This week a film that I’ve had a hand in for years finally premiered – and it was worth the wait. In November 2005, my friend Ellen Frankenstein invited me to help her with an ambitious project called “Open Arms,” a documentary about women hunters in Alaska. Thus began a three-year odyssey, which for her is a testament to the value of following a story, and for me is a good lesson in patience.

Ellen Frankenstein films on remote Kruzoff Island.

We went out to Kruzoff Island with two friends and filmed a winter hunting trip in a seriously remote neck of the woods. (Think – no electricity and LOTS of spare batteries.) That trip affected me so deeply that I transformed my diary scrawlings into a piece for the Alaska Public Radio Network program “AK.”

After a while, Ellen felt that the film was moving away from the “women” angle and was more about ethical eating in remote and rural areas, so she re-titled it “Eating Alaska.” She went all over Alaska learning about the way people eat, from Native Alaskans to New York transplants. And she explored what all those terms like “food miles” and “locavore” really mean to communities that have to fly milk and butter up from the Lower 48 at a crazy expense (a gallon of milk in the village of Barrow typically goes for about $9).

Ellen and her colleagues in the documentary world passed different cuts of the film back and forth, commenting and philosophizing about the way it was evolving. After I moved to New York I’d sometimes get a new DVD in the mail and would eagerly pop it in and phone her with my feedback. I have yet to see the final cut, but it premiered in Fairbanks and Sitka last week, and it was received very well. I was credited as an associate producer. Here’s a trailer:

The moral of this story is; if you have a good idea, pursue it like crazy. Too often we give up on sparks of inspiration because the road ahead looks so long. But what makes us good journalists is the tenacity to follow through on issues, and the flexibility to let the story take us where it may.

But things didn’t turn out as the Alaska Dems had hoped. The challengers to Rep. Don Young and Sen. Ted Stevens didn’t generate enough votes to beat these longtime Republican leaders, even with the incumbents facing corruption scandals.

As New York transplant Jane Eidler said, “I’ve been living in Alaska for 33 years, and they have been my representatives.”  It seems that the risk of choosing new leadership was too great for a state that relies so heavily on federal dollars – money that Young and Stevens have reliably funneled into the state for years.

Although absentee votes may tip the race in favor of Sen. Steven’s challenger Mark Begich, it seems unlikely. And if Stevens’ felony convictions do force him out of his post, it’s likely that the appointee to his position will be a similar hard-line Republican – perhaps even Governor Palin herself.

Many voters and journalists spoke to me this week about how the Alaska media have done a terrible job of being the watchdogs of their own government. A lot of information about Sen. Stevens, Rep. Young and Gov. Palin came to Alaskans from national media – after the stories became too big to ignore. For many Alaskans, this election shows what aspiring leaders are really up against – a largely uninformed public, complacent about the current state of the state. It will be a challenge to Alaskan reporters to rise to the occasion and take the political risk to uncover corruption.

Now that elections are over and Palin is returning home, I wonder if the 49th state is in danger of fading back into the fringes of the American consciousness again – or if Alaska will seem more relevant now to the rest of the nation. And I wonder whether Obama’s promised tide of change will be strong enough to reach Alaska’s shores.

Point Barrow, AK

Dear Colleagues:

I will be in Alaska for elections! I used to live in Sitka for many years, working at the community radio station, KCAW. It was glorious and I’m excited to go back, especially since the nation’s eye has turned to The Last Frontier lately.

My first task is to find former New Yorkers living there and interview them for an election walk-up piece. Yes, there really are transplanted New Yorkers living in the great white North (even though proper bagels do not exist anywhere outside the Lower 48).

This is for our News Service, and I’d like your input:  What would you like to ask an Alaskan New Yorker about the upcoming elections? Or about politics in general?

Please comment below or contact me directly with your ideas.

Thank you!

Valerie

p.s. That’s a little picture of me with a hummer in Barrow, at the edge of North Slope. It was midsummer at about 11:30 p.m., and the temperature was just below freezing. Behind me is sand, imprinted with polar bear bellies.

I think this piece on CNN yesterday makes a good attempt to depict the range of Alaskan women.

Click here to view the embedded video.
The main point is clear – there’s not just one type of woman up there. There’s not just one type of anyone up there. Politics in Alaska are just as polarized as in the rest of the nation. There are conservationists vs. contractors. Commercial fisherman vs. charter fishermen. Subsistence hunters vs. aerial wolf shooters. And on and on.

(By the way, owning a gun in Alaska does not add up to being a Republican or conservative or Christian. It’s like the “field-dressing a moose” thing.  Most Alaskan worth their salt knows how to field dress an animal and discharge a rifle, even if they don’t often do it. I know many passionate environmentalists and conservationists who are quite liberal in their politics and also happen to be hunters. It’s Alaska’s version of being a locavore.)

I have a friend who teaches at Sitka High School.  She said that the girls in her class just went crazy about McCain choosing Palin as veep. To them, Palin represents what an Alaskan woman can accomplish. It’s hard to crack through the good ol’ boy nepotism of Alaskan politics (even if you may argue this is only in appearances)- most people don’t even try. Palin’s story could make the difference for a smart young woman deciding to take a leadership role in her community. But I think that media, youth role models – all of us – have a tricky responsibility to surgically remove the policies from the inspiration. We want a new generation of young women to stand up for their own ideas, not just parrot a politician’s talking points.

I want to find out what these girls are thinking, and how their perceptions and engagement in their government are changing. I’m hoping it’s not about the politics, but the possibilities.