Reporter Becca Clark moved to Southeast Alaska to work for the Wrangell Sentinel in early spring. Since then, she’s attended lots of City Hall meetings and cultural events on the island. But who is Becca Clark? KSTK’s Colette Czarnecki met up with her to learn a little more about one of Wrangell’s newer citizens. Clark said she grew up in the northeastern part of the U.S.
This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.
I’m originally from Vermont, born and raised there, just moved to Wrangell about a little over two months ago.
Have you always been interested in journalism?
I definitely wasn’t always interested in journalism. When I started school, I thought that I wanted to major in like psychology or neuroscience and realize that I really didn’t like the psychology class that I took, and that I really liked the English classes I’d taken and I really liked the people in the major and reading and writing is something I’ve always loved to do. So I just decided why not pursue that in my academic career, and just major in English and creative writing.
I was part of a podcast fellowship through the Middlebury College alumni magazine ran it technically, and the podcast was called, ‘How did you get here?’
Do you have any inspirational writers, audio producers?
I don’t know if I have any specific writers or audio producers that I really like, but I think my favorite podcast is The Moth. I really like listening to The Moth and just hearing all those stories. That’s my go to one to listen to.
Do you cry during The Moth sometimes?
Yes, I do sometimes cry during The Moth. I mostly laugh though. I find that more stories are funny than they are really sad. But it’s usually either one or the other.
What were you thinking when you first landed in Wrangell?
I was definitely surprised by the size of the airport and the size of the runway. I knew it was gonna be small but that definitely caught me off guard.
I think I got here March 1st and it was actually nice weather. The sun was out for the first few days I was here and it wasn’t super cold and so I actually got to wander around and see the views and experience how pretty it is. I was definitely a little anxious because I didn’t know anyone yet and was just kind of like, wow, I just picked up and left my entire life all the way across the country, and now I don’t know anyone and what am I doing? But I feel like I adjusted fairly quickly. And people from the get go were very nice. People introduced themselves very quickly and included me in things and made an effort to get to know me, which was really helpful.
What’s it like writing for The Sentinel?
I’ve enjoyed kind of how the job is forcing me to get around town and meet different people and go to different events than I normally would. So that’s been great, just in terms of integrating into the community here. I’m also learning a lot. I have never really dealt a lot with taxes or municipal governments or different things like that. And, you know, part of my job is going to all of the Assembly meetings and port commission meetings and things like that, all those things that happen at City Hall, and I’m covering all that.
I think my favorite part of the job is just meeting all of the different people that make up this community and kind of trying to figure out what people care about, or what they don’t.
Is there a favorite piece that you’ve written so far?
My favorite story that I’ve written so far, in the two months that I’ve been working at The Sentinel, was Holly Churchill taught a cedar hat weaving class back in April, and I went to two of the classes I think, and I spent at least an hour there just kind of listening and talking to the people who were taking the class and watching everyone weave.
And by the way, it is a beautiful piece that you wrote. I was there too, not with you, but a different day. And the aroma was amazing.
It smelled so good. I think that’s why I stayed for so long.
What are you looking forward to with being here?
I’m definitely looking forward to summer. I’ve really enjoyed the sunny weather that we’ve had recently. And the days are getting longer. So I’m excited just to get out and explore a little bit more of the outdoor activities that Alaska has to offer. I’d love to get out on the water more and go up the Stikine or go fishing or things like that.
So Wrangell here doesn’t have many restaurants. Is there anything that you’ve been craving food wise?
I really miss really good barbecue food. Fried chicken. I actually really love McDonald’s. So yeah, I’m craving McDonald’s too.
Vermont has really good cheddar cheese. So I’ve been missing that. I actually had my mom mail me a huge block of cheddar cheese. It finally got here the other day so that’s something I’m really excited about.
What do you find challenging about the job or life here?
I would say the most challenging thing about my experience here so far has just been kind of learning about the community and figuring out where it is that I fit in. Everyone has been super welcoming, but it’s definitely hard to move somewhere where you don’t know everyone and kind of get a sense of who everyone is.
Do you have a five year plan? What’s your plan later on in life? What do you want to do?
This is kind of a cop out. But to be honest, I’ve never been a person who likes to plan anything. My family always rags on me for it. I’ll wake up in the morning and not even have a plan for the day or like, let alone next week. I’ve always just kind of been a spontaneous person and I feel like things have always just worked out. I just kind of make choices along the way. And, you know, that’s kind of how I operated until I got here. And so yeah, I don’t have a five year plan. I don’t even have a one year plan. I’m just kind of like right here right now.
