Peter's Publisher

John Shoenbar never deserved to have a school named after him. Back in January I went to the Ketchikan City Council and proposed that Ketchikan's flag should be revised or replaced . Now I'd like to offer up another suggestion for the community that no one will probably pay any attention: Schoenbar Middle School should change its name. There are only two schools in the Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District named after people—Houghtaling Elementary School and Schoenbar Middle School. Houghtaling was opened in 1961 and named after longtime school board member and local education supporter Bert Houghtaling. The middle school’s name was selected a few years later in 1964. According June Allen , the name Schoenbar was chosen because, ironically, the decision makers at the time did not want to name another school after a person—so they named it after its location on Schoenbar Road. Naming the middle school after Schoenbar Road, however, effectively named it after John Sho...

A few months ago, I read this article about a presentation by the Ketchikan Gateway Borough's new manager, Ruben Duran. Near the end, the article states the following: I have to admit, this statement annoyed me a little. As a 26-year-old raised in Ketchikan who returned to living and working here as an adult, I believe there's a shortage of people my own age on the island, not people my parents' age. It seems to me that Ketchikan should prioritize attracting Millennials—young working people who will counterbalance the increasing number of residents who are retirement age or older. Over the last few years, media outlets have highlighted how Southeast has become the oldest region in Alaska, even calling the phenomenon a "silver tsunami." (See here and here .) Apparently, the biggest factor behind this trend is that older people are now better able to keep living in Southeast, rather than being forced to move elsewhere out of necessity, as often happened in ...

I made the following proposal to the Ketchikan City Council this evening, and KRBD Radio mentioned it in this article . Revising or Replacing Ketchikan’s Flag Any city can benefit from having a distinctive, well-designed, and widely recognized flag. A city as special as Ketchikan deserves to have a great flag—a distinctive symbol that will succinctly express some aspect of our identity and elicit pride in our community. Updating and promoting the current municipal flag or adopting a new design is a unique chance for the City of Ketchikan to boost community spirit as well as generate economic opportunities. Ketchikan's current flag The current flag of the City of Ketchikan was designed by Daniel Sheets in 1999. It is not a bad flag; it sports distinct Ketchikan colors and a single, easily identified symbol of our community—a salmon. However, this flag is not widely recognized or used, either by the City or by members of the community. It is not featured on the City websi...

I've been living back in my hometown of Ketchikan as an independent, out-of-college adult for two years now. In that time, my wife and I have gotten to know a fair number of newcomers to Ketchikan: The town has a pretty high turnover rate for a large portion of residents, whether they work for the Coast Guard, the hospital, in the visitor industry or elsewhere. After some observation and though, I feel I can place most newcomers to Ketchikan in two markedly different categories: 1.  There are those who figure out that Ketchikan is a very limited place, a place that won't give them the opportunity to fulfill their goals and aspirations. They plan out how much time they expect to spend here, and then enjoy that time as best they can before they quickly leave and move on with their lives. 2. There are those who figure out that Ketchikan is an incredibly exceptional place, a place that allows them to live a lifestyle they love, perhaps even that they never knew they wanted. The...

I wrote up the following timeline for the Totem Heritage Center , an awesome museum in Ketchikan that preserves some of the oldest Tlingit and Haida totem poles in the world. I wrote the original version in 2012 when I first worked at the Heritage Center. Now I've been rehired for this summer, and this is my updated version. Early 1700s — Haida move north into Lingít Aaní (Tlingit country), begin living on southern Taan (Prince of Wales Island) 1741 — The Alexei Chirikov expedition sees Tlingit, the first European encounter of Northwest Coast people 1774 — Juan Perez leads the first Spanish expedition north of California, likely bringing smallpox to Haida Gwaii and Taan. 1774-1834 — Fur trade ongoing between Natives and Europeans in Southeast Alaska 1793 — George Vancouver circumnavigates and names Revillagigedo Island Late 1700s — Members of the Taant’a Ḵwáan (Tongass Tribe) move to Dàasaxakw (Village Island) 1830s — Members of the Taant’a Ḵwáan move to Kadúḵx̱uka (...

Compilation of the four candidates discussed here: The colors alternate nicely. Both  District 36's state house race  [Chere Klein (R) vs. Dan Ortiz (I)] and the race for Alaska's governor [Sean Parnell (R) vs. Bill Walker (I)] featured one independent candidate and one Republican incumbent or pseudo-incumbent. (While she's never served in office before, Chere Klein effectively assumed the mantle of retired Representative Peggy Wilson, at least among fellow Republicans.) Among other similarities, both races are very close right now and will be decided by absentee and early votes. Along with many Alaskans, I'm very anxious to find out the results. When considering the races for governor and state house in District 36, I expected most people would consistently vote the party line—or the non-partisan line, as it were: Most everyone voting for the independent Walker/Mallott ticket would also vote for independent Dan Ortiz; those voting for the Republican Parnell/Sulli...

