Recent Articles

Thank you from the Seldovia Fire and EMS

| August 12, 2014 | 0 Comments

by Bobbi Sweatt

Seldovia Fire and EMS Departments wishes to thank everyone who helped us make the 4 wheeler raffle and the pancake breakfast a success.  Thank you to all of you who helped us set up, loaned us STUFF, cooked the food, ran to the store for more STUFF, and those who did all the other things that were needed.  A thanks also to those who showed up to help and may not have had the opportunity this year to do that.  Never fear, there is always next year.
Thank you also, to all of you that walked the bar, the street and anywhere else at nite and during the day, bugged friends and family, did us a favor at your business,  sat at the table near the harbor and sold to the poor people who passed by and did not want to be rude, those pesky 4 WHEELER tickets!
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Congratulations to our raffle winner, Teri Hall, pictured above with her son and her brand new 4 wheeler!

Congrats to Sharon Bond for winning the incentive for most tickets sold.  She won $150 and 2 round trip tickets to Homer, donated by Homer Air and Smokey Bay Air.

The department met its goal with the raffle, raising the monies needed to meet our part of grant money that has been approved to purchase a new LifePak for the ambulance.  This equipment will greatly benefit the whole community when there is a medical emergency.  The monies raised from the pancake breakfast will go towards equipment and the daily operations of the fire department.

Again a grateful thanks to all of you,

Seldovia Fire and EMS Departments

Calling All Seldovian Thespians!

| August 10, 2014 | 0 Comments

by Lisa Stanish

SOCC Theater

Kray Van Kirk to Perform at Crazy Crow Productions

| August 7, 2014 | 0 Comments

Hi Everyone,

There will be a great concert at Crazy Crow House Concerts at the Seldovia Rowing Club on the Old Boardwalk this weekend by Juneau artist, Kray Van Kirk. I have enjoyed Kray’s music on several occasions on Anchorage and Juneau and am very excited to host him here in Seldovia. You can read more about him and listen to some samples of his music at www.crazycrowproductions.wordpress.com .

All are invited and please feel free to bring a friend.  Please give me a heads up by phone or email at 234-7614 orcatdoggle@gmail.com. to make your reservation or to ask for more information. 

This will be the last concert of the summer season, but there are some great surprises planned for the Fall at Crazy Crow. 

See you at the concert!

Susan

Kray Van Kirk

Here is how Kray describes his background.

My father was a rather taciturn professor of Fisheries at Humboldt State University in Northern California, and my mother was working on her Master’s degree in Biology when she delivered my older brother instead of her thesis. Growing up was mostly outside. Arguments at the dinner table were usually resolved by appeals to the dictionary, one of my father’s textbooks, or a field guide to some North American phylum. Going for a walk, my mother might exclaim not ‘Oh, look, there’s a toad!’, but instead ‘Oh, look, some species of Bufo!’.

But my mother was also a concert pianist, and my father’s secret wish was to be a writer of short stories. In grade school I wanted to be an artist, and was encouraged by my parents to fill dozens of sketchpads with dinosaurs, birds, and mammals. My brother played piano and trombone, and I picked up the guitar (rejecting the ukulele) at eight to play along with records of Pete Seeger, Gordon Lightfoot, and James Taylor.

Our town got its first bus system when I was 10, and I recall staggering off the bus from the city library with all thirteen of L. Frank Baum’s Oz sequels piled up under my chin. When I realized that my father’s position with the University allowed me to check books out of the library there I took up permanent residence in the stacks with Ray Bradbury, H.P. Lovecraft, Robert Heinlein, and dozens of others, and the record player at home began to spin Planxty, the Chieftains, and Steeleye Span.

Inspired by seeing Chris Proctor play, I began playing coffee house shows in college, and busking on the streets of Munich, Germany during a year abroad. In 1989 I dropped out of graduate school in Berkeley to tour and play music full time, living out of my van for a number of years. It took me a very long time to learn what many writers and performers seem to know instinctively – to love and protect your Muse at all costs, to throw your vulnerability at audiences like a gift, and to make invaluable those very things that you are most hesitant to reveal to anyone else for fear of ridicule or lack of commercial success. Being a songwriter is like being a little bit naked at a formal gathering: you hope that nobody will notice, or if they do, that they will somehow approve the sudden appearance of such raw earthiness in their cultured midst.

So, whenever someone asks me what kind of music I play, I could choose to give the standard and somewhat tired answer ‘Oh, it’s acoustic singer-songwriter stuff… sort of like James Taylor or Dougie MacLean…’, which really doesn’t say much at all. A better answer might be to jump on top of a table in a crowded coffee shop and shout ‘The wind is changing! Look sharp! Get out the map – it’s time to go! We ride across a thousand pages and sail beyond the sunset, to seek, to find, to strive, and not to yield!’. Some won’t understand it, and that’s perfectly fine. But those who do will wipe the tears from their eyes, smile knowingly, and drain their cups, toasting their own wild lands and wilder passions.

