Alaska Public Radio Network reporter David Shurtleff starts today as Ethan Berkowitz's Press Secretary, a job that will last at least through the fourth week of August.Good Luck, David!
He did a great story for APRN yesterday about the womens's orchestra at Hiland Mountain Correctional Center.
One of the main requirements for membership (of the orchestra, that is), is that your sentence there be long enough to learn to play your instrument. The prison's web page touts the ensemble as "the only organized women's orchestra in the free world." I'm sure some of the members might dispute use of the term "free" to describe their current world.
There have been many arts programs at HMCC over the years, including this one. My friend Anne Chandonnet worked with inmates on poetry there in the early 1990s, and Diane Benson, David's new employer's main opponent in politics right now, taught drama there at the end of the 20th Century.
Special thanks should go to Pati Crofut and Janice Weiss for the excellent work they've done with this group.
image of David Shurtleff by Steve Aufrecht