District 36 includes the communities of Ketchikan, Wrangell, Metlakatla, Saxman, Hydaburg, and Hyder. To tell the truth, I was entirely ready for Dan Ortiz to lose his race to represent Alaska's House District 36. I was even ready to write about it. Instead, he's surprised everyone. Dan Ortiz was my debate teacher in high school several years ago, and my mentor teacher last year: I began my teaching career, and he retired from his. From the first moments I heard he was planning to run for office as an independent candidate , Dan had my full support. Still, elections for many years show that Ketchikan and Wrangell—the two biggest communities in District 36 —heavily favor Republican candidates. Just two years ago, Republican Peggy Wilson won her house seat with 4131 votes to Democrat Matt Olson's 2332—nearly a two-to-one margin. In addition, Wilson wasn't even the only Republican in the race! She was the incumbent from Wrangell's former district, and Republi...

I voted yes in vain, I guess. A few weeks ago, I wrote about Alaska's House District 36 , the southern southeast region of the state centered on Ketchikan. On August 18th, a day before the election, I wrote urging people to vote yes on ballot measure 1 . A slight majority of Alaskans ended up voting against measure 1, convinced by the Parnell administration and the millions of dollars in campaign money spent by oil companies and their allies. Needless to say, I did not feel like writing about politics after that. I did, however, notice a striking pattern in some of the other electoral results from that day—the District 36 Republican primary.

District 36 includes the communities of Ketchikan, Wrangell, Metlakatla, Saxman, Hydaburg, and Hyder. I live in Alaska's District 36, newly created after the crazy episode of redistricting that was this and this and this . (Ketchikan used to be in District 1, but apparently someone from Fairbanks managed to change the numbering so it's in their community now.) As a precursor to the upcoming primary election (August 19th) and general election (November 4th), I thought I should share some statistics about my district related to population and political affiliation—a sort of electoral "getting to know you" piece. (All statistics come from this state source .) As is true for all of Alaska, the majority of people in District 36 prefer not to identify with a political party. In fact, over 58% of District 36 voters are "undeclared" or "nonpartisan," compared with less than 54% in the whole state. (I am "undeclared." Read this to fin...

Working in the visitor industry in Ketchikan, Alaska, you meet a lot of people. The majority of visitors arrive by way of one of a few major cruise lines—Holland America, Princess, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Carnival, or more recently, Disney . (Royal Caribbean owns Celebrity, and Carnival owns both Holland America and Princess, so there are even fewer major cruise corporations involved.) A clear majority of visitors to Ketchikan are also North Americans—vast numbers of Americans, many Canadians, and even a fair number of Mexicans. Add to that the large number of British, Australian, and other Anglophone visitors, and there aren't many visitors left who don't either come from the same continent, speak English, or—in most cases—both. Out of those I haven't listed yet, I would venture to say that most are European. There are plenty of people who visit speaking South Asian or East Asian languages, but I know many of them are Americans, Canadians, or Australians...

morning snow back in December Denmark lies at the same latitude as Southeast Alaska. We have the same darkness, and probably some of the same cold winter weather. This is the first time in five years I'm spending the winter in Ketchikan, and I have to say it feels nice. Most people in the world probably wouldn't like spending a winter in Alaska—even in relatively balmy Ketchikan. I, however, have always felt that it was very comfortable here during the dark season, which brings me to the concept of "hygge."

Last week was the perfect week to visit Oaxaca: Everything was green after the rainy season, and I got to end of the week by watching Día de Muertos celebrations. One realization I had, however, was that Oaxaca gets a lot of visitors for Día de Muertos —foreigners and other Mexicans. When I was out and about on the night of October 31, (a day before la Día really begins), there were multiple parades, musical performances, and a ton of tourists—again, both foreigners and other Mexicans. I realized that in order to keep those valuable visitors coming, Oaxaca has to keep doing Día de Muertos in a big way. It's an annual pressure to celebrate.

Key to the Racial Dot Map I recently happened upon an impressive project called the " Racial Dot Map ." As stated in this article , this is not the first map that has attempted to display every U.S. citizen, and it certainly isnʼt the first map to try to tackle the present realities of racial segregation in a compelling and eye-catching manner. The Racial Dot Map does, however, do an amazing job in both these respects, and I was particularly interested to use the resource to look at my own community of Ketchikan, Alaska.

