Notes from Alex

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  • The Power of Conviction

    When we honor our ancestors, embrace our heritage, and walk confidently in who we are, something powerful shines through. One of the things I enjoyed most about Celebration 2026 was witnessing the conviction of the people of the Mount St. Elias dancers. Their songs, their dances, and the way they honored their ancestors wasn’t a…

  • Finding Your Place in the Puzzle

    Sometimes the Picture Isn’t Clear Until the Last Piece Falls Into Place Have you ever put together a puzzle? At first, all you see is a box full of scattered pieces. Some are turned the wrong way. Some seem impossible to place. Others look like they belong somewhere, but no matter how many times you…

  • National Cheese Day and the Fine Art of Life

    Life, Like Cheese, Gets Better When Shared Today is National Cheese Day. Now, I can’t say I had it circled on my calendar, but any day dedicated to cheese deserves at least a moment of appreciation. Cheese is one of those remarkable foods that seems to have a personality all its own. Some people are…

  • Happy Birthday, Pops

    The older I get, the more I realize that the moments we take for granted become the memories we treasure most. Notes from Alex Today, I’ve been thinking about my Pops. Today would have been his birthday. For those of us who have lost someone we love, birthdays become something different. They aren’t just dates…

  • The Trail to Trout Lake

    Some paths are more than trails—they are living connections to the people, places, and memories that shaped us. There are certain places in life that seem untouched by time. On this beautiful summer morning in Metlakatla, Alaska, the sun rose bright over the island. The forecast called for temperatures climbing into the high 70s, perhaps…

  • Three Ways to Reach Alaska’s Coastal Wilderness—and Why the Journey Matters

    Getting to Alaska’s Inside Passage The Journey Is Part of the Adventure For many travelers, Alaska’s Inside Passage has long been a destination that lives in their imagination. Towering mountains draped in mist, ancient forests stretching to the sea, whales surfacing in quiet bays, and small coastal communities connected more by water and air than…

  • The Night of the Blue Moon

    On a snowy Alaskan sandbar, beneath moonlight and the distant songs of wolves, a young man learned that courage often arrives disguised as an ordinary evening. Some moments arrive quietly, without warning. They do not announce themselves as life-changing. They simply appear, disguised as ordinary evenings. For him, it happened on the night of a…

  • The Weight of Unforgiveness

    Learning When to Release the Pain We Carry The Weight We Choose to Carry He sat quietly with his coffee growing cold beside him, staring out the window while the rain pressed softly against the glass. Somewhere in the distance, the world kept moving — cars passing, people talking, life unfolding in all its messy…

  • Above the Storm

    Lessons Carried on the Wind The weather had rolled in hard that afternoon.Rain hammered against the windows while the wind bent the trees and rattled the walls of the house with a wild kind of energy that only Alaska truly understands. The sky had turned dark gray, layered with heavy clouds moving quickly across the…

  • The Soundtrack of the Soul

    The Echoes That Shape the Human Heart Notes From Alex There he sat for the third day in a row, coffee growing cold beside him, thoughts drifting like waves across an endless sea. His mind kept returning to one thing — music. Not just songs.Not just melodies.But the mystery of music itself. People often asked…