To Philly, From Alaska, w/love

45. Long Nails Re-emerges As Video.

2008-11-27T22:06:00.011-09:00

With Alaska's proximity to Russia, the Yup'ik culture extends into part of the continent of Asia. A couple of weeks ago, a guy from Siberia contacted me to ask permission to use the media from the Long Nails Translation project to make this youtube video.

A warm thanks to Suhachi Chutchen for this video reincarnation of the Long Nails translation project originally produced by the students of Tuntutuliak. (See the 'Long Nails Translation' post below.)

44. Washington D.C.

2008-09-08T19:20:00.005-08:00

Three big things happened since the last time I blogged:

My father passed away from a stroke.
I was appointed Teacher in Residence at the Library of Congress.
Our Governor (AK) is running for US Vice President.

Last November--after my last blog entry, see below--my Mother, Father and Sister visited me in Ketchikan for Thanksgiving. Two weeks later, I got a call that my Dad had a catastrophic stroke. I went to Philly (Bryn Mawr Hospital) and helped my mother and sister confirm his Advance Directive concerning his right-to-die--his desire for a natural death in the form of passive euthanasia. The stroke rendered him unable to communicate, except for a vague moment or two of fleeting lucidity that only confirmed his desire. Dad was an Elder Law attorney specialising in Advance Directives before his first stroke.

In February, after I returned to Ketchikan following my father's funeral, I found the "Call for Proposals for Teacher in Residence at the Library of Congress" in my email inbox. I took the opportunity seriously--partly because it seemed like good way to return to the east coast in order to be closer to my Mom and Sister, and partly because it sounded like a potentially good experience.

Not sure what to say about Palin... but the greatest thing about McCain's decision here may be that it wrote in stone a moment of change for America. No matter who's elected, for the first time, our "imperfect" form of government has proven its capacity for growth and change. For the first time in US history, someone other than a white male will hold office at the Executive level. Hope has never been so alive; the American dream has never been so attainable.

Bread Loaf Asheville was great... looking forward to next summer.

43. Santa Fe.

2007-07-21T20:58:00.000-08:00

A view of the sunset from my dorm room at St. John's College in Santa Fe, NM.
This is my third summer with Bread Loaf- after this, two more to go (Ashville, NC then Oxford). I almost can't believe how I fell into my new carrier last summer. I never would have thought I'd like being a librarian as much as I do. I signed up for UW's Information Science program last winter. They have a good online program, though the 'online' business took a little getting used to.
This summer is already beginning to end. How did I let nearly a year go by without blogging? Ketchikan is a pretty normal place... Tuntutuliak was something to blog about. When classes here get done, I head home to Philly for a month, then back Ketchikan for another year. Lucky to have made some good friends there.

42. Ketchikan.

2006-10-02T21:14:00.000-08:00

Ketchikan is a nice town. Most of it is set on the face of a relatively steep, small mountain. It's on an island in the heart of the temperate rain forest that extends from Oregon way up to Kodiak Island. This is the view from Ketchikan High School.

Ketchikan is the southernmost city in Alaska, and the rainiest in the US.

People generally seem into preserving Ketchikan's dignity in the face of tourism. I sense it's a satiable goal. Elections are tomorrow. On my drive home from my new job as a librarian, the streets were flooded with kids from the local high school holding up signs supporting their favorite candidates. I've never seen anything like it.

In my last post, I said I had a story to tell. The story has gotten longer since then, so I'll spare the details. Long story short: I left my job teaching in Tuntutulaik this May, went to back to school at Bread Loaf for the summer(this time to the Vermont campus), then I moved to Ketchikan in SE Alaska and became a librarian at the high school. I'm very happy to be here.

41. Guess What?

2006-07-29T05:59:00.000-08:00

I'm coming back to Alaska! I'm moving to Ketchikan in August and I have a story to tell. To Philly, From Alaska w/love lives on!

Right now, I'm at the Bread Loaf School of English Vermont campus. It's gorgeous here.

More later...

40. Long Nails

2006-04-26T00:54:00.002-08:00

Once there lived a grandmother and her grandson. The grandmother warned her grandson not to go among the tall grass across the river. One morning the grandchild went berry picking at the other side of the river, despite his grandmother's warnings...

The sixth graders translated this story from Yup'ik to English for a group of Navajo kids during an exciting BreadNet Exchange. Follow the link to read it and hear it read, see the original and find some special footage.

I'm actively searching for a job teaching in Philly starting this September. Maybe you're looking for a teacher; here's my resume online. In four short weeks this all will become little more than a profound memory... and a sweet blog.

39. Roses are red.

2006-02-14T16:57:00.000-09:00

Happy Valentine's Day. I love this door. Having one to my room this year made me notice them more and I began to really enjoy using them.

As odd as it sounds, doors made me smile... and they are everywhere. Just as the future started looking extra bright, I found myself taking them for granted again. That was around October.
~Now a door is mostly just a door- but this one still makes me smile.

38. Robotics Club Trip.

2005-12-04T20:21:00.000-09:00

This weekend our robotics team went to Bethel and took home first place for programming and design! This is the fourth year I've coached the First Lego League robotics program (my first two years were back in Philly), but it's the first time my team's gotten an award. Way to go Tunt!

Going to Bethel with a school group is always an adventure. Everyone has to wear snow pants so that no one freezes in case the little plane makes an emergency landing. We were supposed to come back Saturday, but ice-fog kept the planes grounded, so that night we went out to for Chinese food. Other than their school trip to Seattle last spring, this was the first time some of the kids had been to a restaurant in years.

We got back today but were delayed a little longer, this time by the cold. It was around -25 F most of the weekend with windchills below -40. It's district policy not to allow school groups on the tiny planes when the windchill is less than -35. I guess snow pants don't work as well when the windchill is less than -35.

