Crude Conversations

2019 Recap: EP 032 with Andy Elsberg

This week, Crude will be revisiting the top 5 most popular episodes of 2019. Number 5 on the list is with Andy Elsberg, an emergency room doctor at Providence Medical Center in Anchorage, Alaska. Cody and Andy talk about how he went from being a ski bum to an ER doc, the idea of wilderness medicine, the pervasiveness of alcohol and opiate addiction in Anchorage, what a gunshot actually does to a human body, and the short but aggressive spice epidemic that hit Anchorage a few years back.
They also discuss how the urban/wilderness split doesn't exist in Alaska, meaning things like bear maulings and ATV accidents exist alongside things like inner-city gun violence and drug overdoses.
This episode originally aired on Wednesday, May 1, 2019. 

EP 058 with Brian Adams

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with photographer Brian Adams. Brian originally got into photography by way of videography. When he was a kid, growing up skateboarding with his friends, he would film everything. The motivation back then was getting a shot in one of the local skate and snowboard videos. In high school, he took a photography class because it was the closest thing to a videography class at the time. That experience, along with what he was reading about skate photography, helped him make the transition from video to photo. Today, Brian is a well-known photographer with photo credits in legacy publications.
 
In 2018, Brian released “I Am Inuit,” a project that focused on the Alaskan Inuit people. Through photographs and short stories, Brian was able to successfully convey the Inuit life and perspective. When everything was said and done for “I Am Inuit,” all the work amounted to a critically celebrated book and museum exhibit. Recently, Brian’s been working on a new project called Ilatka — which is the Inuit word for “My Relatives.” Ilatka will focus on the Inuit of the circumpolar, which includes Alaska, Russia, Canada, and Greenland.

EP 057 with Dan Redfield

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with Dan Redfield, the creator of Alaska Photoventures, a television series that explores Alaska through photography. Although Dan grew up in the outdoors, he didn’t start documenting it for himself until about three years ago, after he decided that this was how he could scrapbook his adventures and family memories. As he puts it: “Instead of opening up a book, we’re turning on either the TV or a computer and watching it.”
Dan has a new show called Adventure for Ava, where he helps families with special needs create memories in the Alaskan outdoors. He got the idea after his daughter Ava was diagnosed with Tay-Sachs, a rare, fatal genetic disorder. After all the hospital visits and time spent at home caring for Ava, Dan realized that his most important memories were those spent outdoors with his family. So, with the help of his fiancé Kristen, he decided to use the culmination of his professional and personal experience to help families in similar situations.

"lost anchorage" EP 06 with Aaron Leggett

In this episode of "lost anchorage," we look at how the colonization of Alaska has and continues to affect Alaska Natives through the perspective of Aaron Leggett, the Curator of Alaska History and Culture at the Anchorage Museum, and the President of the Alaska Native Village of Eklutna. Aaron explains how the effects of colonization didn't happen overnight, that it was a gradual chipping away at an indigenous system that was in place for thousands of years.

EP 056 with John Norris

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with Anchorage comedian John Norris. John’s parents were pastors for the Salvation Army, so a good portion of his upbringing was spent moving around. He says that in order to make friends in these new places, you could either be good at sports or be funny. John chose to be funny. He says that he doesn’t exactly remember a defining moment that really pushed him toward comedy, but that he listened to a lot of comedy albums as a kid and watched a lot of stand-up on Comedy Central. Then, when he was about 23, he did his first open mic at the Wood Shed, a bar in Anchorage that has since closed. It’s been about 10 years since that first open mic and he’s still at it, the difference being he’s now an integral part of the local comedy scene.
John likes to make people laugh, but more importantly he likes to watch his friends make people laugh. His experience in the Alaska stand-up scene—telling jokes, hanging out and laughing with friends, and opening up for headliners—is something he wants to share with other fans of comedy. So, he started Bear Bones Comedy, a small promotion company that’s trying to bring comedians up to Alaska. The idea is to establish a consistently funny show that features headliners and local comedians.

EP 055 with Ben Bogart

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with professional snowboarder Ben Bogart. Ben grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, he played hockey for Bartlett high school, but mainly he snowboarded. Cody has known Ben for most of his life, and has always known him to be a fast learner. So, it wasn’t long after he started snowboarding that he was getting shots in JB Deuce snowboard and skateboard videos in the 90s and early 2000s. He later became a fixture in the Think Thank films. He credits, among others, Jesse Burtner of Think Thank and Sean Genovese of Dinosaurs Will Die snowboards, for always believing in him. Ben's 36 years old now, he’s still snowboarding, still coaching, and still the happy guy he’s always been.  
 
