Sarah Gonzales

As part of an on-going series on Alaska’s cultural connections, we’re taking A Closer Look at cross-cultural adoption. Last winter, Anchorage resident Sarah Gonzales and her husband adopted a beautiful healthy baby boy; they met him when he was one day old at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage. She shares her thoughts about how to integrate his birth culture in their family life.Download Audio

Kids These Days! is back with a special 4-part series on Family Mental Health! Join the whole Kids These Days! team as we delve into issues that affect our kids, ourselves and our communities. From learning what to do in a mental health crisis, to how schools manage behavioral health issues to supporting our caregivers and helping adult children transition to independence, those are the conversation on a special mental health series airing Tuesdays in January.Read More...

Rates of alcohol abuse in Alaska are some of the highest in the nation and communities across the state regularly suffer from domestic violence, suicide and other related issues because of it. Tonight, we reach the conclusion of our reporting series “Being Young In Rural Alaska”, from the producers of Kids These Days. Traveling and reporting in rural Alaska, it’s impossible to miss the signs of alcohol abuse, and yet people often don’t talk about it: it’s such a part of life that it’s almost taken for granted. So what’s it like to be a kid growing up around heavy alcohol use in small-town Alaska? Sarah Gonzales heads to Kotzebue to find out.

Over the past few months, we’ve been hearing a lot of perspectives on the experience of childhood in rural Alaska. In today’s installment of our series “Being Young in Rural Alaska” we hear from some of those kids who are growing up, looking for the next step.

Alaska Native students make up nearly one-quarter of the student body in the state, but only five percent of teachers are Alaska Native. And new research from UAA shows despite years of effort, it’s been difficult to get more Native educators into Alaska Schools. In the next installment of our “Being Young in rural Alaska” series, from the producers of Kids These Days, Sarah Gonzales takes a closer look at the problem.

Everyone knows that maintaining a good sense of humor is important in everyday life - especially when it comes to the ups and downs of raising a family. On this program we'll explore how we can all insert more laughter (the best medicine!) into our day-to-day lives while learning to laugh more as a family. We'll find out why laughing is good for the bodies, minds and spirits of people of all ages and why with humor educator Mark Kay Morrison, medical laughter researcher Dr. Lee Berk and Scared Scriptless Improv's Jason Martin.

Sometimes life detours. Even the most organized plans can change and things don’t always happen as we expect. Especially when it comes to family life - a new baby, a marriage, a divorce, falling in love, a death - these are all things that can cause detours in our lives. This time on KTD, we’ve gathered touching, funny, amazing, heartbreaking and uniquely Alaskan stories from those who've experienced a detour in their life - a young family whose complicated pregnancy meant relocating to a new city, a novelist who detoured from Mongolia to Alaska, a single mom of three teens in Ohio who moved to a rural Denali homestead for the love of a dog musher and an injured Olympian gets back on track. And much more!KSKA: Tuesday 6/19 @ 2p & 7p

With Father's Day coming up, we at Kids These Days! thought it the perfect time to explore the role of fathers through history. How have dads changed, and how have they stayed the same through wars, civil rights movements, evolving social expectations and shifting economic times? We'll learn about the growing Alaska Native Fatherhood Movement and the groups that advocate for an active, engaged father (or father figure) in every child's life - and why it matters. Join us for this discussion that spans decades, cultures and a country as we look at dads in the USA, then and now.KSKA: Tuesday 6/11 @ 2p & 7p

New technologies are giving us an unprecendented view of the inner-workings of our brains. So this time on Kids These Days!, we're talking about brain development during a child's teenage years. Adolescent development expert and author, Dr. Laurence Steinberg & UAA's Dr. John Petraitis join us to discuss how your teen's odd or risky behavior could be explained by normal adolescent brain development. Plus, motivational expert to the teens, Josh Shipp aka 'The Teen Whisperer' and a new Dr. KTD. KSKA: Tuesday, 6/5 @ 2p & 7p

Looking for love, companionship and a life partner means dating - for better or for worse. So this time on Kids These Days! we're exploring what happens when mom or dad start dating again after a divorce or death of a spouse, and we'll also turn an eye to teens and dating - how are the kids these days doing relationships (or not). Plus, Susie Carter, founder of Alaskan Men magazine offers her best advice from 25 years of matchmaking. KSKA: Tuesday, 5/29 @ 2p & 7p