37. Dried Fish.

2005-10-16T22:20:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of Christiana learning how to prepare fish for drying. She was practicing her technique this summer on some of the fish I ended up sending to a few friends. You can see the fish hanging to dry in the background.

Before summer, I found someone nice enough to agree to prepare some extra for me as a favor. When I got back in August, it was ready. I sent it out in early October, explaining what it was and how to eat it in a letter I sent along with it. I haven't heard back from everyone about it yet, but I've gotten some nice responses. I also got to send some of it to a class of Navajo students in New Mexico. This year my class is involved in a few electronic exchanges that spawned from the Bread Loaf program I was in this summer. Electronic exchanges are like pen-pals, but instead of letter writing between individual students, they are writing to the entire other class- responding both to the class as a whole and to individual students. It can last many weeks or just a few and it can get really interesting.

I've never seen kids so excited to write. We have another one set up for next month with an urban class in Ohio, and we're presently also involved in an Alaska-only project with a class of mostly Russian immigrant students in Wasilla (near Anchorage) and Northway (near Canada). Here's a map of the Alaska project. I've been really busy with this... it's taken up a lot of time, but it's been a lot of fun to figure out. That's mostly why I haven't been posting as much these days. Thanks for commenting!

36. Fresh Start w/Throw Party.

2005-09-18T23:58:00.000-08:00

The school year started off again with a community feast, with more people packing into the gym this year than I saw last. We now have the largest enrolment Tuntutuliak has ever seen- over 130 kids, K-12. About half of the teachers who taught here last year are back again this year and we also have a few more teachers this year than we had last, so there’s a good amount of fresh energy.
Two of our teachers got married over the summer and celebrated with a special take on a traditional Yupik event. They held a ‘throw party’ to which everyone in the village (male and female) was invited. Below is a picture of a traditional throw party I happened upon last fall.A throw party is traditionally celebrated only by the woman and children of the village. It is held when a girl makes her first kill- that is, when she captures an animal for the first time. She climbs to the roof of her house or a nearby building and throws gifts (candy, toys, sundries) to the crowd of woman and children below.

35. Glacier Bay.

2005-07-12T01:37:00.000-08:00

34. Bread Loaf in Juneau.

2005-06-29T10:38:00.000-08:00

Greetings from Juneau! Welcome to my site!I started this web log last August when I arrived at Tuntutuliak, Alaska- a tiny Eskimo village in southwest Alaska. My decision to move to Tuntutuliak happened rather abruptly- over the summer, it struck me that four years as an inner-city middle school teacher at a public middle school in Philadelphia was enough... more than enough even. So I looked to Alaska for something different. This website is a collection of my experiences and observations, as a city dweller, of this radically different environment.

Presently, I'm in Juneau attending Bread Loaf School of English through a state grant fellowship- a program designed to improve writing instruction for Native Alaskan youth. After school let out around May 20th, I visited Philadelphia for a few weeks, then headed straight to Juneau for this program. As soon as this is over, I go back to Tuntutuliak for another year of fascinating desolation and meaningful instruction. I'm looking forward to it. Grad school has been a great experience so far- being an adult in a college environment is something to behold. People really seem to leave their hang-ups at the door.I'll come back to this at the end of August. Have a good summer!

33. More From Culture Week.

2005-05-07T16:06:00.000-08:00

Jigging (Ice Fishing)...

Sling-shot workshop...

Basket weaving...

The kids were given saws and exacto-knives to make their sling-shots from scratch. I was given indigestion...

32. Culture Week: Rabbit Drive.

2005-04-29T00:20:00.000-08:00

Regular afternoon classes this week were canceled to make room for the learning of a slew of skills vital to Yup'k culture. The weeks activities covered a broad spectrum of current traditional practices, including a variety of fine native craft-making techniques and various methods of subsistence living, many different activities occurring simultaneously. All Culture Week instruction was delivered by village residents, who this week became temporary members of the school staff. Certified staff were to serve only as aids to the village resident teachers. I'll post some of the highlights over the next few days.

On Monday and Tuesday afternoons, I headed into the bush for rabbit drives with Robert Enoch and Henry Lupie. A rabbit drive is basically a group of people in line formation trudging through thick brush to corral any and all dwelling rabbits into a previously set net that extends about thirty feet on the far side of the brush.

Above is Mr. Enoch explaining to the kids in Yup'k how it's done.

Here we are heading out to the bush to try to catch some rabbits.

Too bad the rabbits got away. The second day, we took a much longer route and spotted at least one, but we found fox tracks and think we were out foxed. The net had been gnawed through and there was a tuft of fur nearby. Break up is a poor time to go on rabbit drives. Had we gone a week earlier, the snow would have been more firm and thus more easily navigable. Maybe next year.

31. Beluga Swims To Philadelphia.

2005-04-13T19:35:00.000-08:00

"A beluga whale, whose normal range is defined by the Arctic Circle, has somehow found its way into the Delaware River, making it as far north as Trenton."
April 13, 2005 Philadelphia Inquirer

30. Hunting For Subsistence.

2005-03-28T23:09:00.000-09:00

It's hard to overstate how much hunting is a part of life out here. Even though there are places to buy things, subsistence foods comprise half the village diet. Spring is approaching, the sun is setting later and later (9:00 tonight), and it is nearly seal hunting season. People have been talking about seal hunting all year. I got to taste seal a couple of times. It has a strong, sort of iron-rich anise flavor. It's legal for me to eat anything offered, but laws carefully define exactly what seal hunting is and who is allowed to partake. For example, I am allowed to go

out on seal hunts, but could be arrested if I steer the boat. Native hunters frequently take other protected marine mammals,

such as Walrus and Beluga Whale. Pictured at left is Beluga ready to eat. It's very tough and without much taste. On land, moose, caribou, ptarmigan and duck are common game. A few years ago, officers came to the village to issue citations for moose caught out of season, but were denied entry by up to 100 residents who met them where they landed:

"50 to 100 residents of Tuntutuliak...barred an Alaska Fish and Wildlife Protection officer and two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees from entering their village. The officers...were told they weren't welcome if they planned to enforce state and federal subsistence hunting regulations..."
August 22, 2002 Kenai Peninsula Online

A few days later, the issue was defused when an interpreter cleared up some misunderstandings, but it shows how important hunting is. Some kids get to hunt a lot, while others never get the opportunity. We've discussed how valuable of a school activity it would be for the kids who never get to go, but it is impossible obviously because firearms are illegal in schools. For many of these kids, skill with a firearm will be as fundamental to survival as earning a living.

29. Tournament Champions.

2005-03-08T11:48:00.000-09:00

The Middle School Basketball season came to a close Saturday as the Tuntutuliak Blue Jays earned the title of Midcoast Division Champions.
Four other schools invaded our classrooms, halls and cafeteria Friday for the last games of the season. The first planeload arrived Friday before school let out and the last plane came in just before dark- around eight o'clock. They played phenomenally; it really was fun to watch.
The last game on Friday between Tunt and Kong went into overtime and ended after eleven o'clock with a victory by our own. Above is the traffic of four-wheelers and snow machines leaving the game Friday night. Later that night, one of the people from the village who works at the school gave me a call and invited me over for a steam.

28. The Rivers Serve as Highways.

2005-02-26T16:47:00.000-09:00

"A truck trail has been plowed in order that tractor trailers can haul freight to Kalskag. Beware of these large vehicles traveling upriver hauling heavy/large loads." email from Bethel, 2/25/05

The world’s waterways hold a vital roll in shaping civilization as we know it. While other means of transportation have become available relatively recently, rural places remain as dependent on rivers today as cities have become on highways. In the winter, our rivers literally turn into highways.

These are from an airplane ride on the way into Bethel last weekend. We stopped by Kongiganak and Kwigillingok (two costal villages) to drop off packages. You can see the frozen-solid Bering Sea in these next two pictures.

While we're up here, another look at Tunt...

27. Chicago Trip.

2005-02-18T21:57:00.000-09:00

Two of our kids attended the Future Educators of America conference in Chicago last weekend. They won an essay contest for the new Future Teachers of Alaska program.(I was able to chaperone because I'm the only male FTA site coordinator in the district.) I have been to

Chicago before, but I must have forgotten how big that place is... much more of a New York than a Philly. The size impressed me, so you could imagine how the kids must have felt. Placing the whole experience even further over the top, we took a limo between the airport and The Hilton Hotel. (Limo service was cheaper than shuttle service, but still...)

Around 1300 high school students from across the country invaded Chicago for the 11th annual FEA conference. Held at the historic Hilton Downtown, we stayed next to Lake Michigan and walking distance from the Sears Tower. We ate Dinner in the Grand Ballroom the first night; workshops and speakers ensued all weekend. In our small amount of free time, we saw Lake Michigan, visited the top of the Sears Tower, ate at a classic Chicago pizza restaurant and did some shopping. They even figured out that they couldn't figure out why people buy shoes at Footlocker when Payless has the same thing right across the street for half the price.

This is the first year Alaska had representation at the FEA conference. On Saturday afternoon, a boy from our district joined some girls from Nome to deliver a special presentation about Native Alaskan culture and education to all 1300 participants (Nome was the only other group from Alaska at the conference). The presentation ended with a demonstration of Native dance accompanied by a video of Native drummers. After the demonstration, they invited everyone to try it out-

and even come up on stage. The entire conference- 1300 people- was up, dancing and having a great time. For the rest of the weekend, our kids must have felt like movie stars. I like to think that as a result of this trip, someday there will be a thousand more teachers who will be able to tell their students that they were taught how to Eskimo dance by Native Alaskan. I just hope they let their students try it. The image below is a link to a video of the whole ordeal:

26. Juneau Trip, Part II.

2005-02-07T21:38:00.000-09:00

Both Representative Kapsner and Senator Hoffman were extremely warm and welcoming to our kids. Each invited them into their office and each, respectively spent more than an hour engaging them in conversation. I felt they spoke to our students in a way that showed an intimate understanding of their culture and an appreciation for the hard work they did in order to be there. Representative Kapsner told stories of when she lived in Tunt and even knew that one of our students had shot a moose a few months back. While we were in Senator Hoffman’s office, he pointed out the 1888 map of Alaska he had on his wall.
As you can see from the map, at that time Tuntutuliak was at the center of the most populated region of Alaska. The map shows the way things were just prior to the Great Death- the time when new diseases brought in by explorers and settlers from far away places swept through native Alaskan communities in epidemics that killed the majority of native people. This is something I've heard before, but looking at this map- and knowing that there are only a fraction of those villages still around today- brings it very close to home.

25. Juneau Trip, Part I.

2005-02-06T22:05:00.000-09:00

The trip to Juneau was nothing short of incredible. We spent most of the week in the Capitol building. Here on the right are a couple of our kids standing by a replica of the Liberty Bell, which

coincidently was next to the front entrance. We actually arrived a day later than expected. The night we were supposed to land in Juneau, the weather prevented it, so we had to over fly and land in Seattle instead. It was pretty late when we got to Seattle, and we had to wait until morning to catch the next plane to Juneau. None of the kids had been outside Alaska before, so instead of waiting at the airport all night, we caught a bus downtown and ate hamburgers under the Space Needle.
The program we were on is called Jr. Alaska Close-Up and is designed to give students a first hand look at the going-ons of states government. It is not a free program by any means- everything from tuition to the cost of travel from Tuntutuliak to Juneau had to be covered by the students through their own fund raising efforts. The students got to spend time with a number of legislators, including their own (Rep. Mary Kapsner and Sen. Lyman Hoffman),

observe live sessions of the House and Senate, sit in on committee meetings, speak with Judges, defense and prosecution attorneys, attend court hearings... really they got to see most of what happens at the Capitol. During the times when they weren't actually in the Capitol building itself, they participated in mock trials and committee hearings, attended lectures from newspaper reporters, legislators and a lobbyist. Somehow, there was also time for a tour of the State museum and the congressional television studio... It was a very busy week. There are two things that happened that were particularly interesting to me: both have to do with our experiences in meeting with the legislators. I'll discuss one in the next post, the other is discussed here.

24. Fermented Fish.

2005-01-26T21:47:00.001-09:00

In rural Alaska, some lucky newcomers get the privilege of enjoying a special Eskimo culinary delight. Fermented fish is something most people in the lower 48 would never think to try; and that is a shame, because countless people have been enjoying it as a regular part of their diet for millenniums. Fermented fish is prepared by first digging a hole about two feet in the ground. The preparer places a freshly caught fish in the hole, covers it with earth, and lets it stay buried for a couple weeks to a month or longer. After the fish reaches a desired level of fermentation, the preparer unearths it and immediately freezes it until someone is ready to eat it. Fermented fish tastes best raw and frozen. The picture shows part of the fish I recently ate. It makes a very satisfying meal and keeps you feeling full for a long time. Fermented fish is only dangerous if enclosed in plastic during the fermentation process.

23. Slaaviq.

2005-01-21T21:09:00.000-09:00

Last weekend marked the end of Slaaviq, the weeklong Russian Orthodox winter celebration. Each day for a week, the entire Russian Orthodox community gathers together for many hours in the homes of fellow worshipers.

From what I understand, Slaaviq doesn’t replace Christmas, but it is the biggest time for celebration on the Russian Orthodox calendar. The celebration begins around noon and continues through the morning hours of the next day. Around four or five homes are visited per day. Inside, there is singing, worshiping, eating and gift-giving. The host has plenty of tasty food and treats ready for the guests to eat after singing and worship. While guests indulge, the host (with the help of some of the younger folks) hands out gifts of all kinds to everyone who is present. I was lucky enough to attend the last home visited. The singing was beautiful and completely new to me: uniquely rhythmic with intense harmony. After a bit of singing inside, everyone went outside for a short time to sing at the nearby cemetery, where some of the gravesites were tastefully adorned with holiday lights. After we came back inside, worship commenced in Yupik, followed by amazing food, fellowship and gifts. It was one of the most special forms of worship of which I’ve been a part.

This is the first year in some time that school has been held in the village during Slaaviq. Usually, winter break is extended for another week in place of spring break. A decision was made last year to give this a try, but although enough students made it for each day to count officially, next year school will not be held during this time.

22. Back To My Favorite Job.

2005-01-09T01:40:00.000-09:00

My roommate was nice enough to shovel the snow off my bed and write this note. It was on the door of my room when I got back. Window latches are more important in Alaska.

I found out about that live materials order I was waiting for back in October when we didn't have mail for a week... it's on it's way finally. Giant hissing cockroaches, tadpoles, fish, snails, butterflies, plants... hope they make it.

I had a nice time at home. My sister had a great party the night I got back, was with friends and family for Christmas and went to NYC for New Year's with Alex. Saw Josh and Sarah's kid, Lowden... he was noticeably older. Went to Chris' party. The best part was giving a talk to the students at Stratford Friends School about my experiences here in Alaska. I've never seen a group of elementary school kids act so polite and thoughtful. I was blown away... Winter break was an energizing time.

It's nice coming back from winter break hearing "Holly cow, you're really tall" instead of "Yo, STRING BEAN!" There's a lot about teaching in the city that I miss, but I was happier to return to work this time around than in the past.

21. Before Winter Break.

2004-12-16T23:12:00.000-09:00

I took these last few around 3pm. Below is the edge of the river near school. All fall it has been cracking and refreezing with the ebb and flow of the tides. It's pretty much solid now. Thoughts about these sorts of things- like the interplay of tidal and seasonal forces- have been consuming me less lately as I've been thinking more about visiting home. I leave for Philadelphia tomorrow.

MOVIE CLIP 1, Blizzard on Election Day: [.mov for Mac] or [.avi for PC]
MOVIE CLIP 2, Blizzard from House: [.mov for Mac] or [.avi for PC]

20. Tundra Technology.

2004-12-13T23:21:00.000-09:00

Here's an Elder giving a talk to the middle and high school. His words are being understood in three different languages simultaneously.
Most of the students are hearing him speak in Yupik. Sophie translates in to English so that the American Sign Language interpreter (via satellite in Seattle),

can translate it back to the village in sign. It's unusual that the teachers get to hear English translations when an Elder speaks, so we were trying to take advantage of the opportunity by huddling around Sophie as she softly repeated his words in English into the microphone. Video conferencing is used for a lot of things in the school.

In one class, there is a math class occurring on one satellite unit (see LA Times story), while another unit is used for translating what is being taught in the first. A few weeks ago, we were supposed to have another staff development day in Bethel. All the new teachers in the district were again supposed to be flown in from their villages, but as nature frequently has it here, flights were grounded due to fog. Instead of canceling or rescheduling it, we were delivered the staff development via videoconference.

