"Village of Hope"

An episode aired all over the state of Alaska last night on KTUU Channel 2 news. Two reporters, Rhonda and Eric, chose to feature Alakanuk for the success of efforts in creating awareness and giving support to a community suffering from grief and suicide. A couple of weeks ago, they roamed the halls of the school and the village gathering footage and interviewing students, staff, health aides, and many community members who have suffered the loss of loved ones to suicide or other tragedies.

After watching my students follow the man with the large camera around, I decided to ask them what the topic of their story was. When they told me it was to focus on the absence of suicides in the last five years, I offered for them to come be a part of our weekly Natural Helpers meeting that afternoon.

Click on the link below to watch last night's report on Alakanuk.
Channel 2 News- "Village of Hope"

Natural Helper's main goal is to focus on preventing suicide, bullying, drug-use, and encouraging general safety. As a group, this year students have helped peers deal with losses related to a few fatal accidents involving alcohol. Although suicide has subsided, other accidents and grief have plagued the village. However, talking to anyone who has lost loved ones recently or in the past, their brave faces hardly show tears and pushing hurt aside and continuing life has become a normalcy for many. Despite some of the recent deaths, behind many of these cheerful, willing, and helpful faces, slowly the healing process has started to help some of the dampened hearts and hope has emerged.

Yesterday Morning's Moon

Shattered Moon

 The silhouette of the branches broke the burnt moon into pieces yesterday morning on my way to school. Luckily, I had my camera my in my bag so I was able to capture it.

I was a little surprised at how this moon turned out.

Uneven surfaces

Back in Alakanuk

This morning when I had checked in from Anchorage to go through St. Mary's to Alakanuk, they were able to find my reservation. This was good news, because after some of the problems trying to get out of the bush (I had a confirmation number but no reservation information, so they gave my seat up), I was assured that they could fit me in January 3rd to make it back in time for work. So I double checked my itinerary and found that I was scheduled for the flight from Anchorage to St. Mary's "10:34 A.M. Jan 03", but my next leg of the trip wouldn't happen till "1:30 P.M. Jun 03." This posed to be a bit of an issue since the plane that brings people downriver usually hold only six (Cessna 207) or nine people (Caravan). I didn't exactly want to inconvenience the kind people of Pitkas Point (village population 125) by spending another night there over Christmas Break. They were able to fix the mistake and I honestly made it home with no mishaps.

To land on our small gravel airstrip in the extremely white and frozen terrain was exciting.  It means opportunities to travel and play around on our snowmachines. The low sun was bright against the frosted branches, but lucky for us it was really only 1:30 and we still had about 3 hours of daylight to enjoy the outdoors.

I packed a few totes across the courtyard, each time huddling inside my house for even a few seconds of warmth. Once my frozen and frozen (was supposed to be refrigerated but that's nearly impossible with this weather) groceries were put away, I had regained some warmth on my face. I text Sammy to see if she wanted to try dig out our snowmachines to go play, and she text back saying she was halfway over. Fanatic minds think alike.

Sammy measures the snow accumulation on her seat.

We finally got them alive with a little love, warmth, and prodding.

Okay, so we're not doing the environment any huge favors.

Due to some last minute riding before vacation, mine ran out of gas.

Our eyelashes were freezing.

 Sammy gave me a ride to the Native Store to get gas and then we rode around to the dock, on the Yukon, over some places where ice built up, some trails, and behind the airport. I felt like my roommate's dog Briar when he first saw me today. He started jumping up and down, running left and right, and trying to do all sorts of tricks. That was me on my machine today. I didn't really have much of a plan, but I loved having the freedom to go hit tiny jumps, plow through powder, drive around a bush, then up over a little mound just for fun.

The cold weather was causing my goggles to freeze, my forehead to feel like it had pins sticking into it, and my thumb to go numb. When I got back inside I checked the weather and found out that it was -33 degrees in Alakanuk and 52 degrees in Winlock. No wonder the screws in my foot had been bothering me!  However, it was definitely worth it to go out and explore. I can't wait till the weather gets a little warmer so its safer and more comfortable to start visiting some of the other villages soon.

