Make A Scene Magazine June 2021

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Events

VALLEY REPUBLICAN WOMEN OF ALASKA MEMBERSHIP MEETING 6/17/2021 – 7PM Valley Republican Women of Alaska Sunrise Grill 918 S Colony Way, Palmer FREE Admission

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL: THE OLYMPICS June 21-25, 2021 – 9AM King of Kings Lutheran Church 1601 N Lucille St. Wasilla FREE Admission www.kingofkingswasilla.com

3RD ANNUAL COMMUNITY YARD SALE June 18 – 19, 2021 – 10AM Family Promise Mat-Su 561 W Nelson Ave. Wasilla FREE Admission promise@mtaonline.net

ALASKA SCOTTISH HIGHLAND GAMES June 26-27, 2021- 8AM Alaska Scottish Club Alaska State Fairgrounds 2075 Glenn Hwy. Palmer Tickets: $5 - $40 www.alaskanscottish.org

GARY “ALASKA” SLOAN 6/20/21 – 4PM Shwabenhof 4115 E Palmer Wasilla Hwy. Wasilla FREE Admission www.shwabenhof.org

WASI 2021 MILES FOR MEALS ON WHEELS 5K 6/26/2021 Wasilla Ares Seniors, Inc. 1301 S. Century Cir. Wasilla FREE Admission, Fundraiser

Riley, Age 10

Rachel, Age 8

Parker, Age 6

Audrey, Age 73

LADIES FIRST PRESENTATION 6/26/2021 – 11AM Alaska Breast and Cervical Services of Ladies First turn-A-leaf Thrift Store FREE Event ART ON FIRE 2021 6/26/2021 – 12PM Valley Arts Alliance Museum of Alaska Transportation & Industry 3800 W Museum Dr. Wasilla Tickets: FREE Children (0-12), $10 Reg. Admission www.valleyartsalliance.com

THE BIG CABBUCHA WITH VESTED INTEREST BAND 7/11/2021 – 2:30PM Big Cabbage Radio (Radio Free Palmer) 203 Kombucha 105 S Valley Way, Palmer FREE Admission, $10 Suggested Donation www.radiofreepalmer.org KNIK MUSEUM ANNUAL PICNIC & MUSHER INDUCTION 7/18/2021 – 1PM Knik Museum Mile 13.9 KGB, Wasilla FREE Admission


Arts Contributed by Carmen Summerfield Art on Fire 2021 6/26/2021 – 12PM Valley Arts Alliance Museum of Alaska Transportation & Industry 3800 W Museum Dr. Wasilla Tickets: FREE Children (0-12), $10 Reg. Admission It’s time for another hot, Hot, HOT Iron Pour! Yes, for the 14th year, the Valley Arts Alliance Art on Fire Iron Pour Art Fest will be held on Saturday, June 26, 2021 in Wasilla. In the next few weeks, Pat Garley (4416728) will be offering workshops in metal casting and mold making at his studio in Palmer. These workshops will continue at the 14th Valley Arts Alliance Art on Fire Iron Pour Art Fest, where these molds will be poured with liquid iron. You can make your own cast iron “Art Tile” at the Art on Fire event. The molds, called “Scratch Blocks”, will be available for $10, and you can “scratch” your unique pattern into this block with tools (nails and chisels etc.) provided. After the liquid iron is poured into your “scratch block” and cools, you can take your “Art Tile” home! Remember to make your pattern in reverse, just like chocolate molds! Raku pottery demonstrations will be conducted throughout the day. Unglazed ceramic ware, known as bisque, are decorated with a variety of glazes and then fired in a special Raku kiln. After a short firing, the “red hot” vessels are placed inside a metal can full of combustible materials, a process that draws the oxygen out of the glaze and is

