Joe Josephson has a long political and public service history in Alaska, beginning in 1957 when he served as legislative assistant to Alaska Delegate in Congress, E. L. (Bob) Bartlett. In 1959, When Bartlett became Alaska's first United States Senator in 1959, Josephson continued as his legislative assistant until 1960. Josephson earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Chicago in 1953 and attended Columbia University Law School from 1953 to 1955, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army. He finished his law degree at the Catholic University of America in 1960. He was appointed that year by President John F. Kennedy as the Chair of the Alaska Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He was admitted to the Alaska Bar Association in 1961 and 1962 and was elected to the Alaska House of Representatives. He held that position until 1966, when he became a member of the Anchorage City Council, later of the Borough Assembly. Following the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, Josephson also served as State Co-Chair of the Joint Federal-State Land Use Planning Commission, appointed by Alaska Governor Bill Egan. Josephson served his first term in the Alaska State Senate from 1968 to 1972. In 1975, he was vice-chair of the Anchorage Charter Commission, which unified the Anchorage Borough and City of Anchorage. Between 1982 and 1988, he served again in the Alaska State Senate. He has served as president of the boards of Southcentral Alaska Red Cross, Congregation Beth Sholom, and Out North Theatre, and as a board member for Alaska Civil Liberties Union, Child Care Connection, Cook Inlet Historical Society, and Anchorage Unitarian Universalist Fellowship was also an adjunct instructor at UAA. Josephson, a husband and father of five, continues to practice law in Anchorage.

After a career as a teacher and prosecutor, Andy Josephson was elected to the Alaska State House of Representatives in 2013 and has continued to serve there since. His father came to Alaska in the 50s to work for Bob Bartlett in his quest to achieve statehood, and his grandfather founded the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) in the 1930s. Andy is a West High graduate with a BA in History from Whitman College, a Master’s in Teaching from UAA, and a law degree from Penn State, and has lived and worked in six communities across Alaska. He has worked as an intern with U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, a legislative aide, a public school teacher, an assistant district attorney, a lawyer in private practice, and an adjunct professor at UAA. Andy and his wife, Donna, live in Anchorage and enjoy kayaking, backpacking, tennis, swimming, and baseball.

The podcast has been edited to eliminate “dead spots” and maintain a semblance of order. Each "dead spot" is filled with two seconds of static.

Rev. Matt Schultz graduated from Westminster College with a BA in Art in 1995. He is married to Rev. Elizabeth Schultz. Together, they attended Princeton Theological Seminary and are ordained as pastors in the Presbyterian Church (USA). They live in Anchorage, Alaska, where they go on wild adventures with their three beautiful children, two awesome dogs, and one average cat. Since 2013, Matt has been the pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Anchorage and also serves with Christians for Equality, the Homelessness Leadership Council, and other city and statewide service and advocacy groups.

Matt Gray's East Anchorage Book Club podcast with Rev. Matt Schultz - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/east-anchorage-book-club-with-andrew-gray/id1592614366?i=1000670170928

Tom Choate is a mountain climbing legend, former college biology professor with a Ph.D. from the University of Montana, who was a ski infantryman and served in a US Army intelligence and reconnaissance unit at Fort Richardson during the Korean War, and was the first ranger naturalist in Mt McKinley National Park (now Denali National Park). Before coming back to Alaska in the late ‘70s, Tom and his family lived in New Zealand; he spent four years doing Antarctic research on penguins and their predators and spent ten years in the former Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) teaching, enjoying climbs of Kilimanjaro and other outdoor activities in Africa, and launching expeditions from there to the Himalayas and the Andes. He has reached the peak of Denali multiple times, spanning five different decades, and was the oldest person to summit Denali at 78 in 2013.

Slides - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/mx7a8ecc4qxkhcozq1fjz/TomsSlides.pdf?rlkey=8bda99v8rew004gqkljnq3cdd&dl=0

James Morrison is a playwright, TV, film, stage actor, filmmaker, poet, singer-songwriter, and yoga teacher. He was raised in Anchorage, served his theatrical apprenticeship with the Alaska Repertory Theatre, and since has appeared at the La Jolla Playhouse, the Mark Taper Forum, Princeton's McCarter Theatre, the Pasadena Playhouse, the Salt Lake Acting Company, The Old Globe, L.A. Theatre Works, the Edinburgh Festival, and on London's West End. James has been nominated for a SAG Award, received the Los Angeles Drama Critics' Circle Award, and three Drama-Logue Awards for performance. Film appearances include The Jazz Funeral, Catch Me If You Can, and Jarhead. On television, in addition to the Emmy-winning series 24, he was a regular on Those Who Kill and the cult sci-fi series Space: Above and Beyond, and has had other recurring roles and countless guest appearances in shows like Frasier, West Wing, Law & Order: SVU, Twin Peaks, Private Practice, Six Feet Under, and Revenge. He is in Anchorage to perform his one-man play, “Leave Your Fears Here,” exploring his journey after their young son was diagnosed with brain cancer. For more about James, you can check out his webpage: https://www.thejamesmorrison.com/ and IMDB page: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0607175/

David Block is the Artistic Director of Midnight Sun Theatre. David has directed countless productions in Anchorage at almost every venue and company. He has appeared on stage or behind the scenes with productions in Anchorage, Juneau, Honolulu, Los Angeles, and at the Edinburgh Fringe. In addition, he has written more than 20 plays, including one commissioned by the Municipality and School District about the Anchorage Centennial. David was an educator in the Anchorage School District for over 25 years and received numerous awards, including MIT's Most Inspirational Teacher, AEA's Teacher of the Year, and Best Teacher in Anchorage by the Anchorage Press. The arts program that he helped develop at West Anchorage High School was recognized as the 2022 Performing Arts School of Excellence by the National Federation of High Schools and was selected as a Creative Ticket School of Excellence by the Kennedy Center.

