The True Victor

This time next week, I will be leaving Pedro Bay indefinitely. I am looking forward to only doing things that make me happy, and surrounding myself with the people who genuinely love me. (I am in no way saying that the people in the village of Pedro do not care; I am extremely fortunate to have met some really amazing people who I hope to always be a part of my life.) But there are others whose existence is so filled with displeasure that they will go out of their way to hurt anyone and everyone around them. It has been a constant internal struggle not to allow myself to drown in their negativity, or stoop to their level of malevolence…

My students are through their standards; I have been packing my life into Rubbermaid totes, zip-tying them shut (this is the most effective way of shipping in the bush) to send for my new district placement. I thought I was in the clear. Everything was going to be fine, now. Staying-out well-beyond my bedtime, the sun partakes in my merriment, and invited all living things, which had been hiding all winter, to come out and play. (I can honestly say- most recent mornings, I am drawn-out of sleep, before my alarm, by the concerto of countless, differing bird noises.)

My silly, hopelessly optimistic self should know better at this point in my life. I will never understand how people can be so miserable when they live in a place that is so beautiful and pristine that it doesn’t seem real. I live in a place that resembles a magical faerie wonderland; the landscape makes me smile and instantly brings me peace…Most recently, I was yanked back into the reality of my locale when I went to the Post Office to ship-out my belongings. I was told that there is not enough postage to ship-out my tote. (This is one of those times I would steal a glance out the nearest window to achieve balance because of the ridiculousness factor of such a statement.) I coolly and pleasantly informed the Post Mistress that she may want to get a hold of more because I have more coming soon, and so does the Elementary School Teacher…
This week, I tried again, and was able to successfully ship out a few totes, but was unable to acquire a receipt. This presents an issue because my teaching contract allows for reimbursement for district initiated moves; but with no receipts, I cannot file for those funds.

I contacted District Office to inform them about my dilemma, express concerns, and seek advice on the best course of diplomatic action. It took them a few days to find a solution, and in the meantime I did some extensive research of my own; I learned I am able to print my own shipping labels if I #1. Send everything Priority or Express Mail, which is an excessive use of district funds (when they are already experiencing budget/funding cuts), and is completely unnecessary when I won’t have any need for the contents of those totes until August. #2. Set up a PayPal account, and have access to all postage options. I attempted the latter, and my identity was in question, so I am trying to obtain all the appropriate documentation, turn it in, clear everything up, close-down the school, and ship everything out before I leave…
To survive in the bush, you must be adaptable, flexible, and self-sufficient.

There are people in my life that believe in me, and support what I do. District Office called today, and notified me that they had made arrangements with a local air-carrier; all I need to do is to have my things ready, so I can send-off my belongings with them- totally eliminating the Post Office, altogether. (Because our the district is composed of 14 isolated bush villages, main office has agreements with some of the carriers to fly-around official district stuff. For example, formal paperwork that needs a signature or teaching supplies/curriculum materials that needs to be shuffled around between sites, etc.)

I am extremely fortunate to have a few friends (both personal and professional) who I may always contact, no matter how seemingly trivial, for honest and tactful advice. Those folks are the subtle super heroes of my adventure in life.

My time in Pedro Bay has reinforced that most people are overwhelmingly negative. Those kinds of people become blinded by their own fear and intolerance, so that they eventually are crippled by their own unscrupulousness, and it is an exceedingly infectious disease. I have learned to carefully choose my battles; the true warrior knows that the true victor finds happiness within one’s self.

Chignik Lagoon, Alaska

Next year, I will be continuing my love affair with Alaska as the village Secondary Teacher in Chignik Lagoon, Alaska.

I am looking forward to the change in location. Chignik Lagoon is prodominately a fishing village, and I am hoping that (as fellow boat people) it will be a better fit for my personality.

just under two-weeks left

I have just under two-weeks left in Pedro Bay, Alaska. I keep meaning to write, but I have been extremely busy (paperwork, grades, graduation, packing, closing-down the school, etc.) When I do have free-time, I want to play outside. The sun is currently setting around 11pm. (It is really nice to be able to put in a late night at school, and still get out in time to enjoy the sunshine.)

