Susan Sommer

May 15, 2024 | akbizmag.com | Susan Sommer

by | May 15, 2024 | Education, Featured, News Business Academy Coordinator Laura Potter awards cords to program graduates. The first cohort graduated this month from the Anchorage School District (ASD) Business Academy, a program designed to benefit both career-minded students and businesses. Begun in 2022 in partnership with UAF, the academy recruits high school juniors (and seniors if space is available) interested in pursuing futures in financial services, administrative assisting, or...

Feb 4, 2024 | alaskamagazine.com | Susan Sommer

Very few people are nostalgic for the old days of photo processing: the interminable wait to see if you got even one decent image on a roll of 36 frames of film, the abject disappointment if you failed to, and the cost of prints and slides. If you had your own darkroom or worked in one, the routine included agitating film canisters by hand, mixing smelly chemicals, wielding tongs and washing trays, and the constant fear of light leaks.

Feb 3, 2024 | alaskamagazine.com | Susan Sommer

Alaska, as readers of this magazine know, is a dream travel destination as well as a fine place to live. What many might not know, however, is how quirky Alaskans can be. From various sources—and a little experience—I’ve discovered the following stats about my fellow northerners. Among all 50 states, Alaskans eat the most ice cream per capita. Perhaps that’s one reason Anchorage-ites were voted the worst dressed by a different magazine’s reader poll.

Nov 8, 2023 | alaskamagazine.com | Susan Sommer

In this photo taken by my mom when we lived along the Iditarod trail at Farewell Lake in 1974 and ’75, musher Ken Chase takes a break from the race to chat with us and rest his dogs. An Athabascan from Anvik, Chase ran the Iditarod 16 times, most recently in 2002. He placed in the top 10 three times. Hear his recollections about racing on photographer Jeff Schultz’s Faces of Iditarod site: faces.iditarod.com/ken-chase.

Oct 30, 2023 | alaskamagazine.com | Susan Sommer

My family’s history in Alaska goes back to just before statehood, when my parents, who hadn’t yet met, each moved here for work and adventure. To me, those origins—my origins—seem distant, but through other lenses, our time here is a mere blip on the screen of existence. History, this issue’s theme, is messy, multi-layered, and fascinating. And it’s always told from a certain perspective.