shop that she is opening in McCarthy next summer.

Visit our website at wrangells.org, or stay connected to us through facebook.com/wrangells or Instagram @wrangellmountainscenter.

In this episode, we talk with local climate and social activist, Cassidy Austin-Merlino about climate and social justice issues, working to stop the Pebble Mine, how to make the outdoors more inclusive, and the steps our remote community can take toward solutions.

Visit our website at wrangells.org, or stay connected to us through facebook.com/wrangells or Instagram @wrangellmountainscenter.

Dr. Margot Higgins, Associate Teaching Professor at the University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse shares thoughts and ideas from her research and writings challenging our conventional story about the presence or absence of the Ahtna-Athabascan people in the Kennicott River Valley. She explains why radical empathy may be the way forward to relating with this story in a new way.

Visit our website at wrangells.org, or stay connected to us through facebook.com/wrangells or Instagram @wrangellmountainscenter.

Steve Edwards tells the story of his mom’s pride and joy 49 Chevy, and the epic journey it took getting it to McCarthy in 1963. His father, Jim Edwards, was renown for his feats of daring, but the story of Jim getting this car to McCarthy when there was only a railroad bed, is truly one for the history books! 

Visit our website at wrangells.org, or stay connected to us through facebook.com/wrangells or Instagram @wrangellmountainscenter.

Professional storyteller Jack Dalton talks about The Other Side of Storytelling with WMC’s Executive Director, Jon Erdman. This is Part Two of a lively discussion on the inner experience of being a storyteller, the power stories have to deliver tough messages in difficult places, and the wider definition of storytelling. 

Visit our website at wrangells.org, or stay connected to us through facebook.com/wrangells or Instagram @wrangellmountainscenter.

In this episode, professional storyteller, Jack Dalton, talks with WMC’s Executive Director, Jon Erdman, about the art of storytelling and the power of story. Jack has traveled the world telling stories and competing in storytelling events. In this interview, he discusses what makes a good story, how stories come to him sometimes right as he’s walking on stage, and shares his perspective on our town and Tall Tales event. His hearty laugh and keen perspectives make this conversation lively and enlightening. 

Visit our website at wrangells.org, or stay connected to us through facebook.com/wrangells or Instagram @wrangellmountainscenter.

In this episode, Tom Kizzia takes us into the 1983 shootings in McCarthy that killed six of the town’s 22 residents. He focuses on Amy Ashenden, a lesser known victim of the shootings. We continue our conversation with author, Tom Kizzia, discussing his new book titled, Cold Mountain Path: The Ghost Town Decades of McCarthy-Kennecott, Alaska. In his book, Tom preserves the  “Lost Years” of 1938-1983, and creates an opportunity to talk about these stories and how they impact the community. In our interview with Tom about his book, two themes emerged: how we approach and process the past (Part One), and in this episode we tie it together with reflections from Tom on Amy Ashenden’s life journey and her discoveries of impermanence.

Visit our website at wrangells.org, or stay connected to us through facebook.com/wrangells or Instagram @wrangellmountainscenter.

In our first episode of Season Two we explore the Ghost Town decades of our Kennecott-McCarthy community in remote Alaska by way of an interview with author Tom Kizzia and his new book, Cold Mountain Path: The Ghost Town Decades of McCarthy-Kennecott, Alaska. We discuss ghost towns and what that means as a metaphor, not just about the past but about how we process the past. Along the way we explore the harrowing stories and reflections of Jim Edwards as well as our community's relationship with the Ahtna people and culture that predate the arrival of white development by millennia. 

Visit our website at wrangells.org, or stay connected to us through facebook.com/wrangells or Instagram @wrangellmountainscenter.

When Papa Pilgrim came to town, back in the early 2000s, tensions flared, bringing to a head decades of conflict between the National Parks Service and the community of private land holders in the Wrangell Mountains. With SWAT teams descending on the tiny town of McCarthy, the Pilgrim fiasco grabbed national headlines and ignited a nation-wide political mobilization. 

Behind the scenes, though, Sally would work with patience and collaboration to help bring about a shift that would change the perspective and culture of the National Parks Service and the McCarthy community, a positive change that would long outlast Papa Pilgrim. Her collaborative approach represents the values we hold dear at the Wrangell Mountains Center and it provides hope as we navigate contemporary tensions and new conflicts.