Frost on the branches next to my house

Praying for good weather

School for the year 2011 is wrapped up. I'm hoping that the weather stays clear for all the teachers trying to go out to the holidays during the "teacher migration." During this break, I hope to upload some pictures from seal hunting in the ice (yes, that was a while ago...), some outdoor pictures, and Christmas Program preparation.

A week of Bush-type events!

Today (Friday) my students were in the gym having an inside recess due to a wolf sighting near our school. A couple days ago a few wolves were spotted by the airport which is about a mile away. Parents were encouraged to pick up their child from school so there weren't kids walking around the village.

Also, we've got a storm warning for late tonight until Saturday afternoon of high winds and some fresh snow. After our last "Arctic Storm 2011" I honestly love the wind and the fresh snow, so I hope it won't be too bad. It's 7:30, we just ended high school girls basketball practice, and I don't see evidence of much wind yet. (Sammy is head coach and I am acting as assistant coach right now even though that isn't a real position.)

Earlier this week we've had plenty of issues with power and water outages. One issue the village had over Thanksgiving weekend were frozen water pipes and the city's main water pump burst. We conserved water in tubs and filtered water in pitchers and milk jugs. Then a few days ago during my prep time right before school started (8:45 am), I was just about to turn on my coffee pot when the power went out. Judging by how incredibly black it was, I grabbed a flashlight and went down the hall to find the kids who were all waiting in the gym for the bell to ring. For some reason our alarms started going off. I realized they weren't the normal fire alarms, then both were ringing, then it was just the fire alarm, and finally the all turned off. No one seems to know what other alarm system was going off.

Looking down the hall; my classroom is on the right.

We started school with no power. The kids enjoyed doing our normal check-in with only a flashlight as a spotlight for the student sharing. With hurting eyeballs the lights surged back on. I happily turned on my coffee pot just to have it stop mid-brew and the power went off again. The whole villages power was off for quiet a while that day. It turned on and off for us since our generators were having issues.

Field Trip on the Yukon

October 11th, Tuesday, 5:00 AM.  I rolled over in my dark room. My eyes winced shut as my laptop came to life, loading wunderground.com to check the weather for that day. As stated on the extensive field trip proposal, our class field trip to go out boating was planned for either Tuesday or Wednesday. With a slight panic, my eyes raced over the weather forecast. Tomorrow is supposed to be freezing, have 15-20 mph winds, and rain? I thought. Tuesday had practically no wind, no rain, and some clouds. During this time of year, seal hunting was best right before freeze up, but the cold temperatures would just lead to a quickly freezing river too dangerous for the students. With Wednesday's possible weather conditions, the phrase It's now or never motivated me.


Knowing that it was entirely possible that we might have to cancel the trip completely if we couldn't pull all the parts together, I started sending out texts and calls, packing warm clothes, and getting things ready just in case. If one student didn't have a permission slip, or proper clothes, I'd have to cancel it. If the boat drivers couldn't drive, we wouldn't go.

Instantly, we ran into some issues. One of my main boat drivers was going to be hunting in Black River that day. My amazing parent chaperone had committed to babysitting. Some parents didn't answer their phones. I was prepared to tell the students that we most likely couldn't go, meanwhile I was finding substitutes and alternatives from my back-up lists. I calmly went to a scheduled meeting for my post-evaluation with our Assistant Instructional Leader. The lunch ladies were graciously packing us a lunch to take if we got to go.

While students arrived at school my hand found a stack of permission slips piling up. After a few ups and downs of good news or disappointments, things started falling into place. Before I knew it, I was telling students we wouldn't be leaving unless each student had two hats and warm gear from the two totes I had packed that morning.

3 boats x (25 gal. of gas @ 6.55/gal) = $491.25 (approximate)

Nunam Iqua w/ Kuzelveq Mountain in the background

The students used sticks to push them off the sandbar

Students took the lead in the front of the boat

Bummer checked his net and repositioned it

Some of the girls observe

Thank you to our amazing boat drivers!

