Julia O'Malley

Clothespins decorated with paint markers and pens, with affirming messages. Like "bee you" with a drawing of a bee. And "you're sweeter than pie" with a checked motif. And "you can do it" and "unleash your creativity."

If you need a little hope this morning - the current tween trend involves decorating clothespins with affirming messages, then clipping them on friends' backpacks when they're not looking.

Here are a few that my 11-year-old decorated this weekend ❤️

At the Alaska Summit, an Unlikely Local Dish Gets a Cameo

Apparently I wasn't the only one who found the appearance of Halibut Olympia on the menu for the dictators luncheon to be one of the more surreal points of the day. Thanks to @jomalley17.bsky.social for bringing this absurdity to national attention! 😆
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/16/d...

Anchorage is a circus. This lunch spot will regulate your cortisol. Notes on: Secret Service guys, grilled zucchini pizza, astrological portals, killer food-cart tamales, the last of the Beach Boys and a hipster Alaska guidebook

This week’s newsletter with all eyes on Anchorage:

The wireless emergency alert system has gone off in Juneau as the Mendenhall Glacier prepares to flood. #Alaska #Juneau

Trump and Putin May Get a Cold Reception From Some Alaskans

Got to help out with this story — so curious how they’ll work out the logistics for this visit in the middle of tourist season.

Curious about my Alaska food newsletter? Here’s what subscribers are saying:

Anchorage's first newspaper recipe 🗞️ 🍽️ Notes on: SALMON, dry-brining for dinner, a new way to fillet, playground b-ball, Thai Village, gin and tonics, gluten-free peach muffins, quick pickles, working women, local news and sourdough

This week in the newsletter: Notes on SALMON, the women’s page in Alaska’s old newspapers, dry-brining for dinner, a new way to fillet, Thai Village, delicious tonics, gluten-free peach muffins, quick pickles, working women, local news and sourdough. juliaomalley.substack.com/p/i-found-an...

One Rural Doctor on the Real Cost of Medicaid Changes A family physician in western North Carolina explains what she thinks will happen to her patients as a result of Republicans’ domestic policy bill.

On today's episode of "The Daily," a family physician in western North Carolina explains what she thinks will happen to her patients as a result of Republicans' domestic policy bill.

What form of sociopathy required them to need a court order to stop doing this?

Turn last night’s salmon leftovers into savory hash and eggs with fresh herbs and Tabasco cream Leftover grilled fish makes an easy, beautiful high-protein breakfast.

If you are grilling salmon tonight, make a little extra for breakfast. 🍳❤️ www.adn.com/alaska-life/...

There was a visitor to the Mt. Shishaldin volcano webcam in the eastern Aleutians about a week ago. 🐻

Thanks for reading!

First actual paper book I have finished in over a year. Thanks, @jomalley17.bsky.social ! I know I’m late to read it but now I’m looking forward to trying out the recipes! Loved how the book captured a sense of what it is to live in Alaska through the lens of food.

I work as an elder and hospice caregiver, which I am oddly passionate about. I can love on them shamelessly and no one complains about my codependence. It's a win-win situation. Many of my caregiving colleagues complain about the repetitive questions and, sometimes reactions, of the elderly, especially when those patients happen to read the newspaper, especially with the current downward spiral of our country — as if these people haven't lived through enough horror... I love my dementia peeps, but sometimes wonder if there's a Guinness Book World Record for how many times an hour a dementia patient can repeat the same question — it's got to be in the hundreds. At least with small children, they ask different questions. Dementia patients will get stuck on one short question and ask it until you can interrupt their train(carousel) of thought and successfully redirect their attention. That carousel is pretty manic sometimes. A couple days ago, I picked up my mail from the post office and drove over to the nursing home to take (let's call her "Miss Daisy") Miss Daisy out for a drive. Before we took off on our road trip, to the end of The Road and back, in our landlocked little town (Juneau, Alaska), I set my copy of The Onion down in front of her. Over our two-hour excursion, tiny Miss Daisy read that front page at least a dozen times and each time she would snicker, giggle, and guffaw, then put it down on the dash board and, a minute later, discover it anew. I think it was the best afternoon of my life. We don't often hear them laugh and when they do, it's the sweetest thing you've ever heard. ... Thank you, thank you, thank you, for the really important work all of you do. You make the world a better place.

I got permission to share this, and I'm extremely grateful for that.

The Onion got this letter from one of our subscribers in Alaska. She works with dementia patients and decided to leave a copy in the car for each one.

This email made my year. Read it and you'll see what I mean. People are good.

Opinion | Autism Rates Have Increased 60-Fold. I Played a Role in That. The addition of Asperger’s disorder to the D.S.M. had enormous unintended consequences.

“The rapid rise in autism cases is not because of vaccines or environmental toxins, but rather is the result of changes in the way that autism is defined and assessed — changes that I helped put into place,” writes the psychiatrist Allen Frances.

The Wall Street Journal had a piece last night that the Judicial Conference of the United States — the policy making body for the federal judiciary — is discussing whether the Judiciary should have its own armed security force rather than rely on the U.S. Marshals for federal judges’ protection.

