Sara's Interviews
Janice Heheinzeinan
If you walked downtown during the Solstice Festival in Anchorage, you may have seen Janice Heheinzeinan outside of Sara's Gift Cache Painting. At the festival, Janice was behind an easel with a picture of a woman she had drawn. She had a very happy and bubbly personality and was eager to see and talk to the people admiring her artwork.
Janice used to live in Florida, but moved to Alaska in December to be with and take care of her grandson. Before that Janice had lived in Alaska for the past few summers on and off.
"I love to take pictures, there is so much pretty scenery here," Janice said. She also said that she likes to do a little bit of hiking and drive the Seward highway. She also told us about the mother and baby moose that occasionally come in her front yard. Janice used to be a substitute teacher and became serious about art about a year ago. Janice really likes to make art. Sometimes Janice even draws pictures for her grandson to color. When asked if she likes to draw she enthusiastically said, "I love it!"
Janice draws abstract pictures of girls. They have big faces; little hands and are sometimes holding things like flowers or other little trinkets. Janice's pictures are never really planned she just starts to draw.
Janice is inspired by things like other people and even explained how she was looking at a Starbucks commercial and saw the cup and the girl on it and was amazed by her hair. She explained that she later drew a picture of a girl with the same wavy-like hair.
Janice's pictures are really beautiful and unique. They are so impressive that a gallery offered to put her artwork in their exhibits. Unfortunately, that gallery is in Florida and it would require her moving to Florida. She is content with Alaska right now. She does not want to leave the beautiful scenery and her family!
Anthony
Looking around the beach a group of people were seen flipping off of air mattresses in the water and other random things. One of those people was twenty two year old Anthony. The whole group laughed and joked with us and told us a little bit about themselves and Alaska.
Anthony was born in South Korea but he moved around a lot because his dad is in the military. One of the places the military took Anthony's dad was Alaska, where he has lived for about seven years.
Anthony and his group all agreed that the Alaskan scenery is beautiful and all the season changes are so pretty. When we talked about how the days were so long he said "oh, i love the sun!" Anthony and his group all love to go to the beach and have fun.
One way Anthony and his friends have fun is free run which is running and jumping and doing flips off of things. In high school he ran track, wrested and played football He is currently in college for Athletic therapy.
He even joked that he likes to "ride moose" in Alaska. Whether he is hanging out at the beach, spending time with friends or riding moose he has a lot of fun being in Alaska.
Blake
While I was walking around at the Midnight Sun Baseball Game I saw a group of boys in baseball uniforms watching the game. When I walked up to them one of the boys, Blake, started telling me about the wonders of Alaska. I learned that he loves the outdoors and the scenery. He also loves all of the small towns that Alaska is home to.
Blake is an unusual kid because he enjoys being outside more than inside. He even said, "Indoors is boring, there's more stuff to do outside." Blake enjoys playing sports like baseball outside. He also likes that it's light out most of the day so he can be outside a lot. Camping and fishing are also hobbies of Blake's. He said he once saw a 120-pound halibut. Blake also likes to do a little bit of hiking. He said, "to have fun you have to kind of do it your self." He said that you can't just go to amusement parks; you have to go get the dirt bike or the ATV and make your own fun.
Blake also said that the winters aren't that bad in Alaska. He really likes to snowboard and snowmobile in the winter because there is so much snow. When asked about the winter he said, "It gets really cold and we get a lot of snow, but you can still have fun."
Blake lives in Fairbanks and really likes living in a small town. He said its good to know a lot of people in town because you don't feel so out of place. Blake explained that he doesn't really like big "concrete jungles", they're really loud and not very calm. He enjoys having fun in the small towns around his hometown.
Blake loves Alaska, he loves where he lives, and he loves living in a small town. Most of all, Blake is a kid who really loves the outdoors.
Emily Krol
Emily Krol has lived in Alaska for the last four years and before that she lived many different places but mainly Pennsylvania. In Palmer, Alaska Emily is big in her church but is also into something else, dogsledding. Emily said, "I never had imagined that I would be a musher, I didn't even know what it was for a while, I learned about it in sixth grade." Emily went out on a dog sled one day as a birthday gift and has been hooked ever since.
The musher, who is the person who drives the dog sled, who took Emily on her first sled ride is actually the person who she now lives with. Emily takes care of his dogs, takes them out, and races them. She really likes working with the dogs. "Some of the dogs know where they belong when you unhook them," she said.
Emily has a special relationship with one dog, Rain. She said that she has told Ryan, the owner, "he's mine" and when Ryan retires, which will be soon, she's going to keep Rain with her.
Emily has been a musher for two Junior Iditarods. The Junior Iditarod is the Iditarod race for people under the age of 18. Regarding the first race she said, "I got ninth place because I went the wrong way on the river, caught myself on fire, and fell off the sled." In her second Iditarod, which she described as "pretty much flawless" she placed third. Emily is in about five races a year but takes the dogs out about every other day. "I love being out in the Alaskan woods and being with the dogs," Emily said about mushing. The longest dog sled run she has ever gone on was 150 miles long.
Surprisingly, Emily doesn't mind the snow. "People think I'm crazy because I complain that it's cold in the summer but when winter comes I'm always outside," she said. Sometimes the short days and long nights get annoying but she loves being out under the stars. Emily has even been out when it is fifty degrees below zero.
Emily said, "I hate being inside, there is so much to do outside." Emily likes to camp and hike when she's not mushing. She also loves working with kids through the church orthrough church camps.
Emily is in a local college working to get a bachelors degree in biology and eventually become a veterinarian. She wants to continue being a musher for a long time and continue working with animals through her dream of being a veterinarian.