There is currently a night school pilot's license class being offered every Wednesday night. I'm sitting in on it and hoping to pass the ground school test in May. The satellite communication company (gci) that handles the videoconferencing also handles internet communications. All the lap tops are connected wirelessly.

Another multi-million contract was signed for the next three years with GCI last week. We looked at a number of bid proposals, including AT&T. Cost and dependability were some of the biggest factors. I volunteered to be a teacher rep. for the tech committee, so I got to be part of that decision. Wireless communication is essential. A number of rural school districts in Alaska still don't have videoconferencing, but it's becoming a staple.

19. Thanksgiving.

2004-12-08T21:43:00.000-09:00

Thanksgiving at the Moravian Church. Everyone was invited.
Ryan Kuehlthar is my partner in crime who teaches on the other side of the room divider from me. He's also my guest photographer for this entry.

I realized I forgot my camera after I had already run back once to get my plate, fork and cup... so Ryan said I could use his pics. I was getting a little tired of putting the camera to my face as much as I had been anyway, which partially explains why it's been a while since I've posted. The community Thanksgiving feast was held at the Moravian Church just across the lake from my house. A good population of the village was there; almost everyone is starting to look familiar. The food was great... it was a giant potluck of Eskimo delight. Food was placed on tables set up the entire length of the center isle. Other than the macaroni and Jell-O, almost all of it was different from what I'd typically see at a potluck back home.

I honestly liked everything I tried. Here, Tom is using a sled to tow food he and Cynthia brought to the gathering. In the middle is Katie, Ryan's wife. Notice the old truck in the brush... Sunken about a third of the way in the mud, it's the only "road" vehicle in the village. In Alaska, the bigger rivers that connect villages become state highways when they freeze. Someone must have left it there a little too long into the spring a few decades back. It looks like a classic, if not antique.

17. Accumulation.

2004-11-14T03:44:00.001-09:00

Each was taken in the midafternoon from my livingroom. Top, right was durring the blizzard on Election Day. Now that the lake is frozen, it's a much shorter walk to the store.

16. Fun draising.

2004-11-07T01:59:00.000-09:00

This is the third 8th Grade Pizza fundraiser for the Jr. Alaska Close Up trip to Juneau in January. It's a state program designed to give students a look at state government from the inside. It costs a lot to travel by plane, so we need to fundraise.

Pizza is fun to make. In the photograph on the right, Nicole, standing to the left, organized it. Lots of people chip in to help... Katie, (with the rolling pin) organized the Halloween party on Saturday the 30th. The Halloween party was a GRAND success... We decided earlier to hold school on the Saturday before Halloween just for the (ehhem...educational) party. Ryan and I were in charge of the scary room. For the most part, I was the head on the platter.

We had black lights, a strobe and a fog machine. There were all kinds of carnival games, face painting, etc., and at the end we went back to our rooms for pizza and a piñata. Everyone really came together and the kids had a great time. Last year, a teacher in Tunt took his class to Seattle through fundraising. His name is Josh Gill, and he plans to do it again this year.

Today, as Nicole and I were making pizza with our class in the kitchen, Josh was in the multipurpose room with his class

managing a community bazaar. There was soft ice cream with real Carmel melted from Carmel squares, pizza from the best (well, only) pizza shop in town, a book fair, and tables, rented by members of the community to sell all kinds of things... all in the name of fundraising. I bought a hat at the bazaar... it's made from seal skin by a woman who lives in Tunt and it is extremely warm and soft. The craftsmanship on these items is spectacular- and to wear them is to have the purest comfort experience possible. The coat was amazing... so warm, and it felt tough and sturdy. If you are interested, some of these

things are for sale. The woman who made the coat is asking $2500.00. From what I've heard, this is fairly reasonable. Sealskin products are illegal for non-natives to produce. If you are interested in having a sale arranged, I ask that you make a donation to our trip fund on top of what the artist is asking. My email address is at the bottom of the page. I've been wanting to do the Disco Tunt post for a while. It's also a fundraiser. More on Disco Tunt another time...

15. Blizzard Ballot

2004-11-02T20:29:00.000-09:00

I'm registered in Pennsylvania, and I signed up for an absentee ballot in September. It didn't come until yesterday, so I filled it out and sent it back as soon as I received it.

After a little deliberation, I decided that since my ballot wouldn't get to PA in time to be counted, I should see if I could vote here. So I went to the community center; and as it turned out, I was able to vote (at least provisionally). The people running the voting booths at the center were very helpful and knew exactly how to handle my situation almost instantly.
Today was a hard day to be a voter in Tunt.

We had our first blizzard of the season. I realized we were having a blizzard when the school began shaking. Around 2:30, I first noticed the wind howling louder than usual outside.

I didn't think much of it until the floor started moving... I looked to the window and it was all white.

This is me in front of the school, pointing in the direction of the community center. The last picture was taken from the same exact location and at about the same time of day as the one from Center Tunt, From Livingroom. The blizzard got even worse later in the day.

14. Interview With Mr. Lupie.

2004-10-30T17:08:00.000-08:00

Henry Lupie, 56, has been a resident of Tuntutuliak for almost his entire life. In 8th grade he decided to do something different from most of his classmates. He decided to graduate from high school. Since most of his peers weren’t graduating from high school (there was no high school in the village at that time), he knew his only option for a decent education would be to leave everything familiar to him and head far away to a vocational school in an altogether different land. After graduating from Chemawa Boarding School in Oregon, he headed back to Tuntutuliak an educated man.