I will definitely miss this place. I have every intention of writing-down the whole story; however, I still need time to digest everything, and put my thoughts together...

Native Youth Olympics

In the spirit of their ancestors, youth from across Alaska will assemble to demonstrate their skills in traditional Native games at the Native Youth Olympics. This may be the most incredible exhibition of athletics I have ever witnessed. Events are based on games and life skills of past generations of Alaska Natives played as a way to test their hunting and survival skills, and to increase strength, endurance, agility, and the balance of mind and body. If anyone ever has the chance to watch these games, I highly recommend you do so.


•The Eskimo Stick Pull: a game of strength. The two athletes sitting on the floor facing each other with feet touching. The stick is held over both athletes’ toes. One athlete holds the stick in the center with his hands together while the other athlete's hands are on either side of his opponent's. Each athlete uses a steady pull straight back trying to pull the opponent directly to him or the stick away from the opponent. No twisting, jerking or re-gripping the stick is allowed. This game is based on the skill of grabbing and holding onto a fish. Successful hunters must be able to pull a seal out of the water. This is no easy task while maintaining balance on snow and ice. Hand, back and leg strength are essential.

Indian Stick Pull: This game is a test of grip. The equipment for this game is a stick tapered at both ends. The stick is about a foot long and one and one-half inches in diameter in the middle. Grease is applied to the stick and the competitors then grab the stick and attempt to pull it away from each other. They must pull straight back without jerking or twisting. Best two out of three is the winner of the match, each round using a different hand. This primarily Indian game was used to strengthen the hands for grabbing fish out of the fish wheel.

•The Wrist Carry: a test of survival. The contestant hooks a wrist around the middle of the stick and grips the forearm with the other hand while being carried. This event has origins based on hunters being able to carry their game back to the village. Hunters had to develop endurance and strength in order to carry the game over a long distance.

•The One-Hand Reach: balancing on one hand, the contestant reaches up with the other hand to touch the ball. A game to test a person's control over their body. If a hunter was to become lost on water, for example, they must know the skills to control their body in order not to panic and tip their kayak.

•Two-foot high kick: consists of the athlete jumping off of both feet simultaneously, kicking a ball with one or both feet while both feet or heels are parallel and touching, and landing on both feet simultaneously while maintaining balance. Hopping on both feet is okay while maintaining balance. Falling or landing on one foot will nullify the jump. The height of the suspended ball will begin at 46 inches for girls and 50 inches for boys. Three attempts at each height will be given to each athlete. The ball will be raised at two inch increments. When there are three athletes left the ball will be raised in one inch increments. The winner is the athlete who touches the ball at the highest elevation. This game came from the excitement the hunters exhibited after the hunt. It developed into a game to see how high the hunters could jump.

•The Kneel Jump: kneeling on the floor with feet and toes flat, the contestant leaps forward, and must land on both feet without faltering. The hunters must develop the skill of quick movement to be successful in jumping from one ice floe to another. This game also develops leg muscles necessary to lift heavy game and carry it back to the village.

•The Alaskan High Kick: the contestant balances on one foot and the opposing hand while reaching across the torso to hold the other foot. He thrusts the balancing foot upward to kick the ball. A test of both the mind and body working together to maintain control.

(Note to reader: I utilized a variety of resources to compile thorough explanations for this blog posting. I took the photographs at our recent district, state-qualifying competition.)

The Real People

Without any doubts in my mind, I have found the Inupiat (Inupiaq) culture to be the most interesting Native group studied thus far. It blows my mind that for 4,500 years people have inhabited the severe environment along the Arctic Coast and the North Slope of Alaska. (Yet, the Inupiat are only one of many distinct “Eskimo” groups living in the North American Arctic.) Inupiat literally means “real people.” The populations’ determination to exist, despite such inhospitable conditions, completely justifies such a supreme title. Furthermore, it is amazingly profound that their livelihood has been maintained primarily in reliance to large marine mammal hunting. The list of marine mammals hunted includes but is not limited to, walrus, bowhead whale, bearded seal, spotted seal, ringed seal, ribbon seal, belukha, tomcod, sculpin, water fowl, and polar bear (they are not considered terrestrial because the majority of their life is spent hunting on the sea-ice; much like the Inupiat people).