responsible for the unique and completely unpredictable Raku look. Judy Vars will demonstrate her encaustic wax painting, and you can paint with this hot colorful medium at her booth for a small fee. Encaustic wax painting, also known as hot wax painting, involves using heated beeswax to which colored pigments are added. The liquid or paste is then applied to a surface—usually prepared wood, though canvas and other materials are often used. This ancient art form dates back to Egyptian times! Try it out! The Association of Alaskan Blacksmiths will demonstrate blacksmithing techniques, and other fiery arts, such as glass flame working, will also be demonstrated. Additional demonstrations of non-fiery arts such as painting, carving, and fiber arts. We have our “Old Truck” music stage set up for live music all day with a great lineup of musicians. Gathering Grounds, associated with MY House, will be providing food from their delicious café menu. MY House - Supporting homeless youth by offering a hand up and not a hand-out. The Museum of Alaska Transportation and Industry was established to give a home to Alaska’s transportation and industrial remnants, and to tell the stories of the people and the machines that opened Alaska to exploration and growth. That means... planes trains and automobiles... and all kinds of other interesting stuff, check it out!

The 14th VAA Art on Fire Iron Pour Art Fest will be held at the Museum of Alaska Transportation and Industry, located at 3800 W. Museum Drive (near the airport) in Wasilla, from noon until 5pm on Saturday, June 26th. The ticket price is $10, with children under 12 admitted free. Please join the fun! We hope to turn this day into another extraordinary Iron Pour Art Fest in the Valley! More info at www.ValleyArtsAlliance.com.


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Coloring Page

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Photography

Contributed by Richard Estelle, Palmer Museum of History & Art

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Many of Alaska’s glacier-fed rivers meander widely across broad floodplains from year to year, their channels shaping the landscape. When those channels flow in the middle of the floodplain, we often give them little notice. But when the fast-moving water flows next to the riverbank, it often causes effects that catch our attention. Sometimes large areas of land are eroded and carried away, along with whatever forest, crops or buildings existed on the land. The Matanuska River is a fairly typical, geologically young, glacial-fed Alaska river. Where not constrained by adjacent mountains, its waters spread out in many braided channels and from time to time, erode the floodplain banks. As people have settled in the Matanuska River valley, some of the lands near the river have become highly valuable for

growing crops, locating roads and other infrastructure, and for building desirable homes. When the river threatens these valuable lands, we often make attempts to intervene and cause the water to flow elsewhere. This month’s photo comes from the Museum’s Soil Conservation Service collection showing old car bodies and drift logs cabled together on the Matanuska Riverbed in an attempt to deflect the river’s flow away from land near Bodenberg Butte. Significant bank erosion had been occurring for several years and threatening several homes and farm fields, so the structure shown was hoped to be a solution. Such attempts have often had limited success in thwarting the dynamic hydrological power of rivers in such situations. This effort would appear to be no more successful than most as fields and homes that were once near the riverbank in that location at the time are now gone. Little evidence of this 1957 attempt remains today some 64 years later.


Contributed by Julie Hopkins Feaster, Big Cabbage Radio (Radio Free Palmer) Board Member The Big Cabbucha with Vested Interest Band 7/11/2021 – 2:30PM Big Cabbage Radio (Radio Free Palmer) 203 Kombucha 105 S Valley Way, Palmer FREE Admission, $10 Suggested Donation On Sunday, July 11, 2021, from 2:30pm - 4:30pm, join Big Cabbage Radio in welcoming the summer at “The Big Cabbucha’:, a live concert at 203 Kombucha! Let’s soak up the summer sun while we listen to some fantastic tunes. Big Cabbage is teaming up with 203 Kombucha for the event which will be held at the kombuchery, 105 South Valley Way, Palmer. If you’re not familiar with 203 Kombucha, you should be! “203” is a reference to the number of families who arrived in Palmer in 1935, as part of Roosevelt’s New Deal. The kombuchery has been in Palmer since November 2017, and their kombucha is bubbly and delicious, good for you, and always on tap. They have a variety of unique and scrumptious flavors to please your palate. Try them out, and if you can’t get there

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Events

before “The Big Cabbucha”... be sure to make the party! This live concert, like our virtual concerts, will showcase local artists. “Vested Interest” will keep us hopping with Rob Debach (banjo), Jeremiah Millen (guitar), Keith Barkwood (bass) and Andrea Childers (fiddle). This all-string band will get us warmed up regardless of whether the sun is shining… with their high energy and lively tempos. Their music is a fusion of bluegrass, country, folk, pop, rock – they play it all and don’t limit themselves to a box. The group has been together about a year and where did that name come from? Well, they are vested in their community – and yes, they will all be wearing vests! There is no admission fee to the event, although a donation of $10 is suggested. For additional details check our website at www.RadioFreePalmer. org and/or our Facebook page at www. facebook.com/radiofreepalmer. If you are interested in participating in our concert series in the future, send an email to lee@radiofreepalmer.org. All musical genres are welcome. In the meantime, please join us for “The Big Cabbucha” on Sunday, July 11th for an awesome combination of cabbage and kombucha!

