A gun store in Alaska. A filmmaker from Berkeley. A quiet movie about a noisy country. We talk with director writer producer Aaron Davidman about American Solitaire and the long road from early theater mentors to a feature film built for real c...

A police chief doesn’t just arrive in a town like Haines, Alaska with a clean slate. Every choice gets remembered, every interaction becomes part of the story, and trust is earned one conversation at a time. That’s why I wanted to sit down with...

A local newspaper can feel quaint until you see the bill: thousands per month just to print, plus a supply chain that depends on flights, couriers, and weather. We sit down with Rashah McChesney, owner and publisher of the Chilkat Valley News, ...

A 400-foot ski hill in Pennsylvania shouldn’t produce a heli-ski guide who opens Alaskan lines, designs technical gear, and races a 900-horse rock car at 140 on dirt—but here we are. We sit down with guide and multi-sport athlete Tom Wayes to t...

A cabin burns to the ground on a winter night without phones. A young volunteer watches a ragtag crew of neighbors save what they can and decides to spend the next three decades running toward the worst moments in people’s lives. That’s the hin...

A slice of fresh bread on a Sunday night can shape a life. Travis joins us to share how those early kitchen memories, a scientist father’s quiet example, and a teenage “pop-up” at home set him on a winding path from Shoreline to Maui, New York,...

A love story to place doesn’t always start pretty. For Reba Hylton, it began with a mother who worked fields and fought racism, a softball swing that opened college doors, and a gut feeling that life had to be wilder. Alaska answered. Reba lear...

What if the hardest things you’ve lived through could become your superpower? We sit down with Dr. Marnie Hartman—physical therapist, yoga teacher, author, and death doula—whose life moved from the precision of competitive gymnastics to the int...

A life can hold multitudes, and Bill Thomas’ story proves it. Born and raised in Haines with deep Tlingit roots, Bill carries us from Main Street memories and Chilkat dancers to the hot ramp at Bien Hoa, where a young crew chief learned to keep...

A World War II tent. A Yamaha piano hauled off a swaying dock. Five bears on the playground. A cancer diagnosis delivered in a plastic-lined hallway. And a small town that kept showing up. This conversation with superintendent Lilly Boron is a ...

What turns a humble birding shop into a global optics leader? A leap of faith, a relentless work ethic, and a belief that service beats slogans. Sitting down at Vortex HQ with CEO Joe Hamilton, we trace the arc from a dentist-turned-retailer to...

What if healing starts with a simple truth: your body already knows the way? Licensed counselor Cesre McQuaid joins us to share how a life-altering NICU crisis awakened her faith, redirected her career, and taught her the power of real-time sup...

What does it take to build a life anchored in service, humility, and real hope? We sit down with Vince Hansen—former city administrator and borough manager, longtime deacon, firefighter, and hospice volunteer—to chart a remarkable journey from ...

 A broken engine, a borrowed wheel, and a room packed with glossed-over facts—sometimes the biggest turns come from the smallest moments. We sit down with Gershon Cohen, longtime Haines resident, potter, scientist, and environmental advoca...

 What happens when a saltwater-obsessed kid from Tampa grows up on Cuban bread routes, learns to fish for dinner, and then moves to Alaska to rebuild his life—and ends up mayor? Andrew Cremata sits down with us to trace that winding path a...

A plywood smokehouse recipe, two commercial smokers, and a head full of cannery memories—that’s where Harry Rietze started. What followed was nine lean years, a gutsy pivot, and a methodical buildout that turned a tiny smoke operation into a mo...

The sky rarely hands out straight lines. Rick Dunning’s journey proves it—line boy in Indiana, a bruising exit from Embry‑Riddle, and a leap to Southeast Alaska that rewired everything. We sit with Rick, now a Delta captain, to unpack the tight...

A river can teach you how to build a life—and a town. We sit down with legendary boatman and entrepreneur Bart Henderson to chart the line from Vernal’s early raft culture and Grand Canyon miles to first descents in Ethiopia and the bold move t...

 A brown bear mauling, a river business built from nothing, and a small Alaska town trying to find its future—our conversation with longtime Haines, AK resident and entrepreneur Duck Hess is a study in grit, ingenuity, and community. We tr...