I’m a single parent these days, meaning that I can’t tour full time. I ended up with a Ph.D. in fisheries population dynamics; my day job is trying to figure out how many fish are where, what they are doing, and why.

For a number of reasons, I no longer record CDs, and I don’t sell my songs – everything is free for the taking on my website. People can listen, invite the songs into their own homes, see if they’d like to stay, and share them with whomever they want. We generally associate cost with value – more expensive things must be better and have more value, and things that are free must be of no value at all. I beg to differ. Of all the things we value in the world, the most valuable thing by definition must be free, and that is love. I love the songs that visit me and I love the people who listen to them and come to hear me. It’s a grand parade – come along and see what it’s all about.

Yard Sale Next Weekend

| August 7, 2014 | 0 Comments

by Shirley Nall
Nall Yard sale

Superintendent Atwater Announces his Resignation

| August 4, 2014 | 0 Comments

by Pegge Erkeneff | Communications Specialist, Kenai Peninsula Borough School District

Dr. Steve Atwater, KPBSD Superintendent

Dr. Steve Atwater, KPBSD Superintendent

Soldotna, August 4, 2014—During an executive session with the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education, Dr. Steve Atwater, KPBSD superintendent, tendered his resignation, effective December 1, 2014. His resignation was formally announced and accepted during the public school board meeting. Dr. Atwater will leave KPBSD to become the new University of Alaska Associate Vice President for K-12 Outreach.

“Deciding to resign as KPBSD’s superintendent was a difficult decision for me,” said Dr. Atwater. “Because my work leading our school district for the past five years has been so rewarding, it is hard to step down. However, I am excited to become the University of Alaska’s Associate Vice President for K-12 Outreach, a newly created position. I am appreciative of working for a supportive school board that places our students’ needs as their number one priority and am proud that our district made so many improvements while I was here. I know the district has a clear vision for what is next and is well positioned with a strong team to continue to meet its goals. I thank all of the employees of KPBSD, families, and community members of our borough for their commitment to our school district. It is an honor to serve our students; I look forward to continuing to do so in my new position.”

The school board met in executive session on Monday evening, and will determine the next step for a new KPBSD superintendent. Three options are possibilities: a national search and new hire; appoint a new superintendent from qualified internal or external candidates; or hire an interim superintendent for the remainder of the school year. When a decision about the next step is made, KPBSD will communicate with our staff, schools, families, and the public.

“It is with sincere regret that the board will accept the resignation of our superintendent, Dr. Steve Atwater,” said Joe Arness, school board president. “At the same time, we feel sincere pride and happiness in his accomplishments and his movement towards a new challenge. His tenure here has been entirely productive and successful and he can take justified pride in the organization that he has been instrumental in creating and continuing. The district will continue in its current directions. As a school board, we will make a determination as to how to proceed in the process of filling the very large shoes which Dr. Atwater will leave. However, we know that the internal strength of the district and its employees is such that we will be able to find his replacement, get on a steady track, and move forward without hesitation. We certainly wish Dr. Atwater well and thank him for the contributions he made to our district.”

Ode to Seldovia

| August 1, 2014 | 0 Comments
AdamSmithHello Jenny,
I am enjoying your site, only unfortunately found it AFTER my recent visit to Seldovia.  My wife, our friend and myself enjoyed our visit very much and cannot wait to return, knowing that next time we’ll allow for much more time than just one night.
As typically happens after we visit Alaska (5 trips thus far), I’m inspired by the places I visit and people I meet and I found Seldovia to be the best of both.  Therefore, I humbly share the following poem, thusly inspired, entitled “Ode to Seldovia”, written as my personal thank you to those who make Seldovia what it is to visitors such as myself.
Sincerely,
Adam Francis Smith

Uniquely civilized;

unseated in City or Wild,

a taupe and topaz pearl;

Seldovia glimmers.

 

A dim and sea-worn jewel

held safe in a jagged coast’s embrace,

exposed to more heart than hazard,

a rare (even here), unspoiled gem.

 

Near to the heart,

and dear to the art

of living in familial isolation,

her people seem to match her mood,

become her makeup, blood and brood.

 

Short or long, her days amaze.

(if Peace could ever be said to move…)

 

The calls of birds and boats abound,

surround-

like her morning breath of gray.

Yet at this time there’s but one sound-

an angel’s exclamation-

that echoes echoes echoes soft upon the bay.

 

Though Sun in time will find its way

to warm the land where Seldovians play,

escorting traveler’s for “just the day,”

knowing most who visit are wont to want to stay.

by Adam Francis Smith of Elburn, Illinois