The Friendly Arctic
5/12/20261 hr 1 min
Ada Blackjack wants one thing: To make enough money to bring her son home from an orphanage. But good work is hard to find in 1920s Nome, Alaska, so when four strangers come to town, looking to hire someone for a secret yearlong expedition, Ada embarks on the trip—not knowing that she’ll be the only one of them to survive.
Featuring guest Sarah Marshall of You’re Wrong About.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Clips
Showing 10 of 12Transcript preview
First 90 secondsBlair Braverman· Host0:00
I'm gonna hire this untrained 20-year-old as the captain of my expedition. What could possibly go wrong? [gentle music] Welcome to a brand-new podcast, What To Carry, What To Burn. I'm your host, Blair Braverman, and I'm a writer, an adventurer, and a long-distance dog sledder. This is a podcast of stories about the ways we stay alive. Today, my guest is Sarah Marshall, host of the podcast You're Wrong About, and also my very good friend, and I will be telling her the true story of Ada Blackjack. This story does have some difficult topics, including abuse and attempted suicide, so please look out for yourself and only listen if you're up for it. There are also some really beautiful elements to this story because people find beauty and they make beauty in the most impossible situations. Let's jump right in. [gentle music] Here we are, Sarah. Are you ready?
Sarah Marshall· Guest1:08
Okay, I'm ready.
Blair Braverman· Host1:10
Settle in by the fire.
Sarah Marshall· Guest1:11
It's crackling.
Blair Braverman· Host1:12
It's 1898- Mm-hmm ... and we're about halfway up Alaska on the west coast- Mm-hmm ... in a village up against the Bering Sea called Nome.
Sarah Marshall· Guest1:20
Hmm.
Blair Braverman· Host1:21
And until now, there have just been a few small native communities around there.
Sarah Marshall· Guest1:25
Mm-hmm.
Blair Braverman· Host1:26
This year, a couple of Swedish dudes find gold on a beach, and