Gary Coy – The Man Driving the Dog Team

There is strong historical and anthropological evidence that dogs came across the Bering land bridge with people migrating from Siberia to Alaska. These dogs worked hard to maintain their keep; they weren’t pets. Instead, they chased and ran down polar bears and located seals hiding beneath the Bering ice. One of the early dog professionals in Alaska was Harry Karstens, who later became the first superintendent of Mount McKinley National Park. As a young man, he pioneered a dog sled route from Fairbanks to Valdez, and hauled mail to the Katishna mining district. Now, at Denali National Park in central Alaska, there’s a breeding and training and leadership program for these sled dogs. I spoke with Gary Coy, the director of this remarkable kennel. In his office there is a large sign quoting Harry Karstens. It says: “A man driving a dog team is the biggest dog himself.” Amid the noise and the chatter of the dog kennels in Denali Park, I asked Gary to explain what that sign means and to tell us a little about this wonderful project.

Gary Coy recommends “A Dog-Puncher on the Yukon,” by Arthur Walden.

Originally Broadcast: August 28, 1996

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Gilbert, Ronnie — A View Over The Years Of Freedom Songs

In this edition of Radio Curious our guest is Ronnie Gilbert, a folk singer and former member of “The Weavers”, an extraordinarily popular singing group in the 195o’s and 60′s. This interview was recorded on September 18th 1996 when Ronnie Gilbert had just celebrated her 70th birthday and had begun a tour singing with Holly Near. During the course of her career with “The Weavers”, the group was blacklisted due to their political beliefs and the cold war hysteria in the United States at that time. Ronnie Gilbert and I discuss what it was like to be blacklisted in the early 1950′s. We also talk about how she feels older people are treated in today’s society.

The books Ronnie Gilbert recommends are “The Moors Last Sigh” by Salman Rushdie, “Making Movies” by Sidney Lumet and “Eyewitness: A Personal Account of the Unraveling of the Soviet Union” by Vladimir Pozner.

Recorded September 18th 1996

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