Many of Shakespeare’s most famous characters are remembered for a single trait: Romeo as lover, Richard III as tyrant, Lady Macbeth as evil manipulator. So one of the pleasures of revisiting these stories, and particularly in seeing them performed, is the experience of watching these characters move past these labels to emerge in full form as human beings, with all their contradictions and complexity.

Ron Maas has fond memories of the early days of the Juneau Symphony. And along with trombonist Dick Garrison, trumpeter Maas is one of the only Juneau residents who can tell the organization’s story from the very beginning.

It was 1962 when a group of local musicians got together to talk about the possibility of forming an orchestra. Maas was there, as was Garrison and more recent arrivals to town Cliff Berge and his wife Gladys.

For those accustomed to mass-media photojournalism, Skip Schiel’s approach to his craft and resulting body of work might come as a bit of a surprise. Schiel is a participatory photographer, a photojournalist who moves past traditional barriers of objectivity toward a more immersive experience with his subjects.

We don’t like to think about it, much less talk about it. Bringing it up is seen as morbid, depressing, even impolite. But talk is key to a healthy attitude toward death, says Dr. Lani Leary, paving the way for us to reintegrate this natural event into our lives and creating opportunities for meaningful connection with our loved ones.