For those listeners who grew up during those old Boarderline Alaska snow and skate days, this conversation is a trip down memory lane. If you still recall years of your childhood based on what snowboard videos came out that year, then you’ll be right at home. If you weren’t a part of that time, then all you really need to know is that those days symbolize a period of great adventure and growth in the Alaska snowboard and skateboard scene. And Ben represents how so many kids felt during that time, and how it continues to affect them well into adulthood.

EP 054 with Kate Trefry

In this one, Cody has a conversation with Stranger Things staff writer and story editor Kate Trefry. When she was a kid growing up in Anchorage, Alaska Kate says she was an obsessive reader and writer. That those two things have always been part of who she is. The need to express herself and to leave a mark was imprinted on her at a young age when her parents took her to Italy and she saw all the timeless pieces of art. From that point on, she's been interested in leaving a legacy. Although the specifics of that idea have changed throughout her life, especially after the birth of her daughter, it remains just as important now as it did then. 
 
It’s no surprise that the road to Hollywood success is turbulent. It’s something many pursue, but very few achieve. For those few, it usually comes in the form of the illusive big break, such was the case with Kate. After years of pursuing a career in show business and working odd jobs to make ends meet, she landed an interview with The Duffer Brothers—the creators of Stranger Things. This opportunity didn’t just come out nowhere though, it was the culmination of years of hard work and false starts and bad meetings and rejection letters. But that’s what she realized separates the successful from the unsuccessful in Hollywood—the ability to endure the hardships and not give up.

EP 053 with Roger Sparks

In this episode, Cody and guest host Whitney Branshaw have a conversation with retired marine and pararescueman Roger Sparks. In 2010, Roger was part of operation Bulldog Bite 2 Charlie, a heavy firefight with insurgents in the Watapur Valley in Afghanistan. The fight was, as Roger puts it, surreal. He talks about how, after the fight, he was in such disbelief that he checked Wikipedia for proof that the fight actually happened. For his part, he was awarded the Silver Star, one of the highest awards for valor in combat you can receive from the United States Armed Forces.
 
 
After a 25-year-long career in special forces, Roger is now a tattoo artist and author. It’s taken him a long time to be where he is now—with the understanding and the self-analysis that comes with soul searching. His perspective is a reflection of a life spent in uncomfortable situations, be it as a Recon Marine, an Air Force pararescueman, or a tattoo artist. Because, as he puts, “if you’re risking virtuously, it leads to better and more things.”

EP 052 with Kyle Clayton

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with Kyle Clayton, the owner of Chilkat Valley News. To understand how Kyle ended up in Haines, he starts with the four years he served in the army. He explains that his upbringing in Indiana instilled in him a feeling of isolation, like the rest of the world and the experiences it held always felt out of reach. That was, until the army opened up the world to him.
When Kyle left the army, the camaraderie of his friends, and the extreme experiences, he said civilian life made him feel alienated. So, he was constantly searching for those extreme environments and battle-born friendships. That’s how he eventually found himself in Alaska. Now, as a reporter and the owner of Chilkat Valley News, he does his part in helping to tell the story of Haines, Alaska.

EP051 with Rosie Mancari

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with professional snowboarder and Olympian Rosie Mancari. Rosie began snowboarding at Alyeska Resort in Girdwood, Alaska at 3-years-old. At 15, she was competing in local competitions, and at 17 she moved out of state to begin training full-time. At 21, she began racing for the U.S Ski and Snowboard Team. Her sport is boardercross, probably the closest discipline in snowboarding to a contact sport. Riders race down a course of banked turns, rollers, drops and jumps at high speeds. As you might imagine, the accidental, and also purposeful, shove or collision is not uncommon.
In 2018, Rosie tore both of her Achilles’ tendons during practice at the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. Three infections and eight surgeries later brings us to where she is now: daily rehab. If you’ve ever been badly injured, then you know that rehabbing an injury correctly takes patience. Otherwise you run the risk of injuring it again, and having to start the surgery-rehab process over. Rosie is all too familiar with this process. She’s been injured before and knows what it takes to get back on her board. She understands the importance of patience to physical and mental health, and that being happy always takes precedence over her athletic career.
Thanks to Elliott Condon for help with interview questions.