Visit our website at wrangells.org, or stay connected to us through facebook.com/wrangells or Instagram @wrangellmountainscenter.

In the face of great personal loss, Irish photographer Paul Scannell leaves London behind and eventually finds his way to the Wrangells in remote bush Alaska. Skipping his flight home, Paul is drawn to the crumbling, abandoned places in the Wrangells and the stories that these remains suggest.

We discuss Paul’s journey. We talk iPhones and photography, and we hear Paul reading from his new book, Abandoned Alaska: Copper, Gold, and Rust (2020).

Visit our website at wrangells.org, or stay connected to us through facebook.com/wrangells or Instagram @wrangellmountainscenter.

Throughout this episode we take a look at the ways in which we experience being in relationships- with ourselves and with others. These stories and poems speak to the good, the bad, the ugly, and the in between of what it’s like to be in love, to be a friend, to be a first date and to be broken-hearted. We hear from Owen Mozen, Laura (a visitor from Talkeetna), Sabrina Simon and Mike Murphy.

Special thanks to Cole Pampe and Graham_Makes for contributing their original music.

You can listen to the track provided by Graham_Makes here

Visit our website at wrangells.org, or stay connected to us through facebook.com/wrangells or Instagram @wrangellmountainscenter.

Shaped by the wilderness and the lawless town of McCarthy Alaska in the 1970s, Sally Gibert lived the frontier life in Alaska then went on to found a significant and impactful nonprofit and eventually helped shape the map of the state of Alaska. This is part one of two parts, exploring Sally's early adult life in the frontier town of McCarthy as she navigates local culture, faces the challenges of keeping warm during one of McCarthy's coldest winters, and engages with the grief of a town in the aftermath of a violent shooting. Part two explores Sally's state-wide impact through her work on land policy.

Visit our website at wrangells.org, or stay connected to us through facebook.com/wrangells or Instagram @wrangellmountainscenter.

Ben reflects on the ongoing natural cycles of catastrophe, regrowth and regeneration that he discovers as he walks through two stories from the Wrangells: an epic story of dinosaurs and deep time, and a story about the last hundred years in the McCarthy community. Ben's insights and contemplative cadence provide a much-appreciated perspective, a perspective that opens up a space for hope during times of tension and turmoil….

Visit our website at wrangells.org, or stay connected to us through facebook.com/wrangells or Instagram @wrangellmountainscenter.

We have an amazing line-up of well-known McCarthy residents including Barb Rice, Mark Vail, Mike Murphy, Michelle Latvala and Wendy Pollock featured in our second episode, McCarthy Made.

This episode speaks to the many ways in which McCarthy residents experience their home, from their discovery of this eccentric place, what it means to be a neighbor, to the meaningful ways in which they reflect on their experiences here.

Special thanks to Cole Pampe and Graham_Makes for their original music. As well as Brian Moore.

You can listen to the track provided by Graham_Makes here.

Visit our website at wrangells.org, or stay connected to us through facebook.com/wrangells or Instagram @wrangellmountainscenter.

 This episode features hand-picked stories and poems told by McCarthy locals and visitors throughout our 2023 summer programming including our Wrangell Mountain Storytelling Festival and our bi-weekly Word Jam events. These poems and stories speak to the profoundly integral relationship we humans each have with mother nature. We hear from Katy about her love of the natural world; from Mike about his relationship with mountains; from Krista on her love of trees; and from Luis about how he views the reciprocity of putting love into the Universe. 

Visit our website at wrangells.org, or stay connected to us through facebook.com/wrangells or Instagram @wrangellmountainscenter.

Episode 5 is our last episode of the season in this storytelling series and features two stories told at the West Side venue. Madz shares a poignant, vulnerable story about a friend, and Nik Merlino, our host and sponsor for the West Side event - the owner of McCarthy River Tours & Outfitters and The Glacier View Campground - tells a story about a sitcom-like moment in life with Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski.

