ALASKA'S NEWSPAPER

Help | Follow on Twitter | alaska.com

Cloudy 54°F

54° 78° | 58°

| Updated: 4:47 AM

New Faces, New City

NEW FACES, NEW CITY

Flight for life: Young mom tries to find her place

Stepheni Hawk, 21, originally from the village of Quinhagak, moved to Anchorage a couple of years ago hoping to make a better life for herself and her little girl. Young women have abandoned rural Alaska for more than a decade, a trend that left some small villages without any females in their 20s during the last census.

Stepheni Hawk is 21, on her way to her first serious job, first real way to pay for her own place, to buy groceries and toys for her little girl. It's taken two years to get this far, two years since she moved to Anchorage to escape the villages where she was raised.

NEW FACES, NEW CITY

Child's cancer treatment spans two worlds

Ryan Lee is comforted by mom Mai Xiong, upper right, as nurses prepare to draw blood and insert an intravenous catheter for chemotherapy during his monthly visit to the Pediatric Oncology Infusion Center this past May at Providence Alaska Medical Center.

In a community where many are poor and uneasy with English-speaking culture, some view doctors with suspicion, as expensive and alien. For them, a shaman may function as a primary health care practitioner, a choice of tradition over science that can turn deadly when an illness grows serious.

From Darfur to a strange new home

Safi Ali fled militiamen across desert land in Sudan, carrying only water on his back. The sun set and rose so many times, he stopped counting. In Chad, he slept in refugee camps plagued with sickness, starvation and flies. He's moved from city to city, through Africa and the Middle East, searching for work and the lost faces of his family.

TALES OF THE CITY

Tibetan exiles find kindred spirits in Anchorage

Lobsang Dorjee has never seen Tibet, the land where his parents grew up. He has never seen the faces of the aunts, uncles and cousins left behind. He knows them only through stories.

Multiethnic but single-minded

When Liz Posey, Jonathan Teeters, Kokayi and Toccarra Nosakhere took their seats in a small Midtown boardroom on a recent snowy afternoon, it wasn't to talk corporate strategy, it was to plot a revolution.

A most generous soul

Duck out of the cold and into the tiny corner gas station on West International Airport Road at the right time of day, and chances are you'll run into a woman in a ball gown.

Woman helps tell a story of Lao people

Leilani Chan plays a gangbanger and Ova Saopeng is a fighter in the secret war in Laos in the Vietnam War era as they rehearse Refugee Nation at the Out North Theater Nov. 8, 2007. The play, based on stories of Laotian refugees and their descendants, runs through Monday.

Xayasana Lounmala, 23, could barely make it through "Refugee Nation," a performance at Out North Theater that delves deep into the Lao American experience. He didn't know what to expect, but it sure wasn't sitting there in tears.

New Faces, New City: Finding room in city parks

In the lingering summer night, Pena Field off Muldoon felt like an exotic bazaar in an Asian port.

Cultural contradictions

Tafi Toleafoa answers questions after her presentation on fa'afafine at the Anchorage Unitarian Universalist Fellowship on a recent Sunday in West Anchorage. Her talk was titled What Do I Call You? What Are You? Gender and Sexual Identity at American Universities.

"What are you?" The question came at Tafi Toleafoa from a young woman across the computer lab. People always want to know, but they rarely ask out loud. Students wear the question on their faces the first day of class.

Refugees find hope in Mountain View garden

For Bee Vang, the neat bundles of cilantro and stacks of red radishes under her tent at the Wednesday farmers' market mean more than just some cash at the end of the season.

In downtown cemetery, a spot for Muslims

A 1998 newspaper story about two Muslim children mistakenly buried on top of each other in Palmer left Ake Dobrova weak with outrage.

Blissfully arranged

Sung Tae Kim was introduced to Song Yi Han at a conference in Hawaii sponsored in part by their church. They have been together almost a year and still, they say, have many things to learn about each other.

About two years ago, Sung Tae Kim and his pastor, Chong Chin Park, were sitting in the parking lot at Home Depot when the pastor asked Kim to describe the woman he'd like to marry.

Lao gather at Buddhist Temple

With offerings of food and money, family members feed and support the dead, drawing their spirits closer.