He remembers parts of what school was like in Tunt when he was a student here. There were none of the luxuries that we have today- like no heated stoves or electricity. Parents were told that their children needed to be educated, but they were busy with the subsistence lifestyle that people here had been busy with for thousands of years before. Every fall and spring, kids were sent with the adults to “Fall Camp” and “Spring Camp” in order to gather food other necessities from the water and land. This was fundamental to survival then, so it is understandable why that was more of a priority for most people than being in a classroom. Even with all of this, Henry could still appreciate the potential value of a good education.

In 2000, Tuntutuliak had an unemployment rate of15%, although 45% were not in the work force. There are very few opportunities for work here; the school or one of the three stores in town employs most people. In the 80’s, the government attempted to phase out a welfare system that had been in place for thirty years. The program was intended to get people off welfare and working within five years. Mr. Lupie wonders how the government could expect to undo thirty years worth of

welfare dependency in such a relatively short five years. It seems pretty clear that it would be impractical to expect a community with virtually no economic base to be able to create enough jobs in that timeframe. Mr. Lupie asks: “Why not plan for a thirty year transition for the community to come off welfare?” Clearly, the five year plan did not work- although government assistance is now officially called “Temporary Assistance for Native Families” instead of welfare. Almost twenty years has elapsed since the five-year plan went into effect.

The first thing I though about when Mr. Lupie mentioned the thirty-year plan was how much more it would have cost than the five-year plan. When it sunk in, I realized that the five-year plan would have defiantly been a more costly endeavor. In ten years from now, the thirty-year plan would have been finished- and had it been carefully implemented, it probably would have worked.

There is much more to this story, and I’ve just barely scratched the surface of what Mr. Lupie has to say. One of the biggest challenges seems to be finding a way to establish an economic base in a community that has been starved of one for so many years. There is great economic hardship in cities like Philadelphia, but the challenge of establishing an economic base from square one is unique to the people of extremely isolated communities.

13. Bethel.

2004-10-26T21:26:00.000-08:00

Our flight to Bethel gives us perspective. This land is crowded with lakes... if there were any more lakes, I'd be hard pressed calling it land.

Every trip to Bethel begins with catching a plane. Ryan (right) teaches on the other side of a room divider from me in a big hallway/room.

This is the cultural center in Bethel where the new teacher classes are held.

This weekend, we each learned a traditional village story and presented it to the group from memory. Here's a

picture of us holding

masks we made to go with the stories. One of the first things I noticed when I first got to Bethel was the dumpster art. A lot of the dumpsters in town are painted on all four sides, sometimes with public safety messages.

Other interesting things I found in Bethel include this military vehicle storage facility (notice the tractor wheels) and the cemetery.

The trip home is always interesting. Despite its relatively small size, Bethel is Alaska's third busiest airport- even busier than Juneau. At the bottom is the airplane that brought us home. It's bigger than we're used to. I also took a few shots from the sky. That's a lot of water down there. My next entry will be the interview of Mr. Lupie.

I wanted to give him a chance to look at it before I posted it, so it's taking a little longer than I anticipated. Also, we're planning class trip to Juneau soon and we need some sponsors. More on that soon.

12. Burning Trash Smells Good.

2004-10-17T03:19:00.000-08:00

I bet most people would be surprised by the way burning trash can smell if it's done the right way. When properly burned, it's smell reminds me of Pennsylvania in the fall.That big rusty barrel was the first thing I saw when I got to the school site in late August. Every afternoon during my first week,

I noticed it belching out thick sweet-smelling smoke. Every time I thought to ask someone about it, something else would come up. It took me until the end of the week to figure out

that the smell I'd been enjoying so much that whole time was our refuse. After a brief moment of disgust, I realized why I liked it so much- it smells just like fall in Pennsylvania: sort of a mixture of burning leaves, pipe tobacco and retired pumpkins in the days after Halloween. It only smells bad when items intended for the dump (such as plastic) find their way in. Burning trash only really smells good when it's carefully separated. Below is one of the ten or so garbage wagons positioned throughout the village. When full, they're hauled to the dump for incineration.I have some very different ideas brewing for this website in the coming months... Meanwhile, I have interviewed Henry Lupie, a resident of Tuntutuliak. He made me begin to understand the village better... especially in that there are so many more things to understand. Mr. Lupie will be the honored subject of an entry very soon. Should you have specific questions, just ask!

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11. No Mail This Week.

2004-10-07T21:32:00.000-08:00

(From now on, click the icons for a bigger picture.)

~~On Saturday, I decided to stake out the airport to take pictures of planes as they landed. It was a cold day, and I was determined to get some good shots in.

At about 1:30PM, I bundled up, loaded my thermos, and headed to the S.E. corner of the runway. I didn't realize it at the time, but on my way there, I saw the last plane take off. Flights have been grounded out of Bethel all week- I guess due to fog. I waited for about four hours, and I probably would have waited longer, but the people waiting for their plane were leaving, so I figured it was time to go.

~~Since there haven't been any flights, there also hasn't been any mail. I ordered a bunch of live materials from a biological supply company earlier this month. If they've been sitting in some airport warehouse all week, I've got this feeling I won't be getting exactly what I ordered. "Nor rain, nor snow, nor..." Do they mention fog in that saying? Apparently, it's

not an uncommon problem, so it seems to me they could deliver parcels via boat when it gets this bad. The river isn't even frozen up yet…

~~Yesterday, David Enoch, President of the Native Village of Tuntutuliak (the local governing body),

came to talk to the students for a second time about a few topics- including the pressing issue of litter. I think his talks are helping the situation; he’s doing a good job of getting the kids to see just how important it is. The intrinsic value of not being a litterbug seems to get a little distorted by adolescence, so we are coming up with ideas to goad their interest. One thing that is being done is a contest for whoever gathers the most bags of trash each month. I’m going to have an anti-litter poster contest. If you’re reading this and you have any suggestions, I’d like to hear them.