I find it baffling to even consider venturing out into the Arctic Ocean in a walrus skinboat (umupiat); to set-up camp on the treterous moving sea-ice; where we would remain until one of crews in the local fleet of four to nine boats managed to kill a bowhead whale, which would feed the entire village for the winter. This feat is even more amazing when considering it may continue, day upon day, week upon week, for some two months!

Bear in mind that the monstrosity (in addition to anything else killed) had to be rowed back to the camp where it would be slaughtered. (This rowing must persevere without any thought to personal discomforts because once the whale’s momentum was lost it took great effort to get it moving again.) After chopping-off the head as an offering of respect to the behest and benevolence of all animals, a butchering will continue (perhaps well into the night) until nothing is left but the red-stain of the gory reminder where the carcass had been.

Being a woman, I would have had an entirely different role in the efforts. (For the sake of comparative analysis, I will pretend that I am not thin, pale, pasty, and weak; and would have been able to handle the physical and emotional demands of such an incredible culture.) Females are traditionally responsible for the processing of the food and the raw materials derived from the hunted game. It would have been my responsibility to keep the crew (whose men’s house I am associated with) fed and clothed. In addition to the other wives and mothers of the skinboat crew members, I would have been scraping, cutting to size, and sewing together the thick hides of female walrus, using special stitches that only go halfway through the hide. If done correctly, the double, overlapping seams will be completely waterproof. When finished, the men will help stretch the finished cover over the boat frame and lash it to the gunwales.

(The Inupiat culture has many rituals that accompany their hunting cultural traditions; which are too numerous and detailed to also discuss, but are as equally, uniquely fascinating.)

I would also like to mention the seemingly taboo custom of sharing wives and extended families in Inupiat Native culture. Such illicit behavior makes perfect sense when taking into account the skinboat captain’s need to have a mainstay of skillful and loyal males to rely upon. In this case, sons, brothers, and brothers’ sons are the most likely candidates for forming foundations of traditional skinboat crews. Customary marriages and post-marriage homes reflect the crucial necessity to have related males in the community. For me, traditional Inupiat culture personifies the universe’s nature of infinite persistence in existence and thoroughly reinforces the limitless capabilities of mankind.

(Author's Note: The traditional Inupiat (Inupiaq) whale hunt is still practiced today. To see it done with the conviences of modern technology: click here )

The Seal

An immeasurable amount of sincere appreciation and admiration goes to my Curriculum Coach. No matter how much she disagrees with me about the merit, her relentless support efforts are a colossal contribution to my success in the classroom and adjustment to bush life. She has become both a trusted colleague and a beloved friend.

The most difficult part of this year for me was the lack of support. The only other teacher on site is the elementary school teacher, and she is also new to Alaska and first-year teacher. All of our other support staff is itinerant (travels from place to place), and is only here for a short visit once every couple of months (if that, and weather permitting). Admittedly, I have an awesome district, and anyone I ask for help is (usually) more than willing to give it, but I have to know what questions to ask, and who the best person would be to answer those questions… Consistently, that person has been Ms. Katy Jurney-Davey. In addition to being my curriculum support, she also spent last year in Pedro Bay as the Elementary School Teacher at Dena’ina School, so she also has first-hand knowledge of my students and the village.

We met at the Teacher In-Service back in August. I had the pleasure of being assigned to room with the sassy Northern California Native. (I later learned that there is hostility from Northern Californians towards Southern Californians because “they are stealing all our water.”) We clicked instantly; finding that we shared the common experience of having been on the rowing team, and bonding over shared stories of similar happenings.  From there, we learned that we are also the products of a similar home-life.  Both of our mothers are hippies, and both of our fathers are super Conservative; my father being in finance, and her father a colonel. (The cliché’s and stereotypes associated with these descriptions are entirely appropriate, and purposely not being elaborated upon in detail, so no one is offended.) 

I am constantly amused and fascinated with Ms. Jurney-Davey’s level of awesomeness.  I adore how the spunky red-head contradicts everything I was taught to be considered appropriate, when “maintaining a professional appearance.” She prefers to teach in flip-flops (even when there is snow on the ground), does not make attempts to conceal her tattoos, and has yet to remove her tongue piercing; yet, she maintains an extremely high level of professionalism at all times when at the work place. For example, she is constantly reminding me that she cannot tell me certain things because information shared between her and administrators about me is confidential…. 