Production Credits:

Jon Erdman: Producer, host, episode writer, and Wrangell Mountains Center Executive Director

Michelle McAfee: Host, episode writer, editor, audio engineer

Music Attribution:

Swamp Picker by Adam Wheeler 

http://www.audiomicro.com  / License

Acoustic Fingerpicking 10 by Independent Music Collective

https://freemusicarchive.org/music /License

Visit our website at wrangells.org, or stay connected to us through facebook.com/wrangells or Instagram @wrangellmountainscenter.

This season's podcast series features handpicked stories from the 2022 Storytelling Festival in Kennicott-McCarthy.

Episode 4 features two stories from the west side during the twilight time of night as the light was starting to dim on that glorious evening in August at the Glacier View Campground. Folks began stepping up to the mic and sharing stories about sex, love, romance…and Justin Bieber. It was quickly dubbed “The Blue Hour.”

West Side resident Sophie Littee shares a story about a solo outing in Anchorage one winter evening that led to an intriguing opportunity crossing her path. And Brooke Harrington tells of a serendipitous experience in a Los Angeles sex shop with Justin Bieber.

Credits:

Jon Erdman: Producer, host, episode writer, and Wrangell Mountains Center Executive Director

Michelle McAfee: Host, episode writer, editor, audio engineer


Music Attribution:

Swamp Picker by Adam Wheeler 

http://www.audiomicro.com  / License

Policy King by Heftone Banjo Orchestra / License

Visit our website at wrangells.org, or stay connected to us through facebook.com/wrangells or Instagram @wrangellmountainscenter.

Everyone loves a good Alaska bear story, and local McCarthy resident Dianne Milliard delivers a series of short stories that speak to the theme of Carnivore Karma. And also in this episode, Madz  opened the storytelling festival at the Old Hardware Store with a story about her father and the San Fransisco Zoo, setting the tone for the entire 3-day event.

Produced by:
Jon Erdman - Producer, host, episode writer, and Wrangell Mountains Center Executive Director

Michelle McAfee - Co-host, episode writer, editor, audio engineer

Music by:
Swamp Picker by Adam Wheeler / http://www.audiomicro.com
Sally In the Garden Sifting Sand by Black Twig Pickers and Steve Gunn

Visit our website at wrangells.org, or stay connected to us through facebook.com/wrangells or Instagram @wrangellmountainscenter.

This podcast series features handpicked stories from the 2022 Storytelling Festival in Kennicott-McCarthy - three days of grassroots stories, from local and visiting storytellers. This series explores some of the magic of that in-person event, from the Old Hardware Story in historic downtown McCarthy, and the Glacier View Campground on McCarthy’s west side. 

The first story comes from  Amy Holonics whose telling is a tribute to her father and their shared family roots in Hungary. She shares an experience from a time when life took her to the land of her ancestors where her father’s past was uncovered and an unfortunate twist of fate ends up having some unexpected happy consequences.

In the second story, we go from an unexpected family reunion in Hungary to a Florida Popeyes Fast Food Drive-Thru. This is a story from the lockdown, a pandemic parable, if you will, with a twist at the end. Emma Stimpson is trained in theater, so she was riffing off of the energy that night, and  delivered an energetic performance of her story. 

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Production Credits:

Jon Erdman - episode writer, host, producer, and Executive Director of the Wrangell Mountains Center.

Michelle McAfee - host, episode writer and audio engineer.

Visit our website at wrangells.org, or stay connected to us through facebook.com/wrangells or Instagram @wrangellmountainscenter.

Season 3 of our End of the Road Podcast Series features handpicked stories from the 2022 Storytelling Festival in Kennicott-McCarthy. The Wrangell Mountains Center hosted 3 days of grassroots storytelling that summer, featuring local and visiting storytellers.

In this episode, storytelling contest winner Bill Mann brought the house down and had us in stitches with his animated rendition about a Copper River fishing trip with his brother-in-law, our very own, Howard Mozen.

And Nancy Cook captivated the Old Hardware Store audience with her distinctive Nancy Cook style, telling of a magical Riversong trip with fellow artists down the Copper River.

Jon Erdman – Producer, host, episode writer, and Wrangell Mountains Center Executive Director.

Michelle McAfee – Co-host, episode writer, editor, audio engineer.

www.wrangells.org

Visit our website at wrangells.org, or stay connected to us through facebook.com/wrangells or Instagram @wrangellmountainscenter.