Robert Stark is a former army infantryman and the author of Warflower, a book about his upbringing in Alaska and his time in the military. His upbringing was a turbulent one — his dad was absent, his mom struggled with addiction, his brother spent time in prison and his step-dad is serving life in prison for murder. He says he was known as the kid with the family of degenerates — people who drank alcohol, did drugs, stole, and went to prison. Eventually, he found himself struggling with his own alcohol and drug problem. So, he joined the army to travel and to learn more about himself. It was a part of his life that altered his way of thinking and understanding of the world.
It’s been 20 years since he served in Iraq, and he says he’s still working through it. He talks about an experience when one of his fellow infantrymen shot and killed an Iraqi man under questionable circumstances. It was a moment that made him start questioning everything — what they were really fighting for, and how was this man’s act so much different than the one that put his step-dad in prison for life? There was so much to work through after finishing his military service — on top of his family history, he was now thinking about the fog of war. So, he found himself dissociating from his memories and isolating himself for days at a time, smoking weed and drinking.
It took him years to step away from his substance abuse and to gain some clarity and accept the things he had seen and the things that he had done. He spent some time in India and Nepal doing yoga retreats and meditations. He would sit there and visualize the situations he struggled to understand — he would work through them as if he were the people acting them out and then he would embrace them with love and understanding of what led them to making the decisions they made. It’s a technique that helped him understand what he didn’t understand.
Today, in times of personal crisis, he regains his equilibrium by going on walks on his property in Happy Valley, Alaska. Peaceful walks in the woods, among the trees and the birds and the mountains in the distance. He thinks of his wife and his daughters and the man he wants to be — loving, dependable and present.
EP 85 Furniture, basketball and family with Buddy Bailey
EP 84 Human trafficking in Alaska and decolonizing data with Josie Heyano
EP 83 Moving home, revitalizing a language and the magic of radio with Shyanne Beatty
EP 82 A chip on my shoulder with Mario Chalmers
EP 81 Life lessons from fish camp with Angela Gonzalez
EP 79 There is no excuse with Andrew Kurka
EP 78 Deconstructing the myth of The Last Frontier with Kaitlin Armstrong
EP 77 The history of slime with Christopher Michlig
EP 76 What we’ve been through is not who we are now with Travante Williams
EP 75 From middle school teacher to pro wrestler with Freya the Slaya
EP 74 Embracing the variance of poker with Adam Hendrix
Museums in a Climate of Change: EP 73 Futures thinking, perseverance and climate change with Kristin Alford of the Museum of Discovery at the University of South Australia
Museums in a Climate of Change: EP 72 Creating sustainable exhibitions with Lizzy Bakker of NEMO Science Museum in Amsterdam
Museums in a Climate of Change: EP 71 How climate change is affecting the traditional Sámi way of life with Anne May Olii of the Sámi Museum in Norway
Museums in a Climate of Change: EP 70 The myth of climate indifference with Miranda Massie of the Climate Museum
Museums in a Climate of Change: EP 69 Imagining the future with Lath Carlson of the Museum of the Future in Dubai
EP 68 Frances changed my life with John Gourley
Ep 67 Culture comes from our environment with Cordelia Qiġñaaq Kellie
EP 66 Inuit soul music with Qacung
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