Alaska: Heather Lende
Episode 19 of The Laureate Project
“Now, with the media landscape and the cult of celebrity, we only hear about the famous people and the rich people. Even in the news when they highlight the regular person, it’s because they jumped out of an airplane and saved somebody. It’s not the normal, kind of everyday heroes that might just see somebody walking in the snow and pick them up and give them a ride. Those kind of stories don’t make the headlines; there’s not enough there. And those are the ones that make communities and make us who we are.”
In the upper reaches of the continent, remove is as much a catalyst as a hindrance. After all, it takes a certain kind of person to make that journey and choose to stay: what fortitude they must harbor and what tales they must nurture. This week, writer-cum-columnist-cum-obituarist-cum-communitarian everywoman Heather Lende instructs us in her Alaskan variation of attention to such tales—the art of “story catching.”
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Featured Sound:
"Lo and Behold" | Indigo Days | Courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
"Debussy: Suite Bergamasque, CD 82: III. Clair de lune" | Mira Ma | Courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
”Always” | Peter Sandberg | Courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
”The Sound of Music” | Heather Lende | Courtesy of Heather Lende, from This Alaskan Life
Your story about Maria having laryngitis reminded me of one night when I was in Half Moon Bay seeing a community production of the Putnam County Spelling Bee. Just before I arrived on this dark and stormy night (and it really was a dark and stormy night) The power went out and when I pulled up to the theater it was pitch black outside. I thought they canceled the show but no the community got together and with flashlights illuminated the stage and the show went on. Eventually the lights came back on at intermission but I kind of like the first act that was illuminated by community members' flashlights better.