( Google Books ) I recently finished the book Land of the Ocean Mists: The Wild Ocean Coast West of Glacier Bay , written by longtime Alaska fisherman Francis Caldwell. Caldwell covers all the information and stories most people would ever want to know about the coast between the Alsek River and Cape Spencer in Southeast Alaska, known as the Fairweather Country. Here's a roughly chronological list of some of the most interesting things I learned, all paraphrased or summarized from the book: First, no person lives in the Fairweather Country today. In the past, however, there were Tlingit villages at Dry Bay, Lituya Bay, Cape Fairweather, on a stream coming out of Grand Plateau Glacier, and at a site on Palma Bay now covered by La Perouse Glacier.

the top of a pole at Totem Bight Ketchikan, Alaska is without a doubt the best place in the world to see totem poles, and if you only had one place to see these monumental carvings, Ketchikan should be it. However, Ketchikan's totem poles are scattered over a few major locations, and two of those locations—Saxman Totem Park and Totem Bight State Historical Park—are found at a significant distance from the city center, and in opposite directions from each other. Ideally, I think visitors to Ketchikan should see both Saxman and Totem Bight, along with the Totem Heritage Center and the other totem poles around the city. But, if you only have a limited time in my hometown, as most visitors do, which should it be—Saxman or Totem Bight?

The morning after I returned to Kichx̱áan , Lingít Aaní, I just had to go see my hometownʼs brand new library. The new public library was still being constructed when I left last August, and it had its grand opening in January. Once inside, I was struck by the lovely wood interior, beautiful (and functional) furniture, and plentiful space for children, teens, and adults to hang out, read, and enjoy some gorgeous views. On the way out, I was struck by a graphic novel I saw displayed on top of a shelf—a Haida manga. I'd heard of the genre before and felt curious, so I checked out my first book from Ketchikan's new library— Red: A Haida Manga , by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas.

On Monday the 27th, (Memorial Day), I returned home from Georgetown for the last time—a new graduate ready to began something new, back in the town where I grew up. In past years, I always thought I was coming back to Ketchikan, Alaska. This time, though, after a year spent exploring the history of the Tlingit and their homeland, I felt much more that I was returning to Kichx̱áan, Lingít Aaní. Kichx̱áan is the Tlingit name for the site that the city of Ketchikan was built on. Clearly, the Tlingit name was adapted by the Euroamerican settlers, but it was also changed—anglicized—and turned into something different. Using indigenous place names, rather than ones created or changed by colonizers, restores to a place some of historical meaning. Even more essential, perhaps, is the acceptance and use of indigenous autonyms—Native peoples' names for themselves. A new map of the contiguous United States provides an impressive, near-comprehensive display of such autonyms and is very muc...

Dear Editor of the Ketchikan Daily News, I would like to make a serious, concrete suggestion for Ketchikan High School: Get a Tlingit class. There are a number of obstacles to providing a class in the Tlingit language at Kayhi, but the first and most important is to find a will among the superintendent, school board, and community members. I believe this idea has the capacity to bring our community together, and once we have the will to provide a Tlingit class, everything else will be easy. The benefits of having just a single Tlingit class far outweigh the difficulties or costs. Having a Tlingit class at Ketchikan High School signifies that the whole community has taken a positive step toward recognizing and valuing its Tlingit heritage, and it provides students of all backgrounds with the opportunity to learn more about their home than they ever could have before.

the Tlingit alphabet I've written quite a few times on this blog about Native American languages, and Lingít (Tlingit) in particular. Back in August  I made the case that the Tlingit language deserves more respect and attention in Southeast Alaska, including a presence in public school classrooms. Now I'd like to follow that broad idea with a serious, concrete suggestion for Ketchikan High School: Get a Tlingit class.

As I've been doing more and more research for my thesis on late 19th century Tlingit history, (prospectus here ), I've come across a great many unanswered questions—unanswered, at least, according to all the information I've seen or heard of. (It's rather difficult, I think, for a scholar to prove the idea hasn't been explored before, just as it's difficult to prove any negative.) Here are two questions I've come across that lie outside the scope of my thesis that nevertheless seem extremely interesting and worthy of further research. Image at right: A Raven's Brew logo by Ray Troll , both famous in my hometown of Ketchikan. If you're a student or a curious citizen of any kind who has knowledge on these topics or a strong will to go out and learn about them, I think it would be amazing for you to do research on these issues. If you do, and if you find success, be sure to tell me about it! Here are the questions: