Community

Members of the Juneau Assembly say they are hesitant to move forward with a formal resolution calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Assembly member Christine Woll proposed the resolution during a meeting Monday night, saying she felt it could provoke action at a higher level amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. But she said she wouldn’t move forward with a resolution if she didn’t think other members would support it. 

“I personally believe that we need a ceasefire and that the Assembly has an opportunity to show that our community has influence when we use our voice to persuade our federal government to take actions that could change the course of this human rights tragedy,” she said. 

But most Assembly members did not show much enthusiasm for the idea. Some said they feared it could divide parts of the community. 

Assembly member Alicia Hughes-Skandijs said that while she personally supports a ceasefire, she isn’t sure that it’s the Assembly’s place to be weighing in on the issue. 

“As an Assembly, the more we can stay focused on nonpartisan local stuff the better for all of us because we probably start to diverge in how we feel about federal and international matters,” she said. “And yet, It’s really hard watching what’s happening. It’s a real genocide.” 

In Juneau last week, more than 150 people rallied downtown in support of a ceasefire. Participants shared fliers with a proposed Assembly resolution. Some attendees and organizers of the event, like Sonia Kumar, were at Monday’s meeting to again ask for Assembly action on the issue. 

“This ceasefire resolution means a lot to those of us who live on Lingít Aaní,” she said. “I really hope you consider supporting our resolution in showing the world that the Alaska capital wants to stand on the humane side of history.”

Local resolution efforts similar to Woll’s suggestion have been passed by dozens of cities across the country. But in Alaska, very few cities have considered them. 

On Tuesday the Anchorage Assembly passed a resolution to ask Alaska’s congressional delegation to support negotiations for a ceasefire, reversing its decision last week to reject a similar resolution.

At the end of the discussion on Monday, the Juneau Assembly did not move forward with any potential resolution.

This is Tongass Voices, a series from KTOO sharing weekly perspectives from the homelands of the Áak’w Kwáan and beyond. 

Axel Brouillette-Gillam is a co-owner of Cosmik Debriz, a vintage Alaskana shop that began from his interests in thrifting and fashion, with his wife Khrystl. Brouilette-Gillam grew up in Homer before moving to Juneau in 2015, and it’s life in Alaska that inspires what he sells. 

Listen:

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

My name is Axel Brouillette-Gillam, and I am the owner of Cosmik Debriz. 

We initially started the shop as kind of a pop-up situation. So, markets at the JAHC, the Mendenhall Mall had some Saturday markets — we would go to those and have a pop-up and kind of have our things. And then we kind of spontaneously found the space that we are now.

So yeah, to find us, we’re basically at the corner of North Franklin and Second Street, where High Tide Tattoo is. And then if you go up North Franklin Street a little bit, we’re the first door on that same blue building, and you’ll go up some nice stairs, and then we’re the first door that you see.

And when you come in, it’s basically three rooms that are connected to each other. And so we come to the room that has all of the clothes, we have racks that are just vintage clothing that has fun colors, fun patterns, fun styles. You know, I like these — we have some of these pieces that are from the early ‘90s when there’s this kind of Western thing going on. I enjoy those a lot. I think those are fun. 

And then we keep coming into the space, my favorite part of the store, which is the vintage Alaska clothing. So we have , this is the jacket from an Eagle Quality Centers from when I was a little kid in Homer. It’s now a Safeway, but when I was a kid, it was an Eagle Quality Center. An old Super Bear jacket with the old Super Bear logo on it, you know. So yeah, jackets like that. Super fun. And then we have vintage Alaska sweatshirts, and then t-shirts as well. 

So now we’re kind of in the, I call it the cashier room. It’s where the front counter is. We have our TV with our cassette deck.  

And then yeah, we have these flags here. I got these online from a guy in Ohio. And what’s significant about them is they have the 49 stars from when Alaska joined the United States, and 1959 was the only year that there was a flag that had 49 stars because December of 1959, Hawaii became a state [Editor’s note: Hawaii became a state in August of 1959]. 

And then another thing that we also have that’s vintage Alaska-related is things like postcards, press photos — so yeah, things like that. We have a Patsy Ann postcard from the 1930s.

And when I’m picking out items, when I’m looking at items, I’m often thinking of, there’s probably people out there that would connect to this thing. But like, one good example is, I had a 1990s Anchorage Aces — so, there used to be the Alaska Aces, it’s the hockey team that we used to have up here, and before they were called the Alaska Aces, they were called the Anchorage Aces. And so it was a jersey from the 1990s that had Anchorage Aces on it. And then so, I had a cowbell as well that had, you know, the season ‘97, ‘96 on it. But I had that up and for sale and I had a guy come in, and his dad played on the Anchorage Aces. And so he was just so incredibly excited to see it. He was so excited to get it for his dad, and to have it. 

And then moving into the last room. Currently, it is our halibut coat room. And then the exciting development is, the new exciting development is a chain stitch machine. And so what this is for doing is like custom embroidery, and it’s hand-operated, so there’s a crank underneath that I use to control the direction that the needle is going in. 

And you know, right now we’re running it, you know, this is kind of a slow mode, you know, not going too crazy fast right now. I need to work on my Ts, but it almost says KTOO. 

Going into the future, going to be doing basically vintage jackets, vintage clothing, and then doing direct to garment embroidery on those things related to Juneau’s history.

Yeah, just, I don’t know, these things, they make me really excited. I think they’re really cool. And it’s awesome to get to share them with others.

After nearly a year of renovations, Juneau’s Augustus Brown Pool is finally reopening.

More than 50 people gathered outside its front entrance in downtown Juneau on Friday to witness the ribbon-cutting ceremony and grand reveal of the pool’s multimillion-dollar renovations. 

Juneau Parks and Recreation Director George Schaaf said without the Juneau community’s long-standing support for the more than 50-year-old pool, the renovation wouldn’t have been able to happen.  

“I want to say thank you to the community of Juneau, you showed at the ballot box how important this pool is to you,” he said. “We are so excited to have Juneau back to being a two-pool town again.”

Schaaf said contractors have spent the past 11 months on upgrades that many swimmers might not notice — like new boilers, electric plumbing and ventilation. But, there are some noticeable changes too — like a resurfaced leisure pool and remodeled locker rooms.

The painted tiles that once lined the locker room showers were also replaced with new ones during the renovations and high-resolution photos of the original 1999 designs now line the lobby.

After the ribbon cutting concluded, residents were invited inside where Lingít elders led a blessing of the water. 

Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Junior Ellie Yerkes was one of the many who took the chance to walk around and explore the renovations. She said she grew up swimming in the pool and is excited to get back in the water after so long without it. 

“My grandfather really likes to swim and he’d always bring me down here and my cousins and we just play around,” she said. “It’s nice having it back open again because I’ve missed it.” 

Another person excited to get back in the water is former Assembly member Carole Triem, who was a driving force behind an Assembly appropriation in 2021 that helped fund the $8 million renovation. 

“I woke up and I said ‘pool day, pool day, pool day!’ It’s just really great to see this open again and to be on the deck,” she said. “I haven’t been here for so long — I can’t wait to dive in the pool.”

Though the ribbon cutting ceremony was on Friday, users won’t be able to test the waters until the pool’s soft opening on Monday, followed by an official grand reopening and community free swim on Saturday, March 9.

Clarification: This story has been updated to make Carole Triem’s role in the effort to fund the pool renovations more clear. 

The gazebo at Juneau’s Marine Park was packed on Saturday as a crowd of about 150 people stood in the cold to show their support for Palestinians amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. 

Many held signs and wore the colors of the flag of Palestine as they rallied to urge officials in Juneau — and across the state and country — to call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, where health officials say thousands of Palestinians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes.

Nicole Church, an Indigenous singer and songwriter, gave an impassioned speech at the event and was one of many who called what was happening in Gaza a genocide. 

“If we must call it a war, call it a war of annihilation. Make no mistake, there is a genocide happening right now in Gaza as we speak,” she said.

According to the health ministry in Gaza, the death toll since the conflict began in October is nearly 30,000. 

The event, organized by Juneau for Palestine, lasted nearly two hours. Multiple speakers shared stories and their views on the issue. 

Ernestine Shaankaláx̱t’ Hayes, an award-winning Lingít author and elder, said she often asks herself what she would do if something like what is happening in Gaza happened in Juneau today. 

