Home Safely

I got home a little after 1am last night and for some g*#d#mn reason, I couldn't sleep. I was restless and wired. I finally got up and went into the living room about 2:45am and read a book for awhile. I went back to bed about 3:15 and I think I slept, but I woke up at 5:30, 7:15/30, and then 8:30. Tried to get back to sleep, but I only dozed, I think.

So, I'm really tired today. It doesn't help that it's already about 100 degrees - according to my thermometer outside my kitchen window. It's in the shade, not in the sun, too. 100 degrees in the shade. Criminy.

Luckily, the house is about 80 thanks to two air conditioners - one in our bedroom and one in the living room.

Today is Eddie's birthday. He turns 9 years old! No big Price is Right game this time - although he does want to play karaoke. I need to find a good functioning karaoke machine before Saturday. My cousin Toni baked him a cake on Monday before we left - so we had cake and ice cream. I just took my folks and my brother and Eddie out to lunch to celebrate, too.

I'll need to go into work tomorrow, if only briefly to turn in receipts and such. But mostly I think I'll use this week to rest up and prepare for Eddie's birthday. I just need to find some time to write!!

So, what did I accomplish while in Alaska? Coordinated activities so that our science team could work together - elders with Kim and Larry on birds; elders with Jesse and Larry on plants; elders with me, Larry, and Matt on the map; five interviews (wanted 10 but what can you do?) - two on Alaska statehood and three on Native corporations; made some inquiries about hiring a community research assistant; consulted with various folks to find more people for more interviews (laying the groundwork for the September trip); went picking tugayuq (a type of green) for awhile with elders; an interview in KNOM (will post the mp3) and with Kawerak; and then fun stuff: two birthday parties (my own and Eddie's), two Eskimo dances; hanging out with various communities members and visiting and eating eating eating. Lots of people cooked for me, which always makes me happy!

Not too shabby for ten days, huh?

A huge thank you to everyone who fed me (Toni, Gemma, Charlene); to Toni who housed me, who took care of Eddie for me (mom, Toni) or who played with Eddie (Toni's kids; Stephen; Jaden); to people who allowed me to interview them; to the King Islanders for supporting the project; for the science team for working on this project; and for our birthday gifts - hand-knit King Island gloves, ivory earrings, a huge card, cake, a big picture of King Island village; and just for the experience of hanging out with all of you and reestablishing our connections. Thank you!

P.S. I was feeling a little down and depressed, mostly because I have no energy from not sleeping. That pisses me off when I can't sleep. But reiterating all that I have thankful has put me in a better frame of mind. Thanks to everyone for giving me the opportunity to say thanks!

My Nome Trip So Far . . .

Hi everyone!
I'm sorry I haven't posted much for the last week! I don't have easy access to the internet - my cousin Toni has internet at her home, but with the kids and Toni herself using it, I may only have a chance to grab a few minutes myself. We can sometimes get a wireless, but the signal comes and goes.

Then, so much has happened since I arrived! Our first day, we went to camp at Woolley Lagoon. It was fun seeing what kind of changes have occurred out there in the last three years. We rode with Kim and Will, both of whom are birders, so they taught us some about the birds we were seeing. We also saw an Arctic Fox on the way down the road - if I remember, I'll try to post a picture.

Then, on Monday, I ran some errands and then that evening, we had an Eskimo dance at Nome Eskimo Community. Turns out there were some filmmakers in town from Australia who were filming for National Geographic. They were filming a new series and Episode 6 (or was it 10?) was on Alaska. They were working with Matt, our archaeologist/mapper for the King Island placenames project, and Matt really wanted them to film the King Islanders dance. That was fun. Before that, we went to the Rock House on the Nome-Teller highway and the kids climbed up on top. When I went to AC, I also found a nice Columbia Sportswear shirt for $14 - down from $60.

Tuesday, I ran errands again and made phone calls. I was interviewed by KNOM in the morning (I'll post the mp3, if I get it) and in the afternoon, I agreed to an interview for a company that was doing interviews for a "cancer treatment company" that turned out to be GlaxoSmithKline, the makers of Tykerb. More on that later.

Then, Toni threw a birthday barbecue for me (I'm 45 now). Caroline gave me some ivory earrings, Gemma gave me some hand-knit gloves, mom gave me a big card that had the song Celebration on it, and Ugi gave me a blown up photograph of the village on King Island. I bought myself a new sweatshirt with a wolf dancer on it and the words "UgiuvaNmiugurugut" (We are King Islanders) and also "Setting a Precedent". There's a story there with the subtitle . . . and I'll try to tell it later.

