Hope and Fear in Alaska
May 1st, 2009
We’re back from Alaska, and whatta trip. I don’t know if you can read this flyer, but it’s for a marathon on Prince of Wales island, where we did a bunch of filming for Musicwood. I don’t know why the guy running it is carrying a gun, but they sure do like their guns up there in AK. The trip was amazing — cable cars, 500 year-old trees, a ferry to a barely inhabited island, Native Americans carving totem poles, interviewing logging company guys, a Native American tree ceremony, the felling of a giant tree (Timmmmber!!!), flying in a tiny sea plane, listening to Sergius Gregory playing guitar in the forest, etc. Amazing.
But also this one thing happened and for some reason, even as it was happening I kept thinking "I want to write this down." So here it is, raw, no revision. Maybe it’ll become a short story, not sure.
A very interesting story…did your backpack full of equipment ever show up? Lots of times we find things along the road like that and pick them up to find the owner who accidently left it there, rather than stealing things. I live in Ketchikan, and spend a lot of time both working and playing on Prince of Wales Island.
I’m very curious about your filming project — would you mind emailing me with more information — who you filmed; who you filmed it for; when and where it will be shown. I am a contractor with The Nature Conservancy, working with them to establish their presence on Prince of Wales Island and move forward with large-scale restoration and local economic development projects. TNC has already invested half a million dollars in restoration of salmon streams like Harris River, but the future could be much larger than that.
Thanks for your information,
Dennis Neill
Ketchikan, AK
907-821-0021
Wow. I really wanted the backpack to be there. Im sorry it wasn’t. Although its odd how events like that can put things into perspective.
big time. update on this story coming soon…