East Anchorage Book Club with Andrew Gray

Send us a text [https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/1875228/open_sms]  JJ Harrier is the 2025 chair of the Anchorage Pride Parade. After a childhood in Girdwood, he traveled around the lower 48 and Europe trying to find himself ultimately ending up homeless on the streets of Portland in his early 30s. His mother got him into rehab in Alaska and from there his life took a different direction. JJ is the former Vice President of Marketing for the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce, the former Director of Development for Alaska Addiction Rehabilitation Services at Nugent’s Ranch, and is currently the Director of Development at Denali Family Services.

Send us a text [https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/1875228/open_sms] Alaska State House Representative for Downtown Anchorage Zack Fields explains the budget reconciliation bill recently passed in the US House by a single vote. That bill is now in the US Senate, where if it is not substantially amended, it would adversely affect Alaska in many ways. One is cutting funding for SNAP – which is the federal food stamp program.  About 70,000 Alaskans receive SNAP benefits. The bill would also significantly affect Medicaid – which is government health insurance for low-income people and families. About 250,000 Alaskans are enrolled in Medicaid. The bill offers significant tax cuts that primarily benefit the ultra wealthy. Ultimately, if the 2025 budget reconciliation bill passes as is, it would massively increase the federal deficit which is already alarmingly high and has contributed to a reduction in America’s credit rating.  To listen to Rep. Zack Field's previous episode on the podcast (where we discuss him and his life), click here [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1875228/episodes/15590614].

Send us a text [https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/1875228/open_sms] Tessa Hulls is the 2025 Pulitzer prize winner for her graphic  memoir Feeding Ghosts. Tessa is only the second graphic novelist to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize, the first being Art Speigleman for Maus in 1992. Tessa was kitchen staff for this past legislative session in Juneau. She worked in the legislative lounge every day making legislators' breakfasts and lunches. No one knew she was an author and certainly no one expected the woman serving us our soup to be announced as the 2025 Pulitzer Prize winner.  We discuss her incognito lounge staff role and how it helped her cope with her newfound international fame. Here is a description of Hulls' book which we will be discussing today: "Feeding Ghosts is a powerful graphic memoir that explores the enduring impact of history and generational trauma on three generations of Chinese women. The memoir follows Hulls' grandmother, Sun Yi, a journalist who fled Shanghai after the 1949 Communist victory, and the ways her experiences shaped her daughter and granddaughter. The book delves into themes of love, grief, exile, identity, and the haunting legacy of trauma."

Send us a text [https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/1875228/open_sms] Alaska State House Representative for South Anchorage, Girdwood & Whittier Ky Holland was born and raised in Anchorage. He is the eldest son of Federal Judge Russ Holland who was the judge in the case against Exxon after the Exxon Valdez Oil spill. Ky left Alaska for college in Oregon and stayed away for over a decade. Returning in the late 90s, he continued his work as a mechanical engineer, but expanded into academia and eventually into entrepreneurship. Lack of state investment in the private sector has motivated his legislation during his freshman session in Juneau. But it was a fear that we wouldn't properly fund our schools that led him to run for office for the first time in 2024. We talk about all of that and the case against ten American Samoans in Whittier who have been charged with voter misconduct.

Send us a text [https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/1875228/open_sms] Alaska State House Representative for West Anchorage Carolyn Hall got an internship with the Boston Red Sox during her senior year of college in New Hampshire. This led to her dream job working for the team as a videographer during their World Series win in 2004. In 2008 she branched into TV journalism getting her first job with a small local market: KTUU in Anchorage. She covered the Iditarod, Gov. Sarah Palin, Sen. Ted Stevens' trial from DC, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski's 2010 write-in campaign. Hall then worked for a larger TV market in Seattle where she earned an Emmy for her coverage of the Oso Landslide in 2014. After returning to Anchorage, she left broadcast journalism and branched into politics working as communications director for Governor Bill Walker, and at the start of the Covid pandemic, for Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz. We talk about all of that and how she ended up running for office in today's episode.  Watch the video [https://youtu.be/1MvK3bHc_SE?si=DAyGfe_BA-CXuCej] of Carolyn Hall and Ethan Berkowitz leaving Anchorage Assembly Chambers, Aug 12, 2020.