“What would I do? Where could I go? What would we do? Where would we be safe?” she said. “Our homes would be rubble, our hospitals would be bombed, where would we take our wounded loved ones? To find care, to be safe?”

The organizers shared a citizen’s resolution calling on the Juneau Assembly to support a permanent ceasefire, among other requests. The group previously offered the resolution to the Assembly at a public meeting last month. 

Only two Juneau Assembly members, Christine Woll and Paul Kelly, were at the event on Saturday. In an interview, Woll said she is appalled at what is happening in Gaza. 

“There are so many people dying right now, and the U.S. government is participating in that — and it feels hopeless sometimes,” she said. “But when you get together with your community, it’s helpful to see how many people are in opposition to that.”

She said she is planning to speak with other Assembly members this week to gauge whether they would support a resolution. 

“To me, this is something that, if enough people speak up in our community and communities across the country, maybe we can have a difference,” she said. 

Paul Kelly said he was inspired by the people who spoke at the rally but worries a resolution that takes a stance could isolate some members of the community. 

“Before we do a resolution that speaks to how we as a community are taking a position, I want to make sure that I’m not alienating any of my own constituents as well,” he said.

Similar resolutions are being considered in other Alaska cities. The Anchorage Assembly is expected to vote Tuesday on a resolution calling on Alaska’s congressional delegation to support a ceasefire in Gaza.

This is Tongass Voices, a series from KTOO sharing weekly perspectives from the homelands of the Áak’w Kwáan and beyond. 

One of Juneau’s favorite drag kings, Tyquan, is known for Prince tributes, sci-fi-themed acts, and big platform boots.

T McInnis — the person behind Tyquan — gave KTOO a tour of the Juneau Drag closet for this week’s Tongass Voices and told their drag origin story. 

Listen:

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

I’m T McInnis, and my drag name is Tyquan. So, I decided to do drag for Halloween one year. And I dressed up as the Weeknd. And that was like, seven years ago, and it just stuck. I had been already making costumes before that, so I was like I think I can do this. 

It was like the year Gigi Monroe held a GLITZ and brought in Landon Cider who’s like the drag king of all drag kings. And from that moment, when I saw Pitbull come out on that stage, I was like — I didn’t know that kings were performing drag at that level until I was exposed to that. And that’s what kind of inspired me to start performing in drag. 

Most places, just book queens. We don’t really have so much of that problem here because a majority of the performers here are actually kings. And Gigi Monroe, who runs the Juneau drag family, always keeps space for kings and celebrates kings. So we’re a little bit different in our drag community than other places. But yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m the only black drag king in Alaska. 

So most of my drag, I make all my stuff. These were like a mannequin. And I had to cut them out. And then we painted them and added the silver paint and the rhinestones. It was actually designed after Dr. Funkenstein, who was a character from the P-Funk era. So that was designed after that. So I wanted to have the visual of emerging from a spacecraft and like bringing the funk to Earth. 

 I’ve been sewing since I was eight. I was homeschooled. So my mom taught me how to sew. And my friends would ask me to make clothes and stuff like that. And then after a while, I started doing it professionally.

When people see me sew I’m like “See, you just do this, and then just reverse and go around the corner. Like, you try.” And they’re like, “Ah!”

I think for GLITZ week, we were chomping at the last minute. And there was an idea that came up with costumes, and it was maybe the night before the show. So it was like, “Hey, can you go pick the fabric up at Jo-Ann’s and like whip those up for us?” And like, “Yeah, sure.” So I came up with a pattern, cut everything out and then realized, like I cut it out wrong. Then I had a little moment to cry. And then I sewed the piece back on and put it together, and no one ever knew.

After I performed a number, I hear my name being called back out to the stage. So they bring myself and my husband out on the stage to introduce him to Juneau and to the drag family, in the middle of a show, a drag show at the Red Dog Saloon. I was dressed as Prince — made it even more hilarious. That was a surprise. I was backstage like ripping my stuff off. Like, “I’m done with this wig.” They’re like, “Come back out.” So that was really welcoming — and really nice — from the drag family. 

Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled Tyquan’s name.

[Read more…] about Tongass Voices: Miko Montoya and Grayson Rebustes on building Juneau’s rap scene