The homestead life in poems, lived just 6 miles from downtown Anchorage

Her family—parents Nell and John, sister Jeanette, brother John and Linda—”proved up” on 160 acres of land just six miles from downtown Anchorage. Her father filed for the land in 1946.

She describes it as “L-shaped along the east side of the Old Seward Highway with 120 acres north of O’Malley Road and 40 acres to the south.”  Today that footprint still includes the Old Seward Highway, stretches south from East 100th across O’Malley Road and lands in a trendy shopping center complete with the seemingly modern necessities of a restaurant, cafe, fitness center and yogurt shop.

She says the poems in her book are “based on my memories and experiences growing up on this homestead.” She nods to Emily Dickenson’s directive to “Tell all the Truth but tell it slant—.” She says her own poems “take a circuitous route in order to arrive at a deeper truth.”

Join us on the next Hometown Alaska to hear stories of homesteading in Anchorage. Linda will read some poems, paint a picture of local life back then, and offer the seasoned perspective of distance. Today, she lives in Fairbanks.

HOST: Kathleen McCoy

GUEST:

• Linda Schandelmeier, biologist, poet, daughter of Anchorage homesteaders

LINKS:

• UA Press releases poetry book about Alaska homestead
• Denali Poems, Linda Schandelmeier, National Park Service
• Fairbanks poet shares insights in new book, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, 11.6.2009
• Alaska homestead poems, a review, New Pages, 10.8.2018