Meaningful Careers (VOA Connect Ep 196)

VOA – CONNECT EPISODE # 196  AIR DATE: 10 15 2021   TRANSCRIPT   OPEN ((VO/NAT)) ((Banner)) Arctic Art ((SOT)) ((Valisa Higman, Artist)) Living off the highway system in rural Alaska, there’s less separation between outdoor life and indoor life. I take a rowboat from the harbor and row about 20 minutes around a little headland into the cove where my studio is. ((Animation Transition)) ((Banner)) Team Spirit  ((SOT)) ((Michelle Dalager, High School Athletic Training Teacher, Boys Varsity Basketball Coach)) Come on, come on, come on! I'm fortunate to be able to coach really good athletes. I think that when you're successful, that it is a combination of, you know, you being able to get the best out of your athletes, but you have to have good athletes to work with. ((Animation Transition)) ((Banner)) Pandemic Reflections ((SOT)) ((Olivia Dillon, Mechanical Engineer)) You kind of look back at your life and you think: Did I live to the most extent? Do I have anything held back? Do I have anything I need to say to a family or a friend? ((Open Animation))   BLOCK A     ((PKG)) ART IN THE WILD  ((TRT: 10:48)) ((Topic Banner: Art in the Wild)) ((Reporter/Camera: Gabrielle Weiss))  ((Additional Camera/Drone Footage: Rafael de la Uz)) ((Map: Seldovia, Alaska))  ((Main Character: 1 female)) ((NATS/MUSIC))  ((Courtesy: Valisa Higman)) ((Valisa Higman, Artist)) I started cutting paper when I was in high school. I just played around with it for years. And then I went to college and I studied drawing. And in my third drawing class, I did a project where I ended up cutting the drawing out of black paper. And I brought it in to the professor and she was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is what you do. Like, you cut paper!’    ((NATS/MUSIC))  ((Valisa Higman, Artist)) I’m Valisa Higman and I’m a cut-paper artist in Seldovia, Alaska. We’re here at my studio. This is how I stay warm while I wait for my fire to heat up.  My dad and my grandfather built the house and the shop that I work in. It’s kind of designed to be a creative space. It was a different sort of creativity, but it feels really good for just inspiration and making things. ((NATS/MUSIC))  ((Valisa Higman, Artist)) I feel like Alaska is different than anywhere else. And having grown up here, I didn’t want anything more than to just get out. I decided I really just wanted to travel around the world and see everything and go everywhere and live somewhere with more people and more options.   ((NATS/MUSIC))  ((Valisa Higman, Artist)) My seat’s too cold to sit on yet.  The first year it was just like, everything was great, like there’s so many things to see and people to meet. But then by the second year, I started to realize that like people’s values were a lot different than mine. And so, I missed being in a place where like you have to think about things. You don’t just go buy things if they’re broken. You have to really think about what you need and what you just want.  ((NATS))  ((Valisa Higman, Artist)) Living off the highway system in rural Alaska, there’s less separation between outdoor life and indoor life. There’s definitely frustrations but it’s better to be frustrated than it is to be bored.  ((NATS/MUSIC))  ((Valisa Higman, Artist)) This is part of my Alaska Problems series, which was like First World problems but Alaska style. So, everybody had a story about bears eating things they weren’t supposed to. This was A Bear Ate My Bicycle. And this was because my dad had, I think, two bike seats eaten by bears. ((Courtesy: Valisa Higman)) They like anything that’s kind of smushy and, you know, you sweat on it a little bit, so it’s got a little salt on there. It’s really delicious. The one I really wanted to do is when your doors are frozen and you can’t get into your car. I mean really, you just like sit there and pull on the door until you figure out how to get it open because there’s not really anything you can do. There were the two sides of the coin. ((Courtesy: Valisa Higman)) You wake up in the morning and it’s so cold you just can’t get out of your bed. And then you do. You get out of bed and you go make your fire and then it gets so hot in your house ((Courtesy: Valisa Higman)) that you are boiling. This one was another one in that series. So, this one is fishing, and you get all the bugs ((Courtesy: Valisa Higman)) around your head and it’s like a halo.  ((NATS/MUSIC))  ((Courtesy: Valisa Higman)) ((Valisa Higman, Artist)) I live about three miles [4.8km] out of town up on the side of a mountain. I guess when I made the decision to move back to Alaska, it was partly influenced by my parents getting older. My brother had moved back and had a family, so he had a couple kids. We got most of the family up here. My dad used to refer to it as ‘The Compound’, so. That shed there is my mom’s kiln shed. So her house, my room, outhouse and then my brother’s house is just down the hill. His house and the washhouse have running water, but up here, we have to carry our water up. ((NATS/MUSIC))  ((Valisa Higman, Artist)) So, this is where I live. It’s not very big. The printer is a very important part of my business. So, I have to have, like it gets lots of counter space. And then when I paint, I often just sit cross-legged on my bed. I cook at my mom’s house and then my whole family eats dinner together at my brother’s house. Having my studio space is essential, like I use that for all the things that you need extra space for. So, I can do yoga in my studio. I can’t do it here. There’s not enough room. I’m pretty cozy in bed but it can be pretty chilly in the morning when I’m getting up. I have an outlet that I can plug my heater into. It’ll kick on if it goes below freezing. So, that’s usually what I do when I’m not home, just so that my printer doesn’t freeze and my paints don’t freeze, but it just keeps it at 40 degrees [4.4 Celsius].  ((NATS/MUSIC))  ((Valisa Higman, Artist)) Mom, we’re taking off. I’ll see you later. My property isn’t really connected to the road. So, I take a rowboat from the harbor and row about 20 minutes around a little headland into the cove where my studio is. ((NATS/MUSIC))  ((Valisa Higman, Artist)) I do really love my commute. You’re exposed to the elements. You’re constantly thinking about the tides and the weather. And you get really tuned into all the changing wildlife in the seasons too. Like the birds have this rhythm. I mean there are certain birds that are here all year round, but there’s other ones that show up first thing in the spring and they’re one of the first signs that the weather’s going to change and the light’s coming back. Or there’s certain birds that show up in the fall and it’s that first sign that things are going to get colder and the days are getting shorter. ((NATS/MUSIC))  ((Valisa Higman, Artist)) When you’re rowing, you’re facing backwards. So, you end up getting closer to wildlife than you maybe intend to. ((NATS/MUSIC))  ((Valisa Higman, Artist)) Special escape hatch/place to put my tea leaves. It is a potential escape hatch in case one of my three doors in the one room of my shop are blocked during a fire, I can get out through the floor, or in the case of a zombie apocalypse. I’m willing to use any tools available to get the results I want. So, it’s kind of a no rules medium. I start with a piece of black paper. I have a drawing that I transfer onto that black paper. And I cut away everything except for the lines. So, I’m left with like a thin lacework of black lines. And then I’ll piece together different kind of papers with different textures and different colors. I work from front to back in the image, so whatever is in the foreground I have to do first. So, you can see when you look at a finished piece what’s closest to the viewer and what’s farther away.  ((NATS/MUSIC))  ((Valisa Higman, Artist)) I think everybody wants to tell you how you can make more money. And that’s not the point. Making more money isn’t the point. I need to make enough money, but I don’t need to make more. I just need to get by. It’s hard to convince people that what I do is work because they think I’m just here doing what I want, right? Like if you’re doing what you love, then obviously it’s not work. So, I get lots of job offers and lots of suggestions of what I should do. I’m like, ‘Why would I do that? I’m doing fine. I’m making a living as an artist. What could I ask for? This is great.’ ((NATS/MUSIC))  ((Courtesy: Valisa Higman)) ((Valisa Higman, Artist)) I started a series of Alaskan fairy tales. I did an Alaskan Little Mermaid, Alaskan Cinderella, and Jack and the Beanstalk, which was Jack and the Pushki Stalk. ((NATS/MUSIC))  ((Valisa Higman, Artist)) Through conversations with friends and family and stuff like that, we kind of talked about the different fairy tales and what would that fairy tale be like if it was in Alaska. And so, one of the ones that was really striking to me was Goldilocks and the Three Bears and maybe partly because this year, we had an insane number of black bears in town, and they got into all sorts of mischief. ((Courtesy: Valisa Higman)) And so, Goldilocks and the Three Bears is about a mischievous girl that breaks into a bear’s house. But we all know that in Alaska, it would be mischievous bears breaking into people’s house. So, Goldilocks is out chopping firewood and she comes home to absolute chaos. ((NATS/MUSIC))  ((Valisa Higman, Artist)) I’m always looking for inspiration in the world around me. So, I like the way people interact with the environment. Having my niece and nephew here and watching them grow up, it’s been really fun.  ((NATS/MUSIC))  ((Valisa Higman, Artist))  There you go.  ((Katmai Higman, Nephew))  Okay, yeah. We got a lot. ((Valisa Higman, Artist))  Oh, it’s got a gunnel. Look. It’s a gunnel with eggs. Two gunnels. I want to share pretty things with people. Like I want to make beautiful things. ((NATS/MUSIC))  ((Valisa Higman, Artist))  Is that a skeleton shrimp? Woops. Now he’s gone. ((Valisa Higman, Artist))  I have all this beauty around me. I want to be able to send that out into the world and share that with people.                          ((NATS/MUSIC))  TEASE ((VO/NAT)) Coming up ((Banner)) For the Love of the Game ((SOT)) ((Michelle Dalager, High School Athletic Training Teacher, Boys Varsity Basketball Coach)) When basketball season happens, that's all that we're doing. I'm at school at 7:00 in the morning and I don't really get home until 8:30 at night.   BREAK ONE                                                                   BUMP IN ((ANIM))                           BLOCK B  ((PKG)) TEAM SPIRIT ((Previously aired April, 2021)) ((TRT: 9:06)) ((Topic Banner: Playing True)) ((Reporter/Camera/Producer: Arturo Martínez)) ((Map: Fallon, Nevada)) ((Main character: 1 male)) ((Sub characters: 4 male; 1 female)) ((NATS)) ((Michelle Dalager, High School Athletic Training Teacher, Boys Varsity Basketball Coach)) Come on. D up. Come on, Sam. Good, good. Nice, nice. Stay with it. Push, push, push, push, push, push. Don’t get screened, Matt. Don’t get screened. Board, board, board, board. Got it, baby. Keith, nice shot. ((NATS)) ((Michelle Dalager, High School Athletic Training Teacher, Boys Varsity Basketball Coach)) My name is Chelle Dalager and I coach the boys varsity basketball team at Churchill County High School.  In the state of Nevada, I'm the first female coach to coach a boys varsity program. ((NATS)) ((Michelle Dalager, High School Athletic Training Teacher, Boys Varsity Basketball Coach)) Back cut, back cut. Next pass. Look, look. Back cut him. Back cut him. Nice. There you go. Good rig, Keith. Nice pass. ((NATS)) ((Michelle Dalager, High School Athletic Training Teacher, Boys Varsity Basketball Coach)) There is really more to basketball than just the game of basketball. It really is about life lessons. Your life is full of wins and losses, you know. You feel like you've done something great, and sure enough somebody will knock you down or you feel like you're maybe not so great, and then something picks you up. It teaches kids discipline, teaches them about work ethic and it teaches about being able to rely upon somebody and about a commitment to a family. ((NATS)) ((Michelle Dalager, High School Athletic Training Teacher, Boys Varsity Basketball Coach)) Here we go. Rotate. First off, you're not always going to reach your goal, right? You're not always going to make it. That's just part of life and part of basketball. What you should never do is stop or quit playing hard or stop trying to at least get the highest number you can get. We made lots of good progress when we were early, right? So then, you all went home and had turkey legs. And then, I don't know what happened, right? Like our minds aren't focused on basketball anymore. And really this is where we should be the most focused we can be. Understand? So, talk to your pals and get them out. Okay? Questions? Collin? Guys? All right. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. ((NATS)) ((Keith Smith, Boys Varsity Basketball Player, Churchill County High School)) I love it. It's probably like my favorite basketball coach. I've played for a couple of different coaches and she's just different. She pushes us, the intensity, demands a lot out of us. ((Toby Anderson, Boys Varsity Basketball Player, Churchill County High School))  She really pushes us to our limits and I think that's why we have done well the past few years. We've been just pushing hard in practice and getting what we need done. ((NATS)) ((Michelle Dalager, High School Athletic Training Teacher, Boys Varsity Basketball Coach)) Wave on me. Wave on three. One, two, three. ((NATS: Team)) Wave. ((Michelle Dalager, High School Athletic Training Teacher, Boys Varsity Basketball Coach)) We've just completed and we've won two state championships back to back. One in 2019 and one in 2020. ((NATS)) ((Michelle Dalager, High School Athletic Training Teacher, Boys Varsity Basketball Coach)) This is the state championship team that won for the first time in 47 years, and it's pretty exciting. The last time they won a state championship was in 1971, and that was the year I was born. You can see my two boys together. Number 11, that