According to the US Geological Survey, a magnitude 9.2 earthquake shattered the early evening quiet of Anchorage, Alaska on March 27, 1964. It was Good Friday. The ground gave way, sending buildings, cars, and people sliding into the sea. Roadways caved in, swallowing entire swathes of the city's infrastructure and snapping the fragile lines of Anchorage residents' communication with one another, with the state, with the lower forty-eight states, and indeed, with the world. Stunned citizens, whether unharmed or among the walking wounded, set to helping one another in the ways they knew how. One such resident, Genie Chance, got to work and in so doing, demonstrated the Power of One.
Genie, explains the 99% Invisible podcast, This is Chance: Anchorwoman of the Great Alaska Earthquake, was a wife and mother of three children who had become a trusted radio announcer for the Anchorage area. As she drove down one of the city's streets and noticed her car handling oddly, "she saw people knocked down in the street. She saw a line of parked cars at the gas station slam together and separate and slam again. She watched them fold in and out and thought 'It’s like a grotesque accordion'" (Mars, 2017). All around her, Genie saw the city crumbling, but rather than cower, she used what she knew and what she had to recognize problems that were very much in flux and figure out ways to help others.
Realizing that Anchorage citizens would need ways of getting word not only to one another, but to others in the wider world, Genie put her radio skills to work. She knew " the quake had knocked Genie’s radio station off the air, but now the static on the transistor radio she was carrying suddenly gave way to music. It meant KENI was back. An engineer started talking and Jeannie grabbed the radio unit in her car and cut in" (Mars, 2017). From her car, Genie became the sole voice that could communicate the dire situation to the outside world. Even as her broadcast served as the lifeline for seeking help from other Americans, it enabled individuals to get word from frightened Alaskans to their equally worried loved ones that they were alive. Genie conveyed information between business and service providers all around Anchorage about what they needed and what they had that could be shared. In effect, what Genie did was akin to cell phone owners were in New York City on September 11, 2001.
On 9/11, far fewer people owned cell phones, and on that day, those who did have cell phones still had trouble receiving a signal from damaged and overloaded communication towers. Strangers helped other city dwellers by allowing them to use phones that did work to get word out to terrified family members who had no way of knowing if their loved ones had perished. Similarly, Genie used an asset she had, one that few or no others in Anchorage had on that Good Friday. She became a hub to which others sent urgent messages, and she used what she had available to pass on innumerable messages.
While Genie did use her radio communication abilities to notify her own family that she, her husband, and her children were unharmed, she did not stop there. Genie could have made a different choice, one that did not keep her from addressing her own needs and fears. She could have used radio to get word to only her family, but she did not. Instead, she spent hour upon hour on the radio, taking in messages and sending them out to what likely ended up being millions of listeners worldwide. Genie slept little in those days after the earthquake, yet she knew she looked around her and saw her fellow citizens with empathy and compassion. So instead of focusing only on her and her own loved ones, Genie embraced the challenges and provided a solution to a flawed telecommunications design.
Although it is likely true that improved telecommunication would have improved all around America without Genie, it is also true that at the time of the 1964 earthquake, Anchorage had a huge communication problem. Had Genie not reacted as she did, stakeholders would undoubtedly realized that they had a lot of work to do. However, Genie's actions served to make those difficulties much more obvious, detailed, and user-specific. In effect, as Genie disseminated the knowledge city residents sent to her, she defined, explained, and illustrated where the sharing of vital information needed to be enhanced. She cared about others around her and chose to serve rather than simply going about her own business. Her empathy collided with skills and resources to which she had access, and Genie allowed the circumstances to engage with that collision. Genie showed that when it comes to problem solving, the Power of One can indeed influence the outcomes.
Works Cited
Mars, R. (Host). (2017, May 16). This is Chance: Anchorwoman of the Great Alaska Earthquake [Audio podcast transcript]. In 99% Invisible. https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/chance-anchorwoman-great-alaska-earthquake/transcript
I'm wondering now . . how might we apply the principles of Genie to our learning spaces? How might we adopt some of her approaches to problem solving in our institutions of higher learning? It is possible to be more like Genie as we navigate systems change or address concerns within our sphere of influence? And what might that look like?
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