Wednesday, I again ran a couple of errands, then I interviewed one of the Bering Straits Native Corporation's former board members, past President and also past-President of AFN. It was a really good interview. That evening, it was really warm and hot and we ended up with a thunderstorm. We tried to go to the beach but it started pouring down rain.

Thursday, I again ran errands, then in the afternoon, we worked with the elders on placenames and corrections to the map in the afternoon. Thursday night, Toni and her kids, Eddie, mom, and I went to the West beach in Nome and the kids played in the waves.

Friday, I gave a presentation at the Nome Youth Facility at the request of Charlene Saclamana and told them about the King Island project. Then, mom, Teddy, Iviana (Agnes), Aapak (Frances Muktoyuk), and I drove out to Nuuk, parked at Helen Pushruk's cabin, and picked tugayuq (a type of green) for 30 minutes. We ended up with four grocery bags full. In the afternoon, I interviewed two people at the BSNC offices - both interviews went well. In the evening, we went to the East Beach near the Nome River - Eddie played in the waves and mom and I collected beach glass.

Today? Not sure yet. My days unfold as they will. I'd like to go to the Senior Center. I may call a couple of people for interviews. We may go to Gemma's house and visit and also I need to sit and visit Uncle Edward for a bit, too. We may go to camp later. Who knows? I also need to pick up a receipt and also some more cash.

I really want to spend a whole month up here. Hmmm . . .

Overall, it's going well. I'm staying busy but also taking time to just hang out and "be". Have a great week-end! I'll think of you all today - it's going to be a high of 60 here and I see that it's supposed to be really hot down south! Have fun!

Mostly Cloudy and a High of 37 . . .

with light winds. That's the forecast for Anchorage today. Needless to say, we arrived safe and sound in Anchorage on Saturday afternoon. After getting our car and grabbing lunch, we headed to Aunt Becky's house, where she proceeded to feed us for about 5 hours. First, it was tea with this cranberry pumpkin bread she made - OMG, it was moist and delicious. I was still full after lunch, so I just ate a small bit and then kept grabbing more because it was so good! Then, after a bit, I took Eddie and Danielle to check in at our hotel. Danielle is my new grad student. Then, we returned to Becky's house an hour later and she served pot roast, complete with potatoes and carrots, and smoked salmon that they made themselves. Followed by grapes and mini candy bars, more tea, and more of everything else. We left about 7pm and then went to Freddies, got groceries (we have a kitchenette in our room), then got to the hotel and settled in.

Yesterday, we had a slow morning - we were all tired - then we went to the new Dena'ina Convention Center (where AFN will be held) because they held an open house. We looked around. On the top floor, there was a ballroom, and among other things was this "Dancing Heads" display - they were demonstrating how it worked. You sit in front of a green screen with a green cape on and then they play some stock music video. Eddie really wanted to do it, so we grabbed mom and the three of us danced our heads to Super Freak. It was really fun and quite funny, too. Then they give you a DVD to take home. It was free. Eddie watched it later at Teddy's and he laughed and laughed and laughed and we had the whole room laughing, too.

Then, at Teddy's, we started visiting, but it was clear that Teddy wanted to work. I'd wanted to interview him for the Alaska Native corporations project, but he wanted to work on placenames. So, we went back over my list - we spent three hours working on it, had dinner, and then spent another 2 to 2 1/2hours on it. WHEW! But we got through the whole list and I found out which ones were true duplicates and which ones are names that name two distinct places. We had the big map on the table, we heard stories, we decided on spellings and translations. Sylvester showed up right before dinner and he helped out, too. It was hard work - especially for the two men as I was tired and sometimes didn't quite understand their explanations.

They fixed a "white man's" dinner and then niqipiaq (Eskimo food). The white man's dinner was roast beef and mashed potatoes, the niqipiaq consisted of moose meat, half-dried seal meat, aliuGaq (sour dock), tugayuq (another type of greens), alluk (Eskimo ice cream - berries mixed with fat and sugar), seal oil, and the roasted veggies that were with the moose meat. They'd also made Eskimo fry bread - I think they used a doughnut recipe. Gosh that was good! Then, it was followed by tea and pie.

Of course, there was lots of visiting, too. Fun stuff!

On the schedule for today - head over to the Elder's and Youth Conference - hopefully run into people we know - and then maybe meet people I've heard of because I want to try to get interviews with them related to Alaska Native corps and the Inupiat view of Alaska Statehood. This afternoon? Who knows? If I don't have any interviews scheduled at that time, then Danielle and I might head to an archives to see what archival documents we can find related to ANCSA.

Good thing I brought the jeans that are too big around my waist . . . I think we're all going to roll onto the plane to go home on Saturday! : ) Yummers!