What Do I Love About Alaska?
I love that a whale once dipped to glide a few feet under our boat. Another time I spotted a moose “hidden” in immobility. And I was stricken into stillness myself when a grizzly huffed at me before stalking off.
I love seeing Alaska’s mountain peaks, ice fields, deltas, and islands fading into the distance.
I love swirling snow, delicate hoarfrost, and seeing rocks under clear ice.
I love a hot campfire, and after boating in the rain, getting into my car – it’s waterproof! – then home.
I’ve relished the plenty of a full freezer and stacked cases of jarred salmon.
I’m lucky to have known and loved multiple generations of family, to have friendships and a marriage measured in decades, and to have experienced the wisdom and graciousness of Tlingit culture.
I’ve led an interesting life, full of beauty, adventure, and love, all thanks to Alaska.
Joqalin Estus is Tlingit and English-Irish, of the Raven moiety, Kaach.ádi clan, from Wrangell. She has had a long career in broadcast journalism and is currently news director of KNBA, Alaska Native News. Joqalin is the great-granddaughter of Louis Paul, who, with his brother William, helped establish the Alaska Native Brotherhood as a political power to be reckoned with in Alaska.
Alaska’s Little-known History
Few know that the legendary pitcher, Satchel Paige, played an exhibition series at Anchorage’s Mulcahy Stadium in 1965. Paige had pitched his way to stardom in the segregated National Negro League, and became the oldest rookie in the Major League after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947. Indeed, 1965 was a turbulent year in America. Civil Rights demonstrators marched from Selma to Montgomery; Congress passed the Voting Rights Act.
But in Alaska, fans came out to welcome Satchel Paige.
Rumor even had it that the legendary pitcher might manage a team named for the great Alaska earthquake that rattled the city just a year ago. “I loved Anchorage at first sight,” Paige told the Daily News-Miner, “and I’m the man who can build this team up. I’m the man who knows the baseball players and can get them to come up here to play.”
Paige’s promise to start building the new Anchorage Earthquakers “the minute he left Alaska” never panned out, but his presence in Alaska helped to draw interest in the new Alaska Baseball League, which would go on to spawn some of the best ball players in Major League Baseball, including Hall of Famers Tom Seaver, David Winfield and Randy Johnson.
Dr. Katie Ringsmuth specializes in America, public, and environmental history. She is a contract historian for Lake Clark Katmai National Parks in Southwestern Alaska,and past president of the Alaska Historical Society.