~~After Mr. Enoch’s presentation, Frank Cook, our principal, spoke about a special meeting he is going to hold about the school rules. He told the students that they were invited to participate in the meeting, and that if they didn’t show up, he would just assume that whatever rules he decided would be OK with them.

You could tell that the kids really liked that. In teacher training, it’s often purported that the children will be more likely to respect the classroom rules if they have a part in making them. Frank is taking that to another level by applying it to the entire school. This is one thing that I know for certain would be absolutely impossible at a public school in Philadelphia. It’s also probably the best illustration of the difference I see between here and back home.

~~Today I took my class outside to search for bugs for a science project.

Another difference between here and Philly: you can take your class out of the building without worrying about permission slips, and more importantly, without worrying about anyone getting lost (or going AWOL).

10. The Post Office.

2004-10-02T23:22:00.000-08:00

Here's the front door to our post office. The first time I went to pick up the mail, I was greeted with: "So you're David Miller." Yesterday I received a package with only my name, town, state and zip code for the address. Below is a picture of the old post office. I had to squat to fit inside. I don't really understand how it functioned as a post office since it is only a little bigger than two large boxes. I was with a couple of kids who were taking me on a tour of the village the first time I saw it. At the time, I thought they were pulling my leg. But when they took me inside, I saw a little counter that connects to the wall with chicken wire mesh separating the "employee only” area from the customer area.

9. A Walk to the Dump.

2004-09-25T15:40:00.000-08:00

Good morning! It's Saturday morning, almost 9:00 and the sun's just about to rise. We're going to walk east of Tunt to the dump I mentioned before. Be careful- the boardwalk is very slippery. I've slipped a few times... one time right off the boardwalk. Good thing no one was watching.

Every morning this week has broguht a thick layer of frost. The boardwalk isn't normally this color. Notice that the houses are on stilts. All the buildings are- just like the Jersey shore. Sometimes when I walk near a lot of drying salmon it smells like New Jersey too. (Not the whole village- just next to the fish)

Here, we're still less than a mile from the school, but we've passed the last house.

The ramps leading up to the boardwalk are snow machine cross-overs. In the distance you can see the smokestack to the incinerator at the dump.

The enrtrance to the dump. Sign reads: "Stop! Put trash in bin. Do your part in helping keep dump clean!" Hard not to appriciate the irony, though it is a very tidy place.

The incinerator. Anything that's not burnable at home is burnable here.

This gate is directly behind the incinerator. This is as far away as you can get from town and still be on the board walk.

Beyond the bordwalk I found this old sled. These sleds are common here. People hook them to snow machines and four wheelers to carry stuff. If you look closely, you can see how the sun melted lines through the frost on one inside wall of the sled through holes in the oppisite wall...

This is the kind of stuff that covers about 60% of the tundra in Alaska. The other 40% is mostly water.

8. Center Tunt, From Livingroom.

2004-09-22T21:12:00.000-08:00

Center Tunt

Finally got my camera! All right! Tuntutuliak is beautiful, agree? The building with the light green roof is the Moravian Church. I think that's one of the stores on the right. They're the ones that want to start selling hotdogs and things. Last week, they got a nacho cheese dispenser and sold out on the first day. Litter has already become an issue. We are doing our best to teach the kids NOT to litter... Now seems to be the time.

7. Content.

2004-09-19T23:55:00.000-08:00

Lewis Angapak
Memorial School

This is the school... The camera I ordered hasn't arrived yet. I wish I had it this weekend. All teachers new to the district flew into Bethel Friday night for the cultural orientation program. We learned to prepare duck and fish for eating- I got to pluck a duck. I'm not good at it, so I'll need to practice. The orientation was part of two courses in Alaskan Culture required for state certification. I learned a lot of interesting and important things from it- even though I had to miss part of it. Everyone seems to be catching a little something- a runny nose here and there, mostly. It's to be expected, as the cold weather sets in much earlier here. In any case, I got it checked out before returning to the village, and I'm fine now. I had to stay an extra night in Bethel, but as it turned out, so did pretty much everyone else. The tiny planes were grounded due to low cloud cover.

The three other teachers from my school almost made it to Tunt last night, but they had to turn back. The pilots need more than three hundred feet of visibility in order to land. Sort of makes me wonder what would happen if they returned to Bethel only to find the same conditions (or even worse). I'll have to ask someone about that. I feel like I have so much to say, but I think it is more important to not say so much right now. They are really wonderful things though. Right now I can tell you I feel very content. It bothers me a little in a way... Only three weeks have gone by. When we flew out of Tunt on Friday, I saw the village differently from the way I've been seeing it these three weeks. I've been so into my daily routine that maybe I haven't noticed some things. Or, maybe being this close to what is going on will somehow balance out the sense of isolation I keep hearing about. Or, maybe three weeks isn’t possibly enough time to have any real perspective and my ramblings just confirm that for now, I’m just your typical ‘green horn.’ For now, good enough for me. :- )

6. Iq'mik

2004-09-13T16:44:00.000-08:00

~~I tried iq'mik for the first and last time today. It's a mixture of tobacco leaves and "powdered punk" that's commonly chewed throughout the Yukon Delta. I've heard of it before, so I asked the guy at the store about it. His face lit up... "You're a teacher and you want iq'mik?" he asked. I told him I was just curious, and he told me to come back today. When I went, it seemed sort of shady- the guy pulling out a clump of it wrapped in foil- but it wasn't really shady. Iq'mik is completely legal, though it is a serious health hazard to people here for a number of reasons. He warned me that it is much stronger than Copenhagen snuff. When I got home, I mixed it with some water like he told me to and put it in the side of my mouth. About 15 minutes of this stuff and it was the weirdest and most powerful tobacco rush I've ever felt- like putting a whole tin of Skoal in your mouth and smoking about five camel nonfilters at once. I hurled.

