DONOR PROFILE
Rev. Shelley Wickstrom
DONOR SINCE:
2015
WHY I GIVE: I’m
grateful for the work of the Forum and how you’re tending to civil society, one person at a time.
How did you first come to connect to the Forum and why do you support our work?
From Slime Line to Synod Office Rev. Shelley Wickstrom is Bishop of the Alaska Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. She grew up as one of four kids in the Spokane Valley. Her younger sister came up to Valdez for a summer job that lasted more than a year, ending in a drive up the Alcan. Shelley followed for a summer job on the slime line and the egg room in Kasilof. After college in California and seminary in Iowa, she interned in Seward, then spent a number of years in churches in Dillingham and North Pole, followed by congregations in Billings and Bozeman, Montana. She worked for a regional synod office before her call to Alaska as the Bishop of the ELCA Alaska Synod in 2012.
Through the FORUM magazine. A copy of the magazine came to the synod office for the former bishop, and I picked it up to read. Now financially supporting the Forum and reading the magazine are regular practices. What I appreciate most is the quality of writing that allows Alaskans to tell their own story rather than read an author’s interpretation of it. That takes skill and respect on the writer’s part. I remember in particular the article about Alice Qannik Glenn (Fall 2019) and her Coffee & Quaq podcast; the idea of having an idea, taking a risk, and letting it grow. I pay attention to the many ways the Forum serves Alaska. I’m grateful for the work of the Forum and how you’re tending to civil society, one person at a time. We are all human beings. What’s one Alaskan story you’ve heard or read that you would recommend to others?
The story of Mary Huntington from Shishmaref, who’s the Coordinator of Cultural Programs for the Bering Strait School District. She’s building creative curriculum, including videos of children’s songs in Iñupiaq on Facebook. Her talk to a Multicultural Youth Leadership workshop was deemed one of the best anti-racism presentations he’d heard by the Vice President of the church. What’s one thing you have been curious about lately?
What question do you wish more people asked you?
How has growing up as the daughter of a U.S. History teacher, for whom English was a second language, impacted your approach to life? My father was the second youngest of eleven children born to a Finnish household in South Dakota. He didn’t speak English until he entered first grade, where he was reprimanded for not speaking English. Fortunately he was a quick learner and became the first in his family to go to college. His experience gives me a little perspective when speaking with rural Alaskans.
An open question for me is intersectionality and climate—climate change affects those who can least afford the impacts. What conversations do we need to be having (or having more of) in Alaska?
What are we each willing to do to build a more civil and just Alaska? What are we willing to do to heal from the unequal trauma of this pandemic? What are the next steps to support the teaching of critical thinking skills in our schools and to expect those skills to be used by our leaders? Who are our partners in joy? ■
An open question for me is intersectionality and climate—climate change affects those who can least afford the impacts. Look at Shishmaref, for example. Despite millennia of adjusting to a changing world, the climate is now changing faster than the residents can adapt.
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