Paul Brown has over forty-five years of experience in management, fundraising, marketing, and organizational development. He was a founder and producing director of Alaska Repertory Theatre, the first professional theatre in Alaska. He later transitioned from producing theatre to producing films, including documentaries about former Governor Wally Hickel and Senator Ted Stevens (research and pre-production). He chaired the commission for the design, development, and funding of the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts. He helped establish the Alaska Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and plan the celebration of the 25th anniversary of Alaska's statehood. Paul has been deeply involved in national and international efforts to assist victims of depleted uranium, including American military veterans and indigenous and other local populations in combat zones. He is a member of Bridge Builders and Backbone and a board member of You Gotta Believe, a Brooklyn-based organization whose mission is to find permanent homes for foster children over ten. He is a parent with thirteen- and eight-year-old grandchildren.

Pics used in the presentation

James - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/4hhffmjdsx1mr1ttjkhij/james.jpg?rlkey=rmjv6c580bhgn9xtkzu1qmhbl&dl=0
PlayBill - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/rcx1owmfjbqxwqjn1p26w/lyfh.jpg?rlkey=xqhysye7qya6ag9fn08psblcr&

Joelle Hall is the President of the Alaska AFL-CIO, elected in 2020. She is the first woman to hold the role. Before her election, she served as the Alaska AFL-CIO Political Director for 11 years. Joelle has worked in Alaska politics for over 30 years, with an emphasis on electoral campaigns and advocacy work. She has built and managed large campaigns and community coalitions. Before coming to the AFL-CIO, Joelle was Executive Director of the Alaska Democratic Party and had her own consulting business for ten years. She has a bachelor’s degree in foreign languages from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. In a previous life, Joelle was an interrogator/paratrooper in the US Army and an AFS exchange student in Honduras. Joelle and her husband, Mallie, have two grown children and live in Peters Creek.

slides - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/cw75y2uy5zhda4as658mq/BetterJobsAK_UU.pdf?rlkey=mkbtlbz41ckzoskwi38a24pjz&dl=0

AFL-CIO website - https://www.akaflcio.org

Marilyn Romano is the Alaska regional vice president for Alaska Airlines. She spent nearly two decades with the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, the second largest paper in Alaska, and 11 years as publisher. She was the newspaper’s first woman top executive. Marilyn serves on the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation and Rasmuson Foundation boards. She also serves on the Governor’s Aviation Advisory Board and is a member of the American Heart Association statewide and Alaska Airlines Foundation boards. She’s been inducted into the ATHENA Society, named a YWCA of Alaska “Women of Achievement,” and recognized with a Top Forty Under 40 award from the Alaska Journal of Commerce, Woman of Distinction from the Farthest North Girl Scouts, and the Cashen Award for meritorious service to the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Marilyn and her husband, Brian, live in Anchorage.

Alaska Airlines video -
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eO_K0e9K_jly5pXdm8Bbl6ohrTIk0SMK/view?usp=drive_link

Xáat Kwáani video - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/vr3jkabzz2tt2r7bedul8/AlaskaAirlinesSalmonPeopleAircraft_X-atKw-ani.mp4?rlkey=kvmpr3tehjanmvwhfxbu7zhem&dl=0

Link to Alaska Airlines Sustainability page - https://www.alaskaair.com/content/about-us/esg


This page has several links, including the 2023 Sustainability Report, and it is worth roaming around.

John Hagen is the Curator of Indigenous Art and Initiatives at the Anchorage Museum. Hagen works to further the Museum's work with Alaska living cultures, with an emphasis on Indigenous art, artists, climate change, national and international connections, and other initiatives. He is the curator of the exhibit currently on display at the Museum, Alaska from Above: The Art of Bradford Washburn. Hagen is Iupiaq, Unangax, Irish, and Danish. His work at the museum incorporates a longstanding passion for photography. As a professional photojournalist, he published newspaper photographs by the tightest deadlines. After studying New Media Arts at the Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico, John returned to Alaska and found himself empowered to tell his own story, with his work shifting from that of a photographer seeking publication to an artist desiring to express himself.

Anchorage Museum Bradford Washburn video - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/m8q9xg3sykwdxf2ibhsh6/lp-bradford-washburn-30-sec-video.mp4?rlkey=cvtylvvintngl34ylv7fj6aca&dl=0

John's slides - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/azsyrudu5n3o3jcg3lisc/AlaskaFromAbove.pdf?rlkey=o1of3u3xze02dhonk5nveg0gw&dl=0

Suzanne Little has worked extensively in partnership with Alaska Native Tribes who live in intrinsic connection with remote lands across the state. She is currently staff to the 38-Tribe Bering Sea Interior Tribal Commission. Her work aims to ensure that local voices are represented and heard in land use decisions, including policy considerations relating to the conservation or development of Alaska's rugged and pristine landscapes and traditional lands for centuries of Alaska Native Peoples. Based in Anchorage, she brings policy development, strategic and land use planning, and nonprofit management experience to her work. Little served as an elected representative on the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly and in the Alaska State Senate for one term each.

Little was voted the most effective new state legislator and led the effort to rewrite Alaska's Open Meetings Act, championing public involvement and local control for land use decisions. She holds a bachelor's degree in environmental planning and landscape architecture from the University of California, Davis, and currently serves on the steering committee of Alaska Women Ascend.

Slides - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/wrfjetzvo975367pumvjl/UUPresentationAlaskaWomenAscend.pdf?rlkey=5jlhbot49twv2cbmn7qpt5vii&dl=0

Website - https://www.akwomenascend.org