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Music

Contributed by Melissa Keefe, Alaska State Fair, Inc. Alaska’s hometown band, Portugal. The Man, presented by Image Home Furnishings and Matanuska Brewing Co. will return to rock the Alaska State Fair as the latest confirmed act in the 2021 AT&T Concert Series. The Grammy®-winning rockers with Alaska roots will perform at the ConocoPhillips Borealis Theatre stage on Saturday, August 21st at 7 p.m. Tickets are on sale to the general public as of Friday, June 11th, at 10 a.m. Over the past decade, Portugal. The Man has established themselves as one of rock’s most prized possessions and a live phenomenon, with over 1,600 shows under their belts and a storied reputation as festival favorites. Originally heralding from Alaska, the Portland-based band – comprised of John Gourley, Zach Carothers, Kyle O’Quin, Eric Howk, Jason Sechrist and Zoe Manville - soared to new heights in 2017 with the release of their RIAA certified-gold album, Woodstock. The album’s single, “Feel It Still,” earned the group accolades including a Grammy® award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, a five-time RIAA platinum-certified single certification, and a 20-week residency at #1 on alternative radio. Alongside the shine of their myriad musical accomplishments lies the group’s long-standing passion for social justice. In fact, this is precisely the intersection on which Portugal. The Man thrives; throughout their career, the band has consistently exemplified how to deeply commit to both artistry and activism. This dynamic inspired them to officially launch their PTM Foundation in 2020, focused on universal issues related to human rights, community health, and the environment, with an emphasis on causes directly impacting indigenous

peoples. Their continued passion for activism has also led to recent partnerships with organizations such as the National Coalition Against Censorship, The Skatepark Project (helping communities build public skate parks for youth in underserved communities), March for Our Lives (Gun Reform), Keep Oregon Well (Mental Health), and Protect Our Winters (Climate Change), to name just a few. Quinn Christopherson, an Ahtna Athabaskan and Iñupiaq songwriter who is born, raised and based in Anchorage will be opening for the show. Tickets to Portugal. The Man went on sale starting at 10 a.m. on Friday, June 11. Concert tickets will be available for purchase on the Fair website, www. alaskastatefair.org. The band joins previously announced acts: Martina McBride on August 22nd, Michael Jr. on August 23rd, Dashboard Confessional on August 27th, Jon Pardi on August 28th, The Guess Who on August 29th, Zach Williams on August 30th, Common Kings on September 2nd, and Billy Idol on September 4th. Tickets for these concerts are currently available for purchase at www.alaskastatefair.org. Concert-goers have the option to purchase concert-only tickets or tickets including Fair admission. The included admission is at a discounted price and good any day of the Fair. Concert tickets including Fair admission must be purchased by August 25th. Details on ticket options and pricing are available on the Fair website. Convenience fees apply on all concert ticket purchases. Visit the Fair website, www.alaskastatefair.org, for additional information on the confirmed concerts and upcoming concert announcements.


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Poetry & Prose

Contributed by Dorothy Joy Dunne Part One: Your allies stand beside you, they’re low hanging fruit. When you don’t have much ammunition, they’re the easiest to shoot. Some thought the smooth skin meant the wound was healed but when you pulled off the scab, the infection was revealed. Now pus is flowing freely. It’s a systemic disease. All throughout the country, there’s a sense of unease. Brother against sister, it’s a sign of the times. The only way we can fix it is to stand in serried lines. Putting a new person in office won’t fix this stuff. When you’re scrambling at the bottom, life is rough. People are angry. People are sad. Express an opinion and it makes them mad. This system does everything to keep us apart. The only way to fix this is heart to heart. Your chocolate skin is beautiful to me. Your café aux lait is lovely to see. Our milk-colored shell is also a delight. We won’t get anywhere if this causes us to fight. We’re all human beings on this tiny little globe. Do you want to tear it apart to put a rock in someone’s lobe? The problems really aren’t with her and her and him and him. The changes we need to make are in the bigger system.