was Avery when he was a sophomore, and just behind him with a big curly head, that was Hayden when he was a senior. This is our basketball trophy case. Here's our first one and the other one is in my office because I'm not ready to give it up yet. So, this is 2020 and this is 2019. And so, I play those. If I'm in a bad mood, I go back and I watch both of them. ((NATS:  TV show)) State Championship, Churchill County High School taking on Elko High School. Game time. Less than 10 seconds left in OT [overtime]. And that’s Elijah Jackson. However, not the first time it’s happened. What? Flashback in 2019, Nevada 3A Basketball State Championship. Elijah Jackson hit the three against the same team. Boom. Ridiculous. No way…..to win the state championship. No way. ((Michelle Dalager, High School Athletic Training Teacher, Boys Varsity Basketball Coach)) Second time. Second shot. ((NATS/MUSIC)) ((Michelle Dalager, High School Athletic Training Teacher, Boys Varsity Basketball Coach)) I'm fortunate to be able to coach really good athletes. I think that when you're successful, that it is a combination of, you know, you being able to get the best out of your athletes, but you have to have good athletes to work with. It's not about gender for me. It's really about just coaching and trusting your players and, you know, making them believe in themselves. ((Michelle Dalager, High School Athletic Training Teacher, Boys Varsity Basketball Coach)) I really did not expect to get the job. I wasn't really even going to apply for it because I didn't think that I would get it because you don't ever see, you know, women getting those types of positions. And so, you've hired a female coach. Yes, she's coach, but now we have two state championships to go with that. And I think that just helps people, maybe, recognize, I hope that a lot of female coaches get hired to coach male programs because I don't think it's a gender issue, right? It's you just don't see it very often. Although, you see men coach and women's team. It's just never been done, I guess. And that's what makes it pretty special. It makes it unique. ((NATS/MUSIC)) ((Michelle Dalager, High School Athletic Training Teacher, Boys Varsity Basketball Coach)) Also, a really cool thing for me is that my two sons were on the team and we got to share a state championship together. That's a big memory for me. So, that was them playing youth basketball for me. The left one is when they were a little bit younger. The right one is when they were a little bit older. You can tell that they're getting a little bit taller than me. When they were growing up, we played a lot of different games outside at home. When they started beating me, I started using my Achilles as a crutch. ((NATS)) ((Michelle Dalager, High School Athletic Training Teacher, Boys Varsity Basketball Coach)) When basketball season happens, that's all that we're doing. I'm at school at 7:00 in the morning and I don't really get home until 8:30 at night. ((NATS)) ((Michelle Dalager, High School Athletic Training Teacher, Boys Varsity Basketball Coach)) James or Lacey is here. Are you sure? How was your day? ((Avery Stresdin, High School Student, Michelle’s Son)) Good. ((Michelle Dalager, High School Athletic Training Teacher, Boys Varsity Basketball Coach)) Good? Where are you going? ((Avery Stresdin, High School Student, Michelle’s Son)) Nowhere. ((Michelle Dalager, High School Athletic Training Teacher, Boys Varsity Basketball Coach)) Nowhere. You are just hanging out? ((NATS)) ((Michelle Dalager, High School Athletic Training Teacher, Boys Varsity Basketball Coach)) Oh, this looks so good. My partner at home is very supportive. Our boys are her biological sons and, you know, she's been really supportive about, you know, having me coach them and she's a huge part of our team as well. She travels and goes to all the games and takes our scorebook. ((Photo Courtesy: Thomas Ranson / Lahontan Valley News)) ((Tricia Strasdin, Michelle’s Partner)) We love basketball. ((Michelle Dalager, High School Athletic Training Teacher, Boys Varsity Basketball Coach)) Yeah. ((Tricia Strasdin, Michelle’s Partner)) We got lucky. If you get the opportunity to embrace anything that is going to bring your family together, ((Photo Courtesy: Thomas Ranson / Lahontan Valley News)) ((Tricia Strasdin, Michelle’s Partner)) and you get to travel together, and you get to experience success together, and you get to fail together, and you get to kind of pick yourselves up and try again together, and you get to have some early mornings and some late nights and some long weekends together, I'm not sure that it matters if it's basketball or what it is.  ((Photo Courtesy: Thomas Ranson / Lahontan Valley News)) ((Tricia Strasdin, Michelle’s Partner)) I think it helped us in lots of different ways. ((Hayden Stresdin, Former High School Student, Michelle’s Son))  I'll never forget it. I was glad to have my mom as a coach and my brother on the team for my year, and then for him to win a back-to-back is even cooler. ((Avery Stresdin, High School Student, Michelle’s Son)) Yeah, I don't have so many words for it, if I’m being honest. ((NATS/MUSIC)) ((Michelle Dalager, High School Athletic Training Teacher, Boys Varsity Basketball Coach)) For me, it's the best memories I will have with basketball will be with my family and, you know, what we brought to Fallon, and we've been able to travel to all those tournaments together, and then I coach them, and then we get back in the car and we talk about the games and….. ((NATS)) ((Michelle Dalager, High School Athletic Training Teacher, Boys Varsity Basketball Coach)) Start close, they say. Oh, one for one. ((Michelle Dalager, High School Athletic Training Teacher, Boys Varsity Basketball Coach))  I was a terrible shooter in high school. And then, when I went to community college, it got a little bit better because I was a little bit older. I'm thankful for Fallon. They've supported me in coaching a 100 percent. I just have, we haven't run into issues like that. My 2019 team, some kids on other teams were, you know, giving them a hard time about me, you know, being gay and about them playing for a woman. And, you know, I just told my players, ((Michelle Dalager, High School Athletic Training Teacher, Boys Varsity Basketball Coach))  I said, “That doesn't hurt my feelings.” And he was like, “Well, what do you mean, coach? It doesn't?” I said, “No, because it's true. Yes, I'm in a relationship with a woman. That makes me gay.” And I said, “I'm sorry you have to feel like you have to defend me. You don't.” I said, “It does not hurt my feelings at all. Now, if they call me fat, then you can get after them, right? But other than that, just let them say whatever they want to say, and you prove your point by just playing the best basketball you can play and beating the people that are saying those mean things.” And that’s a life lesson, right? ((Courtesy:  Thomas Ranson / Lahontan Valley News)) ((NATS/MUSIC))  TEASE  ((VO/NAT)) Coming up ((Banner)) Pandemic Reflections ((SOT)) ((Olivia Dillon, Mechanical Engineer)) Because of quarantine, I was able to come home and be with my family, and for me, this year, one of the most memorable moments that I will never forget is when I found out I did have COVID. I did get COVID.   BREAK TWO                                                                  BUMP IN ((ANIM))                             BLOCK C ((PKG)) CONNECT WITH – OLIVIA DILLON ((Previously aired April, 2021)) ((TRT: 02:20)) ((Topic Banner: Connect with – Olivia Dillon)) ((Reporter/Camera: Arturo Martínez)) ((Locater: Fallon, Nevada)) ((Main character: 1 female)) ((NATS)) ((Olivia Dillon, Mechanical Engineer)) I'm Olivia Dillon. I'm a fifth generation Nevadan. I am a mechanical engineer, going to graduate school for ocean sciences, to study oceanography and how microplastics are affecting our world. ((Olivia Dillon, Mechanical Engineer)) Because of quarantine, I was able to come home and be with my family, and for me, this year, one of the most memorable moments that I will never forget is when I found out I did have COVID. I did get COVID and that was very significant because I felt like I was going through something that a lot of people were afraid of. I was afraid of. My friend's mother had passed from COVID so, there was a lot of fear around getting it and not sure if you were going to end up in the hospital the next day or if you were going to be okay. ((Olivia Dillon, Mechanical Engineer)) You kind of look back at your life and you think: Did I live to the most extent? Do I have anything held back? Do I have anything I need to say to a family or a friend? You know, just in case this doesn't turn out well. I think if I ended up passing away tomorrow, I would feel okay. I have done everything I could, up until this day. So, it encourages me to continue to live like that. So, I don't have any regrets. ((Olivia Dillon, Mechanical Engineer)) Also, this year, there was a lot of like fear. But I spent a lot of time with myself and out in nature and I will cherish these memories that I made this year more than anything. You get a lot of joy out of doing the simple things: Growing your own food, taking care of your animals. While I'm here, it's a great opportunity to really connect with the Earth again. ((NATS/MUSIC))   CLOSING BUMPER ((ANIM)) voanews.com/connect BREAK THREE                                                                      BUMP IN  ((ANIM))                         SHOW ENDS