A 700% APR lending business tied to Dr. Phil’s son is dividing an Alaska tribe Tribal lender Minto Money has boosted the economy of an Alaska village. But some tribal members are appalled by the millions it’s made off desperate borrowers — much of which, lawsuits allege, has gon...

An Alaska village of 160 people raked in $1 million a month from a payday-loan style business.

But here’s who was making the real money …

www.adn.com/business-eco...

Film about Filipino nurses resonates in Alaska A documentary on how Filipino nurses were among the unsung heroes of the pandemic comes to Anchorage.

Filipino organizations in Alaska have worked to bring a documentary to Alaska called "Nurse Unseen." The film was shown at the Anchorage Museum Wednesday to spotlight a group of immigrants whose service and sacrifices are often overlooked.

Join the fall-in-love-with-Anchorage challenge Notes on: Walmart's immaculate vibes, perfect avocados, the People's Carrs, the smoothest hummus, Tang ice cream, ordering Top Bop, "Feeding Ghosts" and other people's shopping carts.

In this week’s Alaska food newsletter: how to love Anchorage, Walmart's immaculate vibes, perfect avocados, the People's Carrs, the smoothest hummus, Tang ice cream, chicken cutlet, ordering Top Bop, "Feeding Ghosts,” peeping other people’s shopping carts.

juliaomalley.substack.com/p/join-the-f...

Alaska could lose a beloved climate communicator if NOAA cuts happen The draft cuts would eliminate several research institutes the agency funds in Alaska, including the one where Rick Thoman works.

This fellow is such a treasure — a smart, helpful, highly valuable resource.

In Alaska, when my neighbors grieve, this is what I bring to their doorstep Notes on: meal train comfort food, the loss of a friend, an excellent breakfast burrito, Italian bread soup, homemade falafel, hummus tricks, Pati Jinich in Alaska

This week, a word on meal trains — In Alaska, when our friends and neighbors grieve, we bring over loaves of bread and jars of soup and fillets of fish and backyard honey and, sometimes, we just set them on the porch. This is a custom here, in this dangerous place where everybody knows everybody.

White House Proposal Could Gut Climate Modeling the World Depends On Potential funding cuts for NOAA and its research partners threaten irreparable harm not only to climate research but to American safety, competitiveness, and national security.

NEW: The total loss of NOAA’s office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research —a nerve center of global climate science, data collection and modeling — represents a setback for climate preparedness that experts warn the nation may never recover from.

By @abrahm.bsky.social

Pati Jinich Explores Panamericana | What Makes Alaska… Alaska? With Author Julia O’Malley | Episode 1 Anchorage-based author Julia O’Malley and Pati Jinich discuss what makes Alaska unique.

I had a lot of fun eating a messy halibut sandwich and talking about Alaska’s food culture with Pati Jinich last summer for her show “Pati Jinich Explores PanAmericana.” It airs tomorrow night on @alaskapublic at 8 p Alaska time or it can be streamed on the @pbs app. Here’s a clip!

From the board: Public media should have public investment March 28, 2025 Alaskans, When President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Act into law in 1967, he said it would “enrich man’s spirit” as we pursued excellence in America. He e…

Support Alaska’s public radio and television stations!

“Some FAA personnel have been implicitly threatened with having their lives ruined by potential criminal charges from the Trump Justice Department if they blab about Project Lift, according to a person familiar with the situation…

‘Incredibly damaging’: Yukon premier urges Alaskans to speak out against Trump’s trade war In an interview with KHNS, Ranj Pillai said Alaskans’ support for Canada has been widely appreciated.

alaskapublic.org/news/alaska-...

Special ACCAP Listening Session | ACCAP Why are we having this listening session? ACCAP may be losing funding and would no longer be able to provide trustworthy information about environmental change to Alaskans. Your stories will help u…

We are pulling out the stops to save our program. If possible, please join us May 1 at 2pm for listening session. Tell us why ACCAP matters to you so we can pass it up. Register at the link: if that time doesn’t work for you, fill out our short survey. Basi’. #climate
uaf-accap.org/event/specia...

The Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the org I work for, is funded through OAR. We’re in our 20th year of providing Alaskans with reliable and actionable info. If OAR is destroyed, so is ACCAP.

Tariffs Are Unravelling the Lifeline Between Yukon and Alaska | The Walrus For one Northern community, the cost of friendship with Trump's America is too high

and Alaska's Congressional delegation, especially Sullivan and Nick Begich, are pulling that zipper down.. 😥

Here's a tariff times shopping list for your Alaska pantry Notes on: Which groceries are about to get more expensive here, green goddess dressing, joining CSAs, arroz caldo, matcha red bean cake, Arctic Entries tickets and a new Medium Build song

In this week’s newsletter: Taking a clear-eyed view of the possibility of tariffs and a potential Canadian toll on top of inflation in a place with some of the most expensive groceries in the country, I made a shopping list for your Alaska pantry.

open.substack.com/pub/juliaoma...