Juneau, Alaska (KINY) – Tidal Echoes launched its 2023 publication Friday evening. It was the first time the event was celebrated back in person since the pandemic.

The launch was held in the University of Alaska Southeast’s Egan Lecture Hall from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Professor Emily Wall, the advisor for the publication, noted, “We are delighted to be back in person for this year’s launch; sitting in a room with so many members of our community has been a real treat in the past.”

Snacks and refreshments were provided.

Books were sold for $5, and featured artist Chloey Klawk Shaa Cavanaugh also set up a table with her merch and stickers.

Tidal Echoes submissions come from writers and artists in Juneau, Sitka, and Ketchikan.

The journal accepts submissions of prose, including fiction, non-fiction, transcribed oral stories, memoirs, dramas, and poetry of all types.

They start accepting submissions in the fall.

In addition to writing, the artwork of all mediums is accepted digitally, which allows the journal to include sculpture, painting, ceramics, photography, and drawing.

UAS Chancellor Karen Carey, who is retiring at the end of June, opened the event.

This year’s edition of Tidal Echoes is dedicated to Dr. Sol Neely. He taught courses on critical theory, literature, Indigenous studies, zombie theory, and philosophy.

It is senior editor Shaelene Grace Moler’s last year on the editing board of Tidal Echoes.

She first became involved with Tidal Echoes in 2019 when Professor Wall encouraged her to submit a poem.

A few semesters later, Wall asked Moler if she would be interested in being an editor.

Moler shared how the experience has helped her grow as a writer.

“As an editor, one of the main jobs is reading through all of the work. In doing so you’re exposed to a lot more topics and conversations that you may have not thought of before. A lot of new voices that will influence your writing from then on forward,” she said. “I think that has been the biggest thing for me. Yes, there are technical things that I have learned from working as an editor but the biggest thing is how it has influenced my voice as a writer.”

In May, Moler will be graduating from UAS with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Environmental Studies with an emphasis in Creative Writing.

Moler plans to keep submitting to Tidal Echoes, and she shared what she will do next after graduating.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to find work opportunities related to this field simply because I’ve really advertised myself as an editor for Tidal Echoes. I have signed on with the Sustainable Southeast Partnership as a Storytelling Engagement Intern,” she said. “I have done a few editing projects and will do a few more editing projects. As well as continue just a lot of the outreach work similar to what I’ve done with Tidal Echoes.”

Above: Senior editor Moler welcomes the community to the launch. (Photo credit Jasz Garrett/KINY)

“The biggest advice is to just really get to know your community because knowing who’s going to support the journal and who our biggest supporters are is important for setting the foundation for future years,” Moler left advice for her junior editor, Sienna Disnee Chubak, another UAS student.

Above: This year’s junior editor is Sienna Disnee Chubak. Below: This year’s fall intern is Olive Brend. (Photo credit Jasz Garrett/KINY)

It was Brend who brought up Cavanaugh as a potential featured artist.

Moler highlighted how Cavanaugh and herself share common roots with the community of Kake.

“That was something I was super excited about when I first started scoping out who the featured artists and featured writers should be. Chloey is a young voice in our community who’s very outspoken about her activism. When Olive brought up Chloey, I got super excited because this was my senior edition. I really wanted people from my community or ties to my community represented in the journal because I love to see my community in the work that I do,” she said. “So with Chloey, I had a conversation with her. What if we put Kake on the back cover? So, if you look at the back cover, you’ll see a photo that says, ‘Welcome to Kake’, as well as multiple figures of art from Chloey because we really wanted to communicate that sense of community on the back cover.”

Above: The back cover of Tidal Echoes 2023 (zoomed in), designed by Chloey Klawk Shaa Cavanaugh.

Cavanaugh told News of the North how it felt to attend the launch as the featured artist.

“It’s amazing. A lot of the art pieces that I do are really community-minded so I think getting the chance to be interacting with the community and gathering their thoughts and kind of seeing different emotions when I’m talking about pieces or Lin’s talking about her pieces, seeing the community kind of interact with that is always super nice,” she said.

She said her first reaction when she was reached out to was “shocked, humbled, and grateful to be a part of it.”

At the launch, Cavanaugh shared her journey of starting Black and White Raven Co after losing her grandfather.