 

I hit an exceptionally rough period in January/February. Recognizing that I was in danger of drowning in my own negativities, she changed around her schedule, and came to Dena’ina School to help us out on both personal and professional levels. She gave me the constructive criticism I so desperately needed, and then we revamped my implementation of the curriculum. She even taught a couple of my classes, so I could see her interpretation of the curriculum, which is a luxury I cannot normally indulge in.

Katy decided she needed to return, seven days later, to ensure I had a handle on things because she felt she threw too much information at me to immediately digest. I had dumped my heart and soul into IMMEDIATELY implementing everything in between her visits. By the time she returned, I was hanging on mentally, physically, and emotionally only by a thread…After another failed attempt at support from administration, I ended-up having my first and only breakdown that week….My breakdown came complete with crying in the supply closet.

Ms. Jurney-Davey decided it was time for a pep talk, Katy style.  I was told I need to stop being so sensitive “because you are in the wrong profession if you think you are going to make everyone happy all the time.” She continued, “I am going to tell you what I told my six-year-old niece: "You need to be the seal. You need to have thick skin, and let all the bullshit roll off you like water. You are here for the kids; ONLY worry about the kids.” Ever since, I have received nothing but “tough love.”   

Since the seal metaphor, I have been more confident in my abilities and my purpose. It has been eight months since I first arrived here, and it has only been recently that I feel like I know what is going on.  

Spread Thin

I have not been journaling as much I would like to be recently. I am spread very thin these days, so when I manage any sort of freedom from my obligations, I spend my time being as worthless as possible. To be honest, the only reason I am writing this right now is because there is currently a snow storm in Pedro Bay, and I am unable to go play outside. (I realize I could go, but I would rather lie on my couch in sweats than exert the time and energy in bundling-up appropriately to adequately face the weather.)

The elementary teacher (Jess) and I have elected to take a distance anthropology course this semester from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. In order to get your permanent Alaska teaching certificate, the state requires you to take an Alaska Geography and a Native Cultures of Alaska course within three years of your first teaching placement here. We are currently taking Native Cultures of Alaska as a year-long paper-based course. I love it; I find it absolutely fascinating, and I honestly and thoroughly enjoy doing the work necessary to complete the assignments. Alaska is a different planet compared to what we are use to in the Lower 48. (I sometimes supplement my journal posts with papers I have written for the course. I hope you are reading them, and you find the information as absolutely fascinating as I do. I also hope to enlighten people about the rich cultural diversity in Alaska. Not all Alaska Natives are Eskimos, nor do they live in igloos. Actually, "Eskimo" is considered a derogatory term.)

I spend much of the time on evenings and weekends working on this course. I have also been preparing for the Middle School Math Praxis II Test, which I have elected to take next month. If I pass, I this will certify me in both Pennsylvania and Alaska to teach Middle School Math…

The Futility of Average

My two highest level math students complete their class online with a teacher outside of our district. At the same time, everyday, the students log on for a live interactive instruction complete with a live audio and video feed from the North Pole. The technology that is used for these meetings vacillates from mediocre to completely worthless. The district provides this option to students working beyond graduation requirements, so the site teacher (me) may spend her time working to get everyone else through their required math standards. The district’s intention behind offering the online course is excellent.

However, I am continuously finding that my online students are not getting the support they need to be successful in their class. This has created an interesting situation for me. On one hand, I am not teaching the course, so I do not have any idea what and how they are being taught because I am busy teaching my other students. It was not until my students’ test scores were consistently being scored at below proficiency that this teacher reciprocated my communication attempts. (I actually had to raise an issue out of it with the people at District Office, but that is a whole different story in itself.) Now, I spend the last forty-five minutes of my day reviewing with the students what was taught, and going over their homework assignments.

To make the situation even more fun, I do not have a book or teacher’s manual for this class. Furthermore, this “beyond graduation requirements course” is Alegbra I, which I have not had in about ten years. (Most of the math that I had at the college level has yet to appear?) Needless to say, sometimes, it takes me longer than it should to figure out what is going on. [I am a very lucky girl to have a best friend who not only has a degree in math, but is so well-versed in ‘Amanda’ that he can teach me the especially confusing concepts over the phone.]