Multi-racial generation

Andrei Jacobs' father is Yup'ik. His mother is black. Make him pick a race on a government form and he will check the box that says "Alaska Native."

TV offers new Alaskans a portal to life left behind

Advances in satellite television over the last five years, coupled with demographic trends, are changing what people are watching in Alaska's largest city.

Across continents and cultures, a family grows

Rafael Martinez, of a rural Mexican village, followed opportunity to Anchorage in 1997 and took a job at Burger King. On the way to work one day, he found a woman named Josephine Lott.

Spirit gatherer

With gongs, bells and incense smoke, Hmong people from Muldoon to South Anchorage are calling to the spirits this time of year.

Immigrant voters speak out

Anchorage's immigrant population has grown quickly in recent years, changing city schoolrooms, courtrooms, restaurant menus and, maybe soon, election outcomes.

Couple become new U.S. citizens

Bernardino and Paulina Lansang, both in their mid-70s, came to the United States six years ago from the Philippines. They became American citizens in September.

Far-flung families

Money-wiring services, available in Anchorage grocery stores, banks and a growing crop of storefronts like Centro de Servicio Hispano, have become increasingly common.

Dream street

A little mall on Fireweed Lane houses businesses owned primarily by Koreans. Fireweed, an incubator for small immigrant-owned business for over 20 years, is a thriving center of Korean-American culture.

Fireweed Lane is a gritty Midtown avenue lined with worn parking lots and '70s-era strip malls, where Korean is spoken almost as frequently as English.

Love, in translation

A growing group of young people in Anchorage's immigrant communities serve as translators for their parents. Toc Soneoulay, right, translates for her terminally ill father, Soulideth, as he listens to medical assistant Charity Bowers at Providence Alaska Medical Center in December. Soulideth died in January.

The best Lao speaker among her siblings, Toc Soneoulay has been the link between her parents and the English-speaking world.

As burden or honor, translation often falls to family

Sharon Smith is a doctor of family medicine at the Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center in Fairview. She says recent years have brought a different blend of ethnic groups to her practice. With foreign-born patients comes a need for translation.

More than ever, people need translation services in medical clinics, schools and government offices across the city.

Sweeping shift

More than 33,000 people in the city - about the population of Juneau - speak a language other than English at home. This past school year, students in the Anchorage district spoke 93 languages, nearly as many as are found in the Los Angeles school system.

New, growing populations of immigrants and minorities have changed the feel of the city, from high school dances to funerals.

The pull of work

Joe Samaniego, owner of ACE Building Maintenance, stands with the day crew, Angel Negron, left, and Alicia Yolanda Sanchez, right, whom he employs to clean the Loussac Library, one of the contracts he has with the municipality. Born in Mexico, Samaniego, 74, moved to Alaska in 1959 when he could count the number of Hispanics on his fingers.

The population of Alaska's biggest city is changing in dramatic, fundamental ways, and the aisles of Wal-Mart are one good place to see the changes.

BLOG

Alaska Politics

The home for breaking news, multimedia, and off-beat stories from the world of Alaska politics.

PHOTOS

Independence Day

Images from the parade and party at the Park Strip in downtown Anchorage Saturday.

PHOTOS

USS John C. Stennis

The USS John C. Stennis recently operated in the Gulf of Alaska in support of the joint military training exercise Northern Edge.

COLUMN

Julia O'Malley

Taking a look at life in Anchorage, from all angles.

STORY

Dirty streets of Anchorage

Dirty roads and bike paths are raising residents' ire, and the state admits street sweeping is going too slow.

SECTION

Gay rights ordinance

Read the ordinances and coverage over the polarizing issue of anti-discrimination based on sexual orientation.

STORY

Haul Road televised

"Ice Road Truckers" is devoting a 13-part series to the dangers of the Dalton Highway.

STORY

Palin's national star

Her very eventful trip Outside showed Gov. Palin still commands the nation's interest.

Pets

Find puppies, kittens, and all pet supplies and services here. More...

other transportation

Other Transportation

Find great deals on bicycles, snowmachines, ATV's, watrcraft and airplanes. More...

Merchandise, Miscellaneous

Antiques, apparel, even the kitchen sink. Find deals on general merchandise here. More...

More great deals »