“I went to college, Stephen’s College, an all-women’s school in the Midwest. I got my degree in marketing communications. So I had the skill set of graphic design. I had done other art mediums before I came home during the pandemic. We had all my grandfather’s things, a lot of grief with coming home and not having him here,” she recounted. “Also not knowing what to do with these templates; these carving templates, you can’t really frame or do anything with. So I really wanted to make sure that those could forever be passed down. I started doing this digital art form. To one, be able to kind of feel close to him still and understand his art, but also to make sure it was always preserved. With painting and other art forms, they can degrade over time or get lost and I loved the idea of it always being there.”

She was asked how she then went on to start putting her graphic designs on clothing.

“I just started doing stickers initially and through the stickers, I started doing like givebacks. What I was making with stickers, I was able to cover the fees for kids in Kake for their open gyms,” she said. “Then I started being like, man, well that’s what a sticker does. What could shirts do? What could hoodies do? So it’s really been kind of a community collaboration.”

Now, she uses her artwork to stir conversations and make bold statements.

“Some of these art pieces are conversations that we’ve already been having within the Indigenous community. But having these spaces where people can recognize their responsibilities to allyship, and to keep showing up is really important, Cavanaugh said. “I think a lot of the work that Tidal Echoes does to echo those community voices will continue conversations on their own in different perspectives.”

Cavanaugh brings her artwork into schools and provides a safe, open space for the LGBTQ+ community.

“A lot of moments for myself growing up, that I just had an immense amount of doubt. But it was just like those few teachers or those few adults or those few people I trusted, that had an immense impact. I think having that experience, you don’t write off the kid that’s being quiet. But investing in all kids wherever they’re at, and understanding that they all have these complicated stories, as we all do. Just meeting youth where they’re at,” she said. “I’m going in these classrooms to be like, I want to teach this thing. If someone walks away with something, I can’t control that. But I can be in those spaces. It wasn’t right away that I was grateful for my teachers. It wasn’t right away that I was grateful for the people in my life. You realize down the road what that impact did. Even if that’s like one kid that picked up an Apple pen and is like now I draw-even one kid, that’s worth it.”

Above: Featured artist Chloey Klawk Shaa Cavanaugh presents her artwork. Below: Featured writer Lin Davis reads poetry. (Photo credit Jasz Garrett/KINY)

Davis described herself as a “mute swan”, saying she often feels wordless, but when the moment arises to channel her thoughts through the vehicle of poetry, it is beautiful like a swan.

Like Cavanaugh, she uses creative outlets as a form of activism, and Davis is also an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community.

During the launch, poet, and UAS student, Dylan Wood read his “Untitled Eagle Poem”, which won the Mac Behrend’s Prize for 2023.

It was his first time submitting a creative piece to anything for publication.

He said he considers himself a new writer as he just began to write creatively last year.

He gave insight into what inspired him to write his prize-winning poem.

“I think in America, the idea of patriotism is freedom. The eagle is very similar to that. But living here in Alaska and working this construction job, every time I was at the dump, that’s what’s there. Our freedom, or what we picture as freedom are scavengers,” he said. “That’s really what inspired me to do it is because we propagate this image of the beautiful eagle, but when you look at them and what they do, it’s not always beautiful.”

Above: UAS student Dylan Wood reads his prize-winning poem, “Untitled Eagle Poem”. Below: Richard Stokes reads his published poem, “Competition”. (Photo credit Jasz Garrett/KINY)

Both Moler and Wood encouraged students and Southeast community members to submit to next year’s edition.

“I think the best thing I can say is that as a message to other writers is if you find it interesting and you find it fun, just do it. That’s the best thing I can say,” he said. “I honestly didn’t think I could write until somebody said, Dylan, you definitely can write. You just need to focus on getting better. So I just focused on getting better and it happened really quickly. I’m really proud of myself that I could make that progress.”

Moler built on top of that advice to “just do it.”

“It’s super scary to submit your work. It was very scary for me. It was Emily Wall who had encouraged me to submit something. But once you do it, it gets easier and easier each and every time,” she said. “If I hadn’t submitted that first poem that Emily Wall encouraged me to, I wouldn’t be an editor with Tidal Echoes today. I think we’re all in love with Emily Wall in the English Department.”

Below: Moler gifts UAS Chancellor Karen Carey flowers at the end of the launch. (Photo credit Jasz Garrett/KINY)