I abhor it when my students do poorly on assessments. I take it personally because #1. I am in this profession for the students. It is my job to give them the tools they will need to be successful in life. #2 I believe student understanding of concepts are directly related to the quality of classroom instruction, and reflect my ability to decipher and meet each student’s individual needs. Before my students have to take a Chapter Test, we spend the majority of the week reviewing the information they will need to do well on the tests. At least once a week, I hold evening math study sessions. Sometimes, I spend my time creating practice supplemental worksheets that put the problems/concepts into terms that they would see in their everyday lives. I even created an Algebra Bulletin Board for these students that I literally update every other day! One would think that all this extra effort would lead to increased scores, but this is not the case… These two students still are not producing proficient work!

According to the Standards Based System, a student needs to have completed the majority of the course work at an 80% or better to be considered proficient. In theory, this is an awesome concept. Students will not move on to the next level unless they have a median grade of a B… I hate to even entertain the notion, but I cannot help but wonder if some students in some subject areas are not capable of work that is above average.

origins

Ever since the Europeans accidentally came into contact with the New World, people have wondered where the creation of this new place and the origins of the people who live here. Some people theorized that indigenous people of the Americas were one of the ten tribes of Israel; others felt that maybe they were refugees from the lost continent of Atlantis; that these Native people were the descendants of the infamous seafaring Vikings; or as in the case of those that believe in monotheism, that Noah had visited the New World. By the seventeenth century it became difficult to ignore the similarities between people, plants, and animals of Asia in the Old World and those of the New World. As science and technology has advanced through time, compelling evidence has been gathered from geology, archaeology, linguistics, and physical/biological anthropology for suggesting that the ancestors of all indigenous peoples of the New World originated in Asia.


During the Pleistocene or last “ice-age” epoch there were periods of time during where most of earth’s surface sported glaciers, which tied up enough water to allow the sea level to drop at least three-hundred feet, thus exposing a land connection or a “land bridge” between the far east of the Soviet Union and Alaska. Beringia, the land bridge, as it is commonly referred to, was the route by which plants and animals (both human and non-human) moved into and populated the New World, including South, Central, Meso and North America. Between 30,000 and 14,000 years ago Beringia was it its maximum size; and hunters and gatherers unintentionally moved slowly through the generations from Asia into what is now the New World pursuing the game upon which they depended for food, clothing, housing, fuel, and building materials.

Archeological evidence is crux to understanding theories and questions related to the peopling of the New World. Archaeologists have many means by which they can date cultural and associated faunal and floral remains; some are relative dates and other provides absolute data in terms of years before the present. Unfortunately, no known archaeological remains in either Alaska or Canada date older than 12,500 years ago. Additionally problematic is the fact that archaeological cultures cannot be linked directly with known ethnic groups, especially in the absence of human fossil remains. Most Alaskan archeologists, however, would argue that based on comparative tool type analysis there were three or more distinct waves of human migration to the New World.

Historic linguistic evidence also suggests that there were three major migrations of people into the New World from Asia, placing the first one around approximately 15,000 years ago. The science of historical linguistics utilizes its own methods for shaping relative and definite language divergences based on what is referred to as core vocabulary. There is currently no linguistic evidence that supports an absolute relationship between any language spoken by the indigenous peoples of the New World and any existing language of Asia or the Russian far east. New World language diversity does not sustain a theory that they all derived from a common linguistic stock 15,000 years ago. Two or three separate old world linguistic ancestors offer a more likely scenario explaining New World linguistic variations.

Biological anthropologists study clines, which establish the progression of genetic and other biological traits over geographical areas of the world. An additional aspect of human blood systems, Rh negative, also indicates the biological similarity of Native Americans and Asians as distinct from other populations. There are practically no Asians or Native Americans (Indians or Eskimo-Aleuts) which either manifest the Rh negative factors in their blood, or carry the gene for this characteristic. There is also a common dental characteristic of shovel-shaped incisors (incisors with a concave cross section) between all indigenous Native Americans and Asians. Additionally, the sinodont pattern in Eskimo-Aleut, characterized by extremely high frequencies of rooter first lower molars is found principally in south-east Asia. These biological factors, considered in association with nonqualified aspects of general appearance such as hair, form, hair and eye color, epicanthic fold, skin pigmentation, stature and various other biological characteristics indicate the Asian origins of all Native Americans.