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Part Two: I’ve stumbled out of my cave blinking in the bright light, Fragile skin bruising with every bump and slight. I see others up ahead milling about. I stumble on the path, and they turn and shout. “What are you doing here? You’re not one of us!” “Where did you come from? Get back on the bus!” “You can only join us if you’re one of our kind.” “You don’t look the same.” “Are you out of your mind?” I’m frightened, I’m scared, but I know this is the path. I keep walking forward, bringing down wrath. My foot hits a rock, and I trip, start to fall. Some of them laugh, some smirk, but not all. One hand reaches out to keep my foot steady. They say, “I’ll walk with you, as soon as you’re ready.” Others join us, though the way is uphill. It’s a rocky road, but we keep moving still. Every so often, I must take a rest. Looking down at the fray, we hope for the best. Up on the mountain, closer to the sun We find the Source where all streams have begun. We look out towards the land of which we’re so fond. And see that after the night, a new day has dawned.


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Poetry & Prose Contributed by Jeffrey Winke, William Schmidtkunz & Charlie Rossiter search for a do-dad of hope junk drawer - JW chest of drawers grandfather’s hush hush cabinet turning a key - WS in dad’s old tool chest pictures of a woman who’s not mom - CR mom’s painting koi surfacing for bubbles of air - JW she’s last to sleep family, night worries thumbing a rosary - WS thoughts and prayers thoughts and prayers, but nothing changes - CR curled on the couch mug of darjeeling warms her hand - JW

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farewell friend even mountains separatenow our paths as well - WS pine winds blow softly, I stand here like a lost flower an empty drifting boat - CR back of closet deep in a pocket my talisman - JW

Contributed by Huhnkie Lee We envision a day When Left and right Would come together To celebrate A bright new day ... That day We shall sing and dance In everlasting harmony In peace No discordance And God forbids No violence ... That day One day ... Young men shall imagine Old men shall envision ... Young women shall adorn Old women shall embrace ... One fine day We will make it We shall make it happen That day shall come ... We do believe We do hope We do ... Be ...

Contributed by Charles Dean Walker You will become what you fear, if you do nothing at all. Abuse in the past, doesn’t mean the future is loveless. God molds us. Start evolving, that is the key. The chain must be broken. It must! There’s only one way. Do.

Contributed by Wendy Brooker We’re kites of many colors rising, dancing in the sky countless sizes, different shapes swooping low and soaring high Great bows of love and kindness balance us when strong winds tug sharing ties when those who care hold our heart strings in a hug


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Creative Writing To my delight she continued, “That big gap in the wall beside Jaffa Gate was made, so he could enter the city on horseback as he had requested.” Contributed by Gene Kelly, 2017 Fame and fortune are sought by some with diligence and determination. Others are born to bear it and wonder why. They envy the enjoyment of privacy and anonymity that common folk take for granted. What would make me so content with commonality? Well, sleeping in the same bedroom as a giant in time did it. First, it was walking through the same doorway as an emperor a century after he did, that set me to wondering. What made him so eccentric? He died some 60 years before I crossed his path, and I just unwittingly did so at the time. But little or nothing was unwitting, about where he went and what he did. It took a desk clerk in what I thought was a simple, antiquated, old dive hotel to wake me up to destiny. I strolled nonchalantly into the lobby from the informal square, just inside Jaffa Gate, within the walls of Old Jerusalem. I had finished a contractual labor obligation in Saudi Arabia that had disconcerting details. For obvious reasons, my employer was not forthcoming in the recruitment process, about international criminal endeavors. I had gradually become aware that I was an enabler, for gun running and bootlegging. Proffered wealth for becoming an insider motivated my exit. Being a wealthy insomniac would have put all my motives, from both altruism and self-interest into the tilt mode. I remembered my youthful days, shaking pinball machines into dysfunction. I wanted out and made

an orderly exit by way of Egypt, a land of ancient fascinations. Going still and loitering in Cheops tomb, in the heart of his pyramid had rewards.

