Purely Alaska

by Susan Andrews

Overview

Inside you'll find 32 stories as diverse and far flung as Alaska itself. A village girl discovers a surprising new world at a boarding school hundreds of miles from home.

A mother tries to steer her son toward college but he just wants to be a salty fisherman like his dad. An after-work snowmachine outing turns treacherous.

A revered Iñupiaq elder recalls a traumatic 1930s reindeer drive across extreme northern Alaska. A young man struggles against powerful addictions. An outsider who arrives to help the village finds he's the one in need of help. Discover much more: tales of adventure, love, hopes, and dreams. A follow-up to the popular Authentic Alaska, this anthology offers an insider's look at the everyday business of living off the land and waterways in America's most remote state.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781935347101
Publisher:	Epicenter Press (WA)
Publication date:	06/01/2010
Pages:	306
Product dimensions:	6.44(w) x 9.04(h) x 0.72(d)
Age Range:	12 Years

About the Author

The editors are both on the faculty at Chukchi College in Kotzebue, Alaska, a unit of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. SUSAN B. ANDREWS is a professor of journalism and humanities after having been a TV producer for the Kotzebue-based Northwest Arctic Borough School District and news director at CBS affiliate in Fairbanks. JON CREED, also a professor of journalism and humanities at Chukchi College, is a former reporter for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner who also worked as a schoolteacher in rural Alaska. In the 1980s, John and Susan, a husband-and-wife team, founded Chukchi News and Information Service, a cultural journalism project that features University of Alaska student writing in newspapers, magazines, anthologies, and on websites. The anthology "Authentic Alaska: Voices of Its Native Writers" was compiled from the Chukchi News and Information Service project, winner of a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and the Alaska Press Club's Public Service Award.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 7

Introduction 13

Map 16

Survival 19

1 The reindeer drive to Canada Steve Werle 23

2 The day Steve's snowmachine broke Susan B. Andrews John Creed 39

3 Danger along the sled-dog trail Iva Baker 47

4 First sled-dog race offers lessons R.A. Dillon 53

5 The graying of my hair Nancy Berkey 59

6 A well-oiled crew in harrowing waters Marcus Miller 65

7 Minnesotan respects Kotzebue cold Karl Puckett 71

8 The long road to recovery Burton W. Haviland, Jr. 77

Growing up in Rural Alaska 109

9 Witness to changes at Denali Amy Reisland-Speer 111

10 Growing up at Pope-Vannoy Landing Gina M. Pope 117

11 A lifetime of learning Burton W. Haviland, Jr. 123

12 Did you think it was a matter of life or death? Joli Morgan 131

13 New life for a "quiet girl" from the Midwest Sonja Whitethorn 137

14 What might have been in a changing world Lucy Nuqarrluk Daniels 143

15 The Bear China Kantner 153

Harvesting the Land and Sea 159

16 Tales from the open sea Sonja Whitethorn 163

17 Gone fishin' up the Pah River Steve W. Pilz 169

18 Caribou hunting on the Kobuk River Emma Snyder 179

Generations 185

19 Return to an arctic village John Creed 189

20 Beating around the bush on foot Susan B. Andrews 195

21 Della Keats: pride of her people John Creed 207

22 Ruthie Sampson gave voice to Iñupiat Susan B. Andrews John Creed 217

23 Raising a fisherman in southeast Alaska Sonja Whitethorn 223

Recreation 229

24 And they call this mushing Robert Andrews 233

25 Maintaining an Iditarod team Iva Baker 243

26 A second chance Kathryn Lenniger 249

Culture 255

27 Don't leave home without strapping tape Wilma C. Payne 259

28 What's your call sign? Gina M. Pope 263

29 An Alaska winter under the snow Terry Wilson 267

30 Eskimo language affects English Lucy Nuqarrluk Daniels 273

31 Television changes arctic rhythms Al Bowling 283

32 "Adii": a common catch-all expression Katie Cruthers 289

Index 295

About the co-editors 299

Photo credits 301