Admittedly, there is no single explanation derived from anthropology and linguistics for the peopling of the New World based on geological, anthropological, linguistic, and biological data that is supported by ALL scientists, but the great majority of evidence, research, and data designate an Asian derivation for all indigenous people of the New World.

Candice Berner

This week, I lost a colleague and good friend; she was killed by wolves.

Candice and I were two of the six teachers recruited from Pennsylvania to teach for Lake and Peninsula School District. We both had been drawn to Alaska in search of something new and different, an adventure, driven by our great love for the outdoors.

We bonded over new teacher in-service in Anchorage. We both spent our time avoiding as much unnecessary stress as possible in our preparation for bush life. We helped each other provision. She let me use her Costco card. We went to the post office at obscure hours to avoid lines.

At the October in-service in King Salmon, we left dinner early one night because we were both feeling trapped after being in meetings all day, corralled for meals, and herded to shuttles. We opted to trek the  three miles home to stretch our legs, and get some fresh air. On the walk home, she lectured me for not being diligent with my writing. She enjoyed my writing. Candice was in the south end of the district and me in the north; as well as amusing her, it allowed her to keep up with my bush teaching experience. On that refreshing walk home, we made loose summer plans to work and live together in Alaska, doing something outside, and potentially do some traveling to other parts of the state. By March, plans had altered. Candice felt obligated to help family in Canada for the six weeks after teaching. She wanted to go home to Slippery Rock for awhile, and then wanted to come spend a week with me in Erie, so I could teach her to sail. We were going to return to Alaska together to do some traveling before school started back up. She always wanted to try new things; she loved that I was always game to play.

I have mixed emotions about my friend being killed in such a nightmarish fashion. Initially, I was in shock. Wolves, seriously? My knee-jerk reaction was bullshit. I did some research, and this is only the second time in history a wolf killed a human. A bear would attack a human, not wolves. It seemed too obscure to actually be true. Sometimes, I am angry. There is a part of me that thinks there must be something more to the story, perhaps foul play. Although she was tiny (standing at 4’11 and maybe 100lbs soaking wet), she was also a hunter and a trapper. She was not naïve; she was well aware of the potential hazards that are always lurking in Alaska.

She was tough. She would have fought hard and long if necissary. I just hope it was quick. She would be upset with me if I were to allow myself to become consumed with greif. However, that does not mean I do not frequently weep about the situation. My students provide an amazing distraction, and I find them to be quite therapeutic.

The death of a loved one is always difficult; the loss of a young life is even more grim. However, if you die in a place that makes you happy, doing what you love, is it really a tragedy? Alaska is one of the few places left in the world that is still pristine and wild, which is why we came here. I find it poetic that it was the wild that took her in the end; albeit gruesome and horrifying, her blood was spilled on the landscape, and pumps through the veins of wolves that run wild and free.



http://www.adn.com/2010/03/09/1175725/wolf-blamed-in-death-of-villager.html

Candice's Blog:
http://www.cberner.blogspot.com/

student or teacher?

Since arriving at the District Volleyball Jamboree in Newhalen, kids have mistaken me for a fellow student. Admittedly, I am still consistently carded for everything, but a student….seriously? This is definitely a first. In all honesty, I have mixed feelings about the misinterpretation of my actual age. On one hand, I sincerely hope that the uncertainty does not lay in my maturity and/or lack of professionalism. On the other hand, I think it is awesome that I look young enough to pass for a high school student. I suspect it may be the latter because all these confused girls are from the south part of the district, so they have never seen or interacted with me before this jamboree. Either way, the other teachers think it is hysterical. It has become a running joke, and provides constant fuel for teasing. Perhaps I should think twice before pulling my hair up into French-braided pigtails.