I wondered aloud, “So, why didn’t he just come through the gate? It would have saved the effort of tearing down part of the wall.”

The whole journey was seat of the pants, my walking into a crossroad with destiny. There are no direct links between most Arab countries and Israel, so I traversed the Sinai Peninsula and entered Israel via Elat. The family feud between Abraham’s descendants endures as predicted, thousands of years ago. The two sides of the Semite coin, Jew and Arab were daily impacting my first foray in the Middle East; an excellent preparation for later time in Mesopotamia. They were giving me, an objective outside outlander, education that introduced me to the haunt of an emperor. Yes, it was a haunt by more than one definition.

And then I got a taste of the bizarre finer points of diplomacy, “Oh no, the Turks wanted to continue good relations with the emperor, so they took steps to grant his request to enter the city on horseback. But in diplomatic protocol of the time, entering through a gate astride a horse was a conqueror’s entrance, and they denied him that. But they did honor his request to the letter.”

When I asked the desk clerk for a room, it was all just a routine transaction until, after presenting my passport and money, she opened up about the setting we were in. She got a firm grip on my attention when she said, “Kaiser Wilhelm slept here. So did General Allenby.” I was all ears and responded, “Do say on, please. I am fascinated.” My brevity was rewarded when she continued, “This hotel was named “The New Imperial” when it was built in the mid 1890s. Kaiser Wilhelm stayed here during his diplomatic tour of the Turkish Empire, when it was only two years old.” I urged her, “Do tell me more. So, I am on the heels of an emperor?”

I was amused. So the Kaiser, German for Caesar, was thwarted from the appearance of conquest that would have been troubling for other potentates like the Russian Czar, another bearer of the distinguished title, Caesar. How Julius would have been amazed that his name would come down in time two thousand years, and still cause semantic competition and contention. He didn’t end like the English bard scripted, “Et tu, Brute?” I thanked the clerk for her service, and made it clear I was grateful for her educating me. Over the course of the week I resided there, I bothered the staff, until I was rotated into the suite that the German Caesar had occupied. There I slept where the eldest grandson of Queen Victoria, ruler of the British Empire and Empress of India had slept. There I a common enough globe trotter, true to the wanderlust of my Viking ancestors, resided within the same walls as an emperor for the same purpose, a place to sleep.

Since Wilhelm was born a royal and married a royal, he certainly never knew the relaxed commonality I know. And should I pity him for the constant public expectations he was all his life subjected to? He was noted for being difficult, and came off as eccentric on occasion and why not? He wasn’t asked if he wanted to run an empire. His relatives were rulers of multiple empires competing with his. The entire world had an interest, in what could never be just his domestic concerns. How unbearable it must have been on occasion. Other complexities were imposed on Wilhelm. During his complicated delivery, the doctor damaged his left arm, leaving it stunted and virtually dysfunctional. The leader of the Second German Reich was handicapped, during the nineteenth century naturalist debate over eugenics. That discussion would in time wreak a nightmare of industrialized murder, during the National Socialist Third Reich. The acronym “Nazi” would aid the Soviet propaganda assignment as a right wing identifier, exactly the opposite of its origin. Orwell was right. After his abdication at the close of WWI, Wilhelm went into exile in the Netherlands. He died in 1941. On two separate mornings, as I came out of sleep in the modern Caesar’s bedchamber, I heard unearthly hellish howling, on the border of sleep and wakefulness. There in Jerusalem, the capitol of Judaism, across the square from what is guessed to be the remains of Herod’s Palace, a window in time and place contradicting naturalism opened for me, a common fellow but also an uncommon Mr. Mystic. Yes, Julius and Wilhelm both sleep now, and I am left to wonder, how they reckoned themselves when awake, in the world around them. MID-JUN 2021


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Poetry & Prose Contributed by Katherine Baker How the vast starry heavens shame us so, ourselves in ignorance, scarcely we know, but for understanding we struggle on, to explain existence before its gone While our world fills with discontent, despite the best of senses spent, reasoning turns to an extreme, ‘til emotion does logic seem.

Contributed by Caitlin M.S. Buxbaum What is magic but the unexplained made more exotic

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by the word?


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