Virtual Alaska Story Hour for Adults: Home

Virtual Alaska Story Hour for Adults

Fridays, noon-1 pm

Registration is free but required.

Register online or by phone at 907-465-2920 to obtain access info

Story hours for kids are great, but why should they get all the fun?

Starting Friday, October 27.

This heartfelt remembrance of a longtime Homer character and influential counterculture Alaskan covers his life from childhood, as Claude Bates, growing up in North Carolina, to treasured Homer icon and prophet to his friends and neighbors in that "Cosmic Hamlet of the Sea".  It would be easy to dismiss him as a kook, but persistent involvement in the community and gentle insight were difficult to ignore, and he became treasured by people of all stripes for his willingness, or really insistence, of speaking the truth as he saw it.  Author, Martha Ellen Anderson, weaves the story through her own quest to fulfill her promise to write this book. 

Full disclosure, Martha Ellen Anderson is my mother, which made it really easy to get permission for this reading.

“Perhaps no one so impacted for the better that funky little town at the end of the road called Homer than did he.” Jay Hammond,1922-2005, Alaska governor, 1974-1982.

“Brother Asaiah gave such complete attention to us that we were able to see ourselves as community. Not every community has a catalyst to help them see themselves.” Annie Whitney

“Brother Asaiah touches many hearts. He loves and he preaches love. He’s kind and he teaches kindness. He’s peaceful and he teaches peace. He’s wise and he teaches wisdom.” Nancy Hillstrand

“He created the very consciousness of our community, which still lives on.” Randi Somers

“Brother exemplified that it was not only possible to choose a simple life, but deeply fulfilling to do so.” Morgan McBride

About the Author
"One day, as Asaiah was preparing to leave this earth, I said, Bro, somebody should write your life story. He stood up, gazed slowly out the window overlooking the hamlet that he loved. He seemed to be looking above the town itself. He reflected a long time. Ceremoniously he turned toward me. He looked me straight in the eye. Yes, he said, soberly, you. He picked up a scrap of paper and wrote out his request. It clearly said my name - Martha Ellen Anderson."