The February Funnies

I have been uncharacteristically ornery recently. I am told this is typical temperament for this time of year. Alaskans call this behavior “the February funnies.” They say that "the February funnies" may be demonstrated by depression, craziness, irrational thought, cabin fever, general crabbiness, nothing sounds fun, totally unmotivated, a little paranoid, etc., etc. February funnies lead to Jack Nicholson moments (as seen in The Shining), so I need to be on my guard. My Curriculum Coach told me to try not to make major decisions in February, because she has learned that, in hindsight, those decisions turn out to be not-so-good.

I am so stoked for Spring Break, which I am hoping will rejuvenate my spirit.

A Great Lakes Update on "Momentum" - by Noel March

The summer before I moved to Alaska, I opted to stay in Erie, and was paid to sail with my best friend. It pleases me that others were able to enjoy Lake Erie's summertime awesomeness...

A Great Lakes Update on "Momentum" (ex. Dirigo) - by Noel March

It was to be a special treat for my young family and me, a layover stop last summer at the Bayfront Center for Maritime Studies (BCMS) at Lake Erie, Pennsylvania.  It may have been a bit hard for them to understand at first, especially since I had made such a big deal about "making good time on the road" between eastern Maine and northern Illinois, ultimately bound for my in-law's farm in rural Garden Prairie (a whole month with Grandma and Poppa was, after all, the long awaited goal!).  But all along the way I had my "captive audience" who were helplessly subjected to my seemingly endless tales of childhood sailing adventures aboard the famous Friendship Sloop DIRIGO...and regaled they were!

You see, my childhood summers were spent at Friendship Harbor.  With my brother Jon and sister Mimi, we would sail with Ernest Sprowl and Harold Lash aboard DIRIGO during those early Friendship Sloop Races in Muscongus Bay, and a few trips to Castine for the Retired Skippers Race as well.  I learned to sail aboard that sloop, and did a fair amount of "growing up" thanks to her, too.

We arrived in Erie on the evening of July the 2nd, and after checking Laurie and the three little ones into our hotel, I made a bee-line for the wharf to see that 45 year old dear friend of mine, DIRIGO.  There she lay, noble, quiet and still, just as she should be, and just as I had pictured she would be.  Now named MOMENTUM, and proudly in the service of educating youth on the environment, conservation and seamanship, she greeted me with happy memories and one very special figurehead of a hand-carved eagle's head leading her original trailboards.  My late mother, Nona March, had lovingly carved that figurehead over the course of one whole summer in 1975 and how I remember her joy to see that eagle prominently affixed and adding a touch of her own grace and elegance to that beautiful sloop. 

The next morning after breakfast, our family was greeted by Captain Alex Nagle and Mate Amanda Loose for a cruise across Presque Isle Bay (yes, another Presque Isle)!  We enjoyed the excellent company of captain and crew, and I had a special feeling of satisfaction that the very first sail that my own children were now taking was aboard the very sloop upon which I had taken my own very first sail in 1965.

I am happy to report that MOMENTUM #46 is alive and well on Lake Erie, and in the caring and capable hands of the highly regarded Bayfront Center for Maritime Studies. 

For more information on BCMS, check out www.bayfrontcenter.org.

cultural extinction

The history of Alaska from the Russian period to the present has impacted life so significantly that the cultural identity of the Native peoples now faces extinction. Ironically, education has had the most profound impact on cultural preservation and destruction efforts. The Russian Era marked the beginning of literacy and documentation of the Alaska Native languages. In 1867, Russia sold Alaska to the United States. America was primarily interested in economic gain, not Native culture. Overtly, missionary teachers systematically destroyed Native language and culture as part of a plan to assimilate indigenous peoples from their barbaric ways into mainstream, Christian, American society and culture. Currently, all twenty Alaska Native languages are critically endangered and soon may become extinct.

The Russian period was from 1741-1867. The first Russians that came to Alaska were not under government control, but were fur hunters. They simultaneously endangered both the sea otter and the Aleut people. As a result, The Aleut Native population was reduced from 16,000 to about 1,600. Next, from about 1785-1825, the Russian-American Company under Shelikov at Kodiak established permanent settlements and increased government control. Treatment of the Native people improved from outright slaughter and massacre to mere enslavement and exploitation in the pursuit of more sea otter skins. In 1824, a humane missionary, Ioann Veniaminov, arrived in the Aleutians, bringing with him an interlude of enlightenment and benign Russian influence in the colony. This is the last time that outsiders influence would be advantageous to Alaskan Native cultures and languages. 

