40° F Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy  Reporter's Notebook: Life
Above the Arctic Circle  Published On: Sep 11 2013 10:55:00 AM
AKDT  There is a lot of preparation underway in Alaska's arctic
communities, before winter takes over.   Kotzebue in the late
summer is, unexpectedly, a noisy place.  The largest city in the
Northwest Arctic Borough, the community is a commercial hub for
about a dozen villages scattered nearby. The sounds of power
boats, four-wheelers, barking dogs, greedy seagulls fighting
over fish scraps-- they create the cacophony that is Kotzebue
today. For me, it was a trip somewhere new. For Channel 2
photographer, Bronwyn Saito, it was a trip back home.  Our
assignment to tell the history of Kotzebue first took us to the
Northwest Arctic Heritage Center, run by the National Park
Service. Willie Goodwin, the native liaison for NPS and a long-
time member of Kotzebue's village elders council, has a wealth
of knowledge of Kotzebue's most recent history. He spoke about
the exhibits in the center that