Not a much better treat than hot coffee and a sticky bun

A nontraditional lunch setting is good for the soul

The boys practice spear-throwing on the tundra

A couple of the boys found a barbell to test their strength.

The students got to collect drift wood to start this fire.

After a relaxing lunch break, we were ready to get back out.

 Throughout the day, the students got to see 4 moose-- a bull, a cow, and two calves. We were able to see a few different birds, a weasel, pike fish, maklak, and be with the wildlife in their own habitat.

As the day went along, other boats joined us

After a few hits with a spear, they use the cavaq (harpoon)

Jadon hit this Maklak (bearded seal) with his spear

My students got to be a part of at least a couple successful chases

On our way back towards Alakanuk, we saw a boat towing a whale. I asked Bummer if it was possible for us to see it since I had never seen one before. Two men from Mountain Village had caught the Beluga and were willing to let the students see it. It took all of the boat drivers, students, and men to tug it ashore.

The students point out scratches on the whales body.

We all thought the whale was smiling.

Bummer helps cut some small pieces of whale fin for people to try.

At one point there were 14 boats working as a team to catch one maklak.

They throw the head and some intestines in the water so the spirit lives on.

The four maklaks in a row allowed students to see the traditional way of cutting the seal.

We were blessed with perfect weather.

So overall, the trip was a success. At the start of the day, I wasn't quite sure if the students would get to go. And then when we could, some students were reluctant to go. But with a little encouragement we were headed towards the boats. Throughout the day I got to watch each student express themselves in a new way. The most rewarding part of this trip was to watch the change in some of the students who are more typically quiet and reserved. I'll never forget seeing some of the brightest smiles for the first time and hearing beautiful laughter ring out over the roar of the boat engines.

We got to see and experience much more than I had ever hoped for with the community's best hunters. To be under the open sky and gliding along the glassy water was a new experience to some of the students. Some got to throw a spear for the first time or feel the warm skin of a large maklak. My students got to ask questions about rain clouds in the distance and eat around a fire. Suddenly the worlds of their Yup'ik ancestors mixed with things they had read or learned about in school collided.

Storm Update

We made it through the night. Sammy, Michael, and I played around in the windy gusts and dove into snowbanks. Other than a door pushing us into the railing by the school while we were trying to close it, there wasn't as much excitement as we anticipated. There were strong winds and times when visibility was limited to about 10 feet in front of you, but it really wasn't terrible. This morning on the way to school there was part of the powerline snapped and on the ground.

In bush Alaska do we ever cancel school? Nope. Not here. We actually had fairly normal attendance, too. A couple students who live across the slough had troubles getting here since they can't cross by snowmachine or boat, but that is normal for this time of year.

The village next to us, Nunam Iqua, had staff camped out in the school overnight to escape some flooding since they're close to the sea and on even lower ground than us. (Hard to imagine when I'm pretty sure our highest ground is about 6 ft.) They did end up evacuating some people from Nunam and Kotlik which are close to us. On a picture from a phone, I saw that Scammon Bay had some pretty intense flooding. I heard from a student here that Stebbins has a couple houses under water.

Our kitchen window, facing East

Hard to see the gusts of wind

Our door before going to bed last night

After school today, I went for a walk down to the slough not expecting much with the tides. I was surprised to see that my favorite tree that lays sideways on the ground was completely covered and the water was up quite a ways on the shore. I decided to check out a few other areas including the place where the barge docks, which I had heard had water levels up just one foot away from the top of the bank. I can only estimate, but instead of the tide rising 8-10 feet above normal tide level, I'd say it rose about 4-6 feet above.

Sammy doing her new leisurely activity of sitting in the bank

At the dock, the tide pushed large chunks towards the shore

BEFORE: Me, standing on the shore shooting towards the bank

NOW: The bank is filled with water, ice, and snow

BEFORE: I was "surfing" on this board on the edge of the bank

NOW: This is the same board, but the tide is high

Midtown, where the barge docks

The tide is right up to the shore right now