ALTA LIVE: SURVIVING TERROR VAULT
Just in time for Halloween, we chatted with Joshua Grannell, also known as drag sensation Peaches Christ, about his annual production, Terror Vault. The theme of this year’s annual interactive haunted house was the history of some of California’s most famous cults—a topic rife with local lore.
ALTA LIVE: WRITERS ON WRITERS
This four-part series was pitched by Alta Journal’s assistant editor, Jessica Blough, as a new and exciting spin on the traditional author interview. Instead of asking an Alta editor or guest host to interview a writer about their new book, we selected pairs of writers—each featured in either Alta Issue 25: the Writers Issue or Alta’s holiday book guide—to converse with each other. The episodes, which spotlighted authors Myriam Gurba and Héctor Tobar, poets Tayi Tibble and Forrest Gander, neo-noirists Tod Goldberg and David L. Ulin, and second-time novelists C Pam Zhang and Lydia Kiesling, offered viewers an introspective, personal, and oftentimes hilarious look at the life of a writer.
ALTA LIVE: DOUG PEACOCK AND THE COLORADO RIVER SOLUTION
Author and naturalist Doug Peacock, a disabled Vietnam veteran and former Green Beret medic, was the real-life model for Edward Abbey’s George Washington Hayduke and has published widely on wilderness issues. It was a thrill to welcome him onto Alta Live to expand on his article in Alta, a proposal to remove the Glen Canyon Dam and drain Lake Powell.
ALTA LIVE: THE RETURN OF CALIFORNIA’S GRIZZLY BEARS
Featured in Ajay Orona’s award-winning article “The Grizzly Next Door,” professor Peter Alagona joined Alta Live to bring his enthusiasm for the Golden State’s furry mascot to our viewers. Animal-focused shows tend to be popular episodes of Alta Live, but Alagona’s excitement and predictions for the grizzly’s California future made this interview a standout.
ALTA LIVE: THE OTHER OREGON TRAIL
Ruby McConnell’s five-part Alta Serial on Oregon’s Applegate Trail was an eye-opening audience favorite—especially for those of us who grew up playing the Oregon Trail video game. We found McConnell’s enthusiasm for Oregon history infectious and important.
ALTA LIVE: AUTHOR JANE SMILEY
A literary legend, Jane Smiley joined Alta’s editorial director, Blaise Zerega, to discuss her newest book, The Questions that Matter Most: Reading, Writing, and the Exercise of Freedom. Smiley’s latest title is a collection of examinations on the connection between the writer and the reader, a dream topic (and dream guest) for our book-loving audience.
ALTA LIVE: ILLUSTRATOR JAMES RANSOME
A regular contributor to Alta, illustrator James E. Ransome might be best known for his multi-award-winning children’s books, two of which have been banned in Florida schools for reasons even Ransome can’t figure out. Talented and humble, Ransome took us through select images of his work, explaining his process, inspiration, and plans for the future.
ALTA LIVE: CROSSWORD CREATORS
Rebecca Goldstein and Rafael Musa, the constructors of the crossword and acrostic puzzles in Alta’s Issue 25, took viewers behind the scenes and, quite frankly, blew our crossword-loving minds. If you’ve taken a pencil (or, more boldly, a pen) to a puzzle in the past, this episode will be a delightful eye-opener.
ALTA LIVE: THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE OF CALENDARIOS DE VARILLA
A regular Alta contributor and Alta Live guest, Gustavo Arellano was the perfect guest host for this special episode in which we learned and explored the history and production of calendarios de varilla, traditional Mexican calendars. Arellano chatted with Calendarios Landin CEO Julian Urquiza, whose company distributes more than a million calendars to the United States each year, and who joined us from his company’s calendar museum in Querétaro, Mexico. If you’ve ever wondered whether it would be interesting to hear two people talking about how much they love a specific kind of calendar, we’ve got your answer here. (Spoiler alert: yes, it is.)
ALTA LIVE: AN INDIGENOUS RESPONSE TO LAND ART
Jason Asenap’s award-winning article “Hubris in Art Form” takes a critical look at the implications of land art for Indigenous people, the original caretakers of the land upon which large installations sit (or, as in the case of Mount Rushmore, are carved). Asenap’s ability to engage on the topic with both humor and blunt honesty added to our understanding of the issue, which is at the heart of what Alta Live aims to do.