The Russian Orthodox Church and its educational system brought literature and literacy to Alaska Native cultural history. Veniaminov worked with Aleut chief Ivan Pan’kov to adapt a Slavonic alphabet to Aleut and had translated a catechism. (Previous to this, all Native languages were oral in nature and had no alphabet.) Subsequently, wide-spread literacy developed in other Alaska Native languages and cultures; at first, in relation to the church and church school activity.

In 1887, the Americans came to Alaska seeking riches in the canning and mining industries, and American church missions and schools were established. The first Commissioner of Education for Alaska (1885-1908) was Presbyterian missionary Sheldon Jackson who, unlike Veniaminov, did not believe there was a place for Native languages in education or religion. For the next eighty years in Alaska history, the old assimilation tradition reprimanded and/or discouraged Native children from speaking their ancestral language. Not until the civil rights movements of the 1960’s was there a resurrection of interest in Alaskan Native linguistics and culture.

Those eighty years of negative indoctrination of Native linguistics and culture has resulted in a detrimental sacrifice, with several generations brainwashed into the notion that Native languages are inferior, unfavorable to childrens’ livelihoods and professions. Cultural indoctrination, combined with the ridiculous notion that because teachers typically only have modeled fluency in one language, English, it is harmful to burden one’s brain with more than one language, or perhaps that it is hopeless to speak two languages well, contributes to the decline of Native languages. Because of the unrelieved repression of Native languages, cultural extinctions are now a serious possibility for the coming century. Linguistic anthologists project that by about 2055 all Alaskan Native languages will have vanished unless immediate preservation efforts are made. 

Language is considered to be the most crucial part of a culture. Language provides the means by which beliefs, behavior, ideas, customs, etc. are transmitted through society. “The only way a language can survive as a living spoken language is if children learn that language as their first language and transmit it to their own children the way it was transmitted to them” (Krauss, 66). Alaska Native languages have survived to the present day by oral traditions, distributed for innumerable generations by those who have formed, refined, and perfected those customs according to their own culture into a rational heritage of multifaceted beauty, unique to each individual. Native cultural suicide is currently happening; the generation that is now able to speak Native and English, but is speaking English only the children, is directly responsible for recklessly abandoning their heritage. 

Since Jackson’s days of Native linguistic and cultural eradication, an additional enemy has surfaced. The battleground has now spread like an infectious disease from the classroom directly into homes. Internet, radio, and televisions are aiding in Alaska Native cultural annihilation.  Every day, satellites bring mainstream America into homes via a direct feed.  Programmings, unfortunately, are not conceived by or about the Native people themselves. Rural Alaskan television is not locally controlled. Imaginative and determined media personnel must work together to take active control and transform television and radio to the service of preserving Native heritage. There must be a desire for conservation efforts by the Native cultures if any efforts are to be impacting and lasting.

Efforts within schools could also assist in the battle against Native heritage extinction. Aside from being unrealistic, it is unfair to hold the educational institution solely responsible for the preservation of Native languages and cultures. All too frequently, the teachers within the schools are not Native, and thus lack the appropriate perspective. Successful Native language preservation in the schools is only realistic by considering the current linguistic work (and how that manifests into literature) and then on the materials and training available to teachers.  To bring about any true and permanent linguistic and cultural revival, parents and the community must continuously work together with the schools. 

As the village Secondary Generalist in bush Alaska, I have experienced, first-hand, the affects of the last 143 years of assimilation efforts. I live in Pedro Bay, Alaska, where the only semi-fluent Native speakers of the Dena’ina language are in their sixties or older.  Admittedly, the current situation is extremely disheartening. The culture is dying, and with it so will the village. The absence of subsistence activities combined with the inability to obtain any sort of income outside the Village Council paid-positions has forced too many of the local Natives to relocate to a place where they could earn a living. There are only two families left. There are only nine students attending the school, and three of those children belong to the non-native elementary school teacher. After this year, the Dena’ina School will be forced to close indefinitely because there will not be the state-required ten students present to have the funding to keep the doors open.