5. Videoconferencing.

2004-09-10T20:13:00.000-08:00

~~The weather has been beautiful the past few days. Someone told me that they saw the Northern Lights a few nights ago. I didn't think we could see them yet. I took a four-wheeler ride to the dump on Monday. I expected a small landfill, but really it was just a junkyard with piles of ash everywhere. Trash that's burnable is burnt at home and everything else is put on wagons, which are sent to the dump for incineration before being left to decay. The dump is as far away from the village as you can get while remaining on the boardwalk. Beyond that is untouched, desolate tundra as far as you can see. A walk 100 yards out took me to the most isolated place I've ever been with a three hundred degree view of solitude. This is where I want to see the Northern Lights sometime.
~~This week, school was open for staff development only. The principal and a few other teachers flew into Bethel for NCLB workshops, while the rest of us stayed at the site for district-wide video conferencing. Each of the twenty-five some village schools (with 3-10 teachers per school) were connected to each other and to the district office staff via satellite. We watched as the facilitators explained Alaska's 'Phase' system of assessment driven instruction. On a different day, the morning was dedicated to getting everyone's lap tops connected to a centralized, grade/attendance district database. Overall, the videoconference was more participant friendly than I would have expected. It was serious business, but there was also lightheartedness in the air at times- towards the end, all the teachers at one school put on silly glasses that made EVERYONE laugh hard. A little comic relief never hurts.
~~The phase system is a relatively new effort to synchronize curriculum and assessment across all district schools. It is similar to Philadelphia's effort to implement a core curriculum, but it's a little further along. In addition to aligning units of study, the phases require students to pass anywhere from ten to twenty indicator tests before attempting the larger phase assessments. Furthermore, each indicator test is cross-referenced with the textbooks that are available in the schools. Generally, each grade level is composed of two phases. That's my sophomoric take on it, anyway. I'm really looking forward to getting the kids back in the classroom. Also looking forward to getting my hands on a decent digital camera soon.

4. After the first week...

2004-09-04T07:55:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the things that really struck me:
-a large majority of our parents came on the first day of conferences
-many of the kids have a parent who works in the school
-our classroom materials are plentiful, and we're allowed to order more
-the kids are remarkably kind to each other
-the people are among the nicest I've ever met
-the water from the well at the school is chunky and rusty, but apparently safe to drink

-our rain gutters drain into the water tank in our house and is our primary water source
-moose, caribou, seal, salmon and berries are popular things to eat
-all wild berries and most local vegetation are edible, I've been told raw seal and raw salmon are too
-there aren’t any roads or sidewalks, just boardwalks with small traffic signs for the four wheelers
-the water makes us dirty, so most people take steam baths in steam houses, which are all over the place
-the electric toilet in our house actually burns the poop, it takes about an hour

-the electric toilet grosses me out; I prefer using the honey bucket, which is just a bucket
-the toilet in our school empties into an open pond that is about 70 yards from my house, but it doesn't smell
-we burn our trash every day
-i haven't left a 200-yard radius since I arrived
-dogs are everywhere, as are kids
-my students call me David

3. The Village Feast.

2004-09-02T21:43:00.000-08:00

~~Today was our second afternoon of parent conferences. We have one more tomorrow, but we've already met with the vast majority of parents. That’s in sharp contrast to the 30% or so who would show up back in Philly. After conferences, around 6, more than half the population of the village came to the school lunchroom for a community feast. The cooks and teachers served the food to everyone: Salmon, Spaghetti, Fish Soup, Veggies, Cake and Eskimo Ice Cream. Eskimo Ice Cream is a base of lard (Crisco), sugar, and in this case, a wild plant called Sour Dock that had the texture of spinach- though often it is made with wild berries. The principal spoke for a while, teachers were introduced, and everyone went home full. On my way out, I ran into a couple of my students who asked if I wanted to go for a walk. They took me around a big circle, past the Moravian Church, the Post Office, the old Post Office (which was about the size of a dog house- seriously), and to the biggest store in the village, where a can of coke was $.85. Not a bad price, really. Most things are about three times the price I'd pay back home. The store had just acquired a slushy machine and is the closest thing to a restaurant in town. They have plans to sell hot dogs someday.

2. My Address.

2004-08-31T01:03:00.000-08:00

David Miller
Teacher
Tuntutuliak, AK 99680

1. Impressions of the first day.

2004-08-30T13:40:00.000-08:00

(This picture was borrowed from Suzi's Tundra Travel Weblog... Thanks Suzi!)

~~Got to Tuntutuliak yesterday around 2:00pm. Frank, the principal, picked me up in a four wheeler at the airport. Night before that, I met new people: Daryl, Crystal and Addy at the Anchorage Airport. They live in Bethel, the place I had to go in order to get to Tuntutuliak (Tunt). The flight from Anchorage to Bethel was delayed, so I missed the last connection to Tunt. I would have been stuck paying a lot for a motel in Bethel, but these guys came to the rescue and gave me a place to stay. Since it was Saturday night, they also took me out to a few get togethers in town (no bars, Bethel is "damp"). It happened that the guy who interviewed and hired me was at one of the get togethers. I thanked him.
~~Today I taught in Tunt for the first time. It was surreal- they are so nice to each other. The paperwork is heavy. Every thing we do is scripted out. Each kid is required to pass state assessments weekly; if they don't pass, we are expected to work with them until they do. None of the students are transient, and class size averages around 10, so that can actually happen. It's near midnight now and the sky is almost completely dark. It's been a long day.